Ultrasound imaging is one of the most versatile
imaging method in order to observe inner workings of human-
body. Due to its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, easy availability
and portability, a diverse set of applications are influenced
by this very popular imaging modality. Despite its popularity
as one of the most widely used imaging techniques, it has
some serious limitations including lack of image clarity as
well as complete absence of any visual aesthetics. Although,
commonplace data filters can potentially make ultrasound
images smoother looking, however, there is a significant loss
of information introduced by the smoothing filters. In this
article, we developed a method to enhance the image clarity
as well as a protocol for enhancing image aesthetics for
ultrasound modality using modern data-curation tool SOCKS.
We performed few case studies using various color schemas
applied on a publicly available fetal ultrasound image. The
outlined technique can be easily generalized to any other kind
of ultrasound images. We hypothesize that, our method would
not only provide us with enhanced scientific accuracy, visual
clarity of ultrasound images but also add additional layers of
visual clarity coupled with artistic and aesthetic values. Our
method calls for an complete rethinking of how we present
ultrasound images


Surveying civil war in the world today is striking in terms of how often religious cleavages and grievances have become central to armed conflict. How are the causes and outcomes of religious civil wars different than other civil wars, if at all? Is Islam implicated for the contemporary surge in religious civil war? The first section reviews the literature and addresses the importance of religion for civil war. I then introduce a dataset and describe key trends in religious civil war in the third section, while in the fourth section I present tests of whether Muslim or Arab Muslim societies in particular are more prone to religious strife. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the main findings.


Real-time signal processing applications can be described naturally with dataflow graphs. The systems we consider have a mix of real-time and non-real-time processing, where independent dataflow graphs represent tasks and individual dataflow actors are subtasks. Rate-monotonic scheduling is optimal for fixed-priority, preemptive scheduling of periodic tasks. Priority inheritance protocols extend rate-monotonic scheduling theory to include tasks that contend for exclusive access to shared resources. We show that non-preemptive rate-monotonic scheduling can be viewed as preemptive scheduling where the processor is explicitly considered a shared resource. We propose a dynamic, real-time execution model inspired by multithreaded dataflow architectures.


Machiavelli's thought and figure resurface in many pages of Antonio Gramsci's "Prison Notebooks". Notebook 13, which is explicitly devoted to the Secretary of the Florentine Republic, includes only a part of the author's reflections concerning Machiavelli's work and it consists mainly of notes concerning the science of politics. This is so because his studies on Machiavelli led Gramsci to consider writing a book which could combine political struggle and theoretical reflection, relying on the models of "The Prince" and the "Manifesto of the Communist Party". Therefore, in his interpretation of Machiavelli's main work, Gramsci looks not only at the theorist, but also at the politician who throughout "The Prince" traces a viable and effective path for conducting political action in the real world.


We propose a compositional method to assess the factuality of biomedical events extracted from the literature. The composition procedure relies on the notion of semantic embedding and a fine-grained classification of extrapropositional phenomena, including modality and valence shifting, and a dictionary based on this classification. The event factuality is computed as a product of the extra-propositional operators that have scope over the event. We evaluate our approach on the GENIA event corpus enriched with certainty level and polarity annotations. The results indicate that our approach is effective in identifying the certainty level component of factuality and is less successful in recognizing the other element, negative polarity.


Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has become an important tool both for defining initial chromosomal abnormalities within a disease process, and for monitoring response to therapy as well as minimal residual disease. We report the results of interphase FISH (iFISH) analysis of 92 patients. We have used five different FISH probes to detect common cytogenetic rearrangements associated with hematological malignancies. A total of 83 patients were screened for BCR/ABL gene rearrangements. Displayed iFISH patterns of BCR/ABL gene rearrangements in 37.3% of patients (31/83) ranged between 10% to 98%. In addition, while 3 patients and one patient with AML showed t(15; 17) (12.5%) and inv(16; 16) (8.3%) respectively, t(8; 21) was not found. Furthermore, secondary chromosomal aberrations (6.5% of all cases) were clearly non random in the present study. The diagnosis of BCR/ABL gene rearrangements are likely become an important tool for the monitoring of therapies in patients with CML. Atypical patterns also may have clinical prognostic implications. Further studies in larger groups of patients are needed in order to elucidate the role of AML1/ETO, PML/RARA, CBFB and p53, and to identify the specific chromosomal regions and interacting genes involved in this process.


Two myasthenia gravis patients developed nephrotic syndrome due to minimal change glomerulopathy 3 to 14 years after thymectomy for malignant thymoma. Impaired cellular and humoral immunity has been documented in patients with thymoma and persists after thymectomy. The occurrence of minimal change disease lends support to the hypothesis that the glomerulopathy is secondary to T-cell dysfunction, resulting in production of a lymphokine which increases glomerular basement membrane permeability.


Objectives The objectives of our study were to demonstrate the clinicopathological characteristics and determine the prognostic factors for women with synchronous primary cancers of the endometrium and ovary. Methods A retrospective analysis of 43 pathologically proven cases of synchronous primary endometrial and ovarian cancers diagnosed between January 2005 and December 2015 was carried out. Patients with uterine sarcomas, carcinosarcomas, borderline tumors, and nonepithelial tumors of the ovary and patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy were excluded from the study. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis to determine independent prognostic factors was performed using the Cox regression model. Results Mean age at diagnosis was 48.49 years. The most common presenting symptom was abnormal uterine bleeding in 58.2% of the patients. Nineteen patients (44.2%) were obese, and 13 patients (30.2%) were overweight. Twelve patients (30%) were nulliparous, and 25 (58.2%) were premenopausal; 76.7% of the patients received adjuvant treatment after surgery. Mean follow-up period was 48.9 months. Twelve patients developed recurrence, and 7 patients died of recurrent disease. The 5-year DFS for all patients was 65.13%, and the 5-year OS was 79.75%. The 118-month DFS and 118-month OS were 65.13% and 72.50%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, grade 3 disease for both endometrial and ovarian cancers and presence of lymphovascular space invasion were associated with significantly worse 118-month DFS and OS, respectively. Conclusions Women with synchronous primary endometrial and ovarian cancers are young, nulliparous, obese, and premenopausal and have a favorable overall prognosis. Grade 3 disease at both sites and presence of lymphovascular space invasion are independent prognostic factors for recurrence and survival, respectively.


The characterisation of anthropogenic climate change as a violation of basic human rights is gaining wide recognition. Many people believe that tackling this problem is exclusively the job of governments and supranational institutions (especially the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). This argument can be traced back to the delegated authority model, according to which the legitimacy of political institutions depends on their ability to solve problems that are difficult to address at the individual level. Since the institutions created to tackle climate change fail to do so, their legitimacy is under great pressure and can only be saved by considerations of feasibility. We argue that democratically elected representatives are able to claim that a more robust climate policy is unfeasible, but only because the mandate we as citizens grant them is very restrictive. Instead of shifting responsibility for the thoroughly inadequate response to climate change fully to political representatives, we should highlight the failure of the political community as a whole to fulfil its responsibility at the input-side of the delegation of authority. When individual voters fail to fulfil the minimal obligation to at least vote for parties that explicitly advocate robust climate policies, they cannot hide behind the delegated authority argument, but should accept their complicity in the massive violations of basic human rights caused by the failure to successfully tackle climate change.


Purpose
This paper aims to propose a study on the static behavior of prismatic tensegrity structures and an innovative form for determining the effect of mechanical properties and geometric parameters on the minimal mass design of these structures.

Design/methodology/approach
The minimal mass design in this paper considers a stable class-two tensegrity tower built through stable models. Using the proposed structures, comprehensive parametric studies are performed to examine the mass (in which the masses of joints are ignored), the mass ratio between a class-two tensegrity tower and a single element, both having the same diameter and length and afterward determine a reliable mass saving structure under various circumstances.

Findings
The simulations show that the mass ratio versus the number of units is a nonlinear regressive curve and predicts that the proposed model outperforms the standard model when the variation parameter considered is a vertical force. The difference in mass between these structures is visible when the gap gradually decreases while the number of units increases. On the geometrical aspect, the gap between the masses is not significant.

Originality/value
This paper helps to understand the influences of geometric parameters and the mechanical properties on the design of cylinder tensegrity structures dealing with a compressive force.


M P I-1 defined collective communication for intracommunicators and two routines, MPI-INTERCOMM-CREATE and MPI-COMM-DUP, for creating new intercommunicators. In addition, in order to avoid argument aliasing problems with Fortran, MPI-1 requires separate send and receive buffers for collective operations. M PI-2 introduces extensions of many of the M PI-1 collective routines to intercommunicators, additional routines for creating intercommunicators, and two new collective routines: a generalized all-to-all and an exclusive scan. In addition, a way to specify &dquo;in place&dquo; buffers is provided for many of the intracommunicator collective operations.


It is now widely recognized that wireless communications systems don't exploit the whole available frequency band. The idea has naturally emerged to develop tools to better use the spectrum. Cognitive Radio (CR) is the concept that meets this challenge. The CR is a form of wireless communication in which a transmitter/ receiver can detect intelligently communication channels that are in use and those that are not, and can move to unused channels. This optimizes the use of available radio frequency spectrum while minimizing interference with other users. CRs must have the ability to learn and adapt their wireless transmission according to the ambient radio environment. The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches in the CR is very promising because they are essential for the implementation of CR networks architecture. They must be able to coexist to make CR systems practical, which may cause interference to other users. To solve the problem of congestion, CR networks use Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA). In order to deal with this problem, the idea of cooperation between users to detect and share spectrum without causing interferences is introduced. The authors found a large number of suggested works relating to spectrum access, those using Auctions, a large number of approaches use the Game theory, but those using Markov chains are fewer. However, some research has been done in this area using Multi Agent Systems (MAS).


Cellular senescence is an irreversible form of cell cycle arrest, which is often characterized by domains of facultative heterochromatin substructures also known as senescence-associated heterochromatin foci (SAHF). SAHF assembly is likely mediated through the downregulation of the Wnt pathway, which inhibits Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Beta (GSK3β) in cells undergoing replicative senescence. Alternatively, High Mobility Group AT-Hook 2 (HMGA2) can also induce SAHF formation in primary cells, through a process in which the involved cell signaling pathway is unknown. Accordingly, it is important to determine whether GSK3β and the Wnt pathway are necessary during HMGA2-induced SAHF formation. In this study, we developed a senescence model for SAHF assembly in WI38 cell through ectopic expression of HMGA2. In this model, typical senescent features were identified, including elevated SA-β-galactosidase staining and the downregulation of the Wnt pathway. We also showed that the GSK3β inhibitor LiCl can partly disable SAHF formation through the HMGA2 overexpression in WI38 cells. However, the disabled SAHF formation resulting from the inactivity of GSK3β in our senescence model cannot be restored through ectopic overexpression of Catenin Beta 1 (CTNNB1), a downstream transcription factor of the Wnt pathway. This indicates that the GSK3β activity alone, and not those of downstream target genes, is crucial for the HMGA2-induced SAHF formation following the downregulation of the Wnt pathway.


The  distinguishing index $D^\prime(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least cardinal $d$ such that $G$ has an edge colouring with $d$ colours that is only preserved by the trivial automorphism. This is similar to the notion of the distinguishing number $D(G)$ of a graph $G$, which is defined with respect to vertex colourings. We derive several bounds for infinite graphs, in particular, we prove the general bound $D^\prime(G)\leq\Delta(G)$ for an arbitrary infinite graph. Nonetheless,  the distinguishing index is at most two for many countable graphs, also for the infinite random graph and for uncountable tree-like graphs. We also investigate the concept of the motion of edges and its relationship with the Infinite Motion Lemma.


The ability to control polymerizations via external stimuli has become a burgeoning field of research. Herein, we will demonstrate that polyethylene microstructure may be tailored via a redox-active olefin polymerization catalyst in conjunction with a photoreductant and visible light irradiation. The changes in polyethylene branching content are confirmed via1H NMR analysis, gel permeation chromatography, and quantitative 13C NMR spectroscopy.


The travelling water-wave problem is one of the classical problems in applied mathematics, and there is a huge and growing literature in this area. However virtually all the published results on three-dimensional travelling water waves concentrate on numerical studies or approximations by simper model equations, and there has been far less rigorous mathematical study of the complete hydrodynamic problem. Functional-analytic techniques for partial differential equations are required to make progress with the exact equations, and in this paper we survey the currently available mathematical results.


A study of works by writers from one or several minority groups. Attention is paid both to the texts and to their social contexts.


The effect of cattle manure collected at different time inoculated with rumen fluid of cattle on biogas production at mesophilic condition was evaluated. A laboratory experiment was carried out using 1000 ml biodigester and performed in batch operation mode. Approximately 100 grams of fresh cattle manure (M) was assigned to each biodigester and mixed with rumen fluid (R) and distilled water (W) into three different M:W:R ratio; 1:1:0; 1:0.5:0.5; and 1:0:1 respectively. All the treatments were prepared in triplicates. The pH of the slurry was recorded before and after the biogas production was determined. The biogas production was recorded at every three days interval for 24 days. The results obtained shows that the pH of the mixture before and after the biogas production provided a reading of 7.34 and 7.15. Significant different (P<0.05) was observed in the cattle manure collected at 0 h and 24 h between the treatment group and control. The best performance biogas production was observed if the rumen fluid used between the ranges of 25–50% of rumen fluid. Cattle manure collected after 12 h of defecation recorded with the highest biogas production compared to 0 h and 24 h of cattle post-defecation. The highest biogas produced was recorded in T3 throughout the experimental periods.


ISSUE ADDRESSED
In response to high rates of gender-based violence and poor sexual and reproductive health indicators in Timor-Leste, a 'Men's Health Project' was implemented in two rural communities in 2013. A peer education model was utilised to engage men in issues regarding health, relationships and wellbeing.

METHODS
Community-based baseline and endline surveys were undertaken to evaluate the project in the two communities.

RESULTS
In 2013, 401 men and boys completed a baseline survey, and 400 completed an endline survey in 2016. Significant differences were found in a number of areas, with more men in the endline survey aware of the negative impacts of alcohol, safe pregnancy practices, family planning and sexually transmitted infections. Many men reported making the major decisions in their family in both surveys.

CONCLUSIONS
The peer education approach engaged men in health awareness and contributed to increasing knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and other health issues. However, whilst education and positive attitudes are an important foundation for change, other enabling mechanisms including vital infrastructure, services and health personnel must be in place to facilitate change and increase access to information and healthcare. Findings highlight the importance of engaging both women and men in processes of challenging behaviours and structures that reinforce gender inequalities. SO WHAT?: Peer education appears to be an effective model for engaging community members in gender and health issues in Timor-Leste. The Men's Health Project enabled men to participate in health awareness and issues regarding health, relationships and wellbeing.


Physicians in ancient Greece believed four humours flowed within the human body-blood, phlegm, black bile, and choler-determining a person's health, mood, and character. Not until the seventeenth century would a more complex view of the anatomy begin to emerge. But by then humoural theory had already become deeply ingrained in Western language and thought-and endures to this day in surprising ways. Interweaving the histories of medicine, science, psychology, and philosophy, Passions and Tempers explores the uncanny persistence of these variable, invisible fluids. It will change how we view our physical, mental, and emotional selves.


Abstract It has become crucial to biosynthesize efficient, secure, and affordable nanoparticles that we use for the treatment of various infections, including surgical site infection and wound infection, due to the rapid development of microbial resistance to numerous antibiotic drugs. The objective of the present study is to biosynthesize cobalt nanoparticles using an extract from the combined peels of garlic (Allium sativum) and onion (Allium cepa). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction were used to confirm the synthesis of cobalt nanoparticle (XRD). Well diffusion was used to measure antimicrobial activity. Escherichia coli, Proteus, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus cohnii, and Klebsiella pneumonia were the bacterial strains employed Both the crude prepared extract and the biosynthesized cobalt nanoparticles demonstrated efficacy against all strains of bacteria, but the crude prepared extract displayed a low zone of inhibition ranging from 10 to 13 mm, while the biosynthesized cobalt nanoparticles displayed a high zone of inhibition ranging from 20 to 24 mm.


The paper examines how the slasher genre has developed over the years. The main point of this examination focus on differences in the stylistic appearance of the killer, the development of the "final girl", the film sole survivor and if there are some narrative changes in the plot structure. The films selected for analysis are scattered over the years, including films like Halloween (Carpenter, 1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984) and Scream (Craven, 1996). The main changes that have occurred over the years according to this examination tells us that the stylistic features to hide the killer from the spectators isn't that important and prominent today as it was in the late 70's and early 80's, especially the lightning feature, that characterized Michael Myers in Halloween. Even the characteristic point-of-view shots, who marks the killers presence, is as gone. The biggest development for the final girl is that she doesn't need to be a virgin anymore in order to defeat the killer, who was the case early on. The narrative structure haven't changed significantly over the years, but the characteristic opening scene which used to contain a sequence that takes place several years earlier where the killer experiencing a trauma of some kind is gone.


This work studies the currents social change process from a ecological view presented by Guatarri. The praxis reflexive of the ecology puts at the first place the relation man-natur and considers the man as part of the natur while contesting the relations of explotation and domination between the people. A change of values is suggested in order to reach more solidarity and cooperation. Looking for these values, the experience of some ONGs located in the cerrado is discussed. The analysis focuses the strains related to sociability forms in communities and societies.


Schistosoma japonicum-infected C57BL/6 mice show similar dynamics of hepatic granulomatous inflammation and delayed hypersensitivity elicited by soluble egg antigens (SEA) which reach peak levels at 9 weeks of infection and then spontaneously regress. In an attempt to link the level of interleukin 2 (IL-2) production to the spontaneous regression of hepatic granulomatous inflammation, the study determined the dynamics of IL-2 production by SEA-challenged isolated hepatic granulomas (HG) and cells isolated enzymatically from the HG. The production of IL-2 by SEA-stimulated HG or HG cells reached its peak when these preparations from 9-week-infected mice were stimulated and fell thereafter. Some possible mechanisms that might explain the IL-2 deficiency were examined. This deficiency is not due to the in vitro binding of IL-2 by the HG cells of infected mice and is, therefore, due rather to underproduction of IL-2. The deficiency was also not explained by reduced numbers of antigen-presenting cells (macrophages or B cells) or of L3T4+ T lymphocytes. In vitro SEA-induced IL-2 production by HG cells from acutely infected mice was suppressed consistently by Lyt-2+ T cells from the spleens and in the majority of our experiments by Lyt-2+ T cells from the HG of mice infected for 10 weeks. These findings are consistent with the main features of our working hypothesis, but it remains to be proven that in vivo deficiency of lymphokine(s) such as IL-2 is responsible for the spontaneous decrease in granulomatous inflammation and that this lymphokine deficiency is a result of suppression.


Elevated compartment pressure is the central feature of exercise-induced anterior tibial compartment syndrome. The compartment pressures of 17 legs of 14 subjects were continuously monitored with the solid state transducer intracompartmental (STIC) catheter system while they ran on a treadmill. The subjects ran with relaxed, rearfoot and forefoot landing styles, confirmed with videotape records and wafer footswitches at heel and toe. In 24 of 34 comparisons, anterior tibial compartment systolic pressures were significantly influenced by landing style. The changes were consistent in direction and magnitude within, but not among, subjects. These findings may have implications for the design of footwear and for the training regimens of patients with exercise-induced anterior tibial compartment syndrome.


We consider the problem of choosing, from a set of N potential stock-keeping units (SKUs) in a retail category, K SKUs to be carried at each store to maximize revenue or profit. Assortments can vary by store, subject to a maximum number of different assortments. We view a SKU as a set of attribute levels and also model possible substitutions when a customer's first choice is not in the assortment. We apply maximum likelihood estimation to sales history of the SKUs currently carried by the retailer to estimate the demand for attribute levels and substitution probabilities, and from this, the demand for any potential SKU, including those not currently carried by the retailer. We specify several alternative heuristics for choosing SKUs to be carried in an assortment. We apply this approach to optimize assortments for three real examples: snack cakes, tires, and automotive appearance chemicals. A portion of our recommendations for tires and appearance chemicals were implemented and produced sales increases of 5.8% and 3.6%, respectively, which are significant improvements relative to typical retailer annual comparable store revenue increases. We also forecast sales shares of 1, 11, and 25 new SKUs for the snack cake, tire, and automotive appearance chemical applications, respectively, with mean absolute percentage errors (MAPEs) of 16.2%, 19.1%, and 28.7%, which compares favorably to the 30.7% MAPE for chain sales of two new SKUs reported by Fader and Hardie (1996). This paper was accepted by Yossi Aviv, operations management.


The doctrine of implied amendment allows that amendments to the Constitution be adopted outside of the constraints of the formal constitutional amendability procedure. Having endorsed the doctrine during the lifetimeof the 1922 Constitution, the Irish courts after 1937 had unambiguously rejected it, for the 'scant respect' it showed for the Constitution as superior law as well as the 'practical disadvantage' that it made the Constitution unknowable. Nevertheless, this article argues that the doctrine of implied amendment has been enjoying an unremarked revival in the context of the ratification of the European and international treaties, the beginnings of which can be seen in the Crotty decision, then traced through McGimpsey, and are now magnified by the sweeping Pringle decision. In Crotty, the Supreme Court judges not only measured the Single European Act for compatibility with the Constitution -- employing a test of constitutional consistency -- but they also endorsed the 'essential scope and objectives' test -- a test of treaty comparison -- which compared the SEA for how different it was from the Treaties of Rome. The basic feature of a test of treaty comparison is, simply, that it examines the treaty in question by reference to another treaty in order to assess whether or not it requires a constitutional amendment. Tests of treaty comparison have since been deployed in both the McGimpsey and Pringle decisions, although the indices of comparison may vary widely between judgments. In Pringle, for example, the majority judges seemed to recognise no less than nine new indices by which the test of treaty comparison can be applied. These range from whether future policy-making power of the State is involved to whether foreign policy as a whole is affected; from whether the treaty is abstract or concrete to whether it has a single purpose or multiple purposes. Consideration of the consistency and congruence of these indicies is for another paper; here, the point is that the test of treaty comparison, in principle, allows that amendments to the Constitution can slip through the net because treaties are being measured for similitude with other treaties without regard to their impact on constitutional provisions. This current application of the doctrine of implied amendment in the context of treaty ratification is, it is suggested, certainly no less troubling than its historical use. The more legally defensible option, which avoids the known dangers of the doctrine of implied amendment, is, as the dissentient in Pringle has done, to assess any treaty by reference to the provisions of the Constitution using the test of constitutional consistency.


Down the century, the volcanic eruptions have produced fatalities and economic losses. Today, almost half billion people and many conurbations (Tokyo, Mexico City, Yokohama, Seattle, Naples, etc.) are located in the proximity of very dangerous volcanoes. The volcanic risk mitigation of these areas requires a careful territorial planning together with an adequate knowledge of the behaviour of constructions under the eruption effects. The problem is very complex considering that a number of actions, such as ash fall, pyroclastic flows, flying fragments, volcanic earthquakes, lahars and tsunami, are produced by an eruptive event. Moreover, apart from the seismic case, the scientific literature relating to the structural volcanic vulnerability is poor. In this context, the paper illustrates a quick level methodology for the volcanic vulnerability assessment aimed at the identification of mitigation techniques. The 'quick' level, useful at territorial scale, is based on the identification of simple elements significant for the structures vulnerability. They are collected in a specific survey form, which adds to the information commonly required in case of the most familiar seismic vulnerability the ones specially related to all the volcano-induced phenomena. Then, the procedure furnishes a vulnerability index through the weighted combination of the vulnerability elements, according to the multi-criteria methods. The methodology proposed is a valuable tool that can be generally adopted in any kind of vulnerability investigation of buildings.


Maize is an important food crop that is grown in most regions of Kenya and it is
consumed in various forms by over 80% of the population. Among the biotic constraints,
foliar diseases cause heavy yield losses thus compromising food security in the country.
This study was undertaken to determine the major foliar diseases infecting maize in
different agro-ecological zones in Kenya and assess the reaction of various germplasm to
these diseases. Isolates of Maize streak virus (MSV), a causal agent of one of the main
maize diseases in the country was also characterized using molecular techniques.
A survey was conducted to determine the occurrence, incidence, severity and distribution
of different diseases infecting the crop in different agro-ecological zones in Kiambu,
Embu and Nakuru counties. The study focused on six diseases which were northern leaf
blight (Exserohilum turcicum), common rust (Puccinia sorghi), maize streak disease
(Maize streak virus, MSV), gray leaf spot (Cercospora zea maydis, (GLS), head smut
(Sphacelotheca reiliana) and common smut (Ustilago maydis). Twenty maize varieties
were also evaluated for their reaction to the different maize diseases in a field experiment
at University of Nairobi Kabete Campus. During the survey, maize leaves with maize
streak disease (MSD) symptoms were collected to study the variability of MSV.
Degenerate primers for Geminiviruses were used to amplify C1/C2 regions of different
isolates of MSV. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products were sequenced and
nucleotides used to compare the Kenyan isolates within themselves and with other
sequences from the GenBank.
xii
Northern leaf blight, common rust and maize streak disease were found to be the three
most prevalent and severe diseases in the different agro-ecological zones of the three
counties. The same diseases were recorded in all the genotypes in the field evaluation.
More efforts are therefore needed to manage the three diseases. Gray leaf spot, head and
common smuts were also present, but were not widely distributed and had low incidence
and severity both in the survey and field evaluations. These diseases should however not
be ignored as their status may change with changes in climatic conditions.
The Kenyan isolates were highly similar to one another with 99 to 100% nucleotide and
95 to 100% amino acid sequence similarities. They were also closely related to others
from the rest of the world with 98 to 100% nucleotide and 94 to 100% amino acid
sequence similarities. They all belonged to the MSV-A strain, the main subtype infecting
maize. The high percent sequence similarities indicate low variability within the
sequenced C1/C2 region of the virus. This information is important to breeders since low
virus diversity indicates that maize genotypes showing resistance to MSV may have
wider areas where they can be grown without risk of infection by different virus strains.


Issues of long term soil fertility decline and sustainability are becoming more important for cropping industries in Australia. Helping to manage the level of soil fertility in this context is an aim of economic response analysis. This paper reviews the theory and methods used by economists to derive the optimal level of an input to be used in a production process. In particular, response functions generated by a crop simulation model are used as a basis for the analysis. The use of such models is becoming widespread in the research and extension community. A variety of methods are presented, in increasing order of complexity, to account for the real world characteristics of the production environment in this context.


Introduction Our primary objective was to describe the time to vessel penetration and difficulty of long-axis and short-axis approaches for ultrasound-guided small vessel penetration in novice sonographers experienced with landmark-based small vessel penetration. Methods This was a prospective, observational study of experienced certified emergency nurses attempting ultrasound-guided small vessel cannulation on a vascular access phantom. We conducted a standardized training, practice, and experiment session for each participant. Five long-axis and five short-axis approaches were attempted in alternating sequence. The primary outcome was time to vessel penetration. Secondary outcomes were number of skin penetrations and number of catheter redirections. We compared long-axis and short-axis approaches using multivariable regression adjusting for repeated measures, vessel depth, and vessel caliber. Results Each of 10 novice sonographers made 10 attempts for a total of 100 attempts. Median time to vessel penetration in the long-axis and short-axis was 11 (95% confidence interval [CI] 7–12) and 10 (95% CI 6–13) seconds, respectively. Skin penetrations and catheter redirections were equivalent and near optimal between approaches. The median caliber of cannulated vessels in the long-axis and short-axis was 4.6 (95% CI 4.1–5.5) and 5.6 (95% CI 5.1–6.2) millimeters, respectively. Both axes had equal success rates of 100% for all 50 attempts. In multivariable regression analysis, long-axis attempts were 32% (95% CI 11%–48%; p=0.009) faster than short-axis attempts. Conclusion Novice sonographers, highly proficient with peripheral IV cannulation, can perform after instruction ultrasound-guided small vessel penetration successfully with similar time to vessel penetration in either the long-axis or short-axis approach on phantom models.


Abstract. In this study, we demonstrate the application of tritium in precipitation and baseflow to estimate groundwater transit times and storage volumes in Hokkaido, Japan. To establish the long-term history of tritium concentration in Japanese precipitation, we used tritium data from the global network of isotopes in precipitation and from local studies in Japan. The record developed for Tokyo area precipitation was scaled for Hokkaido using tritium values for precipitation based on wine grown at Hokkaido. Then, tritium concentrations measured with high accuracy in river water from Hokkaido, Japan, were compared to this scaled precipitation record and used to estimate groundwater mean transit times (MTTs). A total of 16 river water samples in Hokkaido were collected in June, July, and October 2014 at 12 locations with altitudes between 22 and 831 m above sea level and catchment areas between 14 and 377 km2. Measured tritium concentrations were between 4.07 (± 0.07) TU and 5.29 (± 0.09) TU in June, 5.06 (± 0.09) TU in July, and between 3.75 (± 0.07) TU and 4.85 (± 0.07) TU in October. We utilised TracerLPM (Jurgens et al., 2012) for MTT estimation and introduced a Visual Basic module to automatically simulate tritium concentrations and relative errors for selected ranges of MTTs, exponential–piston ratios, and scaling factors of tritium input. Using the exponential (70 %) piston flow (30 %) model (E70 %PM), we simulated unique MTTs for seven river samples collected in six Hokkaido headwater catchments because their low tritium concentrations were no longer ambiguous. These river catchments are clustered in similar hydrogeological settings of Quaternary lava as well as Tertiary propylite formations near Sapporo city. However, nine river samples from six other catchments produced up to three possible MTT values with E70 % PM due to the interference by the tritium from the atmospheric hydrogen bomb testing 5–6 decades ago. For these catchments, we show that tritium in Japanese groundwater will reach natural levels in a decade, when one tritium measurement will be sufficient to estimate a unique MTT. Using a series of tritium measurements over the next few years with 3-year intervals will enable us to estimate the correct MTT without ambiguity in this period. These unique MTTs will allow estimation of groundwater storage volumes for water resources management during droughts and improvement of numerical model simulations. For example, the groundwater storage ranges between 0.013 and 5.07 km3 with saturated water thickness from 0.2 and 24 m. In summary, we emphasise three important points from our findings: (1) one tritium measurement is already sufficient to estimate MTTs for some Japanese catchments, (2) the hydrogeological settings control the tritium transit times of subsurface groundwater storage during baseflow, and (3) in the future, one tritium measurement will be sufficient to estimate MTTs in most Japanese watersheds.


Micronucleus (Mn) and metaphase chromosome analyses were performed in mouse bone marrow cells with two known and eight suspected mitotic spindle poisons. Polychromatic (PCEs) and normochromatic (NCEs) erythrocytes were scored for presence of Mn, while structural (CAs) and numerical chromosome aberrations (NCAs), i.e. hyperploid cells, were evaluated by metaphase analysis. CAs were scored in first, and NCAs in the second metaphases, identified by BrdUrd differential staining. Hydroquinone induced Mn, NCAs and CAs; colchicine, vinblastine and, to a lesser extent, chloral hydrate, diazepam and econazole induced both Mn and NCAs; cadmium chloride and thimerosal induced Mn and CAs, while pyrimethamine and thiabendazole induced Mn only. The proposed stepwise protocol allowed satisfactory statistical evaluation of the effects induced with a reduction in the number of animals killed. An acceptable agreement was found between induction of Mn and NCAs, suggesting a possible use of the Mn test for revealing compounds with aneugenic properties.


The connection between imaginative writing and the political has always been contentious, and whilst many critics see literature as the creation of contemporary mythologies by which we negotiate our lived experience there are others who refute such a politicisation in favour of the singular aesthetic experience. This thesis will argue that the literary and the political are immutably bound in an undeniable relationship: a relationship which encompasses the construction of sexual, cultural and racial identities, questions of censorship and the concept of freedom and the mutual dependence of the individual subject and society. Like most epochs, the 1980s both invites and repels a tendency to organise its events into a single, understandable and easily internalised diachronic order, an order that will mask or efface the complex contradictions and multiplicity of possibilities that emerge. Through a series of close readings of arbitrarily selected literary and popular fictions, the thesis conducts an examination of the tensions, issues, conflicts and theoretical perspectives of this divisive decade. This project, however, is not just an attempt to chronicle a vast and fertile period of literature. It seeks to define the political imagination, to counteract the Bloomian claims that literature is a private space of imaginative production and passive aesthetic reflection, insisting that the political imagination is an inexorable part of social and cultural life which can neither be denied nor appropriated by a singular agenda or master code.


This paper provides an update of the NESTA Innovation Index and tries to calculate some facts for the 'knowledge economy'. Building on the work of Corrado, Hulten and Sichel (CHS, 2005,9), using new data sets and a new micro survey, we (1) document UK intangible investment and (2) see how it contributes to economic growth. Regarding investment in knowledge/intangibles, we find (a) this is now 34% greater than tangible investment, in 2009, £124.2bn and £92.7bn respectively; (b) that RD (d) the most intangible-intensive industry is manufacturing (intangible investment is 17% of value added) and (e) treating intangible expenditure as investment raises market sector value added growth in the 1990s due to the ICT investment boom, but has less impact on aggregate measures of growth in the 2000s. Regarding the contribution to growth, for 2000-09, (a) intangible capital deepening accounts for 26% of labour productivity growth, against computer hardware and telecommunications equipment combined (16%) and TFP (-0.4%); (b) adding intangibles to growth accounting lowers TFP growth by about 18 percentage points (c) capitalising R&D adds 0.04% to input growth and reduces ΔlnTFP by 0.02% and (d) manufacturing accounts for 47% of intangible capital deepening plus TFP.


The main objective of this study carried on among the Flight Mechanics and Loads department of Eurocopter Marignane was to analyze the existing model of the Fenestron named "type 2" and make a separation of the thrust created by the propeller and the one created by the shroud around it. The physics had to be brought back in this model to avoid using tuning parameters. The validity and the reliability of the modeling were then checked with flight tests, wind tunnel and CFD results analysis.


Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) transplantation has been the potential treatment for hematopoietic disorder patients. However, once they were prescribed HSCs transplantation as the therapy, especially allogeneic transplantation, they would face Graft versus Host disease (GvHD), which causes by the presence of T cells in donor tissue. To deal with the risk of GvHD, removal T cells in donor tissue prior to transplant to recipient is extremely indispensable. Nowadays, MACS technique using immuno-magnetic nanoparticles in order to deplete T cells shows potential solution in the transplantation. In this study, we prepared immuno-magnetic nanoparticles for separation of Jurkat T cells from cell culture. Anti-Jurkat T antibodies were conjugated onto magnetic nanoparticles via recombinant protein A/G, an antibody's Fc-specific binding protein. The bonds between protein A/G and immuno-magnetic nanoparticles were covalently linked by amine groups on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles and the protein through 3-(2-pyridyldithio) propionic acid Nhydroxysuccinimide ester (SPDP). Approximately 85 μg of protein A/G and 21 μg of antibody were bound to one mg of magnetic beads. The immuno-magnetic nanoparticles were capable of isolating up to 53.3% of Jurkat T cells from culture medium.


Miniaturisation will be the key challenge for the next decade in numerous industrial fields, such as microelectronics, optics and biomedical engineering. Although most of their products already achieve footprints of some square millimeters, the trend towards the integration of a maximum number of elements in a minimal volume requires even more compact components. This tendency creates a growing need for industrial robots able to perform micromanipulation and microassembly tasks with a submicrometric precision. Nonetheless, the design of such machines is nowadays costly, both in time and money, mostly because of the twofold complexity of their development: first, from a kinematic standpoint, the use of a parallel structure consists in a particularly interesting approach to build ultra-high precision robots. However, the synthesis of such a kinematics proves especially challenging for machines presenting more than 3 degrees of freedom. Moreover, the resulting robots are scarcely flexible: if the industrial specifications are modified, which for example necessitates to add a degree of freedom or to change the position of a rotation centre, the design process has to be restarted, often from the very beginning. The second challenge consists in the mechanical design of flexure-based mechanisms: flexure hinges are joints which are based on the elasticity of the matter. They allow to perform motions which are without friction, backlash and wear; their use is thus mandatory to achieve the aimed submicrometric precision. Albeit the synthesis of planar and low-degree of freedom structures is now widely investigated, the development of a whole tridimensional flexure-based robot is still infrequent, especially in the industrial context. This thesis thus introduces a modular design methodology which significantly reduces the time-to-market of ultra-high precision robots. This procedure can be compared to a robotic Lego, where a finite number of conceptual building bricks allows to easily design and modify parallel robots. Furthermore, this work shows that the machines resulting from this approach present similar or even improved performances compared to robots developed more traditionally. The key aspect of this thesis consists in the concept of modular kinematics, which aims at facilitating the synthesis of parallel kinematics thanks to solution catalogues. At this step of the methodology, the conceptual building bricks and the kinematics are totally independent from any mechanical design: they can thus be used to synthesise a large variety of robots, from machine-tools to microscale robots. An exhaustive conceptual solution catalogue groups all kinematics generated by the combination of the building bricks. Then, a reduced solution catalogue for ultra-high precision is proposed: based on selection criteria linked with the design and machining of flexure-based mechanisms, it allows to reduce the total number of solutions and thus facilitates the practical use of the concept. The second part of this work details the mechanical design of the building bricks, whose main challenge consists in increasing the ratio between the working ranges of the mechanisms and their overall size. One or more flexure-based solutions have been developed for each motorised brick: a special emphasis is given to the original use of a Remote Centre of Motion, which allows to achieve high rotation angles while drastically reducing parasitic translations. The development of a standardised actuation sub-brick, common to all motorised bricks, introduces a new level of modularity, thus increasing even more the flexibility of the methodology. As for non-actuated bricks, original designs and uncommon uses of well-known mechanisms are proposed. A case study on a 5-degree of freedom robot, Legolas 5, finally illustrates the practical use of the methodology: first, the selection in the solution catalogue of a kinematics adapted to the specifications of the robot is detailed. Then, the development of the Legolas 5 prototype highlights the mechanical design of the necessary building bricks, as well as assembly subtleties, such as force alignment and gravity compensation, which allow to shrewdly design a high-performance robot. The measurements of this machine have shown motion resolution and repeatability of 50 nm in translation and 1.9 µrad in rotation (limited by the sensor resolution). This case study has generated the Legolas family, a new family of ultra-high precision parallel robots, which notably includes the orthogonal version of the Delta kinematics: using only 6 of the conceptual building bricks, one solution can be built for each of the 19 possible robot mobilities. The promising characterisation of the Legolas 5 tends to suggest that the robots from this family will be interesting candidates to fulfill the upcoming need for quickly designed and high-performance industrial ultra-high precision machines.


Background: Many imaging modalities are available today for the evaluation of patients with suspected biliary obstruction including Ultrasonography, Computed Tomography and Invasive cholangiography. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography is a relatively new technique, which has gained popularity because of its excellent diagnostic capabilities in the evaluation of biliary obstruction. Aims: The aim of the present study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of Ultrasonography, Computed Tomography, Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography/ Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography in assessing the level and cause of obstruction in patients with obstructive jaundice. Patients & Methods: One hundred patients with clinical and laboratory features suggestive of biliary obstruction were included in this study. At least two imaging modalities were used in each patient. The level and cause of obstruction was evaluated by each modality. The findings were corroborated with the operative and/or histopathological findings. Results: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography showed the best results in detecting the cause of obstruction and was second only to Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in detecting the level of biliary obstruction. Conclusions: With its excellent diagnostic capabilities, Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography has certainly carved a niche for itself in the non-invasive evaluation of the patient with obstructive jaundice.


Background: Current global challenges are generating extensive social disruption and uncertainty that have the potential to undermine the mental health, wellbeing, and futures of young people. The scale and complexity of challenges call for engagement with systems science-based decision analytic tools that can capture the dynamics and interrelationships between physical, social, economic, and health systems, and support effective national and regional responses. At the outset of the pandemic mental health-related systems models were developed for the Australian context, however, the extent to which findings are generalisable across diverse regions remains unknown. This study aims to explore the context dependency of systems modelling insights. Methods: This study will employ a comparative case study design, applying participatory system dynamics modelling across eight diverse regions of Australia to answer three primary research questions: (i) Will current regional differences in key youth mental health outcomes be exacerbated in forward projections due to the social and economic impacts of COVID-19?; (ii) What combination of social policies and health system strengthening initiatives will deliver the greatest impacts within each region?; (iii) To what extent are optimal strategic responses consistent across the diverse regions? We provide a detailed technical blueprint as a potential springboard for more timely construction and deployment of systems models in international contexts to facilitate a broader examination of the question of generalisability and inform investments in the mental health and wellbeing of young people in the post COVID-19 recovery. Discussion: Computer simulation is known as the third pillar of science (after theory and experiment). Simulation allows researchers and decision makers to move beyond what can be manipulated within the scale, time, and ethical limits of the experimental approach. Such learning when achieved collectively, has the potential to enhance regional self-determination, help move beyond incremental adjustments to the status quo, and catalyze transformational change. This research seeks to advance efforts to establish regional decision support infrastructure and empower communities to effectively respond. In addition, this research seeks to move towards an understanding of the extent to which systems modelling insights may be relevant to the global mental health response by encouraging researchers to use, challenge, and advance the existing work for scientific and societal progress.


Cutaneous involvement of multiple myeloma (MM) is uncommon, typically occurs in late stage disease, and is a poor prognostic indicator with an approximate eight month median survival. We present a 51-year-old man with relapsed lambda light chain MM who developed abrupt asymptomatic skin metastases. Biopsy revealed a dermis replete of atypical plasma cells, positive for CD138 and CD45. In situ hybridization confirmed lambda light chain restriction. Despite rescue antimyeloma therapy with the anti-CD38 drug daratumumab, he rapidly declined clinically and succumbed to the disease four weeks after presentation. A standard treatment approach for cutaneous MM does not currently exist; however, various techniques to detect cytogenetic abnormalities are emerging and will provide additional prognostic value and direct individualized therapy.


This article describes the development of a new service for people with dementia and their carers in a large post-industrial city in the north of England, UK. The service arose in response to the perceived inadequacies of existing respite care provision and has proved very successful in meeting the needs of people with dementia and their family carers, and in providing high levels of job satisfaction for staff. The success of the initiative can be understood using the Senses Framework and relationship-centred care as an analytic lens to identify key attributes of the service. The article also discusses implications for the development of support services more generally.


In the literature approximate and exact theoretical equations are presented for steady-state flow toward a discharging well, which is located eccentrically in a circular aquifer along whose outer cylindrical boundary either the drawdown or the flux is zero. This paper presents the results of using a physical model to test the validity of an analytical solution that describes drawdown for a well, which is placed eccentrically in a circular island aquifer. It is constructed in a sandbox model with several wells to conduct numerous steady-state tests. This study shows that the analytical equations are valid for small drawdowns. However, the equations do not represent higher drawdowns in the wells that are eccentrically located in the circular island model under steady-state flow in an unconfined aquifer.


Point-based object localization (POL), which pursues high-performance object sensing under low-cost data annotation, has attracted increased attention. However, the point annotation mode inevitably introduces semantic variance for the inconsistency of annotated points. Existing POL methods heavily reply on accurate keypoint annotations which are difficult to define. In this study, we propose a POL method using coarse point annotations, relaxing the supervision signals from accurate key points to freely spotted points. To this end, we propose a coarse point refinement (CPR) approach, which to our best knowledge is the first attempt to alleviate semantic variance from the perspective of algorithm. CPR constructs point bags, selects semantic-correlated points, and produces semantic center points through multiple instance learning (MIL). In this way, CPR defines a weakly supervised evolution procedure, which ensures training high-performance object localizer under coarse point supervision. Experimental results on COCO, DOTA and our proposed SeaPerson dataset validate the effectiveness of the CPR approach. The dataset and code will be available at https://github.com/ucas-vg/PointTinyBenchmark/


We examined the extent to which use of a technology-enhanced continuous progress monitoring system would enhance the results of math instruction, examined variability in teacher implementation of the program, and compared math results in classrooms in which teachers did and did not use the system. Classrooms were randomly assigned to within-school experimental and control groups. Participating students were pre- and post-tested using two standardized, nationally normed tests of math achievement. When teachers implemented the continuous progress monitoring system as intended, and when they used the data from the system to manage and differentiate instruction, students gained significantly more than those for whom implementation was limited or nil. Failure to take into account intervention integrity would have made it look like continuous progress monitoring did not enhance math results.


In this study, we sought to find out the effect of different emotional interior images of the community facilities in an apartment complex on a youth brain wave by analyzing an Electroencephalograph (EEG). Based on the frequency of usage, we selected learning facilities, cultural facilities, and sport facilities. For brain stimulation, the visual stimulants with three different emotional words, cheerful, gentle, and elegant, were used based on I.R.I image scale. Overall, total nine different emotional images were used. Based on our findings, we conclude that: first, in order to improve learning concentration of the youth, a learning facility for the youth needs to be designed by skillfully combining the soft and comfortable colors from the gentle image and the murky and dark colors from the elegant image. Second, when designing a cultural facility, it is preferable to consider the elegant image for a calm and comfortable space. Third, a sport facility design needs to preclude dark colors and apply light colors to create a dynamic and lively space. Furthermore, we found out that the youth has established static images of each functionally different facility through their experience and learning. Therefore, it is imperative to plan community facilities in an apartment complex in a way to connect the space function with the emotional characteristics of the youth in order to support and encourage energetic activities and learning of the community youth.


The hybrid nature of the War on Terror is testing the limits of the Speedy Trial and Due Process Clauses. Former military detainees have been convicted in federal court years after their crimes and capture. Setting aside the wisdom of civilian detainee trials, they have thus far proven consistent with constitutional delay protections.The courts have correctly determined that military detention generally does not trigger the protections of the Speedy Trial Clause. Absent unusual circumstances, judicial scrutiny of delay due to military detention should occur via the Due Process Clause, which allows for operational flexibility while safeguarding against bad faith by the government. The administration should continue to try detainees when possible, with the venue depending on the nature of the case, and be mindful of the potential for precedent established in civilian detainee trials to govern ordinary criminal cases.


CONTEXT
Sport-specific adaptations at the glenohumeral joint could occur in adolescent athletes because they start participating in high-performance sports in early childhood.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate shoulder-rotator strength, internal-rotation (IR) and external-rotation (ER) range of motion (ROM), and acromiohumeral distance (AHD) in asymptomatic adolescent volleyball attackers to determine if they have risk factors for injury.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.

SETTING
University laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS
Thirty-nine adolescent high school-aged volleyball attackers (22 boys, 17 girls; age = 16.0 ± 1.4 years, height = 179.2 ± 9.0 cm, mass = 67.1 ± 10.9 kg, body mass index = 20.7 ± 2.6 kg/m2).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)
Shoulder IR and ER ROM, total-rotation ROM, glenohumeral IR deficit, AHD, and concentric and eccentric strength of the shoulder internal and external rotators were tested bilaterally.

RESULTS
External-rotation ROM was greater (t38 = 4.92, P < .001), but IR ROM (t38 = -8.61, P < .001) and total ROM (t38 = -3.55, P = .01) were less in the dominant shoulder, and 15 athletes had a glenohumeral IR deficit (IR ROM loss > 18°). We observed greater concentric internal-rotator (t38 = 2.89, P = .006) and eccentric external-rotator (t38 = 2.65, P = .01) strength in the dominant than in the nondominant shoulder. The AHD was less in the dominant shoulder (t38 = -3.60, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Adolescent volleyball attackers demonstrated decreased IR ROM, total ROM, and AHD and increased ER ROM in their dominant shoulder. Therefore, routine screening of adolescent athletes and designing training programs for hazardous adaptive changes could be important in preventing shoulder injuries.


Christian legal thinkers have shaped and formed Western law from the latter days of the Roman Empire until nearly our own age. Historically, Christianity is of immense importance to the shape and substance of Western law. However, in the United States today, Christian legal scholars who seek to apply self-consciously Christian norms to the resolution of legal problems are accustomed to thinking that their work is marginalized. Even so, American Christians who take their faith seriously, who see it as relevant to questions of law, should take up the task of explaining exactly how it is relevant, how it can help to resolve pressing legal problems. Harold Berman recently observed that "[w]ith rare exceptions, American legal scholars of Christian faith have not, during the past century, attempted to explain law in terms of that faith." This article examines the three great antinomies - that is, contradictions within the law - of modern jurisprudence and suggests how Christian jurisprudence might help to resolve them. Three antinomies have come to shape much modern thinking about the nature and function of law: (1) Law consists of commands backed by power, force, and external compulsion, and questions concerning the rightness or justice of those commands are not to be considered when determining whether a particular act of sovereign will should be considered to be law. (2) Law and morality should and must be viewed as existing as separate and apart from one another, such that the moral content of a particular sovereign decree is not used in determining whether to count a particular sovereign decree as law. (3) In determining whether a particular command, rule, or principle should count as law, one is allowed only to consider its formal source, irrespective, once again, of its content. These are three antinomies in legal analysis that the average lawyer works with every day and that the average student of jurisprudence takes for granted as part of the foundation of her or his view of the legal world. They are antinomies because they seem to be at war with our instincts as to what should or should not count as law. Indeed, they are at war with other deeply cherished elements of the legal order. Law should be about justice. Power should be in the service of justice. Law and morality should not occupy separate spheres. Law should not only regulate conduct, but should seem to be inherently good. The author contends that contemporary jurisprudence, by which he means the legal positivism that has come to prevail especially in the Anglo-American academy, embodies within itself these serious contradictions - "antinomies" - which can best be resolved by paying studious attention to some of the teachings of modern Christian jurisprudes. In contrast to the great antinomies of positivism, Catholic social thought emphasizes the integral connections between justice and law; the inseparability of law from morals and values; and the need to ground the validity of law not in a formal analysis of state authority but in human nature itself.


Training and practice within British clinical psychology are profoundly influenced by the belief that behavioural psychotherapy has been shown as more effective than verbal psychotherapy in the treatment of disorders for which both claim utility. A review of the comparative outcome evidence shows that this belief is largely unfounded. Taken together with the growing theoretical convergence between verbal and behavioural approaches, this negative result from comparative outcome studies has important implications for the future development of psychotherapy research, training and practice. More precise and sophisticated research strategies are required to identify the therapeutic ingredients of the psychotherapies, whether these be common to many approaches or specific to particular treatment modes. Closer integration between clinical and research activities in all forms of psychotherapy is necessary. Clinical psychologists should be trained in a variety of behavioural and verbal methods, and in the research methodologies necessary to evaluate and develop these methods. If the challenge of the present state of evidence is not evaded, then we may eventually supersede crude global comparisons, with precise specification of interventions appropriate for given populations.


Recent development of Non-Volatile Memories (NVMs) has opened up a new horizon for in-memory computing. By re-purposing memory structures, certain NVMs have been shown to have in-situ analog computation capability. For example, resistive memories (ReRAMs) store the data in the form of resistance of titanium oxides, and by injecting voltage into the word line and sensing the resultant current on the bit-line, we obtain the dot-product of the input voltages and cell conductances using Kirchhoff's law. Recent works have explored the design space of ReRAM based accelerators for machine learning algorithms by leveraging this dot-product functionality [2]. These ReRAM based accelerators exploit the massive parallelism and relaxed precision requirements, to provide orders of magnitude improvement when compared to current CPU/GPU architectures and custom ASICs, inspite of their high read/write latency. Despite the significant performance gain offered by computational NVMs, previous works have relied on manual mapping of workloads to the memory arrays, making it difficult to configure it for new workloads. We combat this problem by proposing a programmable inmemory processor architecture and programming framework. The architecture consists of memory arrays grouped in tiles, and a custom interconnect to facilitate communication between the arrays. Each array acts as unit of storage as well as processing element. The proposed in-memory processor architecture is simple. The key challenge is developing a programming framework and a rich ISA which can allow diverse data-parallel programs to leverage the underlying computational efficiency. The efficiency of the proposed in-memory processor comes from two sources. First, massive parallelism. NVMs are composed of several thousands of arrays. Each of these arrays are transformed into ALUs which can compute concurrently. Second, reduction in data movement, by avoiding shuffling of data between memory and processor cores. Our goal is to establish the programming semantics and execution models to expose the above benefits of ReRAM computing to general purpose data parallel programs. The proposed programming framework seeks to expose the underling parallelism in the hardware by merging the concepts of data-flow and vector processing (or SIMD). Data-flow explicitly exposes the Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP) in the programs, while vector processing exposes the Data Level Parallelism (DLP) in programs. Google's TensorFlow [1] is a popular programming model for machine learning. We observe that TensorFlow's programming semantics is a perfect marriage of data-flow and vector-processing. Thus, our proposed programming framework starts by requiring the programmers to write programs in TensorFlow. We develop a TensorFlow compiler that generates binary code for our in-memory data-flow processor. The TensorFlow (TF) programs are essentially Data Flow Graphs (DFG) where each operator node can have tensors as operands. A DFG which operates on one element of a vector is referred to as a module by the compiler. The compiler transforms input DFG into a collection data-parallel modules. Modules which operate on same vectors belong to an Instruction Block (IB), and are run concurrently on memory arrays. Our compiler explores several interesting optimizations such as unrolling of high-dimensional tensors, maximizing ILP within a module, pipelining memory reads and writes, and minimizing communication between arrays. To create a programmable in-memory processor, we argue that variety of computation primitives need to be implemented by exploiting the analog computation capability of the ReRAM arrays. Thus we develop a general purpose ISA and design an memory array architecture which can support diverse operations. For instance, we show how to efficiently implement complex operations (such as division, transcendental functions, element-wise vector multiplication, etc) by using analog primitives in ReRAM memory arrays. Furthermore, we discuss efficient network/memory co-design for reduction operations, and scatter/gather operations. In summary, this poster we will present a programming framework, compiler, ISA, and architecture of our proposed general purpose in-memory data flow processor built out of resistive compute memories. Figure X shows our overall framework. We will also present our experimental results across micro-benchmarks and real-world benchmarks from PARSEC and Rodinia. Initial results demonstrate ∼800x and ∼100x speedup when compared to multi-core and GPU execution.


Antibacterial activity of antibiotic batumin, isolated from Pseudomonas genus has been studied using CLSI standard methods. Batumin was highly active against all studied strains belonging to 10 species of Staphylococcus genus (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC)--0.25-0.5 microg/ml); it has shown a moderate activity against enterobacteria of genera Salmonella, Bordetella, Escherichia, Klebsiella (MIC 8-64 microg/ml) and practically did not inhibit strains ofmicrococci, streptococci, sporeforming bacteria including Clostridium sporogenes (MIC 256 microg/ml or above). Strains of yeasts and microscopic fungi Candida tropicalis, C. utilis, C. albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae u Aspergillus niger were resistant to batumin. Antibiotic activity depended on test-culture cells concentration and medium pH and was greatest at pH 5.5 characteristic of human skin.


Abstract Intermediate plagioclase feldspars are the most abundant minerals in the Earth's crust. Their incommensurately modulated structure has puzzled geologists and crystallographers for decades since the phenomenon in a labradorite was reported in 1940. Solving the structure is a necessary step toward mapping the complex subsolidus phase relations of plagioclase solid solution. The structure of a homogeneous labradorite (An51) single crystal from a metamorphic rock is solved and refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The result structure can be simplified as alternating I1-like lamellae domains related by inversion twins. The inversion boundary shows an anorthite-like structure with I1¯ $I\overline 1 $ symmetry and is richer in Ca than the neighboring domains with opposite polarity. No albite-like subunits appear in the e-plagioclase structure. The modulated structure displays a unique Al-Si ordering pattern. A density modulation with a variation of 17 mol% in composition is also observed and can be properly described only by applying second-order harmonic waves for the atomic modulation functions. The modulated structure reveals details that cannot be observed from refinement with only main reflections and may be used to assess the ordering state and cooling rate of its host rock. The homogeneity of the crystal indicates the closure of the solvus for Bøggild intergrowth at low temperature. The highly ordered modulation supports the thermodynamic stability of e-plagioclase. Both Al-Si ordering and Ca-Na ordering are the driving force for formation of the incommensurately modulated structure.


In order to study murine intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) independent of factors imparted by conditions of laboratory housing and breeding, and to provide a basis for comparison of IEL studies between inbred and outbred mouse populations, IEL from the domestic house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, were analyzed by flow cytometric analyses using mAbs to murine lymphocyte markers, and by polymerase chain reaction to study the TCR gamma and delta V gene repertoires. The majority of IEL in wild mice were CD3+, CD8+CD4- T cells. CD4+CD8- also were present in IEL isolates from wild mice, although at low numbers. Among IEL, but not T cells from the spleen or lymph nodes, there was a notable lack of Thy-1 expression, a preponderance of CD8 alpha alpha + T cells, and a relatively high ratio (3:1) of TCR gamma delta + T cells over TCR alpha beta + T cells, suggesting that some IEL in wild mice may develop via an extrathymic pathway similar to that described for laboratory mice. Analyses of the IEL gamma and delta variable genes revealed rearrangements of three of six V region gamma genes (V gamma 1, V gamma 2, and V gamma 5), with an abundance of V gamma 1 transcripts as determined by Northern blot analyses. For the delta gene, rearrangement of five of seven V region elements had occurred (V delta 2, V delta 3, V delta 4, V delta 5, and V delta 6).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with biopsy is a gold-standard procedure for pathological assessment of spreading of cholangiocarcinoma [1, 2]. Tumor existence at landmark biliary bifurcations should be assessed to consider the indication and extent of surgical resection. However, technical difficulties in pushing biopsy forceps against a biliary bifurcation may inhibit precise target biopsy. Here, we present a simple modification of widely used biopsy forceps for highly selective biopsy at the bifurcation of bile ducts at segments II and III (B2 and B3) (▶Video 1). An 80-year-old woman with suspected hilar cholangiocarcinoma was referred to our centre for hepatopancreatoduodenectomy (▶Fig. 1). We conducted ERCP and obtained tissue specimens from hilar and distal bile ducts, all of which revealed adenocarcinoma. Tumor absence at the bifurcation of B2 and B3 was a prerequiE-Videos


During atrial fibrillation, ventricular rate is determined by atrioventricular nodal (AVN) conduction, which in part is dependent upon the refractoriness of single AVN cells. The aims of this study were to investigate the rate-dependency of the action potential duration (APD) and effective refractory period (ERP) in single myocytes isolated from the AV node and atrium of rabbit hearts, using whole cell patch clamping, and to determine the contribution of the 4-aminopyridine (4-AP)-sensitive current, I(TO1)to these relationships in the two cell types. AVN cells had a more positive maximum diastolic potential (-60+/-1 v-71+/-2 mV), lower V(max)(8+/-2 v 144+/-17 V/s) and higher input resistance [420+/-46 v 65+/-7 MOmega (mean+/-s.eP<0.05 n=9-33)], respectively, than atrial myocytes. Stepwise increases in rate from 75 beats/min caused activation failure and Wenckebach periodicity in AVN cells (at around 400 beats/min), but 1:1 activation in atrial cells (at up to 600 beats/min). Rate reduction from 300 to 75 beats/min shortened the ERP in both cell types (from 155+/-7 to 135+/-11 ms in AVN cells [P<0.05, n=6] and from 130+/-8 to 106+/-7 ms in atrial cells [P<0.05, n=10]). Rate increase from 300 to 480 and 600 beats/min shortened ERP in atrial cells, by 12+/-4% (n=8) and 26+/-7% (n=7), respectively (P<0.05). By contrast, AVN ERP did not shorten at rates >300 beats/min. In atrial cells, rate reduction to 75 beats/min caused marked shortening of APD(50)(from 51+/-6 to 29+/-6 ms, P<0. 05). 4-AP (1 m m) significantly prolonged atrial APD(50)at 75 beats/min (P<0.05, n=7), but not at 300 or 400 beats/min. In AVN cells, in contrast, there was less effect of rate change on APD, and 4-AP did not alter APD(50)at any rate. 4-AP also did not affect APD(90)or ERP in either cell type. In conclusion, a lack of ERP-shortening at high rates in rabbit single AVN cells may contribute to ventricular rate control. I(TO1)contributed to the APD(50)rate relation in atrial, but not AVN cells and did not contribute to the ERP rate relation in either cell type.


Abstract The use of criterion A of the IUCN Red List to categorize species as threatened that have undergone recent decline can lead to the listing of relatively common and widespread species. Loss of habitat through deforestation is a common cause of decline throughout much of the world but is often not incorporated into assessments because of uncertainty about the magnitude of change. A recent assessment of eucalypt species in Australia subject to deforestation provides a method for assessment under criterion A and has implications for listing of long-lived, widespread species affected by deforestation. Scenarios for two widespread eucalypt species subject to extensive deforestation are used to demonstrate how the threat status of a species may be recategorized in a lower threat category as declines resulting from a threatening process are mitigated. I argue that criterion A indicates an appropriate assessment of extinction risk and I provide a simple function based on predicted diminishment of the population decline to identify when a species could be disqualified from a threat category under subcriterion A2 (past decline).


We outline a multiscale algorithm for the simulation of dense fluids that couples molecular dynamics and continuum fluid dynamics. The coupling between the two models is realized by a common overlap domain and by the alternating Schwarz method. We prefer this method to those based on direct flux exchange, since the accurate estimation of the fluxes requires much more statistics. The boundary conditions on the atomistic region are imposed using stochastic walls to thermalize and confine the molecular dynamics system, and the usher algorithm to insert new atoms. The forcing of the continuum is achieved using appropriate source terms in the momentum equations. To test the algorithm, we study equilibrium liquid argon systems and the flow of liquid argon past a carbon nanotube.


Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) that are based on the message passing (MP) paradigm generally exchange information between 1-hop neighbors to build node representations at each layer. In principle, such networks are not able to capture long-range interactions (LRI) that may be desired or necessary for learning a given task on graphs. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in development of Transformer-based methods for graphs that can consider full node connectivity beyond the original sparse structure, thus enabling the modeling of LRI. However, MP-GNNs that simply rely on 1-hop message passing often fare better in several existing graph benchmarks when combined with positional feature representations, among other innovations, hence limiting the perceived utility and ranking of Transformer-like architectures. Here, we present the Long Range Graph Benchmark (LRGB) with 5 graph learning datasets: PascalVOC-SP, COCO-SP, PCQM-Contact, Peptides-func and Peptides-struct that arguably require LRI reasoning to achieve strong performance in a given task. We benchmark both baseline GNNs and Graph Transformer networks to verify that the models which capture long-range dependencies perform significantly better on these tasks. Therefore, these datasets are suitable for benchmarking and exploration of MP-GNNs and Graph Transformer architectures that are intended to capture LRI.


Community based hospice and palliative care has been instrumental in providing patients and families high quality patient centered care. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in the USA; for profit hospices outnumbered not for profit hospice organizations by a more than 2:1 ratio, resulting in not for profit orsganizations that are very lean. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US & already stretched resources, how can these organizations face the many challenges of continuing to provide quality care? These challenges include but are not limited to areas such as: personnel, regulatory and financing. This presentation will explore this topic from all aspects with the goal of stimulating thought in optimizing what, when and how to provide high quality patient centered care to patients in the community. What is the best way to provide this care given the current resources? Are we optimizing utilization of the current infrastructure in place? How do we best provide quality of life focused care with limited resources in the midst of a pandemic?


Background : Pneumonia is an infectious disease remains a public health problem in Indonesia. Pneumonia is a disease of the second highest cause of death after diarrhea. This can be seen in the proportion of pneumonia in infant and toddler around 35%. In the working area of Banjarmangu 1, the number of infant affected by pneumonia were 112 among 417 infants. The proportion of healthy house is still low (27.15%) of the target of 80%. Based on this facts, the purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between the quality of the house environment factor with the incidence of pneumonia in infant in the working area community health center Banjarmangu 1 Banjarnegara. Methods : This study was observational study with case control design. The subjects consisted of two groups of case and control, with each sample of 52 infants. The independent variables studied were the type of wall, floor type, ceiling presence, expansive windows / ventilation, natural lighting, residential density, number of bacteria, the intensity of temperature, light intensity and the intensity of moisture, while the dependent variable was the incidence of pneumonia. Data was collected through interviews, observation, and measurement. Data would be analyzed using univariate, bivariate chi-square, and multivariate logistic regression at level of significance 0.05 (5%). Results : Bivariate analysis of 10 variables are the type of wall, floor type, ceiling presence, wide window / ventilation, natural lighting, residential density, number of bacteria, the intensity of the temperature, humidity and intensity of light intensity, indicated that there were two variables that have a correlation with incidence of pneumonia in infant. They were the type of wall and ceiling existence. Results of multivariate analysis that kind of wall is the most dominant factor related to the incidence of pneumonia in infant with p-value = 0.004; OR = 6.6 (1.79 - 24.57). Conclusion : This study concluded that the quality of the house environment conditions was still need to be improved, especially the type of wall and ceiling existence. This is to reduce the incidence of pneumonia in infant.


In this study, we follow the female in a cohort analysis of her housing choices in Taiwan, using data from the population and housing census for 1980, 1990 and 2000. In addition to looking at the female population as a whole, we also compare the differences between females who are heads of households and those who are not. Econometric models focusing on the tenure choice of housing and living space per person are estimated simultaneously. The age effects show that households have the highest homeownership rate and lowest amount of living space per person in their middle years. This is due to persons in their middle years having the highest accumulated wealth and also the largest household size during their life cycle. However, no clear trend can be found in the male sample with respect to the age effect in their middle years, for instance, 25-60, for both homeownership and living space. Hence, the female is probably more suitable than the male in terms of representing a household during its life-cyle. The birth cohort effect shows that the earlier a female is born, the higher is the probability that she will become a homeowner and occupy a larger living space. This result can also be found in studies on male cohorts. These findings thus raise our concerns over the disadvantages that the younger generation faces in becoming homeowners. In addition, we find that the age and birth cohort effects are very different for female-headed and non-female-headed households. Although on average, the female heads have more years of education and higher job participation rates, they have lower homeownership rates. They also benefit less from economic growth. Nevertheless, the gap between the female-headed and non-female-headed households has narrowed as the birth cohort has become younger.


The European Union Physical Agents Directive (vibration) sets vibration exposure limits for an employer. The measured values from different work phases should be time weighted and summed together to represent a daily 8-hour exposure value. The directive has two limit values, the daily exposure action value and the daily exposure limit value. For the employer the greatest concern is to comply with the exposure limit value, but also exceeding the action value will cause implications. To calculate the daily 8-hour value is not a simple task, because there are normally several different work phases that the worker does in a normal day. Also the assessment of measurements of the vibration levels have to be made in real working environments. The work phases need to be calculated correctly to get the representative daily value. Also breaks and other non-work operations need to be included. This will make the complete assessment very difficult without proper knowledge. In this study a large number of measurements from different mobile work machines were made to establish whether the daily values would exceed the limit values. Analyses were made using three examples to show how the employer can use the standard and directive to assess the daily exposure values or times. The results were largely dependent on the work pattern and the dominant levels.


Machine learning is a promising technology for analyzing diverse types of big data. The Internet of Things era will feature the collection of real-world information linked to time and space (location) from all sorts of sensors. In this paper, we discuss spatio-temporal multidimensional collective data analysis to create innovative services from such spatio-temporal data and describe the core technologies for the analysis. We describe core technologies about smart data collection and spatio-temporal data analysis and prediction as well as a novel approach for real-time, proactive navigation in crowded environments such as event spaces and urban areas. Our challenge is to develop a real-time navigation system that enables movements of entire groups to be efficiently guided without causing congestion by making near-future predictions of people flow. We show the effectiveness of our navigation approach by computer simulation using artificial people-flow data.


This study examined the motivations to visit concentration camp memorial sites in the Netherlands. Nine hundred and seventy-five Dutch respondents participated in a panel survey. The data were analysed by means of an exploratory factor analysis, to yield underlying motivational factors. The findings revealed that potential visitors were motivated to visit Holocaust concentration camp memorial sites for "memory", "gaining knowledge and awareness", and "exclusivity". We generalize the motivations from Dutch concentration camp memorial sites to a universal level and discuss the future stages to achieve a universally valid motivation scale for visits to concentration camp memorial sites.


Serum immunoreactive interleukin (IL-)1 alpha, IL-4, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha were measured in 42 patients with primary hypogammaglobulinemia (25 common variable immunodeficiency (CVI), 10 congenital hypogammaglobulinemia (CH), 7 X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), and in 21 healthy controls. The cytokine levels were correlated to other immunological parameters including serum levels of neopterin and soluble CD8 (sCD8) antigen. IL-6 was detectable in 48% and IL-4 in 36% of the CVI patients, but in none of the controls. Seventy-five percent of the CVI patients with elevated IL-4 levels had detectable IL-6. In contrast, no patients in the XLA group and only three CH patients had detectable IL-4 or IL-6 levels. TNF alpha and IL-1 alpha were detected in only a few serum samples with no significant differences between patients and controls. In the CVI group elevated IL-6 levels were significantly associated to reduced numbers of CD4+ and CD19+ lymphocytes, elevated levels of neopterin and sCD8 antigen, and occurrence of splenomegaly and bronchiectasis. The raised IL-6 levels were confirmed in longitudinal testing, probably reflecting a characteristic immunological dysregulation in these patients. Cytokine alterations may play a role in the pathogenesis of the immunodeficiency and for the clinical manifestations in CVI patients. Alternatively, elevated cytokine levels may be only a marker of chronic immune activation, particularly in monocytes, possibly delineating a distinct subgroup of patients within the heterogeneous CVI group.


The arrangement of the protein component on the DNA of the chromatin complex was studied by comparing the rate of release of oligonucleotides and of protein after addition of deoxyribonuclease I and deoxyribonuclease II to rat thymus chromatin. Also the action of deoxyribonuclease I on normal chromatin and on chromatin depleted of non-histone protein was compared, to elucidate the role of the latter protein in chromatin structure. As a preliminary to the above, the rate of action of deoxyribonuclease I on DNA and on chromatin at the same DNA concentration, and the dependence of the action of this enzyme on the Mg(2+) concentration, were studied. It was found that: (1) little if any DNA in chromatin is present in extensive, truly ;free' zones, i.e. completely uncovered by protein; (2) at relatively low concentrations of added Mg(2+), deoxyribonuclease I degrades chromatin more rapidly than DNA; (3) the non-histone protein is not attached directly to the DNA in chromatin.


A link adaptation (LA) scheme for the downlink of mobile hotspot, which is supported by an IEEE 802.16e or mobile WiMAX network, is proposed. The mobile WiMAX uses orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in its physical layer. The main function of the LA scheme is to select an appropriate burst profile, which includes a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transmission mode, modulation technique, and coding scheme. We formulate a discrete optimization problem for the LA scheme by maximizing the throughput. An algorithm to implement the LA scheme is also proposed. Numerical results show that the proposed LA scheme exhibits good performance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


First released onto the market in 2008 [1], the HIV-1 integrase inhibitor raltegravir is recommended for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in treatment-naive or experienced patients when combined with other antiretroviral agents. Raltegravir is generally well tolerated, with adverse reactions comparable to placebo [2,3]. Gastrointestinal upset, headaches, transaminase elevation, creatine kinase elevation and pruritis have all been described as occasional side-effects. Rare adverse reactions include myopathy and rhabdomyolysis. There is one case report of raltegravir-induced rhabdomyolysis leading to renal failure [4]. Although central nervous system sideeffects such as dizziness and depression have been observed in patients taking raltegravir, cerebellar ataxia associated with raltegravir has not been previously reported [5].


Directional asymmetry (DA) of the lengths, diameters, and masses of the scapula, humerus, radius, and ulna were analyzed on a sample of 213 harbor porpoises from Denmark and West Greenland. The levels of DA were consistent across yearlings and older animals, mature and immature animals, sexes, and populations. All investigated variables showed significant DA favoring the right side. For the pooled sample, DA of lengths ranged from 0.2% SE 0.1 (ulna) to 1.2% SE 0.1 (scapula). DAs of diameters were 1.5% SE 0.2 for the humerus, 0.6% SE 0.1 for the radius, and 1.3% SE 0.2 for the ulna. DA of mass ranged from 2.8% SE 0.5 (humerus) to 4.3% SE 0.7 (ulna). The humerus and ulna had significantly larger mean diameter/ length ratios on the right side than the left, making them more robust. The large DA of scapula length indicates larger muscle mass associated with the right flipper, while the generally more robust right humerii and ulnae may be designed for higher levels of mechanical stress. These DAs and the examples of lateralized behavior recorded in cetaceans, point to the existence of lateralized use of the flippers at the population level in harbor porpoises and possibly other cetacean species.


Nomifensine, a tetrahydroisoquinolone antidepressant which facilitates dopaminergic and noradrenergic transmission, was studied in 28 Parkinsonism patients most of whom were also receiving conventional medications. Double-blind evaluations revealed a moderate therapeutic action at a mean dose level of 150 mg daily. Adverse reactions were encountered, similar to those identical by levodopa.


This paper presents a novel patchwork audio watermarking scheme with a psychoacoustic model of HAS in DFT domain that has significantly higher detection robustness compared to standard and modified patchwork watermarking algorithms. In addition, watermark is perceptually tuned, so that its embedding is transparent. The proposed algorithm can be used for transmitting hidden data through telephone channel. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking algorithm is sustainable against compression algorithms such as MP3, LPF, resampling, requantization and AWGN attacks.


The non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) is an unemployment rate or range of unemployment rates that produces a stable rate of inflation. NAIRU is usually difficult to estimate since it is a hidden variable. In this thesis, the author allows time-varying NAIRU, and uses a structual model with forward and backward looking Phillips curves to estimate the output gap and unemployment gap. The author finds that in general, the negative relations between unemployment gap and inflation rate are significant across EU-member states. This method of capturing the relationship between unemployment and inflation is better than that of King and Watson's, implied by the indicators of Pearson's correlations, and also because of the potential ability of using our method to predict near future inflation rate.


We present a dynamic load balancing algorithm for parallel discrete event simulation of spatially explicit problems. In our simulations, the space is discretized and divided into subareas, each of which is simulated by a logical process (LP). Load predictions are done based on the future events that are scheduled for a given LP. The information about the load of the processes is gathered and distributed during the Global Virtual Time calculation. Each LP calculates the new load distribution of the system. The load is then balanced by moving spatial data between neighboring LPs in one round of communications. In our problems, the LPs should be described as being elements of a ring from the point of view of communication. Due to the spatial characteristics, the load can be migrated only between neighboring LPs. We present an algorithm that performs the load balancing in a ring and minimizes the maximum after-balance load.