The ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic has caused a serious impact on patients suffering from cardiovascular disorders as they are predisposed to COVID infection as well as to exacerbation of their preexisting conditions which can prove to be fatal. Novel coronavirus disease-2019 (nCOVID-19) has a varied effect on the cardiac system ranging from myocardial injury to thromboembolic complications. A significant proportion of patients are noted to have comorbidities. Human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2) receptor is considered the target of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2). SARS-Cov-2 leads to imbalance in RAAS activity which is responsible for target organ damage. Recombinant ACE 2 has been shown to restore ACE 2 levels in explanted hearts and restore balanced RAAS activity. nCOVID-19 can have varied cardiac manifestations ranging from acute coronary syndrome to heart failure, arrhythmias, pulmonary thromboembolism, and pericarditis. The current nCOVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in management strategies for cardiovascular diseases. Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction can be fibrinolysed when a primary percutaneous coronary intervention facility with adequate protection is not available. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker needs to be continued in patients with hypertension. Continuity of care for patients with chronic cardiovascular illness needs to be maintained. Management of cardiovascular emergencies needs to be done in a way which ensures the safety of health-care professionals and prevents infection transmission. Strict prevention of infection and health control measures will help to prevent spread of infection and reduce disease incidence.


We study pattern formation in the bounded confidence model of opinion dynamics. In this random process, opinion is quantified by a single variable. Two agents may interact and reach a fair compromise, but only if their difference of opinion falls below a fixed threshold. Starting from a uniform distribution of opinions with compact support, a traveling wave forms and it propagates from the domain boundary into the unstable uniform state. Consequently, the system reaches a steady state with isolated clusters that are separated by distance larger than the interaction range. These clusters form a quasi-periodic pattern where the sizes of the clusters and the separations between them are nearly constant. We obtain analytically the average separation between clusters L. Interestingly, there are also very small quasi-periodic modulations in the size of the clusters. The spatial periods of these modulations are a series of integers that follow from the continued-fraction representation of the irrational average separation L.


Fifty-six patients with attack-type and attack-type progressive schizophrenia with manifestations of adynamic depression have been examined. On the basis of the findings obtained three types of the psychopathological structure of the given variant of the depressive syndrome (ideational, motor and mixed) have been identified. Some characteristics of clinical manifestations and the course of schizophrenia running with adynamic depressive states have been discovered.


The safety and effectiveness of a 10% safflower oil emulsion in treating or preventing essential fatty acid deficiency was tested in a prospective study of 15 surgical patients requiring total parenteral nutrition for two to four weeks. Three dosage regimens were evaluated including: Group I: 4% of calories as linoleate daily (five patients), Group II: 4% of calories as linoleate every other day (two patients), and Group III: 8% of calories every other day (eight patients). Patients were monitored for laboratory changes from baseline specifically in those areas where previous fat emulsions have caused serious deviations. No significant changes were noted in hematologie parameters, coagulation studies, cholesterol and triglyceride serum levels. Although there were sporadic mild deviations in liver function changes in several patients, no clinically significant adverse effects could be directly attributed to infusion of the fat emulsion. Three patients had baseline triene/tetraene ratios of 0.4 or greater, indicative of essential fatty acid deficiency, and these ratios dropped to less than 0.4 within eight days of beginning therapy with the parenteral fat emulsion. The remaining 12 patients maintained a normal triene/tetraene ratio of less than 0.4 throughout the 28 day study period. All three dosage regimens were considered effective for treatment and prevention of essential fatty acid deficiency.


The Making of a MOOC': Any relevance to "normal" learning and teaching?

MOOCs (massive open online courses) are a hugely topical area of educational policy and practice. The University of Glasgow is developing two new courses in partnership with FutureLearn, a free, open, online platform for courses from multiple UK and international universities.
The university will initially offer two courses, one from the School of Medicine and one from the School of Law, beginning in May/June 2014.'Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution' has been developed by the School of Medicine in collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Sciences.
In this presentation we will provide an introduction to MOOCs and reflect on our own experiences in the development of the cancer genetics MOOC over the past year.

Specific areas of potential relevance to traditional course design such as student retention, student engagement, peer-assisted learning and peer review will be considered.

We will review our approach to course design and discuss how factors such as online accessibility, the size of the student cohort, and the varying levels of background knowledge amongst students have influenced our decision making process.

The design of the student surveys for the course and how the data generated will impact our model of sustainability for the MOOC in future academic sessions will also be discussed.


This study reported the development and initial validation of the Survey of Parent/Provider Expectations and Knowledge (SPEAK), a self-administered questionnaire assessing expectations and knowledge about early childhood cognitive and language development. Development of the SPEAK was guided by the theory emphasizing the role of language input quality in young children's language development. Items were refined through cognitive interviews (N = 29), expert consultations, and the first field test (N = 131). Rasch analysis following the second field test (N = 346) resulted in a 17-item SPEAK (α = .84); expert review confirmed its content validity. A third field test with low-income caregivers (N = 103) showed that higher SPEAK scores were correlated with higher education, receptive language ability, stronger endorsement of incremental mindset, and more language stimulation available to the child at home, supporting its concurrent validity. Findings provided preliminary evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the SPEAK to assess expectations and knowledge of early childhood cognitive and language development.


Bell Laboratories space-time (BLATS) wireless systems are multiple antenna communication schemes that can achieve very high spectral efficiencies in scattering environment with no increase in bandwidth or transmitted power. In this paper we propose an adaptive algorithm for detection in V-BLAST systems based on affine projection algorithm. The proposed technique can improve convergence speed compared to least mean-squares (LMS) with much reduced computational cost compared to recursive least squares (RLS). We present comparison of computational complexities of LMS, RLS, and APA-based detection algorithms. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm


High mobility group I(Y) [HMGI(Y)] proteins are architectural factors abundantly expressed during embryogenesis, and their overexpression is known to be closely associated with neoplastic transformation of cells. This study was performed to investigate whether determination of HMGI(Y) expression level could assist in (a) differential diagnosis between colorectal carcinoma, adenoma, and normal tissue and (b) determination of the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer. To this end, HMGI(Y) expression was determined at both the protein and mRNA levels in 30 colorectal carcinomas, 26 adenomas, and 23 normal mucosa samples, and further correlations between the protein expression levels and various clinicopathological parameters, such as depth of tumor invasion, lymphatic and/or venous involvement, regional lymph node metastasis, and Dukes' stage, were determined in 30 carcinoma cases. The expression of HMGI(Y) proteins was significantly increased in carcinoma and adenoma with severe atypia compared with that in adenoma with less atypia and normal colorectal mucosa. This increase in HMGI(Y) protein expression was found to be because of an increase in its mRNA expression by RNA in situ hybridization analysis. Clinicopathological analysis revealed that the level of HMGI(Y) protein expression was significantly correlated with parameters known to be indicative of a poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients. These findings indicate that the determination of the HMGI(Y) protein expression level could be a potential marker for the diagnosis of colorectal neoplasias and can be of great value in predicting the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer.


An abdominal aortic or iliac artery rupture typically presents with central abdominal and back pain, collapse and shock. In this article, we present a very rare case of massive bilateral hemothorax associated with ruptured iliac artery aneurysm. While ruptured iliac artery aneurysm was treated with an emergent endovascular intervention, bilateral tube thoracostomy was performed for hemothorax. The patient was discharged from hospital at the 10 th postoperative day in a good condition. At six-months of follow-up, tomographic scan was normal with a reduction in the aneurysm size.


Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, has had a major impact on the behavior of patients, as well as on the delivery of healthcare services. With older and more medically vulnerable people tending to stay at home to avoid contracting the virus, it is unclear how the behavior of people with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has changed. The aim of this study was to determine if delays in presentation and healthcare service delivery for AMI exist during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the same period a year prior. Methods In this single-center, retrospective study, we evaluated patients admitted with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) during early months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 11, 2020 to April 20, 2020) compared to patients admitted with same diagnosis during the same period a year prior. Results There were 30 and 62 patients who presented with NSTEMI in the pandemic and pre-pandemic eras, respectively. The median pain-to-door time was significantly larger during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic era (1,885 (880, 5,732) vs. 606 (388, 944) min, P < 0.0001). There was a significant delay in door-to-reperfusion time during the pandemic with a median time of 332 (182, 581) vs. 194 (92, 329) min (P = 0.0371). There were 24 (80%) and 25 (42%) patients who presented after 12 h of pain onset in pandemic and pre-pandemic eras, respectively (P = 0.0006). There were 47 and 60 patients who presented with STEMI during the pandemic timeframe of study and pre-pandemic timeframe, respectively. The median pain-to-door time during the pandemic was significantly larger than that of the pre-pandemic (620 (255, 1,500) vs. 349 (146, 659) min, P = 0.0141). There were 22 (47%) and 14 (24%) patients who presented after 12 h of pain onset in the pandemic and pre-pandemic eras, respectively (P = 0.0127). There was not a significant delay in door-to-reperfusion time (P = 0.9833). There were no differences in in-hospital death, stroke, or length of hospitalization between early and late presenters, as well as between pandemic and pre-pandemic eras. Conclusions In conclusion, this study found that patients waited significantly longer during the pandemic to seek medical treatment for AMI compared to before the pandemic, and that pandemic-specific protocols may delay revascularization for NSTEMI patients. These findings resulted in more than a threefold increase from the onset of symptoms to revascularization increasing the risks for future complications such as left ventricular dysfunction and cardiovascular death. Efforts should be made to increase patients' awareness regarding consequences of delayed presentation, and to find a balance between hospital evaluation strategies and goals of minimizing total ischemic time.


: Well-known complications of abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery include haemorrhage, arterial occlusion, infection and aortoduodenal fistula. Less well known is the occurrence of paraplegia. At present there is no estimate of its incidence, and only isolated cases have been reported. We report 2 cases of paraplegia following elective aortic surgery and 2 others following acute occlusion of the abdominal aorta.


Seth Goldman, founder and "TEO" of Honest Tea, believes in market-based solutions to social problems. In this discussion with Dave Feldman, he talks about how he integrates his business with his personal mission: sustainability and making people healthier. He's worked to dramatically reduce sugar in his tea products and is also working with an initiative called Beyond Meat, which is exploring plant-based solutions to meet mankind's protein needs. Goldman also talks about the importance of the right partners.


While research on articulated human motion and pose estimation has progressed rapidly in the last few years, there has been no systematic quantitative evaluation of competing methods to establish the current state of the art. Current algorithms make many different choices about how to model the human body, how to exploit image evidence and how to approach the inference problem. We argue that there is a need for common datasets that allow fair comparison between different methods and their design choices. Until recently gathering ground-truth data for evaluation of results (especially in 3D) was challenging. In this report we present a novel dataset obtained using a unique setup for capturing synchronized video and ground-truth 3D motion. Data was captured simultaneously using a calibrated marker-based motion capture system and multiple high-speed video capture systems. The video and motion capture streams were synchronized in software using a direct optimization method. The resulting HumanEvaI dataset contains multiple subjects performing a set of predefined actions with a number of repetitions. On the order of 50,000 frames of synchronized motion capture and video was collected at 60 Hz with an additional 37,000 frames of pure motion capture data. The data is partitioned into training, validation, and testing sub-sets. A standard set of error metrics is defined that can be used for evaluation of both 2D and 3D pose estimation and tracking algorithms. Support software and an on-line evaluation system for quantifying results using the test data is being made available to the community. This report provides an overview of the dataset and evaluation metrics and provides pointers into the dataset for additional details. It is our hope that HumanEva-I will become a standard dataset for the evaluation of articulated human motion and pose estimation.


Background/aim Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation. The study aimed to assess serum 14-3-3eta, anti-CarP, and anti-Sa in seronegative RA (SNRA) patients who were treatment-naïve as well as in healthy subjects. This is the first study in the literature to examine these autoantibodies together in SNRA patients. Materials and methods Forty-five treatment-naïve SNRA patients and 45 healthy subjects were recruited. Drugs change the levels of autoantibodies; therefore, patients who took any medication had been excluded from our study. Anti-carbamylated protein, anti-Sa, and 14-3-3eta were measured by using three different ELISA kits. Results Median serum concentration of healthy controls in 14-3-3eta was 0.02 (0.02–0.27) ng/mL. Median serum concentration of SNRA patients in 14-3-3eta was 1.00 (0.48–1.28) ng/mL. Data were analyzed with Mann–Whitney U tests; the P-value was <0.001 in 14-3-3eta. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that 14-3-3eta in SNR compared to healthy controls had a significant (P < 0.001) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.90 (95% confidence interval, 0.83–0.96). At a cutoff of ≥0.33 ng/mL, the ROC curve yielded a sensitivity of 88.9%, a specificity of 82.2%, a positive predictive value of 83.3%, and a negative predictive value of 88.1%. Conclusion We found that 14-3-3eta can be used as a diagnostic marker in SNRA.


Learn everything you need to know to design and implement a solid disaster recovery plan for SharePoint 2013 Overview Design, implement, test, and execute solid disaster recovery plans for your SharePoint environment with this essential guide Learn outofthebox backup and restore procedures Implement a solid disaster recovery strategy for custom development environments A quick handson guide to get familiar with procedures to secure your data In Detail Where does it all go wrong with disaster recovery? Yes, why a disaster recovery plan fails the business and costs IT staff their jobs or a promotion? This book is an easytounderstand guide that explains how to get it right and why it often goes wrong. Given that Microsoft's SharePoint platform has become a missioncritical application where business operations just cannot run without complete uptime of this technology, disaster recovery is one of the most important topics when it comes to SharePoint. Yet, support and an appropriate approach for this technology are still difficult to come by, and are often vulnerable to technical oversight and assumptions. Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Disaster Recovery Guide looks at SharePoint disaster recovery and breaks down the mystery and confusion that surrounds what is a vital activity to any technical deployment. This book provides a holistic approach with practical recipes that will help you to take advantage of the new 2013 functionality and cloud technologies. You will also learn how to plan, test, and deploy a disaster recovery environment using SharePoint, Windows Server, and SQL tools. We will also take a look at datasets and custom development. If you want to have an approach to disaster recovery that gives you peace of mind, then this is the book for you. What you will learn from this book Learn why disaster recovery is a struggle to understand and implement Learn how to support optimized application recovery times with tiered service levels Inherit a missioncritical environment that has no disaster recoveryplans Get familiar with backup and restore procedures that are available to an administrator as well as the pros and cons of each Learn about Disaster recovery in regards to virtualization and the cloud Architect data in SharePoint with disaster recovery in mind Build confidence and refine disaster recovery plans with more frequent testing Create a theme for use with your video player Approach The style and approach of the book is an easy to read SharePoint admin guide. This is not a step by step instruction book, but rather a guide on how to implement and execute a disaster recovery plan to your SharePoint environment. Who this book is written for This book is great for both SharePoint and SQL administrators new to the SharePoint 2013 architecture, and who are looking to get a good grounding in how to use implement a solid disaster recovery plan. It's assumed that you have some experience in SharePoint and Windows Server and, as well be familiar with SQL.


Human malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is a major global burden killing between 700,000 and 2.7 million people every year. Africa bears the greatest portion of this burden, with over three quarters of deaths occurring in African children, accounting for 18% of all child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. Synthesis of tetrahydrofolate through the folate biosynthetic pathway is vital for the survival of P. falciparum parasites and is lacking in the human host. As such, enzymes of this pathway have long presented attractive targets for drug therapy and although increasingly being compromised by resistance, anti-folates such as pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine are still very valuable drugs in many malaria-endemic regions.In this project, further investigation of the enzymes of the folate biosynthetic pathway has been attempted by developing protocols to quantify these proteins and others through proteomic techniques. Two quantification techniques were pursued. The first was quantification using whole, heterologously expressed, stable-isotope labelled forms of P. falciparum proteins for use as heavy standards in mass spectrometry. Great difficulty was experienced in the effort to express and purify P. falciparum enzymes in E. coli expression systems, with only one enzyme successfully expressed and purified in a 13C-labelled form. This one protein was taken forward into quantification experiments. The second quantification technique used a stable-isotope labelled ?QConcat? protein, consisting of a number of peptides from 12 P. falciparum proteins of interest, as a heavy standard in mass spectrometry. This was successfully expressed and purified in a 13C-labelled form from an artificial gene using an E. coli expression system. This too was taken forward into quantification experiments.Quantification experiments using the QConcat-based quantification technique were successfully performed on whole P. falciparum extract. Among the proteins quantified were SHMT and DHFR, two proteins of great interest from the folate biosynthetic pathway. Consistent with results from different expression analysis techniques in the literature, the folate enzymes were found to be of lower abundance than housekeeping enzymes and SHMT was found to be more abundant than DHFR.For deep quantitative analysis of the P. falciparum proteome, it was found that fractionation was necessary. Fractionation in this project was performed using a ZOOM? IEF fractionator (Invitrogen), an OFFGEL? IEF fractionator (Agilent) and 1D SDS-PAGE. It was found that by using these fractionation techniques, more proteins could be identified within the P. falciparum proteome, with all but one of the enzymes of the folate biosynthetic pathway being identified. Significant advances in the sensitivity of mass spectrometers during this project have also greatly facilitated the investigation of the proteome. In some cases, this meant that proteins which were only previously accessible by prefractionation of the proteome could be seen in whole P. falciparum extract. Unfortunately, QConcat-based quantification using both fractionation and sensitive mass spectrometry could not be successfully achieved in the time available. However, the promising results obtained suggest that, after careful optimisation, such an approach will be valuable.


In this contribution we present a method for solving the inverse problem in electric impedance tomography with Bayesian MLP neural network. The problem of reconstructing the conductivity distribution inside an object from potential measurements from the surface is known to be ill-posed, requiring efficient regularization techniques. We decompose the reconstruction problem to lower dimensional problem by principal component projection, and use very efficient Bayesian neural network to solve the reduced problem. This approach contains double regularization effect, first due to solving the inverse problem in the eigenspace, and second due to using neural networks that learn the distribution of feasible solutions from the training data. We show by simulations, that the proposed approach leads to rather accurate reconstruction results and facilitates estimation of other target values, such as the void fraction (the fraction of gas in liquid), directly without actual image reconstruction. We also demonstrate that the solutions are very robust against noise in inputs.


Action potential generation is governed by the opening, inactivation, and recovery of voltage‐gated sodium channels. A channel's voltage‐sensing and pore‐forming α subunit bears an intrinsic fast inactivation particle that mediates both onset of inactivation upon membrane depolarization and rapid recovery upon repolarization. We describe here a novel inactivation particle housed within an accessory channel subunit (A‐type FHF protein) that mediates rapid‐onset, long‐term inactivation of several sodium channels. The channel‐intrinsic and tethered FHF‐derived particles, both situated at the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane, compete for induction of inactivation, causing channels to progressively accumulate into the long‐term refractory state during multiple cycles of membrane depolarization. Intracellular injection of a short peptide corresponding to the FHF particle can reproduce channel long‐term inactivation in a dose‐dependent manner and can inhibit repetitive firing of cerebellar granule neurons. We discuss potential structural mechanisms of long‐term inactivation and potential roles of A‐type FHFs in the modulation of action potential generation and conduction.


Symonanthus bancroftii is a critically endangered dioecious shrub, with only one male and one female plant known in the wild. Micropropagated, clonal plants of the male and female parents were hand-pollinated. Seed was germinated in sterile culture and a subsequent daughter (F1) seedling was multiplied in vitro. Micropropagated plants of the original parents and daughter were reintroduced to a natural habitat site. We detail the first study of pollination biology and reproductive success in this extremely rare species. Floral morphology, flowering phenology, pollen viability, female receptivity and fruit set of reintroduced plants of S. bancroftii were investigated. Flower viability of S. bancroftii shows a 25-day maximum for male flowers, whereas non-pollinated female flowers remain viable for a maximum of 38 days (female parent) and 41 days (daughter), respectively. Flowering of reintroduced male and female plants overlaps from mid-June to early November. Pollen remained viable for at least 8 days after anther dehiscence. Maximum stigma longevity recorded was 28 days (female parent) and 39 days (daughter) and maximum ovule longevity varied from 13 days (female parent) to 28 days (daughter). The mean percentage of flowers setting fruit was 39 ± 13% for female parent plants and 48 ± 4% for daughter plants. Empirical reproductive success measures for male–daughter crosses generally exceeded those of the original parent crosses. The reproductive success of S. bancroftii so soon after reintroduction of plants is a positive sign indicating that rapid accumulation of a soil seedbank is feasible and is thus an important first step towards successful establishment of self-sustaining populations of this critically endangered species.


Authors report clinical and laboratory findings, treatment and evolution of six girls and three boys aged between 20 months and 13 years, diagnosed of juvenile polymyositis-dermatomyositis in the last seven years. Presenting symptoms were asthenia and proximal muscle weakness; in 3 cases characteristic skin lesions were associated. All were treated initially with prednisone p.o. (1-2 mg/kg/day) response being favourable in seven. Two patients with chronic evolution were treated with methotrexate and IV bolus of methylprednisolone.


: To make health care in underserved rural areas more accessible, Congress established rural health clinics (RHCs) in 1977. Although most RHCs operate independently, a provider-based RHC can help a hospital attract physicians, boost market share through increased referrals, enhance third-party payment, and provide an opportunity for reallocating overhead costs. Proper planning for a provider-based RHC includes carefully considering qualification requirements, staffing strategies, and clinic location.


The demonstrated role of proton translocation and resulting electrochemical activity gradients (protonmotive force) in ATP synthesis by chloroplasts is noted. Evidence for the participation of conformational changes in the terminal ATPase (coupling factor, or CF1) is reviewed. Hydrogen exchange into ordinarily cyptic groups of the molecule occurs only when the subtending membranes are put under the stress of a protonmotive force. Since up to 100 hydrogen atoms per mole are involved in the energy-dependent exchange the conformational change permitting tham access to the medium must be a major one. Chemical reagents are beginning to be used to attack groups on CF1 that are exposed only when the membranes are energized. N-ethylmaleimide binds covalently, sulfate causes as yet unspecified damage, and permanganate leads to oxidative damage to CF1 under energized conditions. The last two reagents are analogues of phosphate, and ADP must be added for them to inhibit. On the basis of this and other differences between the conditions needed for inhibition by permanganate or sulfate, and that by N-ethylmaleimide or the hydrogen exchange, a somewhat complex scheme involving several successive or alternative conformations of CF1 can be postulated. Questions are raised as to the way in which a conformational change in a bound protein could be caused by a proton activity gradient across its supporting membrane, and as to whether the altered conformations might constitute a part of the energy transformations leading to ATP synthesis.


Most of the FDI specialists think that FDI had a positive impact upon the economic growth in the receiving countries. They showed that it was a direct relation between the FDI flows (as percent of the GDP) and the growth of GDP per capita not just for the developed countries, but also for most of the developing countries. In this way, the countries that had attracted an important FDI volume had the highest economic growth rates. Since the early '60s of the 20th century, the times with the most intense foreign investment activities had coincided with a sudden increase in the macroeconomic indicators (especially the GDP). Because the economic science proved that there was a direct connection between the FDI volume and economic growth rates, the IMF and the World Bank started to recommend to all countries (recommendation that they make currently) to create favorable conditions to attract FDI for ensuring, in this way, high development rates. The countries in transition need FDI not just to produce more goods and a higher quality. Foreign capital investments are the most efficient and safe way to integrate into the world economy. Concluding, only direct foreign investments would allow the re-specialization of the economy to surpass the situation of maintaining on the world markets only with food products and raw materials. Indeed, the acquired experience shows that FDI substantially enhanced the national economies' re-specialization processes all over the world. The authors share the opinion of those specialists who affirm that FDI plays a determinant role in respecializing the transition economies and in increasing the export potential. Also, FDI growth leads to increase in the manufactured production quantity. Further, we shall examine some structural changes which occurred under the influence of FDI in the economies of new European Union member states (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) and in South-East Europe, drawing also the attention upon the changes in the export potential of those countries.


Lignocellulosic biomass has long been recognized as a potential sustainable source of mixed sugars for fermentation to biofuels and other biomaterials. Several technologies have been developed during the past 80 years that allow this conversion process to occur, and the clear objective now is to make this process cost-competitive in today's markets. Here, we consider the natural resistance of plant cell walls to microbial and enzymatic deconstruction, collectively known as "biomass recalcitrance." It is this property of plants that is largely responsible for the high cost of lignocellulose conversion. To achieve sustainable energy production, it will be necessary to overcome the chemical and structural properties that have evolved in biomass to prevent its disassembly.


Background and Objectives: Distraction is one of the affective factors in the occurrence of traffic accidents, which, in its turn, is the second leading cause of death and the main cause of years of life lost due to premature death and disability in Iran. The aim of the present study was to investigate the distracting behaviors of male drivers in rear-end crashes. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on male drivers who had experienced a rear-end crash in Tabriz in 2018. In total, 395 samples (whose main reason for the crashes was inattention to the forward field of view) were selected through the information and files available at the traffic police, and after contacting the subjects, the required information was entered in the checklist. Nine distraction factors were classified and ranked into three age groups of young, middle-aged, and older drivers. Results: Findings showed that distractions caused by mobile phone use and passengers were ranked first to third in all three age groups and distracting factors such as eating or drinking while driving, alcohol consumption, and sleepiness were in the last ranks. In addition, older drivers were ranked first in not identifying the distraction factors, and in the middle-aged group, the distraction caused by billboards was the leading cause of crashes. Conclusions: Adopting appropriate policies, such as law enforcement and cultural interventions to prevent driver distractions, and to control the in-car conversation, and cell phone use while driving can be considered as effective interventions to prevent rear-end crashes.


Abstract In the process of doing research, I have experienced being an insider and outsider, belonging and exclusion, and feeling messy while trying to look tidy on multiple levels and, often, all at once. While these experiences sharpened my critical awareness, these seemingly dichotomous subjectivities often went unresolved. This article draws on post-structural theory to investigate the challenges to and value in embodying and performing multiple researcher subjectivities. I explore the tensions of "insider" subjectivities as a person who did research in an industry I was and still am personally involved. I consider the challenges to being human and having feelings as a researcher. I discuss the value of reflexive and creative ways of presenting research. This article concludes with insights from Foucault's approach to ethical care for the self that helped me make peace with the messiness of doing research and guides my beliefs in honoring research that resists traditional expectations.


Our research brings managerial insights for developing new digital convergence of devices and services. To explain the phenomenon of device and service convergence, we combine two different approaches from separate research fields: a perceptual mapping technique generally used for segmentation in marketing and associative network analysis mobilized to understanding network structure of core and peripheral as well as the information mediating role of nodes in network science. By combining these two approaches, we provide an in-depth analysis of the associations among devices and services by assessing the centrality of device and service nodes in an associative network. This is done by examining the connections between these services and devices as well as investigating the role of mediation in the combined device-service associative network. Our results based on bi-partite network analysis of survey responses from 250 Internet Protocol (IP) television viewers show which device and which service will play the major role in future device and service convergence as well as which characteristics and functionalities have to be incorporated into future convergence. Among the devices, the mobile handset with the betweenness centrality of 0.26 appears to be the device that would lead future device convergence. Among the services, wireless broadband with the betweenness centrality of 0.276 appears to be the service on which future service convergence needs to be developed. This result is quite unexpected, since wireless broadband has a lower penetration rate than other services, such as fixed broadband and cable TV. In addition, we indicate the possibility of converging devices, such as personal digital assistant (PDA) and mobile handset, and services, such as IPTV and mobile Internet, into wireless broadband services in the future.


In Anglo settler states, parks and Indigenous peoples interact in myriad ways, given the tight connection between Indigenous peoples and land and that parks are manifestations of settler control of land and heritage. Current park–Indigenous research is limited by a focus on rural locales, despite that more than half of Indigenous peoples live in urban areas. This exploratory paper draws connections between literature rooted in urban Indigenous studies and park management. I argue the literature's current emphasis on rural locales neglects to consider how urban parks, might contribute to reconciliation if they affirmatively support urban Indigenous identities and cultural activities. I use two mini case studies—the Meewasin Valley Authority (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) and Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (Portland, Oregon)—to highlight some of the ways in which urban parks can support urban Indigenous peoples' responses to persistent urban settler-colonialism.


In recent years, safety aspect becomes one of the prominent issues in the urban tourist destinations.This is due to the frequent occurrence of crime such as murdering, snatching, kidnapping, robbery, sexual assault and vehicle stealing to tourists visiting city areas and it can become a threat to the tourism industry. Therefore, if tourist feels insecure or threatened in some destination, it may create negative impressions and experience towards the destination.These issues have led to the implementation of Safe City Program (SCP) in Malaysia which was introduced on 10 August 2004 by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG) of Malaysia. Under this program, the safe city is classified as free from physical, social and mental threats, living environment that is secured and conducive at all times and the community is able to live in peace and harmony. Until recently, the concept of a safer city has been realized through the implementation of a crime prevention guideline outlined by the Department of Town and Country Planning (JPBD). This guideline consists of 23 measures of crime prevention approach through three important strategies which are environmental design initiatives, landscape design and education and public awareness. On December 2012, MLHG reported that SCP has been successfully implemented across its 149 local authorities across Malaysia. Moreover, it is also reported that at least 90% of major towns in Malaysia are categorized as good in managing crime. Ironically, previous research shown that, despite of Shah Alam was among the first to implement SCP, it was ranked the fifth highest crime rate among cities in Selangor. Therefore, it is important to notice this contradicted results expected from this program to other cities in Malaysia. This research was conducted among tourists visiting Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Kota Bharu is chosen as it is one of the popular tourism cities in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia with cultural heritage as the central attraction. In addition, Kota Bharu Municipal Council has launched its safe city program in 2010 and the aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of SCP in this city. Convenience sampling was used among 384 tourists who are willing to participate this study. The results show that most of the respondents consider the effectiveness of SCP in Kota Bharu as "satisfied". In addition, police booth has been indicated as the most effective strategy of SCP implemented in Kota Bharu. This is inconsistent with previous researches in Putrajaya and Johor Bahru which surveillance camera (CCTV) has been assessed as the most effective strategy. In line with this current finding, it is recommended that various tourism bodies and municipalities need to ensure a continuous improvement on safe city program implementation through collaboration and joint responsibilities.


As Belmar, van Boven & Pinho (2019) pointed out, Frisians tend to quickly switch to Dutch in conversations in which their interlocutor either answers in Dutch or exhibits signs of struggling with Frisian. This accommodation is often seen as an act of politeness, but it also contributes to the minorization of, in this case, Frisian. Suay & Sanginés (2010) argue that linguistic assertiveness needs to be considered in language promotion campaigns, as it aims to empower speakers to break away from these dynamics of diglossia. In this paper we will present qualitative observations from two small interventions where 15 participants took part in Linguistic Assertiveness workshops designed to train them to trust receptive multilingualism and engage in bilingual conversations. The observations from these interventions show that politeness ideologies are an obstacle for the embrace of multilingual conversations, but positive attitudes and reports of positive experiences suggest that these can be contested. The results also suggest that further application of linguistic assertiveness - and the consequent embracing of bi-/multilingual conversations - may have a boosting effect on the use of the Frisian language in the province.


Neural networks have attracted much interest recently, and using parallel architectures to simulate neural networks is a natural and necessary application. The SIMD model of parallel computation is chosen, because systems of this type can be built with large numbers of processing elements. However, such systems are not naturally suited to generalized communication. A method is proposed that allows an implementation of neural network connections on massively parallel SIMD architectures. The key to this system is an algorithm that allows the formation of arbitrary connections between the "neurons". A feature is the ability to add new connections quickly. It also has error recovery ability and is robust over a variety of network topologies. Simulations of the general connection system, and its implementation on the Connection Machine, indicate that the time and space requirements are proportional to the product of the average number of connections per neuron and the diameter of the interconnection network.


During the past several years many clinical investigators focused their attentions on the measurement of bodily functions and compartments. Several methods for the measurement of the body's fluid compartments and electrolyte content have been developed and evaluated. These have been greatly facilitated by the application of isotopic tracer techniques. Values for the volumes of body compartments and their electrolyte contents have been established and the influence of various diseases on these moieties have been documented. Data on the total body water and electrolyte content of the newborn infant, however, have been somewhat limited. This study was undertaken to measure the total body water and exchangeable sodium in newborn infants. The current report presents the data obtained by measuring the total body water and exchangeable sodium simultaneously in a series of normal newborn infants. Subjects and Methods Studies were made on 17 newborn infants ranging in age from 6 hours to


Abstract The use of industrialised construction can help meet the growing housing demand for developing economies in Africa. In order to understand future scenarios for accelerated adoption of industrialised construction, it is necessary to identify the influencing factors. To do so, this paper conducts a formative scenario analysis which is a literature- and expert-based method, focussing on three countries that have high housing demands, i.e. Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa. The resulting analysis consists of three parts. The first is the identification of nineteen internal and external influencing factors. These factors range from product performance to policies and regulations. The second is the illustration of the importance of each factor as a function of its relationship with the other factors. The third is the description of three possible scenarios the adoption of industrialised construction may take in the three investigated countries. The findings show that the most important accelerators for the adoption of industrialised construction come from governments' commitment to invest in future construction and incentivize companies to adopt industrial construction methods and for these companies to produce competitive products. The specific adoption policies to be implemented, however, depend greatly on the specific situation.


The placental metabolism can adapt to the environment throughout pregnancy to both the demands of the fetus and the signals from the mother. Such adaption processes include epigenetic mechanisms, which alter gene expression and may influence the offspring's health. These mechanisms are linked to the diversity of prenatal environmental exposures, including maternal under- or overnutrition or gestational diabetes. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are nuclear receptors that contribute to the developmental plasticity of the placenta by regulating lipid and glucose metabolism pathways, including lipogenesis, steroidogenesis, glucose transporters, and placental signaling pathways, thus representing a link between energy metabolism and reproduction. Among the PPAR isoforms, PPARγ appears to be the main modulator of mammalian placentation. Certain fatty acids and lipid-derived moieties are the natural activating PPAR ligands. By controlling the amounts of maternal nutrients that go across to the fetus, the PPARs play an important regulatory role in placenta metabolism, thereby adapting to the maternal nutritional status. As demonstrated in animal studies, maternal nutrition during gestation can exert long-term influences on the PPAR methylation pattern in offspring organs. This review underlines the current state of knowledge on the relationship between environmental factors and the epigenetic regulation of the PPARs in placenta metabolism and offspring development.


In this paper we present a case study of a location-dependent service, aimed for tourists. Two applications are developed, one based on native technologies, the other on HTML5 and related frameworks. We provide implementation details and compare the different solutions in terms of location support, compliance with required features, and cross-platform functionality. Our experiments show that web-based approaches may lead to significant benefits over using native technologies; both versions of the application displayed comparable location support and compliance with required features, while the web version superseded its native counterpart in cross-platform functionality.


This paper presents the methodology and results of an experimental analysis of combustion in a gas turbine combustor. The experimental setup is designed to imitate the conditions of a working gas turbine engine (GT), using an actual gas turbine combustor. Air is supplied by a heavy-duty air compressor at a maximum pressure of 7 bar to the combustor through an air pipe catering to the developing length. The air flow rate is measured using an ASME standard Venturimeter along with a manometer. The air flow rate and pressure are controlled by a combination of air outlet valve placed before developing length and by a throttle orifice in the exhaust duct at combustor outlet. Diesel fuel used in the experiments is provided at required atomizing pressure by a gear pump. Mass flow rate and pressure of fuel is controlled by combination of valves and varying the speed of gear pump using a variable speed electric motor. Combustion is initiated in a conventional pilot ignition unit using a spark plug and fuel burner. Fuel flow rate is measured accurately using a unique catch and time measuring system at the inlet of the gear pump.


A physician who applied his knowledge of chemistry to the manufacture of a widely used antiseptic, Albert Barnes is best remembered as one of the great American art collectors. The Barnes Foundation, which houses his treasures, is a fabled repository of Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and early modern paintings. Less well known is the fact that Barnes attributed his passion for collecting art to his youthful experience of African-American culture, especially music. Art, Education, and African-American Culture is both a biography of an iconoclastic and innovative figure and a study of the often-conflicted efforts of an emergent liberalism to seek out and showcase African American contributions to the American aesthetic tradition. Mary Ann Meyers examines Barnes's background and career and the development and evolution of his enthusiasm for collecting pictures and sculpture. She shows how Barnes's commitment to breaking down invidious distinctions and his use of the uniquely arranged works in his collection as textbooks for his school, created a milieu where masterpieces of European and American late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century painting, along with rare and beautiful African art objects, became a backdrop for endless feuding. A gallery requiring renovation, a trust prohibiting the loan or sale of a single picture, and the efforts of Lincoln University, known as the "black Princeton," to balance conflicting needs and obligations all conspired to create a legacy of legal entanglement and disputes that remain in contention. This volume is neither an idealized account of a quixotic do-gooder nor is it a critique of a crank. While fully documenting Barnes's notorious eccentricities along with the clashing interests of the main personalities associated with his Foundation, Meyers eschews moral posturing in favor of a rich mosaic of peoples and institutions that illustrate many of the larger themes of American culture in general and African-American culture in particular.


A supersymmetric FRW model with a scalar supermultiplet and generic superpotential is analysed from a quantum cosmological perspective. The corresponding Lorentz and supersymmetry constraints allow to establish a system of first order partial differential equations from which solutions can be obtained. We show that this is possible when the superpotential is expanded in powers of a parameter λ≪1. At order λ0 we find the general class of solutions, which include in particular quantum states reported in the current literature. New solutions are partially obtained at order λ1, where the dependence on the superpotential is manifest. These classes of solutions can be employed to find states for higher orders in λ. Our analysis further points to the following: (i) supersymmetric wave functions can only be found when the superpotential has either an exponential behaviour, an effective cosmological constant form or is zero; (ii) If the superpotential behaves differently during other periods, the wave function is trivial ($\rm {\Psi{_{SUSY}^{FRW}}}$ = 0, i.e., no supersymmetric states). We conclude this paper discussing how our FRW minisuperspace (with N = 4 supersymmetry and invariance under time‐reparametrization) can be relevant concerning the issue of supersymmetry breaking.


The dual mandate for many protected areas (PAs) to simultaneously promote recreation and conserve biodiversity may be hampered by negative effects of recreation on wildlife. However, reports of these effects are not consistent, presenting a knowledge gap that hinders evidence‐based decision‐making. We used camera traps to monitor human activity and terrestrial mammals in Golden Ears Provincial Park and the adjacent University of British Columbia Malcolm Knapp Research Forest near Vancouver, Canada, with the objective of discerning relative effects of various forms of recreation on cougars (Puma concolor), black bears (Ursus americanus), black‐tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus), snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and bobcats (Lynx rufus). Additionally, public closures of the study area associated with the COVD‐19 pandemic offered an unprecedented period of human‐exclusion through which to explore these effects. Using Bayesian generalized mixed‐effects models, we detected negative effects of hikers (mean posterior estimate = −0.58, 95% credible interval [CI] −1.09 to −0.12) on weekly bobcat habitat use and negative effects of motorized vehicles (estimate = −0.28, 95% CI −0.61 to −0.05) on weekly black bear habitat use. We also found increased cougar detection rates in the PA during the COVID‐19 closure (estimate = 0.007, 95% CI 0.005 to 0.009), but decreased cougar detection rates (estimate = −0.006, 95% CI −0.009 to −0.003) and increased black‐tailed deer detection rates (estimate = 0.014, 95% CI 0.002 to 0.026) upon reopening of the PA. Our results emphasize that effects of human activity on wildlife habitat use and movement may be species‐ and/or activity‐dependent, and that camera traps can be an invaluable tool for monitoring both wildlife and human activity, collecting data even when public access is barred. Further, we encourage PA managers seeking to promote both biodiversity conservation and recreation to explicitly assess trade‐offs between these two goals in their PAs.


Research Framework: This essay attempts to reclaim Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the "Myriad-Minded Man" from colonial India, through his "ages of life" – as a son, father, and educator – and his conceptualization of an alternate education and masculinity. Tagore's critique of colonial education, his experiments with institutions, and his curriculum emphasizing arts and moral aesthetics over muscular nationalism challenged the dominant culture of masculinity. His paternalism embraced a "manliness" privileging moral and spiritual sustenance over economic and political considerations.Objectives: By focusing on Rabindranath Tagore, an iconic figure of Indian modernity, the essay attempts to demonstrate the tangled relationship between his domestic reality and his public commitment to social justice and pedagogy. Methodology: It deploys the method of contextualized textual analysis by examining a variety of literary sources -- personal narratives, correspondence, lectures, and essays. Results: Foregrounding the importance of family in its enabling and restrictive capacities, the essay explores connections between one family's life and the Bengali understanding of age, gender, and class in late colonial India. Conclusions: The essay contends that Tagore's position as a biological father and the transference of his affective concern to a larger body of children, in whom he inculcated a new sense of freedom, were inflected with an alternate sense of masculinity.Contribution: The essay contributes to our understanding that the role of "fathers," biological and metaphorical, attained heightened significance among the educated, affluent community in colonial Bengal. An examination of the interminable connection between Tagore's personal and public life disrupts the separation between the home and the world and establishes the centrality of the domestic in Indian nationalist politics. As a father and a reformer, Tagore challenged existing notions of masculinity through his reformed and secular model of education.


A new one-port technique for measuring noise temperature is presented that uses receiver noise parameters for error correction. Improved accuracy in one-port measurements of noise temperature made with commercial systems is demonstrated without using isolators. Equations for correcting mismatch errors are developed as part of the available vector noise temperature equation. Results, presented for a C-band solid-state cold noise source and a pair of microwave solid-state noise diodes, are shown to be in good agreement with radiometric measurements of the same sources.


This contribution is dealing with Mycenaean pottery from the settlement sites of Dragoyna in the Rhodopes and Koprivlen in the Mesta Valley. The production regions of that pottery could be established by means of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), and we compare the earlier results of Dragoyna with the new ones from Koprivlen. These results give us the opportunity to re-evaluate the development of contacts between the eastern Balkans, the northern Aegean and Mycenaean Greece. Two economic-historical periods can be discerned. The earlier one comprises the phases LH IIB and IIIA1 and is characterised by the importation of Mycenaean pottery and Mycenaean weapons from the regions of the rising and expanding Mycenaean palace state in the framework of directional exchange of products. This could have been linked to gold mining in the Rhodopes. The later period lasted from approximately LH IIIB to LH IIIC Early. During that time Mycenaean pottery from different production regions reached the eastern Balkans, some from northern Aegean workshops, some from the Mycenaean south. In contrast, imports or imitations of late palatial or post-palatial weapons are not attested.


At least four allosteric sites have been found to mediate the dose-dependent effects of gallamine on the binding of [(3)H]quinuclidinylbenzilate (QNB) and N-[(3)H]methylscopolamine (NMS) to M(2) muscarinic receptors in membranes and solubilized preparations from porcine atria, CHO cells, and Sf9 cells. The rate of dissociation of [(3)H]QNB was affected in a bell-shaped manner with at least one Hill coefficient (n(H)) greater than 1, indicating that at least three allosteric sites are involved. The level of binding of [(3)H]QNB was decreased in a biphasic manner, revealing at least two allosteric sites; binding of [(3)H]NMS was affected in a triphasic, serpentine manner, revealing at least three sites, and values of n(H) >1 pointed to at least four sites. Several lines of evidence indicate that all effects of gallamine were allosteric in nature and could be observed at equilibrium. The rates of equilibration and dissociation suggest that the receptor was predominately oligomeric, and the heterogeneity revealed by gallamine can be attributed to differences in its affinity for the constituent protomers of a tetramer. Those differences appear to arise from inter- and intramolecular cooperativity between gallamine and the radioligand.


Based on the available secured files and information in the companies; they need to be secured by a very high system. Currently, most of companies are accessed by normal keys in order to access the offices. But, those keys might be lost or stolen. In addition, those doors can be hacked easily by thieves. This raises a need to improve security of such information by limiting access only to those who have authorization to do so. The traditional means, as well as biometric traits other than iris, do provide such control; yet they still have several limitations in verifying the identity of individuals. In this presents the design of an Iris Recognition System for accessing Building and Control System


ABSTRACT The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) accessory protein Nef stimulates viral infectivity by an unknown mechanism. Recent studies have suggested that Nef may act by regulating the efficiency of virus entry into cells. Here we provide evidence to the contrary. Using a quantitative assay of HIV-1 virus-cell fusion, we observed equivalent rates and extents of fusion of wild-type and Nef-defective HIV-1 particles with MT-4 cells and CD4-expressing HeLa cells. In studies using soluble CD4 (sCD4) to inhibit infection, wild-type and Nef-defective HIV-1 escaped the sCD4 block with similar kinetics. We conclude that Nef acts at a postentry step in infection, probably by facilitating intracellular transport of the HIV-1 ribonucleoprotein complex.


Transmission line distance relaying for flexible AC transmission lines (FACTS) including thyristor controlled series compensator (TCSC), STATCOM, SVC and unified power flow controller (UPFC) has been a very challenging task. A new approach for fault zone identification and fault classification for TCSC and UPFC line using decision tree (DT) is presented. One cycle post fault current and voltage samples from the fault inception are used as input vectors against target output '1' for fault after TCSC/UPFC and '0' for fault before TCSC/UPFC for fault zone identification. Similarly, the DT-based classification algorithm takes one cycle data from fault inception of three phase currents along with zero-sequence current and voltage, and constructs the optimal DT for classifying all ten types of shunt faults in the transmission line fault process. The algorithm is tested on simulated fault data with wide variations in operating parameters of the power system network including noisy environment. The results indicate that the proposed method can reliably identify the fault zone and classify faults in the FACTs-based transmission line in large power network.


Experimental variation from ultrasonic hardware is one source of uncertainty in measured ultrasonic data. This uncertainty leads to a reduction in the accuracy of images generated from these data. In this paper, a quick, easy-to-use and robust methodology is proposed to reduce this
 uncertainty in images generated using the total focusing method (TFM). Using a 128-element linear phased array, multiple full matrix capture (FMC) datasets of a planar reflection are used to characterise the experimental variation associated with each element index in the aperture. Following
 this, a methodology to decouple the time-domain error associated with transmission and reception at each element index is presented. These time-domain errors are then introduced into a simulated array model used to generate the two-way pressure profile from the array. The side-lobe-to-main-lobe
 energy ratio (SMER) and beam offset are used to quantify the impact of these measured time-domain errors on the pressure profile. This analysis shows that the SMER is raised by more than 6 dB and the beam is offset by more than 1 mm from its programmed focal position. This calibration methodology
 is then demonstrated using a steel non-destructive testing (NDT) sample with three side-drilled holes (SDHs). The time delay errors from transmission and reception are introduced into the time-of-flight (TOF) calculation for each ray path in the TFM. This results in an enhancement in the accuracy
 of defect localisation in the TFM image.


A decreasing-sized π -model electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structure is presented and applied to protect against ESD stresses at the RF input pad of an ultra-low power CMOS front-end operating in the 2.4-GHz industrial-scientific-medical band. The proposed ESD protection structure is composed of a pair of ESD devices located near the RF pad, another pair close to the core circuit, and a high-quality integrated inductor connecting these two pairs. This structure can sustain a human body-model ESD level higher than 16 kV and a machine-model ESD level higher than 1 kV without degrading the RF performance of the front-end. A combined on-wafer transmission line pulse and RF test methodology for RF circuits is also presented confirming previous results. The front-end implements a zero-IF receiver. It has been implemented in a standard 2P6M 0.18-μm CMOS process. It exhibits a voltage gain of 24 dB and a single-sideband noise figure of 8.4 dB, which make it suitable for most of the 2.4-GHz wireless short-range communication transceivers. The power consumption is only 1.06 mW from a 1.2-V voltage supply.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate a broad range of choral conductors' views on competences needed in their own practice, and how education and experience have contributed to their current level of mastery. Choral conductors (N = 685) in Norway, Sweden, and Germany completed a survey covering 15 competence items that together constitute a holistic view of the choral conducting role. The survey also captured contextual data related to academic education and working situation. The analysis sought to determine the degree of situatedness and universality of the various competency items. The results show that there is a general agreement on the relative importance of competencies across various contexts, with some notable differences. The two key factors that drive the self-perceived competence level are leading advanced choirs and years of experience. A degree specifically in choral conducting matters, but primarily for gestural skills. Music degrees in general do not explain variations across participants. With regard to aural skills, we observe that the retrospective appreciation of education grows with the longevity of experience.


Study of the SISO mixed H2/l1 problem for discrete time systems showed that there exists a unique optimal solution which can be approximated within any prescribed missing error bound in l2 norm with solvable suboptimal solutions and solvable superoptimal solutions.


In the present study, we evaluated the incidence of postmolar gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) in molar pregnancy. We also validated the macroscopic diagnosis based on the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) classification. A total of 297 samples of hydropic villi were classified according to DNA polymorphisms as androgenetic moles, dispermic triploids, or biparental diploids (hydropic abortion), clinically corresponding to complete hydatidiform mole (CHM), partial hydatidiform mole (PHM), and hydropic abortion, respectively. These samples were also classified morphologically based on the JSOG classification. A follow‐up study was performed to investigate the incidence of postmolar GTD. A subset of 267 samples eligible for testing were analyzed and diagnosed as androgenetic moles (232 cases), dispermic triploids (20 cases), and biparental diploids (15 cases). Most of the macroscopically diagnosed CHM cases were genetically androgenetic in origin. The PHM cases consisted of 30 androgenetic moles and 12 dispermic triploids. We reviewed the outcomes of 200 patients (178 cases of androgenetic mole, 13 cases of dispermic triploids, and nine cases of biparental diploids). Twenty‐eight cases (16%) of androgenetic moles developed postmolar GTD. None of the patients with dispermic triploids developed postmolar GTD. Among the 28 patients who developed postmolar GTD, the shortest diameter of the largest hydropic villi was significantly longer than that of patients not developing postmolar GTD. None of the patients with androgenetic moles who had hydropic villi <2 mm in their shortest diameter developed postmolar GTD. For the patients with dispermic triploids, the risk of postmolar GTD is extremely low. The risk of postmolar GTD is also low in patients with androgenetic moles with small hydropic villi. The JSOG classification based on the morphology of hydropic villi is reliable for the diagnosis of CHM, but inaccurate for the diagnosis of PHM or "microscopic" moles. (Cancer Sci 2010)


The effect of the inclusion of Leucaena leucocephala and Tithonia diversifolia in Zebu steers receiving a diet based on improved pastures such as Brachiaria decumbens and Brachiaria hybrid cv Cayman on nitrogen (N) excretion, urinary volume and rumen microbial population was evaluated. To determine the dry matter intake and nutrient excretion, eight steers were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design consisting of four periods and four diets. Four of them were cannulated for ruminal fluid extraction and quantification of ruminal microorganisms in three times of grazing (T0, T7 and T15). Forage intake was calculated through the external marker titanium dioxide. Diet including forages with superior protein content generated an increase in the gene copy numbers of Prevotella ruminicola and total bacteria on 15 sampling day (p < 0.001). Animals receiving diets with the dietary inclusion of Leucaena and Tithonia had daily N intakes of 228 and 113.5g N intake d−1, of which they excreted 42% and 61%, respectively. Inclusion of both protein forages increased daily urinary volume (9% and 7% d−1), with respect to the pasture-based diet. This study revealed that the inclusion of 18% Leucaena in a pasture-based diet improves the dry matter intake and N retention in Zebu steers under tropical conditions.


Based on extensive interviews with the major players, including Marvin Minsky, Herbert Simon, Alan Newell, Raj Reddy, and Patrick Winston, this book is part intellectual history, part business history. Rich with anecdotes about the founders and leaders and their celebrated feuds and intellectual gamesmanship, AI chroncles their dramatic sucesses, from robotics to world-class chess playing, their equally dramatic failures, and discusses the next necessary breakthrough: teaching computers &dquo;common sense.&dquo;


AIM
To assess the diagnostic accuracy of Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) to diagnose apical periodontitis (AP) using histopathology of ex vivo human jaws as the reference standard.

METHODOLOGY
Based on periapical radiographs of jaw specimens from human bodies donated for science, a sample of 223 teeth with 340 roots including all tooth groups, and different disease and treatment statuses was selected. Cone Beam Computed Tomography was performed using Cranex® 3Dx (Soredex Oy, Tuusula, Finland), small field-of-view (5 × 5 cm), and isotropic resolution 0.085 mm. Three observers assessed the presence of AP using a probability index. Histopathological examination of the periapical area was used as a reference standard to calculate estimates of diagnostic accuracy.

RESULTS
For non-root filled teeth all estimates of diagnostic accuracy; sensitivity (SENS), specificity (SPEC), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were high. All estimates were lower for root filled teeth. When mild AP was classified as 'AP', SENS, SPEC and NPV were significantly lower in root filled roots (P < 0.001 in all cases). The same tendency was seen when mild AP was classified as 'No AP' but here only the difference in SPEC was significant (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
The diagnostic accuracy of CBCT used for diagnosis of AP is dependent on the treatment status of the tooth. For non-root filled teeth the diagnostic accuracy of CBCT is high and almost all cases of AP can be diagnosed correctly with only a very small risk of over-diagnosis. All diagnostic accuracy parameters were lower for root filled roots, hence the diagnosis of AP on root filled roots using CBCT was less accurate.


Introduction. In recent years, research has focused on the impact that diabetes mellitus (DM) has on male reproductive function. The available evidence has mainly considered type 2 DM (DM2). However, we have previously shown that type 1 DM (DM1) also affects male reproductive health. Given the efficacy of carnitine in the treatment of male infertility, a topic that merits further investigation is its role in the treatment of infertile patients with DM1. Aim. To investigate the efficacy of carnitines for the treatment of asthenozoospermia in DM1 patients. Methods. This was a two-arm single-blind, randomized control trial. The patients enrolled in this study were assigned to the group receiving L-acetylcarnitine (LAC) (1.5 g daily for 4 months) or to the group receiving LAC (same dosage) plus L-carnitine (LC) (2 g daily for 4 months). Serum-glycated hemoglobin levels did not differ significantly after either of the two treatments given. Administration of LAC plus LC showed greater efficacy on progressive sperm motility than single therapy (increase 14% vs. 1% after treatment, respectively). Discussion. The results of this study showed that the administration of LAC plus LC is more effective than the administration of LAC alone. The lower efficacy of LAC alone could be due to the lower overall administered dosage. Alternatively, a selective defect of carnitine transporters at an epididymal level could be hypothesized in patients with DM1. Further studies are needed to clarify this point.


3D multifunctional frameworks, as flexible as a single strand of silk, modulate and measure neural activity of brain spheroids. Three-dimensional (3D), submillimeter-scale constructs of neural cells, known as cortical spheroids, are of rapidly growing importance in biological research because these systems reproduce complex features of the brain in vitro. Despite their great potential for studies of neurodevelopment and neurological disease modeling, 3D living objects cannot be studied easily using conventional approaches to neuromodulation, sensing, and manipulation. Here, we introduce classes of microfabricated 3D frameworks as compliant, multifunctional neural interfaces to spheroids and to assembloids. Electrical, optical, chemical, and thermal interfaces to cortical spheroids demonstrate some of the capabilities. Complex architectures and high-resolution features highlight the design versatility. Detailed studies of the spreading of coordinated bursting events across the surface of an isolated cortical spheroid and of the cascade of processes associated with formation and regrowth of bridging tissues across a pair of such spheroids represent two of the many opportunities in basic neuroscience research enabled by these platforms.


We report the results of 2 types of field experiment done to examine the influence of the interaction between small-scale flow disruptions and chemical cues associated with conspecific individuals on the settlement of larvae of 2 congeneric barnacle species, Elminius modestus and E. covertus. One series of experiments (ridge experiments) examined the effects of the chemical component of barnacle presence and flow disruptions at the scale of settlement plates (<10 cm). Cyprids could contact surfaces containing chemical cues from conspecific adults on either ridged or flat plates. Settlement was greatest on plates with cues but was not affected by flow disruptions. The other experiment (mimic experiment) used settlement plates with either live barnacles or casts of adult barnacles attached, as well as flat control plates, to test the influence of conspecific presence and flow disruption at the scale of individual barnacles (< 1 cm) on the settlement of cyprids. Settlement was affected by both live barnacles and barnacle mimics, indicating that a combination of flow and conspecific-derived cues influence settlement. Hence, the importance of flow disruption to the settlement of cyprids is dependent on the scale of the disruption. The survival of barnacles for up to 2 mo after settlement was also followed in the ridge experiments. The settlement patterns larvae showed early in these experiments were not evident after periods of heavy recruitment; we discuss possible causes.


The effect of sulfhydryl reagents on binding of the beta-adrenergic antagonist (-)-[3H]dihydroalprenolol hydrochloride [-)-[3H]DHA) to a microsomal fraction of rabbit ventricular muscle was studied. Incubation with the disulfide reducing agents dithiothreitol (DTT), 2-mercaptoethanol, and reduced glutathione resulted in loss of (-)-[3H]DHA binding. At 500 microM DTT, less than 50% of specific binding activity remained; at 100 mM, binding was completely eliminated. 2-Mercaptoethanol and reduced glutathione were less effective than DTT at inhibiting binding activity. The total binding capacity (Bmax) decreased from 155.4 fmol mg-1 of protein, in the absence of DTT, to 92.4 and 77.5 fmol mg-1 at 0.25 and 0.7 mM DTT, respectively. The equilibrium dissociation constant (KD) increased from 7.6 nM, in the absence of DTT, to 10.3 nM at 0.25 mM DTT and to 20.8 nM at 0.7 mM DTT. Thus, DTT-induced decline in (-)-[3H]DHA binding results from a decrease in both the number and affinity of membrane binding sites for the tracer. Receptors could be protected from DTT inactivation by preincubation with beta-adrenergic ligands. Oxidants could not reverse inactivation, with the exception of o-iodosobenzoate which was only partially effective. Thus, the beta-adrenergic receptor of rabbit ventricular muscle contains essential disulfide moietie(s) which can be inactivated by reducing thiols.


Background The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends behavioral counseling for youth at high-risk for STDs, but little work has explored translation of these guidelines into practice. Here, we evaluated a large-scale implementation of behavioral counseling in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). Methods Implementation occurred between June 2017 and May 2018 in four FQHCs in Northeastern US. Many patients were below the poverty level (27–65%) or uninsured (13–47%). Training content comprised motivational interviewing skills and techniques for talking to youth about sex and sexual histories, delivered to pilot providers via 15 hours of online and in-person training. We measured the proportion of patients who received (a) a sexual history, (b) behavioral counseling, (c) HPV vaccine and (d) chlamydia screening. We tracked changes in work-flow and implementation and allowed for tailoring of sexual history taking per the needs of FQHCs. Results 39,631 eligible patients (13–24 years old, 71.0% Hispanic, 68.3% white, 24.9% black) were seen during the implementation period, of whom 9,675 (24.4%) saw a pilot provider. Similar proportions in each group completed a sexual history (70.6% vs. 71.4%, p=0.1787). However, higher proportions of patients exposed to the pilot providers received behavioral counseling (67.5% vs. 43.5%, p<0.0001), HPV vaccine (71.7% vs. 51.2%, p<0.0001) and chlamydia screening (38.4% vs.32.1%, p<0.0001). Of youth who were seen by a pilot provider and given a sexual history, 84.2% received behavioral counseling. Of counseled patients, 83.6% received HPV vaccine and 85.2% were screened for chlamydia. Work flows were individualized to each health center and became increasingly efficient over time. Conclusion Primary outcomes from this translation study support the conclusion that an intensive, but short, training regimen on behavioral counseling, coupled with a flexible strategy for assessing sexual histories, results in higher rates of behavioral counseling and provision of prevention services as compared to those who did not receive training. Disclosure No significant relationships.


Super Duplex Stainless Steel (SDSS) is the preferred material utilized in steel tube umbilicals, due to its excellent corrosion resistance and high mechanical strength. SDSS is susceptible to Hydrogen Induced Stress Cracking (HISC) under the influence of a Cathodic Protection (CP) system, especially the welded zone. Porosity (relevant rounded indication) is one of the most common weld flaws that impacts the SDSS weld reject rate based on historical acceptance criteria.
 A study has been carried out investigating the influence of weld porosity on 25% Cr (SDSS) butt welded tube, under the effect of CP potential by using a Slow Strain Rate Testing (SSRT) technique. The study focused on the correlation between the level of porosity and the material mechanical performance when exposed to a simulated CP system in seawater at an elevated temperature.
 The impact of HISC was evaluated through an assessment of various tube welds including welds with different levels of porosity quantified by number, size and location of pores, when exposed directly to natural CP system in seawater for 4 and 8 weeks. Post hydrogen pre-charging, the samples were subjected immediately to a modified Slow Strain Rate Test (SSRT). After hydrogen charging and SSRT the resulting fracture morphology was examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the failure mode was assessed in relation to porosity locations.
 Experimental results indicate that all hydrogen pre-charged samples with or without pores decrease in ductility after exposure to the CP system which was further confirmed by the fractography analysis. It was observed that susceptibility of SDSS to HISC is broadly similar for welds with porosity or without porosity and brittle phenomena is more pronounced at the exposed surfaces of the samples.
 The study has demonstrated that the butt weld of SDSS umbilical tube with a controlled porosity level in line with ASME design codes does not show an increased susceptibility to HISC under CP system when compared to welds with no porosity.


Bats are integral components of the environment serving an indispensable role in maintaining the health of different ecosystem ranging from forested areas up to riparian zones. Rivers and riparian areas provide an important habitat for bat fauna by providing direct valuable resources. The bat fauna along the Cagayan de Oro river had never been assessed and the current study was the first. Bat survey was conducted in different relevant locations along the river communities through mist netting designed to provide baseline ecological information and initial data on species composition and biometrics of bat species present in the Cagayan river zone. Eight bat species – five Pteropodids, two Vespertilionids and one Emballonurid – were recorded representing 15% of the bats of Mindanao faunal region and over 10% of the total Philippine bat fauna. Two species were Philippine endemics though with stable population status but are considered of conservation priority. Further studies along more complete portions of Cagayan de Oro river would likely add essential information on bat species composition and distribution in the area and would give a clearer overview regarding the bat fauna along the Cagayan de Oro river. Keywords - Chiroptera, Bat diversity, Philippine bat fauna, Cagayan de Oro river, Riparian, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines


This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of early revegetation by analyzing the characteristics of germination and growth of Chrysanthemum zawadskii using vegetation-plant in rock slopes. After making up a growing basis of approximately 20-cm depth and 10-cm diameter by using a boring machine, the surface of rock slopes was planted with vegetation-plant. The number of germinating populations by soil media was 41 in H.s, 4 in T.s, 3 in M.s, and 0 in M.g.s. The germination rate (%) by soil media was 20.0% in H.s, 3.3% in T.s, 2.5% in M.s and 0% in M.g.s. In monthly changes of growth rate, the aspect was northwest direction, the soil media was H.s, and the treatment was microorganism plot. The main factors affecting survivorship and growth of population were soil media and treatment plot. The interaction between each factor had a good effects in bearing x treatment plot, soil media x treatment plot. but, it is recommended that the mulching of vegetation plant is highly needed to help the germination of seed and growth of vegetation because of loss of seed and soil media occurred due to rainfall. Therefore, The result suggests that the revegetation technique using boring in rock slope was very efficient in respect of the early revegetation and the landscape.


Background: Despite their importance, pediatric palliative care (PPC) services are still scantly diffused. In addition, eligibility criteria for PPC are quite complex. Consequently, clinicians require a tool that suggests how to refer patients with life-limiting diseases to the most appropriate service and how to properly allocate health care resources. Objective: Recently, the Accertamento dei bisogni Clinico-Assistenziali Complessi in PEDiatria (ACCAPED) scale has been developed by a group of experts in PPC to evaluate the specific clinical needs of pediatric patients with a life-limiting disease. This study presents the validation of the ACCAPED scale. Design: Validation of ACCAPED scale was pursued by means of description and analysis of clinical vignettes representing patients with challenging-to-evaluate needs who have to be referred to the most appropriate service (community care, general PPC, and specialized PPC). The evaluation of vignettes according to the clinical experience of the experts represented the gold standard against which the validity of the ACCAPED scale was tested by groups with different levels of experience (experts, pediatricians, and health care providers (HCPs) not involved in PPC). Results: Results show a very high concordance between the evaluation of the vignettes through the ACCAPED scale and the evaluation by the clinical experience for experts in PPC and pediatricians. A less favorable grade of concordance has been recorded for HCPs not involved in PPC, suggesting that educational efforts to improve basic knowledge of PPC within the medical community are needed. Conclusions: Overall, this study suggests that the ACCAPED scale is a useful tool to improve rationalization of resources and eligibility criteria for PPC.


Modern society spends more time indoors, which has led to the hypothesis that indoor exposure can better represent the effects of air pollution at the individual level. Studies on the landscape of urban residential indoor air quality have never been carried out nationally in Indonesia. After 70 years of commitment to standardize the health aspects of the home in Indonesia, this study intends to make a chronological reflection on the Indonesian government's policy in residential indoor air quality. This study raised and analyzed several questions in the national and local context from the previous research. The government's various policies and regulations are chronologically listed to see the development and look for regulatory or implementation gaps. The indicators of insufficient ventilation and indoor air quality in much Indonesian urban housing have been shown in previous studies, encouraging this study to be necessary. This study used a chronological review using national and international journals. Previous studies have shown possibilities to estimate the landscape of indoor pollution exposure effectively using a socio-economic approach as a part. The latest national housing survey results can be used as references to discover the housing landscape status in Indonesia for further research suggestions.


We have performed time-dependent numerical simulations of the interstellar medium (ISM) which account for galactic shear and magnetic fields, vertical gravity, and a radiative cooling function for atomic gas. This allows us to study the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in cloudy, vertically stratified disks. As in previous unstratified models, we find that thermal instability interacts with MRI-driven turbulence and galactic shear to produce a network of cold, dense, filamentary clouds embedded in a warm diffuse ambient medium. There is significant thermally unstable gas, but the density and temperature distributions retain the twin peaks of the classical two-phase ISM. Independent of the total gas surface density and vertical gravity levels adopted, the midplane ratios of thermal to magnetic pressure are β = 0.3-0.6, when the mean vertical magnetic field is 0.26 μG. We analyze the vertical distributions of density and various pressure terms and address what supports the ISM vertically. All models become differentially stratified by temperature; only when the cold mass fraction is small does turbulent mixing maintain a large cold-medium scale height. Turbulent velocities of the cold gas also increase as the cold mass fraction decreases, but are generally low (~1-3 km s-1) near the midplane; they increase to >5 km s-1 at high . Turbulent amplitudes are higher in the warm gas. The central thermal pressure is similar for all models even though the total weight varies by a factor of 7 for a range of imposed vertical gravity; in higher gravity models the increased weight is supported by increased magnetic pressure gradients. Approximate vertical equilibrium holds for all models. Finally, we argue that in the outer parts of galactic disks, MRI is likely able to prevent the development of self-gravitating instabilities and hence suppress star formation, even if cold gas is present.


Mechanisms of action of estrogen on brain structure and function provide biological plausibility for the purported effects of this steroid hormone on aspects of cognition in women. Prospective experimental studies and observational studies indicate that estrogen helps maintain verbal and, possibly, visual memory in women. A suggested battery of neuropsychological tests is presented while caveats concerning possible experimental confounds in studies of estrogen and memory such as depression and the concomitant administration of progestins are discussed. The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women must also consider the risks and benefits of such treatment for each individual woman.


resistance which represents temperature may be displayed either on a digital multimeter, in which case the rapidly changing numbers are confusing, or on a moving-coil type meter in which case the fluctuations are small. We have devised a circuit in which the thermistor in the catheter forms part of a voltage divider, the output of which is fed into one input of a different amplifier and compared with a reference voltage. The output is differentiated by a blocking capacitor and fed to a centre zero meter. Strictly speaking, the circuit responds to a change in temperature of the thermistor, not its absolute temperature. Power is provided by two nine volt PP3 batteries and the total cost, including the case, is less than f5. A block diagram of the circuit is shown in Fig. 1. The catheter is shortened so that the thermistor is about 5 mm from the end of the catheter. It is introduced into the nose and its position adjusted to give the -


The trigeminal nerve supplied muscles share many traits due to their common embryological derivation from the mandibular branchial arch. Many of these muscles, especially the masticatory, exhibit very complex intra- and intermuscular anatomical and functional specializations which continue to be investigated. Two schemes have been proposed to classify the intramuscular and extramuscular slips associated with these muscles: 1) based on recognizable laminae within each muscle; 2) based on the pattern of nerve distribution to definable parts of each muscle. The extramuscular slips have been identified on the bases of their nerve supply. The second scheme is beginning to yield results which confirm Edgeworth's (1914, 1935) hypothesis regarding the ontogeny and phylogeny of the trigeminal nerve supplied musculature. These advances in the rational classification of these muscles have resulted from improved methods to expose the deeper parts of the masticatory and related spaces. However, because of the piecemeal exposure of parts of the spaces which contain some of the deeper trigeminal muscles there remain several issues that still need to be resolved. We provide a detailed protocol by which all the trigeminal nerve supplied muscles can be isolated from the upper cranium so that the entire mandibular nerve tree along with its musculature may be described as a connected complex of related structures. The practical and clinical implications of this new methodology are evaluated and discussed.


Purpose: To improve image quality in low‐dose 4D‐CT using a selective averaging algorithm that combines images acquired under free breathing and registered to a single breathing phase. Methods: Five patients were imaged with a low‐pitch helical protocol on a 64‐slice scanner during free patient breathing, as part of an IRB‐approved research protocol. 25 low dose scans were performed in order to image the lungs at varying breathing phases to generate a breathing motion model. The first scan was registered to the subsequent 24 using a b‐spline registration algorithm to produce 25 representations of a single patient scan geometry. These images were averaged using k‐means clustering (k=2 clusters) in conjunction with the arithmetic mean. A gradient mapping algorithm assigned the appropriate mean value to each voxel to produce a composite image. This algorithm calculates the image gradient at each voxel and assigns a cluster mean when the gradient magnitude is above a threshold, otherwise assigning the arithmetic mean. The composite image was compared with the first image in the set as well as the arithmetic mean of all 25 scans. Image noise was calculated in an axial region of the liver. Sharpness was measured as the sum of gradient magnitudes across the image. Results: By combining gradient selective k‐means clustering with the arithmetic mean, image noise was reduced by 78% while maintaining sharpness within 14.5% of the reference image. This improves on the arithmetic mean in sharpness by 14% with less than a 1% increase in noise. Conclusion: Results indicate that 4D‐CT image quality can be improved by co‐registration followed by a gradient selective averaging algorithm. This method greatly reduces image noise while maintaining sharpness that is lost in a simple averaging algorithm. This work supported in part by NIH R01CA096679


Two caliche profiles from a Pleistocene carbonate dune on San Salvador Island, Bahamas, were examined by petrographic and geochemical analysis. Profile A is an immature buried caliche profile characterized by caliche pisolites, a friable crust and abundant Cerion. Profile B is a more well-developed caliche profile at the top of the dune which contains abundant pisolites, rhizomorphs, laminated calcrete, a breccia and abundant Cerion.

Geochemical changes in caliche profiles relative to the host rock are an increase in Al2O3, Fe2O3 and total organic carbon, a decrease in Mg and Sr, and a decrease in δ13Ccarb, δ18Ocarb and δ13Corg. The magnitude of these changes is probably a function of the duration of subaerial exposure and resultant colonization by dune plants and associated microflora.

Abundance of calcified filaments and needle-fibre crystals in profile A attests to the importance of microbial processes in the early development of caliche profiles. Biogenic structures are largely destroyed in profile B due to recrystallization, but indirect evidence of biological activity is retained in the form of carbon isotope values.


Event-B [15] is a formal modeling method intended to support refinement, an initial system description at a high level of abstraction with detail added in successive understandable steps. The refinement process may be carried to its logical conclusion, specification of all detail needed to define an executable in a high-level language, and automatic generation of source code from the model via a suitable tool. The introduction of the RODIN [20] tool-set allows such extensions to be provided by third-party developers [3], and translation of Event-B to the C [12] programming language has always been intended [2]. This paper discusses the requirements of such a tool, introduces the B2C extension to RODIN that has been developed to meet these needs, and describes its use on a practical example.


We report a thermo-optic switching effect with a high extinction ratio of 30 dB by means of filling a fluid into air holes of a solid-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Such an effect can perform a turn on-off operation of the transmitted light via a small temperature adjustment of ±10°C. The switching function attributes to the absorption of the filled fluid in combination with the interaction between the core mode and the excited ¿fluid rod¿ modes, resulting from the thermo-optic effect of the filled fluid.


This paper presents an algorithm for the discovery of building blocks in genetic programming (GP) called adaptive representation through learning (ARL). The central idea ARL is the adaptation of the problem representation, by extending the set of terminals and functions with a set of evolvable subroutines. The set of subroutines extracts common knowledge emerging during the evolutionary process and acquires the necessary structure for solving the problem. ARL supports subroutine creation and deletion. Subroutine creation or discovery is performed automatically based on the differential parent-offspring fitness and block activation. Subroutine deletion relies on a utility measure similar to schema fitness over a window of past generations. The techuique described is tested on the problem of controlling an agent in a dynamic and non-deterministic environment. The automatic discovery of subroutines can help scale up the GP technique to complex problems.