The achievements of the health Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality (MDG 4) depend on the massive scaling-up of new and available health interventions. Evidence shows that effective interventions to attain MDG 4 are available; however coverage rates are currently low. The health systems in developing countries lack the necessary capacity to deliver the interventions to those in need. These factors among others are the cause of millions of preventable child deaths every year. Worldwide it is estimated that there are 247 million cases of malaria and at least 1 million deaths related to malaria each year (World Malaria Report 2008). Africa bears the greatest burden of malaria – about 86% of the global burden – leading to over 800,000 deaths per annum. Children under five years of age and pregnant women are the most affected groups. Malaria-endemic countries have lower rates of economic growth. The impact of malaria is manifested through loss of working time when people are ill or taking care of family members, through loss of resources that are used to finance treatment, and through disabilities that result from severe malaria. An episode of malaria results in loss of productivity in adults and prevents children from developing to their full capacity by impairing their cognitive ability, physical development, school attendance and performance. The average growth of income per capita for countries with severe malaria in 1965-1990 was 0.4% per year compared to 2.3% for other countries. In terms of crop harvests, malaria-affected families harvest 40% that of families not affected by malaria. Malaria impacts on long term economic development in terms of impediments on the flow of knowledge, trade, foreign investment, information transfers and tourism as well as limiting the country's ability to accumulate human capital. All these imply that malaria is responsible for inflicting poverty on people in developing countries through the vicious cycle of ill-health. These human sufferings due to malaria could be averted if access to effective preventive and treatment interventions could be made available to all affected people. The health systems in developing countries have limited capacity to undertake appropriate health actions to improve population health. The main constraints include shortage of financial resources, lack of capacity to institutionalize health interventions into routine health care delivery, severe human resource shortages, dilapidated health facilities and lack of essential medical supplies and equipment. The distribution of health benefits provided by the health system is not fair either, as the rate of health service utilization is lower among the poorer and more vulnerable groups. The aim of this research was to contribute to the understanding of health system issues and costs related to integrating a new strategy of Intermittent Preventive Treatment in infants (IPTi) into the routine district health system, with a focus on providing high quality but practical evidence to inform decision making and to scaling up health services. The methodology involved using a collaborative approach to develop a delivery strategy for IPTi, to implement the strategy and to evaluate the strategy in terms of equity of intervention coverage and population benefit. Researchers worked in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) to develop an IPTi strategy that could be implemented and managed by routine health services. The Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) materials for IPTi were developed by observation studies and in-depth interviews with communities and health workers. To estimate how much it takes to develop the IPTi strategy and to maintain routine implementation of the strategy, real activities costs were tracked. Also semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants to record time and resources spent on IPTi activities. A detailed health facility survey collected data on staff employed, their availability on the day of the survey, their main tasks and reasons for their colleagues' absenteeism. Information on supervisory visits from District Health Management Teams (CHMTs) was also collected and health workers' views solicited on how to improve the services. A time and motion study of nurses in the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) clinics documented staff time use by task. The present study generated important knowledge to enable integration of health interventions into routine delivery by frontline health workers and managed by Council Health Management Teams. Using the collaborative approach, the IPTi strategy was developed to ensure that IPTi behaviour-change communication (BCC) materials were available in health facilities, that health workers were trained to administer and to document doses of IPTi so that the necessary drugs were available in facilities and that systems were in place for stock management and supervision. A brand name (MKINGE in Swahili, which means protect him or her) and two posters were developed as BCC. The posters contained key public health messages and images that explained the IPTi intervention itself, how and when children receive it and safety issues. The strategy was integrated into existing systems as far as possible and was well accepted by health staff. Thus, the collaborative approach effectively translated research findings into a strategy fit for broader health system implementation in Tanzania. The costs of developing and implementing IPTi appeared to be affordable within the budget line of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The estimated financial cost to start-up and run IPTi in the whole of Tanzania in 2005 was US$1,486,284. Start-up costs at the district level were US$7,885 per district, mainly expenditure on training. There was no incremental financial expenditure needed to deliver the intervention in health facilities as supplies were delivered alongside routine vaccinations and available health workers performed the activities without working overtime. The economic cost was estimated at 23 US cents per IPTi dose delivered. In terms of coverage, IPTi was not influenced by socio-economic status of a child, by ethnicity nor by child gender. However there was disparity in coverage by distance whereby children from households living more than 5 kms from the nearest health facility had lower IPTi coverage than those living nearer (41% vs 58%, p=0.006). Efforts to scale-up health interventions should therefore focus on increasing physical access and to monitoring equity outcomes. Vaccine coverage was more equitable across socioeconomic groups than had been reported from a similar survey in 2004. The evaluation of human resource for health in the study area revealed particular problems with staff shortages, low productivity and staff absenteeism. Only 14% of the recommended number of nurses and 20% of the recommended number of clinical staff had been assigned to the facilities. These available health workers in southern Tanzania are below the national average of 35%. Thus, the health system in the study area is working with less than a quarter of the recommended staff by MoHSW, and combined with staff absenteeism, the available working staff decreases further compared to the recommended staff numbers. The absent health workers were away for seminar sessions (38%), long term training (8%) or on official travels 25% and on leave (20%). Of those health workers present at the reproductive and child health clinic at the time of the survey, average productive working time equaled 57% of their time present at work. In terms of monthly supervision visits by the Council Health Management Teams, only 14% of facilities had received the required number of supervisory visits during the 6 months preceding the survey. The findings of this thesis underline the importance of operational research as a systematic way to establish how new interventions work under routine health system conditions. The lessons described in this thesis have great significance for the future of public health strategies, both existing and new. The generated information on costs and experience with the issues surrounding design of the delivery mechanisms, training, supervision and development of implementation guidelines created a strong institutional framework that could speed up implementation at country level whenever there is a policy recommendation. It is expected that the experience generated and the evidence gathered as part of this thesis can contribute to an improved understanding of the issues that need to be considered and tackled in order to spearhead routine implementation of malaria interventions and potentially other diseases to achieve high health service access and improved quality care that is a foundation for improved population health. This study recommends increased resources for funding operational studies to provide evidence of how proven effective tools to fight diseases of the poor work under real life application through routine health delivery system. Other recommendations of this thesis are related to the need to strengthen supervision of health facilities by CHMTs and by higher levels to supervise the district supervisors. There is also an urgent need to develop and test incentive packages in local settings. These measures are necessary to increase health workers productivity, increase staff moral and retention, curb absenteeism and realize health workers balance between urban and rural health facilities in developing countries. Only by exploring many of the factors highlighted above, and throughout this thesis, can the timely and high scale-up of health interventions be achieved.


We applied a picosecond transient grating technique for studies of nonequilibrium carrier dynamics in differently grown or doped SiC polytypes. Optical carrier injection in 4H-SiC at two different wavelengths (266 and 355 nm) allowed us to vary the depth of the photoexcited region and determine photoelectric parameters of high density (from ~1016 to ~1019 cm-3) carrier plasma in the temperature range 10 – 300 K. A strong decrease of carrier lifetime with increasing nonequlibrium carrier density was found in 4H-SiC samples at 300 K and fitted by bimolecular recombination with coefficient B = 3 × 10-11 cm3 s-1. In 3C-SiC epilayers, the opposite tendency was observed over a wide temperature range and attributed to recharging of defect states.


BACKGROUND
Ultrasound (US) is currently the best method for detecting thyroid nodules, especially those less than 1 cm in diameter, known as 'incidentaloma'. The ultimate diagnosis of non-palpable masses is done by fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB), especially sonographically controlled (S-FNAB). Because of the increasing prevalence of thyroid nodules in Poland, it is essential to assess the nodules for FNAB and S-FNAB, especially in persons at high risk for thyroid carcinoma (patients after transplant with immunosuppression, persons with endemic goiter).

MATERIAL/METHODS
Prospective sonographic, color Doppler and power Doppler tests of the thyroid were performed in 44 kidney allograft recipients. The TSH level and urine iodide level was assessed in each patient. The control group included 35 healthy volunteers.

RESULTS
TSH levels were normal. The urine iodide concentration was over 30 mg/100 ml in 5 cases. In the rest of the group and in the controls it was below 30 mg/100 ml. In each case the thyroid was enlarged when compared to volunteers. There were thyroid nodules in 19 cases, single in 6 cases and multiple in 13. Of these nodules, 31 were smaller than 1 cm, 20 nodules were 1-2 cm in diameter, and none was greater than 2 cm. Nodules were classified according to whether or not there was flow within the nodule with eventual perinodular flow. FNAB revealed malignancies in 5 cases (nodules with flow).

CONCLUSIONS
Goiter was observed in all patients after thyroid transplant. In five of 44 cases malignancies were detected. In patients after transplant the US picture and the TSH and iodide levels should be checked.


Surrealistic art is one of the most engaging and intriguing art genres. Surrealism itself is considered to have been the most influential art movement of the 20th century. Started in the 1920s as a literary movement that eventually took on a visual dimension, its foundational principles have continued to influence the thought process and style of many modern artists in the realm of self-expression. In their studies of many disciplines in the art including genres of painting, drawing and sculpture, students of art at the University usually find the concept of surrealism initially difficult to decipher mainly because of the uniqueness of its own description. The dream-like imageries of surrealism are derived from dreams and the unconscious mind; hence, the students have to contend with the derivation of subject matter from an unusual source. This is challenging for most of them since they are used to formulating subject matter from a purely academic perspective and from themes that they ordinarily relate to in their environment or can easily reference. Although students embark on drawing from their first year of study, they are introduced to surrealistic drawing as a unit in their final year. With their drawing background, it is presumed that by their final year, they have attained adequate levels of drawing skills for application in any artistic challenge. This study examines, through analysis of selected works, firstly, the extent to which students are able to internalise the concept of surrealism and apply it in the construction of the artistic composition, and secondly whether their drawings demonstrate an individual capacity for self-expression and the derivation of meaning, through dream-like imageries drawn from the unconscious mind. The students were exposed to preliminary studies and examination of surrealistic work, discussions of subject matter, origination, style and technique in the course of their unit programme. For the purpose of uniformity of medium, they were instructed to work only in pencil. They were subsequently accorded adequate time and space to embark on their work with class presentations and discussions at prescribed intervals. The resultant drawings were many and varied and the ones selected are those that displayed good artistic execution and/or displayed a certain profoundness of meaning or interpretation.


Worldwide, the rapid shrinking of glaciers in response to ongoing climate change is modifying the glacial meltwater contribution to hydrosystems in glacierized catchments. Determining the influence of glacial runoff to streams is therefore of critical importance to evaluate potential impact of glacier retreat on water quality and aquatic biota. This task has challenged both glacier hydrologists and ecologists over the last 20 yr due to both structural and functional complexity of the glacier–stream system interface. Here we propose quantifying the diurnal cycle amplitude of the streamflow to determine the glacial influence in glacierized catchments. We performed water-level measurements using water pressure loggers over 10 months at 30 min time steps in 15 stream sites in 2 glacier-fed catchments in the Ecuadorian Andes ( >4000 m a.s.l.) where no perennial snow cover is observed outside the glaciers. For each stream site, we performed wavelet analyses on water-level time series, determined the scale-averaged wavelet power spectrum at 24 h scale and defined three metrics, namely the power, frequency and temporal clustering of the diurnal flow variation. The three metrics were then compared to the percentage of the glacier cover in the catchments, a metric of glacial influence widely used in the literature. As expected, we found that the diurnal variation power of glacier-fed streams decreased downstream with the addition of non-glacial tributaries. We also found that the diurnal variation power and the percentage of the glacier cover in the catchment were significantly positively correlated. Furthermore, we found that our method permits the detection of glacial signal in supposedly non-glacial sites, thereby revealing glacial meltwater resurgence. While we specifically focused on the tropical Andes in this paper, our approach to determine glacial influence may have potential applications in temperate and arctic glacierized catchments. The measure of diurnal water amplitude therefore appears as a powerful and cost-effective tool to understand the hydrological links between glaciers and hydrosystems better and assess the consequences of rapid glacier shrinking.


For alkali metal cation sensing in aqueous dioxane solution, a novel dibenzo-16-crown-5 (DB16C5) fluoroionophore 1, N-(pyren-1-yl)-sym-(propyl)dibenzo-16-crown-5-oxyacetamide, has been synthesized. Examination of fluorescent behavior for 1 in 4∶1 1,4-dioxane–water (v/v) containing tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) reveals that proton dissociation of the carboxamido moiety is promoted by Na+ binding, which results in an emission ratio response due to internal charge transfer (ICT) from the donor carboxamido anion to the pyrene acceptor. The emission intensity ratio (I459/I387) increases with enhancement of the Na+ concentration. No fluorescent response is induced by the presence of Li+, K+, or Cs+. This high Na+ selectivity is attributed to a preorganized structure of DB16C5 lariat ether binding site in which Na+ binds tightly to the carbonyl oxygen of the side arm to induce selective proton dissociation. Thus a ratiometric emission response with high Na+ selectivity has been obtained for 1 in 4∶1 1,4-dioxane–water (v/v) containing TMAOH.


Butt resistance welding of super duplex stainless steel type 329J4L with inserting type 316L stainless steel wires was investigated. When the base material temperature was increased from room temperature to 1373 K at the heating rate of 550 K /sec, base materials were jointed through the insert wires. HAZ (heat affected zone) of the joint interface were less than 80 μm. In this jointing technique, the insert wires played an important role of concentrating current on the wires and increasing their temperature up to melting point or near melting point. Thermal analysis using thermography revealed that insert wires were adequately heated just after current started at a load of 10 N. When the welding was performed at a load of 70 N, joint area was increased by plastic deformation of the base material. That led to decrease of current concentration. Consequently insert wires were jointed in the solid state.


This paper studies the ability of the political process to design public policies implying an effective and efficient provision of global and local environmental public goods. While it is commonly accepted that the market is unable to guarantee an efficient provision of public goods, such as environmental protection or food security, the question is if or under which condition political processes are efficient mechanisms of public good provision. Beyond policy failure due special interest politics policy failure also results from the fact that economic processes are often rather complex and hence laymen use simple mental models (political beliefs) to understand policy impacts. If political beliefs are biased political decision making based on public opinion leads to rather inefficient policies establishing the paradox of populist democracy policy failure. We use own choice experiment data on sustainable land use policy in Germany to estimate econometrically the WTP for relevant global and local environmental public goods as well as voters' political willingness-to-vote for specific land use policies. Based on these estimations we derive underlying political belief. Further, we assess to what extend a populist democracy policy failure results, i.e. to what extend policy choices driven by political beliefs imply inefficient land use policies when compared to the counterfactual evidence-based policy choices driven by model-based technological relations.


This paper evaluates the area and performance overhead of a programmable cryptographic accelerator specialized to support ARX (Add, Rotate, and Xor) based encryption standards, which are common in symmetric cryptography. This overhead is measured by comparing to a variety of custom ARX implementations optimized specifically for π -- Cipher. This is a new algorithm for authenticated encryption that offers advantages over AES-GCM and is a candidate in the CAESAR competition. The programmable processor is designed to accommodate different word sizes, different block sizes and different security levels. The custom variants require separate versions to support these diverse capabilities. We find that the overhead of the programmability is quite high. For example, we implemented the Programmable Processing Element PPE in 227 slices, achieving a throughput of about 1.2 Gbps/block, regardless of the word size. In comparison, our best custom 64-bit implementation so far requires 445 slices, achieving 3.09 Gbps. This means that two PPEs running in parallel can achieve 75% of the throughput of the custom 64-bit solution, while providing flexibility to support diverse cryptographic standards.


ABSTRACT This paper introduces a return-based approach to studying a possible home bias of European equity funds by estimating their exposures to their domestic markets. We first confirm the robustness of our approach using simulated portfolios with different proportions of domestic and foreign stocks. The empirical analysis examines equity funds domiciled in 15 European countries that invest in European stocks. We examine individual funds as well as portfolios comprising funds that are all domiciled in a particular country. Our findings reveal that the portfolios of four domiciles show a significant home bias. Moreover, we observe that in seven domiciles more than a quarter of the individual funds are home-biased. These results are robust when controlling for fund-specific benchmarks or for the average country exposures of all funds in our final sample. Finally, a home bias of individual funds is not related to superior performance, but actually results in higher investment risk consistent with underdiversification.


Coexistence of foraging seabirds and operating fisheries may result in interactions such as competition for the same prey resources. We used GIS-based modelling at a scale of 0.5 × 0.5° spa- tial cells to: (1) map the foraging distribution of seabirds; (2) predict their annual food consumption rates in a spatially explicit manner; and (3) estimate a spatially explicit seabird-fisheries overlap index. Information on population size, diet composition and foraging attributes of 351 seabird species was compiled into a Microsoft Access database. Global annual food consumption by seabirds was estimated to be 96.4 million tonnes (95% CI: 78.0 to 114.7 million tonnes), compared with a total catch of nearly 120 million tonnes by all marine fisheries. Krill and cephalopods comprised over 58% of the overall food consumed and fish most of the remainder. The families Procellariidae (albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters) and Spheniscidae (penguins) were responsible for over 54% of the overall food consumption. Seabird foraging distribution maps revealed that areas around New Zealand, the east- ern Australian coast, and the sub-Antarctic islands had high species richness. However, temperate and polar regions supported high seabird densities and most food extracted by seabirds originated there. Furthermore, maps of food consumption rates revealed that most food consumed by seabirds was extracted from offshore rather than nearshore waters and from areas where seabird-fisheries overlap was low. The resource overlap maps identified 'hotspots' of highest potential for conflict between fisheries and seabirds. Thus, this study may provide useful insight when developing management approaches for designing offshore marine conservation areas.


It is expected that at least 40 percent of the population over 75 will need extensive health care services late in their lives. The public has a negative view of nursing home placement that has, to some extent, been confirmed by research finding that the health of a frail older person deteriorates each time he or she is moved. The Aging in Place model of care for the elderly offers care coordination (case management) and health care services to older adults so they will not have to move from one level of care delivery to another as their health care needs increase. University Nurses Senior Care (UNSC) is the service entity of this project and provides as its core service care coordination with a variety of service options. These options include care packages or services at an hourly rate to meet individual client needs. The Aging in Place project will be evaluated by comparing project clients to residents of similar acuity in nursing homes and to similar clients receiving standard community support services. Data from this project will be important to consumers, researchers, providers, insurers, and policy makers.


In image retrieval applications one of the boundary-dependent approaches is matching contours with their polygonal representation. We introduce (1) a new polygonal shape representation, (2) an efficient algorithm to compute a unique representation of a polygon to handle orientation and (3) a matching method that is invariant to rigid and affine transformation. In the method, polygons are represented by a sequence of distance vectors ordered in a predefined cyclic way. Each vector is composed of two primitives which are radial distance from the centroid to a vertex and the following edge distance in a specified direction. Matching of polygons is achieved by bitwise comparison of their string code. The algorithm has a computational complexity of O(n log n), hence it has advantage for practical use.


This paper presents an optomechatronic system which can detect, by triangulation, the position of a light point source, fastened onto a robot part. The sensing system consists of two positioning modules for optical transducers, which automatically follow the direction of the light point source. The system control is accomplished by means of data acquisition boards and LabVIEW programming.


The combined influence of plasmon-induced metallic nanoparticles (NPs), which increase the photoabsorption capability, and dual cathode buffer layers for enhanced charge collection is presented, which significantly improves the efficiency of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Two different types of metal NPs, viz. citrate capped gold (Au) and silver (Ag) NPs, were blended (20 v/v%) separately into a PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer. For the dual cathode buffer layer, we chose two different hole blocking layers, BPhen and BCP, with a LiF/Al cathode contact. The combined influence of both the NPs and the dual cathode buffer layers was investigated with two blend polymers, rrP3HT:PC61BM and rrP3HT:PC71BM. It was observed that for both the blend polymer systems the power conversion efficiency (PCE) increases significantly in the presence of PEDOT:PSS + AuNPs and PEDOT:PSS + AgNPs with BCP/LiF/Al as a cathode contact compared to the bare PEDOT:PSS layer. In particular, in the presence of PEDOT:PSS + AuNPs and BCP/LiF/Al, the highest PCE was observed for both the blend polymers because of the better band alignment of BCP/LiF/Al with the active layers and the superior surface plasmon resonance of the AuNPs in the visible spectrum compared to AgNPs. The device with an ITO/PEDOT:PSS + AuNPs/rrP3HT:PC61BM/BCP/LiF/Al configuration showed a PCE (η) of 4.99% with Jsc = 13.9 mA cm−2, Voc = 0.59 V and FF = 62%, whereas for ITO/PEDOT:PSS + AuNPs/rrP3HT:PC71BM/BCP/LiF/Al, the device showed a PCE (η) of 5.65% with Jsc = 16.1 mA cm−2, Voc = 0.58 V and FF = 61%. These results conclusively explain the combined influence of the dual cathode buffer layer and the plasmonic metal NPs to remarkably improve the PCE and overall device performance of rrP3HT:PCBM based BHJ solar cells.


A quantitative criterion of merit has been needed to assist airplane designers to incorporate satisfactory spinning characteristics into new designs. An approximate empirical criterion, based on the projected side area and the mass distribution of the airplane, has been formulated in a recent British report. In the present paper, the British results have been analyzed and applied to American designs. A simpler design criterion based solely on the type and the dimensions of the tail, has been developed: it is useful in a rapid estimation of whether a new design is likely to comply with the minimum requirements for safety in spinning.


DESCRIPTION: The redactional history of the book of Nehemiah is a hotly debated topic within scholarship. While a general consensus both attributes Neh. 1:1-2:20; 4:1-7:5; and 13:4-31 to the Nehemiah Memoir and postulates the influence of ancient Near Eastern royal inscriptions, previous scholarship lacks a systematic examination of Persian-period royal inscriptions in discussing the redactional history of Nehemiah. This present book examines Persian-period inscriptions from Judah's neighbors, Babylonia and Egypt, and identifies a propaganda model in which Persian kings are supported by the local deities and are heirs to the local dynasties. This propaganda model resembles depictions of Artaxerxes in sections of Nehemiah often attributed to the Memoir. Challenging a recent trend attributing religious references to Hellenistic redactions, this study finds that references in Nehemiah to divine authorization of Artaxerxes akin to the royal propaganda model in Persian-period texts from Babylon and Egypt most likely date to the Persian-period Nehemiah Memoir due to a shared literary context. ISBN: 9789042932203 (pb)


growth factor (PDGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) may promote a granulation tissue formation characterized by an active fibroblast known as myofibroblast expressing alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). The TGF-β may induce myofibroblast to produce an excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) that potentially causes a scar formation . Therefore, a better understanding of TGF-β and α-SMA expression following MSCs treatment during wounds healing process is needed. Abstract Objective : Wound healing without fibrosis remains a clinical challenge and a new strategy to promote the optimal wound healing is needed. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can completely regenerate tissue injury due to the robust MSCs ability in controlling inflammation niche leading to granulation tissue formation, particularly through a release of various growth factors including transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). In response to TGF-β stimulation, fibroblasts differentiate into myofibroblast, marked by alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) that leads to wound healing acceleration. On the other hand, sustained activation of TGF-β in wound areas may contribute to fibrosis-associated scar formation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the α-SMA expression of myofibroblast induced by MSC-released TGF-β during wound healing process. Materials and Methods : Twenty-four full-thickness excisional rat wound models were randomly divided into four groups: sham (Sh), Control (C), and MSCs treatment groups; topically treated by the MSCs at doses 2x10 6 cells (T1) and 1x10 6 cells (T2), respectively. While the control group was treated with NaCl. TGF-β level was determined using ELISA assay, α-SMA expression of myofibroblast was analyzed by immunofluorescence staining, and wound size measurement was calculated using a standard caliper. Results : This study showed a significant increase in TGF-β levels in all treatment groups on days 3 and 6. This finding was consistent with a significant increase of α-SMA expression of myofibroblast at day 6 and wound closure percentage, indicating that MSCs might promote an increase of wound closure. Conclusion : MSCs regulated the release of TGF-β to induce α-SMA expression of myofibroblast for accelerating an optimal wound healing.


We propose in this note a method for computing the solution to the infinite horizon continuous-time constrained linear quadratic regulator. The method is based on two main ingredients: a multigrid method for placing a finite number of time intervals, and a piece-wise linear parameterization of the input within the intervals. The input values at the decision-time points and slopes within the time intervals are computed via quadratic programs (QPs). The grids are gradually refined to efficiently improve the accuracy of the solution, and the required matrices and vectors for all QPs are computed offline and stored to improve the online efficiency. Two examples are presented to show the main characteristics of the proposed method.


Despite having number of health benefits, yoga also has a proven role in enhancing performance of athletes boosting specific components of fitness. Our aim was to study the effect of yoga on flexibility and balance among shooting trainee athletes at BKSP, Bangladesh. A quasi-experimental study was conducted among shooting trainee athletes. In total 20 athletes took part in this study. In each group we had 10 participants (10 in yoga group and other 10 in non-yoga group). Regular yoga session have been conducted early morning biweekly over a period of six weeks. All the participants were allowed to take part in regular training session, while only yoga group took part in additional yoga session. Measurements of flexibility and balance including Sit and Reach (SR) test and Stork Stand (SR) test were taken immediately before and after the yoga training period. Independent t-test and paired t-test were used to determine the significant effect of yoga within and between the groups before and after yoga training. Sixty percent of our participants were male. Participant's age were between 12-17 years. All of them had normal level of BMI. Significant improvement were observed in the yoga group for flexibility (SR, P=0.017) and balance (SS, P=0.004) during within group comparison. No significant improvement were seen for flexibility and balance in the non-yoga group. Between group comparison (Yoga and Non-yoga) also shows significant enhancement in both flexibility (SR, P=0.018) and balance (SS, P=0.021).Our findings helped us to conclude that regular yoga training may improve the balance and flexibility of shooting athletes even within short period of time (6 weeks), can also improve the athletic performances that demands high flexibility and balance. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2017, 3(2): 276-281


Wave loading on marine structures is the major external force to be considered in the design of such structures. The accurate prediction of the nonlinear high-order components of the wave loading has been an unresolved challenging problem. In this paper, the nonlinear harmonic components of hydrodynamic forces on a bottom-mounted vertical cylinder are investigated experimentally. A large number of experiments were conducted in the Danish Hydraulic Institute shallow water wave basin on the cylinder, both on a flat bed and a sloping bed, as part of a European collaborative research project. High-quality data sets for focused wave groups have been collected for a wide range of wave conditions. The high-order harmonic force components are separated by applying the 'phase-inversion' method to the measured force time histories for a crest focused wave group and the same wave group inverted. This separation method is found to work well even for locally violent nearly-breaking waves formed from bidirectional wave pairs. It is also found that the $n$ th-harmonic force scales with the $n$ th power of the envelope of both the linear undisturbed free-surface elevation and the linear force component in both time variation and amplitude. This allows estimation of the higher-order harmonic shapes and time histories from knowledge of the linear component alone. The experiments also show that the harmonic structure of the wave loading on the cylinder is virtually unaltered by the introduction of a sloping bed, depending only on the local wave properties at the cylinder. Furthermore, our new experimental results reveal that for certain wave cases the linear loading is actually less than 40 % of the total wave loading and the high-order harmonics contribute more than 60 % of the loading. The significance of this striking new result is that it reveals the importance of high-order nonlinear wave loading on offshore structures and means that such loading should be considered in their design.


This paper represents a reconstruction algorithm using a direct sensitivity matrix (DSM) approach for fast 3D image reconstruction in electrical impedance imaging. The boundary element method (BEM) is used in the construction of this matrix. The first images of a conductivity perturbation inside a sphere are reconstructed, using theoretical data.


This study aims to find out and analyze whether income smoothing practices exist in companies with the Corporate Performance Rating Program in Environmental Management (PROPER). The research sample consisted of 57 PROPER companies in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) from 2017 to 2021. The data were measured by the Index Eckel using quantitative descriptive analysis. The findings of this study reveal that several PROPER companies show signs of manipulating their revenue figures to create a smoother financial picture. Most companies that obtained a blue rating on PROPER indicated income smoothing whereas the green rating, not many companies indicated income smoothing. Conversely, no company with a gold PROPER rating indicates income smoothing. It can be concluded that the higher the PROPER rating obtained by a company, the lower the possibility of companies performing income smoothing. This research implies a conflict of interest and information asymmetry between the agent and the principal which motivates management to perform income smoothing. Therefore, with this theory, an equal distribution of interests between management and stakeholders will be obtained. The novelty of this research is the use of quantitative descriptive analysis for a more in-depth analysis of income smoothing by PROPER companies as compared to previous studies. Hence, this study showed empirical evidence on the difference between PROPER companies that carry out and do not carry out income smoothing.


We report the color-tuning and switching optical transport characters of CdS hybrid plasmonic waveguide by using near-field optical microscopy. The guided photoluminescence spectra under various waveguide lengths demonstrate a spectroscopic red-shift for the part of CdS nanoribbon placed on the sapphire substrate and an energy compensation at Ag film. Surface plasmon polariton leakage and radiation are explored by near-field characterizations. Finite difference time domain simulations have good agreement with the experimental observations of subwavelength confinement and propagation. With a strong end facet emission, the suggested hybrid plasmonic waveguide can serve as a color-changeable optical nanosource in integrated photonic devices.


We link fundamental technological and taste distributions to endogenous economic distributions of prices and firm size (output, profit) generated under monopolistic competition with heterogeneous productivities as per recent Trade and IO models. We new derive properties for monopoly pricing and equivalence properties on demand curvature, profit functions, and marginal revenue, which we use to ensure distributions of cost, price, output, and profit can be matched under monopolistic competition. Demand and one distribution determine the rest. We provide constructive proofs to recover demand and all distributions from just two (e.g., price and cost distributions uncover demand form), and derive consistency conditions that distribution pairs must satisfy. We then extend to include mark-up distributions.


Most current input systems for games rely on mechanistic iconographic based interactions such as an "attack" button, in hardware or software, which encompasses the whole sequence of preparation, timing, execution, and recovery from the action. The few systems which differ mostly involve hardware analogues of physical equipment and movements. These often capture the movement of the real action but not the primary skill required; capturing secondary skills are almost never even attempted. I propose a series of software-based approaches which capture primary and secondary skills required to mirror a player's character's abilities in the player themselves. For example in the role-playing games, if the player has the skills a designer thinks a wizard or warrior would have, the player's character will be better at that class. Comparisons with existing popular systems are made and the implications of this system for cheating, bots, leveling, class selection and experience levels are discussed.


Tumor-associated proteins can act as effective immunotherapeutic targets. Immunization with tumor TCR protein conjugated to the immunogenic protein keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) protects mice from tumor challenge with the murine T cell lymphoma C6VL. The immune mechanisms responsible for this tumor protection are of interest for designing more effective vaccine strategies. Previous studies using depletion experiments had suggested a CD8-mediated component of protection induced by TCR-KLH vaccines. In this study we used CD8α knockout, μMT, and FcγR knockout mice to investigate the relative roles of CD8+ T cells and Ab in protective immunity induced by TCR-KLH immunization. We found that CD8+ T cells are not required for tumor protection, although they may contribute to protection. Vaccine-induced Abs are sufficient to mediate protection against this murine T cell lymphoma through an FcR-dependent mechanism. This was confirmed with Ab transfers, which protect challenged mice. Additionally, recombinase-activating gene 1−/− splenocytes can mediate Ab-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against this tumor in the presence of bound anti-TCR Abs. IFN-γ knockout mice demonstrated a requirement for IFN-γ, probably via generation of IgG2c Abs, in vaccine-induced tumor protection. IFN-γ knockout mice were not protected by immunization and had a severe impairment in IgG2c Ab production in response to immunization. Although mock-depleted anti-TCR Abs could transfer tumor protection, IgG2c-deficient anti-TCR Abs were unable to transfer tumor protection to wild-type mice. These results suggest that TCR-KLH vaccine-induced tumor protection in the C6VL system is primarily attributable to the induction of IgG2c Abs and humoral immunity.


This course examines and evaluates the archival field's current preservation standards for storage and duplication. Critical preservation problems such as nitrate deterioration, color fading, the vinegar syndrome, and irreplaceable formats are extensively discussed. Throughout the seminar, case studies of specific restoration projects focus on the crucial ethical issues embedded within each technical and aesthetic decision facing the preservation specialist. Of special interest to this course is the question of whether it is possible and appropriate to speak of particular schools and/or philosophies of restoration. In addition, the seminar addresses a range of key issues, such as the identification of the original versus subsequent and multiple versions; the theoretical and practical distinctions between different types of restoration, and the implications of new, digital technologies that promise the ability to ""improve"" the original.


Introduction Guideline-recommended surveillance reduces the likelihood of colorectal cancer recurrence, yet surveillance rates are low in the United States. Little is known about colorectal cancer surveillance rates among patients without health insurance and their primary care clinicians/oncologists' attitudes toward surveillance care. Methods A retrospective study of 205 patients diagnosed with Stage I–III colorectal cancer from 2008 to 2010 was conducted in an integrated system with a network of clinics and health care providers, delivering care to patients lacking health insurance coverage. Surveillance patterns were characterized from medical records, and logistic regression models examined correlates of guideline-concordant surveillance. Forty-four Parkland primary care physicians (PCPs) and 24 oncologists completed surveys to assess their attitudes and practices regarding colorectal cancer surveillance. Results Thirty-eight percent of colorectal cancer patients received guideline-concordant surveillance; those with early stage cancers were less likely to receive surveillance (odds ratio = 0.35; 95 confidence interval: 0.14, 0.87). PCPs and oncologists differed markedly on who is responsible for cancer surveillance care. Seventy-seven percent of oncologists responded that PCPs evaluated patients for cancer recurrence, while 76% of PCPs responded that these services were either ordered by oncologists or shared with PCPs. Sixty-seven percent of oncologists said that they rarely provide a treatment and surveillance care plan to survivors, and over half said that they infrequently communicate with patients' other physicians about who will follow patients for their cancer and other medical issues. Discussion Care coordination between PCP and oncologist is needed to improve colorectal cancer surveillance. New models of shared care clearly delineating roles for oncologists and PCPs are needed to improve colorectal cancer survivorship care.


A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is a robust means by which to monitor toxin-producing cyanobacteria. However, qPCR usually requires DNA extraction, which is a time-consuming, labor-intensive pretreatment. To be able to quickly determine the potential of cyanotoxin contamination in the field, a rapid pretreatment method for DNA extraction and a portable qPCR device are needed. In this study, we applied a microwave-based method for the qPCR pretreatment and a multicolor portable qPCR with UPL and TaqMan probes to quantify toxigenic and total Microcystis. The method was tested using laboratory cultures of toxigenic Microcystis aeruginosa PCC7820. The qPCR results showed the cycle thresholds value (Ct value) correlated well with cell numbers, with detection limit at about 1,000 cells/ml. This scheme was applied in 22 environmental samples from six drinking water reservoirs (DWRs) in Taiwan. Although the results for qPCR were about four times higher than those of microscopic observation, good correlation between qPCR and microscope methods were obtained (r-square: 0.79, P < 0.01). The ratios of toxigenic Microcystis to total Microcystis in two reservoirs, Sin-Shan Reservoir and Shih-men Reservoir, were less than 10%. In three other reservoirs, Ren-Yi-Tan Reservoir, Nan-Hua Reservoir and Bao-Shan Reservoir, much higher (>46.1%) ratios were obtained. The scheme may assist quick assessment of the risk associated with toxic cyanobacteria in DWRs.


Software testing has emerged as a distinct and critical component in software development. This paper argues that software testing should be conceptualized as a concurrent service throughout the software development process rather than being viewed as a sequential line of responsibility. Testing as a service has two key aspects: (1) a service to developers, and (2) a service to end users. This paper draws from the service quality and SERVQUAL literature to propose a structured measurement tool for testing as a service. Software quality is the most prominent outcome for TESTQUAL. The potential antecedents and outcomes of TESTQUAL are briefly discussed. The implications to research and practice of TESTQUAL are also discussed.


Off-stoichiometric Ni2MnGa ferromagnetic shape memory alloys undergo a martensitic transformation (MT) from the L21 cubic phase to a martensitic crystal lattice consisting, in the majority of cases, of a periodic stacking sequence of nearly closed-packed planes with periodicity of 5, 7 or 2 planes, denoted as 10M (five layered tetragonal), 14M (seven layered orthorhombic) and 2M (non-modulated tetragonal). In addition to the parent to martensite transformation, Ni-Mn-Ga alloys tend to show stress or temperature induced intermartensitic transformations (IMTs) towards the most stable 2M phase, through the sequences 10M→14M→2M or 14M→2M depending on the first formed martensite. The IMTs reported in the literature show a variety of characteristics such as reversibility, completeness, hysteresis and temperature of occurrence, but, as a general trend, the role of internal stresses in favouring the occurrence of IMTs is recognised. Recently it has been shown that the L21 order degree favours the occurrence of the intermartensitic transformation from 14M to 2M martensite, stabilising the non modulated martensite through a decrease of its free energy with respect to the layered martensite. From this point of view, the occurrence of intermartensitic transformations in Ni-Mn-Ga alloys appears as a "chemical" free energy effect. Aiming to go deeply into this aspect, in this work the occurrence of IMTs and their properties have been examined for an extensive set of off-stoichiometric Ni2MnGa. The results show the existence of a relationship between the IMTs temperatures and the alloys composition, as well as the dependence of all observed IMTs (i.e., 10M→14M, 14M→2M and their corresponding reverse transformations) on the L21 order degree.


A novel strain, designated W-15(T), was isolated from the gut of a long-horned beetle, Massicus raddei, collected in South Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the strains belonged to the suborder Micrococcineae. Strain W-15(T) was most closely related to Luteimicrobium album RI148-Li105(T) (97.9 % similarity). Strain W-15(T) was Gram-stain-positive, rod- and coccus-shaped and non-motile. Growth was observed at 15-37 °C, at pH 4.5-8.5 and in the presence of 0-5.0 % NaCl. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of the strain was A4α (l-Lys-d-Ser-d-Asp). The major menaquinone present in this strain was MK-8 (H2) and the major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, an unknown lipid, an unknown phospholipid and an unknown phosphoglycolipid. The G+C content of genomic DNA of the strain was 73.8 mol%. On the basis of evidence from our polyphasic taxonomic study, strain W-15(T) is classified as representing a novel species in the suborder Micrococcineae, for which the name Luteimicrobium xylanilyticum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of this species is strain W-15(T) ( = KCTC 19882(T) = JCM 18090(T)).


The article presents short characteristics of crime in the Republic of Lithuania during 2001. There are many written articles in which crime in Lithuania is analyzed in various aspects and periods. However, always in each year rises the same question – whats new in criminality? It is a problem – what we can tell new about crime and its alterations in Lithuania during 2001. The statistical data reported by the Department of Informatics and Communications under the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been analyzed. The author analyzes crime's aspects: crime rate, its types and territorial distribution, crime detection, prevented crime, alterations of crime indicators during the year and other. The main goal of the research is to find the maximum of alterations, maximum and minimum values of crime indicators.


We start with a general harassment game with five strategies in chapter 2. After some simplification of the generalized harassment game, we study the evolutionary dynamics of the model using replicator equations. We plot the bifurcation diagrams for two varying parameters at time for various cases and contrast the results obtained for "symmetric liabilities" and "asymmetric liabilities". We found that a bribe free world is more likely to attain in "asymmetric liabilities" case. High punishment and prosecution rate and low value of bribe demand assists in achieving utopia. An Agent Based Simulation (ABS) for the same five strategy model was done with Moran process as the population update rule. We found the same dependence on various parameters with respect to attaining utopia as we had found in case of replicator equations. Though we found that there is no conformity of attaining utopia for finite population size, there is always some probability with which population reaches utopia for a given parameter set.
In chapter 3, the five strategy model was removed to a four strategy model for better understanding and scope for accommodating more complexity. We draw bifurcation diagrams and velocity vector diagrams for the four strategy model. There was a sudden emergence of utopia after a certain critical value of parameters is reached. We also observes some interesting features of the system in "with refund" and "no refund" scenario. One observation was for imitation dynamics "with refund" case, bribe amount should to be judiciously set by the corrupt officer in order to survive in the population. A general observation was high punishment, high prosecution rate, low value of bribe demand, low cost of complain and incentives for having refund helps in attaining bribe free world. We also test the Basu"s "proposed policy" with the "present policy" in the limits of high cost of complaining and low prosecution rate. We found that success of "proposed policy" depends on having significant proportion of citizen who "pay and complain" and officers who "does not take bribe". Next we investigate the effect of allowing officers to take up the roles of citizens on the long term evolutionary fate of the population structure. No qualitative different result was observed from the modified model.
In chapter 4, we change the mode of updating the population from "imitation" to "alternative strategy exploration". The results of bifurcation diagram shows that unlike "imitation" model there was no sudden emergence of strategies but a spontaneous emergence in the parameter space. The possibilities of reaching a complete bribe free world were very rare except for some extreme parameter regime. There was a coexistence of different strategies in the population for most of the parameter space. Next we investigate the effect of empathy on the part of corrupt officer when he is victimized as citizen during an interaction with another corrupt officer. It was observed that presence of empathy leads to a reduction in the number of officers who "demand bribe".
Chapter 5 and 6 is not related to the evolutionary game modeling of bribery scenario. These are two general formalism or techniques that can be applied in variety of context in evolutionary game theory. In chapter 5 we form a technique with which one could find the scores of the competing players in an infinitely iterative one-memory based game when players are prone to behavioral and perception errors. The results of the analysis show an exact match with the known results of some competitions between different strategy pairs. In chapter 6 we tried to apply the technique of solving master equation using generating functions in context of a general two player evolutionary game with local update imitation as the rule for population update. We feel that more investigation is required to fully understand the hidden connections and validity of implementation of the technique in the generalized evolutionary game models.


Following the Eastern enlargement in 2004 and 2007, a great deal of debate has centered on whether the environment factors will create obstacles to labour mobility in the European Union (EU). In particular, the removal of restrictions with the end of transition periods in most of the old EU has led to a more informal manner of discussions of whether environmental movement will be increased in short or medium run. While the socio-economic benefits of labour migration from the East to the West will likely triumph, it is generally claimed that the population of the Central Eastern and European countries intend to go abroad, but often change their minds because of the environmental well-being, such as pollution or bad weather. This article explores the possibility of the impact of environmental factors on the labour migration from the Central Eastern and Western European countries to the EU.


In Reply.— Dr Bear addresses several issues that require further clarification. First, he interprets the high frequency of behavioral abnormality in my temporal lobe epilepsy group as "further evidence of the frequent occurrence of behavioral symptoms in temporal lobe epilepsy." This inference is unwarranted, as the group was preselected for the presence of behavior abnormality and, as a result, was clearly not representative of temporal lobe epileptics in general and cannot be used to address the question of incidence of behavioral disturbance in temporal lobe epilepsy. Second, Bear argues that some of the patients in my neurobehavioral group may have suffered from undetected temporal lobe epilepsy. This potential criticism was addressed in my article and requires no further comment other than to note that even if this were the case for the neurobehavioral group, one would still need to account for the lack of differences between the temporal lobe epilepsy and psychiatric


This document describes a management solution capable of avoiding
conflicts between autonomic functions. The objective of such a
solution is to avoid network instabilities, by insuring that the
autonomic functions pursuing different goals will cooperate instead of
antagonize each other. This document provides both requirements and
specifications for such a solution.


The saccus vasculosus (SV) of C. batrachus is comparatively small and situated latero-dorsal to the pituitary in between the lobi inferiores. It is in open communication with the third ventricle and is made up of coronet and supporting glial cells with interspersed liquor contacting neurons. These cellular constituents are arranged in one to three layers which are not thrown into folds. The PAS positive nature of the apical part of some coronet cells and their continuation with the PAS and AF positive material present in the lumen strongly suggest their secretory role. The coronet cells exhibited strong NADH diaphorase, NADPH diaphorase, cytochrome oxidase and MAO activity. AChE activity was comparatively weak. These enzyme histochemical studies show that SV has a dual function of transport and secretion. The strong MAO activity suggests the probable aminergic control of this organ.


In the coastal South region of Cameroon, 26.000 ha of land once covered by forest is doomed by the development of a significant infrastructure: the Kribi Agro-Industrial and Urban Port Complex. Important earthwork was undertaken to set-up this "structuring project" which is presented as the ultimate propeller for the industrialization of the entire Central Africa region. This paper is the first of a series aiming to use pixel-based digital image differencing to determine the footprint of the Kribi Agro-Industrial and Urban Port Complex at its present stage of development. Hopefully it triggers sound decisions and awareness on the fate of this biome, part of the Congo Rainforest.


This work presents a novel framework for the aerodynamic design and optimization of blades for small horizontal axis wind turbines (WT). The framework is based on a state-of-the-art blade element momentum model, which is complemented with the XFOIL 6.96 software in order to provide an estimate of the sectional blade aerodynamics. The framework considers an innovative nested-hybrid solution procedure based on two metaheuristics, the virtual gene genetic algorithm and the simulated annealing algorithm, to provide a near-optimal solution to the problem. The objective of the study is to maximize the aerodynamic efficiency of small WT (SWT) rotors for a wide range of operational conditions. The design variables are (1) the airfoil shape at the different blade span positions and the radial variation of the geometrical variables of (2) chord length, (3) twist angle, and (4) thickness along the blade span. A wind tunnel validation study of optimized rotors based on the NACA 4-digit airfoil series is presented. Based on the experimental data, improvements in terms of the aerodynamic efficiency, the cut-in wind speed, and the amount of material used during the manufacturing process were achieved. Recommendations for the aerodynamic design of SWT rotors are provided based on field experience.


A treasure for anyone interested in early modern India and the history of mathematics, this first English translation of the Siddhantasundara reveals the fascinating work of the scholar-astronomer Jnanaraja (circa 1500 C.E.). Toke Lindegaard Knudsen begins with an introduction to the traditions of ancient Hindu astronomy and describes what is known of Jnanaraja's life and family. He translates the Sanskrit verses into English and offers expert commentary on the style and substance of Jnanaraja's treatise. The Siddhantasundara contains a comprehensive exposition of the system of Indian astronomy, including how to compute planetary positions and eclipses. It also explores deep, probing questions about the workings of the universe and sacred Hindu traditions. In a philosophical discussion, the treatise seeks a synthesis between the cosmological model used by the Indian astronomical tradition and the cosmology of a class of texts sacred in Hinduism. In his discourse, which includes a discussion of the direction of down and adhesive antipodeans, Jnanaraja rejects certain principles from the astronomical tradition and reinterprets principles from the sacred texts. He also constructs a complex poem on the seasons, many verses of which have two layers of meaning, one describing a season, the other a god's activities in that season. The Siddhantasundara is the last major treatise of Indian astronomy and cosmology to receive serious scholarly attention, Knudsen's careful effort unveils the 500-year-old Sanskrit verses and shows the clever quirkiness of Jnanaraja's writing style, his keen use of mathematics, and his subtle philosophical arguments.


The Organ Mountains fault occurs along the eastern side of the Organ and San Andres Mountains in Dona Ana County, NM. The fault is one of the youngest in NM and is of particular local interest and significance because (1) episodes of faulting are accompanied by severe earthquake activity, (2) major centers of population are nearby, and (3) the fault is very close to the headquarters of the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). This report presents a study of soils, geomorphology, and evidence of both late Holocene and pre-Holocene displacements along the fault.A previous study along the Organ Mountains fault in southern NM found evidence of a displacement estimated to have taken place about 1,000 years ago. The late Holocene fault scarp associated with the displacement represents one of the youngest if not the youngest fault in NM. In this study, examination of an older scarp adjacent to the late Holocene scarp revealed buried evidence of late Holocene faulting below the base of the older scarp. This evidence consists of displaced sediments and soils of late Pleistocene age, and post-faulting sediments and soils similar to those at the late Holocene scarp. Prominent soils on large parts of the older scarp indicate that, as a general landscape feature, the scarp must date from the Pleistocene.The discovery of such masking of faults below an ancient scarp indicates that the late Holocene faulting previously reported could be much more extensive than suggested by the downfaulted late Holocene sediments alone. Total displacement of the late middle Pleistocene sediments along the ancient scarp must be more than the minimum of 80-82 ft shown by the present scarp. Below the ancient scarp, late Holocene displacement at the fault plane is estimated to be about 3 ft; if nearby downwarping also reflects late Holocene faulting then the total displacement for the late Holocene would be considerably greater.Two depositional zones that differ considerably in particle size are characteristic of the late Holocene faulting at both scarps, and are useful criteria that reflect episodes of faulting in these materials. One zone, termed the skeletal zone, is dominated by rock fragments and is emplaced almost immediately after faulting as an erosional response to the downdropped materials below the fault. The fine-earth zone is deposited later by small streams that cross the scarp and by overland flow, and commonly buries the skeletal zone in part. Soils formed in one or both of these two zones constitute major chronological markers for the study of displacement times. Below the base of the ancient scarp, the displaced soil of late Pleistocene age has formed in a fine-earth zone that reflects an episode of faulting older than the late Holocene displacement. Although this soil needs further study, its prominent horizons of clay and carbonate accumulation could indicate, at some locations along the fault, a time of stability and soil formation that would be longer than the current estimate of about 5,000 years for the maximum interval of time between faulting episodes.


This thesis comprises three essays on assessing methods for modelling the distribution of healthcare costs.

Chapter 2 extends the literature on modelling healthcare cost data by applying the generalised beta of the second kind (GB2) distribution to English hospital inpatient cost data. A quasi-experimental design, estimating models on a sub-population of the data and evaluating performance on another sub-population, is used to compare this distribution with its nested and limiting cases. While, for these data, the beta of the second kind (B2) distribution and generalised gamma (GG) distribution outperform the GB2, our results illustrate that the GB2 can be used as a device for choosing among competing parametric distributions for healthcare cost data.

In Chapter 3, we conduct a quasi-Monte Carlo comparison of the recent developments in parametric and semi-parametric regression methods for healthcare costs, both against each other and against standard practice. The population of English NHS hospital inpatient episodes for the financial year 2007-2008 (summed for each patient: 6,164,114 observations in total) is randomly divided into two equally sized sub-populations to form an estimation set and a validation set. Evaluating out-of-sample using the validation set, a conditional density approximation estimator shows considerable promise in forecasting conditional means, performing best for accuracy of forecasting and amongst the best four (of sixteen compared) for bias and goodness-of-fit. The best performing model for bias is linear regression with square root transformed dependent variable, while a generalised linear model with square root link function and Poisson distribution performs best in terms of goodness-of-fit. Commonly used models utilising a log link are shown to perform badly relative to other models considered in our comparison.

Chapter 4 examines methods for estimating the full conditional distribution of healthcare costs. Understanding the data generating process behind healthcare costs remains a key empirical issue. Although much research to date has focused on the prediction of the conditional mean cost, this can potentially miss important features of the full conditional distribution such as tail probabilities. We conduct a quasi-Monte Carlo experiment using English NHS inpatient data to compare 14 approaches to modelling the distribution of healthcare costs: nine of which are parametric, and have commonly been used to fit healthcare costs, and five others designed specifically to construct a counterfactual distribution. Our results indicate that no one method is clearly dominant and that there is a tradeoff between bias and precision of tail probability forecasts. We find that distributional methods demonstrate significant potential, particularly with larger sample sizes where the variability of predictions is reduced. Parametric distributions such as log-normal, generalised gamma and generalised beta of the second kind are found to estimate tail probabilities with high precision, but with varying bias depending upon the cost threshold being considered.


The Plantage, which was created in the northeastern corner of Amsterdam in 1682, may be considered an early allotment garden complex. However, this overlooks the fact that the botanical garden which formed part of the project performed an important public function. The unusual location of the complex within the city walls and the careful, detailed design by municipal engineer Jacob Bosch are additional reasons to view the project in a different light. Besides the gardens and wood storage areas (which were available for rent), the design included public functions and finely planted avenues. If, rather than focus on the private gardens, we also look at the public features of the design, we will see just how remarkable the project was for its time. Few historians have noticed the connection between the transfer of the 'Hortus Medicus' (medical garden) to the Plantage and the resulting transformation of this knowledge institution. What had been an educational garden for apprentice apothecaries in one of the inner courtyards of the Binnengasthuis hospital now became a 'Hortus Botanicus' (botanical garden), open to the general public and situated on one of the city's main roads. This tells us a great deal. The city council invested not just in a knowledge institute to promote public health, but also in a cultural institution for the 'education and delight' of Amsterdam's citizens. This combination laid the foundations for a new source of urban prestige.


In Nordic countries significant primary energy efficiency potential exists in houses built before 1980. These old houses need to be renovated, which provides an opportunity for implementation of energy efficiency measures. However, there are several economic and market barriers and the renovation market are dominated by handicraft-based individual solutions. In this project we analyze the opportunities for implementation of one-stop-shop business models where an overall contractor offers full-service renovation packages including consulting, independent energy audit, renovation work, follow-up (independent quality control and commissioning) and financing.A comparative assessment of emerging business models shows that different types of actors (renovation company, insulation company, energy utility, building product warehouse) can provide such a service. Financing is included in some models. There are differences in how customers are contacted, while the similarities are more on how the service is provided. A main challenge is how to secure independent advising and there is there is uncertainty over who will be responsible for guarantee of the renovation work if the service provider goes bankrupt.Even though there is strong business potential for one-stop-shop energy renovation concept, still it has been somewhat difficult to start or run such a business. Various options to overcome the barriers to promote energy efficient renovation of detached houses are discussed.


Objectives To compare safety and tolerability of moxonidine versus nitrendipine in hypertensive patients with renal failure. A secondary endpoint was to test whether the sympatholytic drug moxonidine slows decline of renal function when added to standard therapy with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or AT1 receptor antagonist plus loop diuretic. Design This prospective, randomized, double-blind, multicenter study recruited 177 patients with advanced renal failure receiving antihypertensive standard therapy at outpatient clinics in Germany and Hungary. Following a 2 week run-in, patients were randomized to 24 weeks of add-on treatment with 0.3 mg/day moxonidine or 20 mg/day nitrendipine. Results The incidence of pre-defined specific adverse events was 42% in the moxonidine (37/89 patients) and 46% in the nitrendipine group (38/82 patients) in intention-to-treat analysis. Intensity and multiplicity were comparable. The dropout rate due to adverse events was 12.4% in the moxonidine and 9.8% in the nitrendipine group. Creatinine clearance according to Cockcroft and Gault decreased by 0.5 ± 4.3 ml/min (mean ± standard deviation) in the moxonidine group and 2.3 ± 4.0 ml/min in the nitrendipine group. Serum creatinine increased by 12.7 ± 49.2 μmol/l in the moxonidine group and by 43.4 ± 71.3 μmol/l in the nitrendipine group. These differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion Add-on treatment with 0.3 mg/day moxonidine in hypertensive patients with renal failure is well tolerated and not inferior to 20 mg/day nitrendipine with respect to the incidence of specific adverse events. The idea of a sympatholytic drug to be renoprotective is appealing but needs further evaluation.


A viable pattern customization strategy is a critical to continue fin pitch scaling. Analysis shows that a self-aligned customization scheme will be required for fin pitch scaling beyond 20nm. In this paper, we explore scaling of the Tone-Inverted Grapho-Epitaxy technique with 24nm pitch PS-b-PMMA polymer to create groups of fins with self-aligned spaces in between. We discuss material selection, self-aligned customization, and etch processes to form 24-nm-pitch fins on silicon on insulator substrates. We demonstrate two-dimensional pattern customization at 24nm pitch, confirming scalability of this approach. FinFET device integration results at both 28 and 24 nm pitches shows a promising path for continued fin pitch scaling.


We present a photophysical study on an indium tin oxide (ITO) one
dimensional grating, realized using femtosecond micromachining technology, a
technology very industrially accessible. The geometries, dimensions and pitch
of the various gratings analyzed are obtained by means of direct ablation in a
controlled atmosphere of a homogeneous thin layer of ITO deposited on a glass
substrate. The pitch has been selected in order to obtain a higher order of the
photonic band gap in the visible. By
means of ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy we characterize both the plasmon and
inter-band temporal dynamics. We observe a large optical non-linearity of ITO
grating in the visible range, where the photonic band gap occurs, when pumped
at the surface plasmon resonance in the near infrared (1500 nm). All together
we show the possibility of all-optical signal modulation with heavily doped
semiconductors in their transparency window with a picosecond response time
through the formation of ITO grating structures.


The principle goals and functions of the Islamic banking system include economic well-being with full employment and maximum rate of economic growth, equal distributions of income and wealth and as a result socio-economic justice, and the generation of sufficient savings and their productive mobilization and stability in the value of money. (Chapra, 2000). Moreover, poverty in the other hand refers to the lack of income and the necessary means of production to attain a "decent" standard of living. This study therefore was carried out to ascertain if Islamic banking can be another means for poverty alleviation in Nigeria. The study is exploratory in nature and study revealed that Islamic Banking will be an inevitable means of poverty alleviation. The study therefore concluded that that Islamic Banking is another means for poverty alleviation because the bank (Islamic banking) will not only provide the capital but will provide the financing by coming in as traders or partners proving the technical-no-how and all other techniques the borrower might lack thereby improving the investment. Based on this conclusion, the study now recommended that Islamic Banking should be highly encourage by the appropriate body(ies) in order to assist in the war against poverty in Nigeria


The LysR‐type regulator AtzR activates the Pseudomonas sp. ADP atzDEF operon in response to nitrogen limitation and cyanuric acid. Activation involves repositioning of the AtzR tetramer on the PatzDEF promoter and relaxation of an AtzR‐induced DNA bend. Here we examine the in vivo and in vitro contribution of an A5‐tract present at the PatzDEF promoter region to AtzR binding and transcriptional activation. Substitution of the A‐tract for the sequence ACTCA prevented PatzDEF activation and high‐affinity AtzR binding, impaired AtzR contacts with the activator binding site and shifted the position of the AtzR‐induced DNA bend. Analysis of a collection of mutants bearing different alterations in the A‐tract sequence showed that the extent of AtzR‐dependent activation does not correlate with the magnitude or orientation of the spontaneous DNA bend generated at this site. Our results support the notion that indirect readout of the A‐tract‐associated narrow minor groove is essential for the AtzR–DNA complex to achieve a conformation competent for activation of the PatzDEF promoter. Conservation of this motif in several binding sites of LysR‐type regulators suggests that this mechanism may be shared by other proteins in this family.


Concerning one of the most important tasks of road structure management is the development of methods to predict their own functional or physical service life, which allows for objectively evaluating the state of road structures that are being considered or are already in operation with minimal labor and monetary incomes. Fuzzy logic systems constitute one successful methodology used for the valuation of pavement degradation. The clustering that focuses on pavement degradation conditions is normally performed by a visual inspection or using data collected by automated distress measurement equipment. Fuzzy sets theory provides different advantages for including a certain degree of uncertainty in the pavement performance index, subjective analysis, and maintenance assessments and can greatly improve consistency and reduce subjectivity in the degradation process. The main objective of this study was to develop a new fuzzy logic-based model to predict the functional service life of concrete pavement conditions and maintenance action evaluations concerning the airport network of Viña del Mar, Central Chile, and using pavement distress data from the Directorate of Airports, Ministry of Public Works of Chile. The proposed fuzzy logic model can be remarkably beneficial for design, construction, and maintenance, to evaluate design decisions for the measurable and objective valuation of deviations in the quality of construction, and for timely forecasting work based on continuous observing of the current infrastructure system.


Recent studies have revealed various recombination processes of feldspar infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) signals measured at different preheat and stimulation conditions. These different IRSL signals have very diverse thermal, athermal and bleaching properties. The post-IR IRSL (pIRIR) signals measured at 150°C (pIRIR150), 225°C (pIRIR225) and 290°C (pIRIR290) are most commonly used for dating sediments. However, no widely accepted criteria exist to select preheat and stimulation temperatures for samples with different age ranges and from different depositional environments. It has been known that the pIRIR signal with higher stimulation temperatures is more thermally and athermally stable than the lower temperature signal, however, the higher temperature pIRIR signal is much more difficult to bleach. Therefore the higher temperature pIRIR singal (e.g. pIRIR290) is less suitable for dating sediments from difficult-to-bleach environments. The pulsed IRSL signal is also known to be more stable than the conventional IRSL signal. Since the pulsed measurement is performed at a low stimulation temperature, this signal appears to be much better bleachable than the pIRIR signal and therefore more suitable to date waterlain sediments. In the presentation I will also introduce newly developed OSL thermochronology using multiple IRSL signals stimulated at different temperatures, which have different thermal stabilities.


A method is presented in order to georectify high-oblique terrestrial images of high mountainous terrain taken by means of small-format camera. Using the distinct topographic situation of the study area located in a small alpine valley, an automatic camera has been mounted on the opposing hill slope providing daily photographs of the area of interest. To use the data in a geographic information system (GIS) a specific georectification method (JUKE method) was developed employing a digital elevation model (DEM), several reference and ground control points (GCPs), and the focal length of the lens. The method was useful for single-stage image rectification but was also applied successfully on pre-analyzed time-series images ("summary" images). Hence, the procedure enables the analysis of detailed, dynamic landscape ecological processes. Accuracy was mainly a measure of the quality of the GCPs, which were difficult to define in this remote area. The relatively economic data capturing and transforming procedure makes the method interesting for various applied disciplines in order to gain detailed spatio-temporal data. This method might be of considerable benefit, particularly in mountainous terrain where it is often difficult to capture continuous spatio-temporal information.


Group collaboration and media distribution ap- plications have attracted more interest during recent years. With an increasing attention to wireless environments and business applications there is a growing need for reliable multicast communication protocols. There have been mainly two approaches, proactive or re- active, to error handling in reliable multicast. Proactive protocols transmit redundant information along with the original information, enabling the receivers to repair lost packets without the necessity of feedback to the sender. Re- active protocols rely either on positive or negative feedback from the receivers. A case of special interest in relation to wireless connec- tivity is where essentially one receiver on a lossy link even- tually will consume most of the error handling resources. This problem has been addressed by some researchers, e.g. by the use of probabilistic methods. We propose to view reliable multicast as a special case of semantically reliable multicast. We propose to make use of the application's knowledge of its specific semantics to improve e.g. on the problem with single, lossy, links. We suggest the design of a semantic rule set for the transport layer protocol, which can be configured by the application. Using application semantics would allow the application to relax the reliability requirement at the transport level.


Previous transcriptome studies of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) compare non-cancerous pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PanIN) with late-stage PDAC obtained from different patients, thus have limited ability to discern network dynamics that contribute to the disease progression. We demonstrated previously that the 10-22 cell line, an induced pluripotent stem cell–like line reprogrammed from late-stage human PDAC cells, recapitulated the progression from PanINs to PDAC upon transplantation into NOD/LtSz-scid/IL2R-gammanull mice. Herein, we investigated the transition from precursor to PDAC using the isogenic model. We analyzed transcriptomes of genetically tagged 10-22 cells progressing from PanINs to PDAC in mice and validated the results using The Cancer Genome Atlas PDAC dataset, human clinical PanIN and PDAC tissues, and a well-established murine PDAC model. We functionally studied candidate proteins using human normal (H6C7) and cancerous (Miapaca2, Aspc1) pancreatic ductal epithelial cell lines. 10-22 cell–derived PDAC displayed the molecular signature of clinical human PDAC. Expression changes of many genes were transient during PDAC progression. Pathways for extracellular vesicle transport and neuronal cell differentiation were derepressed in the progression of PanINs to PDAC. HMG-box transcription factor 1 (HBP1) and BTB domain and CNC homolog 1 (BACH1) were implicated in regulating dynamically expressed genes during PDAC progression, and their expressions inversely correlated with PDAC patients' prognosis. Ectopic expression of HBP1 increased proliferation and migration of normal and cancerous pancreatic cells, indicating that HBP1 may confer the cell dissemination capacity in early PDAC progression. This unique longitudinal analysis provides insights into networks underlying human PDAC progression and pathogenesis. Implications: Manipulation of HBP1, BACH1, and RUN3 networks during PDAC progression can be harnessed to develop new targets for treating PDAC.


Abstract : The volume is one of a series of six in the second edition of an annotated bibliography on various aspects of immunofluorescence and its use. The first six-volume edition was published in 1965 and included citations for the period 1905 through 1962. The present edition covers the period 1963 through 1965; Volume III contains 208 annotated literature citations, arranged according to major subject areas, and a complete author index.


Significance
 Two days previously, Mkhwebane determined that Ramaphosa had deliberately misled parliament and violated the constitution surrounding donations to his ruling ANC leadership campaign. While Mkhwebane's report is widely viewed as a politically motivated attack on the president, it poses serious risks for Ramaphosa, who is already struggling to get his reform project off the ground.

 Impacts
 The scandal will prompt growing calls for legislation to cover internal party campaign financing.
 Allegations against Ramaphosa may prove a boon to controversial Deputy President David Mabuza, next in line to succeed the president.
 Zuma's recent state capture testimony, including spy allegations, are deflection tactics, but will still exacerbate ANC factional divisions.
 The Democratic Alliance could face accusations of hypocrisy for backing Mkhwebane's ouster but also her findings against Ramaphosa.


The effects of shot peening on microstructure and properties of surface layer of a TC21 titanium alloy have been studied by transmission electron microscopy, electron back-scattered diffraction, X-ray diffraction and Nano-indentation. The results indicated that an elastic-plastic strengthening layer was formed on the surface of the TC21 alloy after the shot peening. During the deformation processing, the activated slip systems were found to be in ,  and  planes with high-density dislocations formed as networks in α phase. After the shot peening, the residual stress was found in the strengthening layer, which decreased from the surface to the interior, and the thickness of the surface layer was measured about 370 μm. The hardness by nano-indentation measurement increased two times as compared with the original material. After the shot peening, the fraction of the low-angle boundaries between 0-10o was estimated as 59.3% at the depth of 100 μm from surface. This surface layer microstructure improved resistance of deformation of the TC21 alloy, and therefore increased its fatigue strength.


Rocky bodies of the inner solar system display a systematic depletion of "moderately volatile elements" (MVEs) that correlates with the expected condensation temperature of their likely host materials under protoplanetary nebula conditions. In this paper, we present and test a new hypothesis in which open-system loss processes irreversibly remove vaporized MVEs from high nebula altitudes, leaving behind the more refractory solids residing much closer to the midplane. The MVEs irreversibly lost from the nebula through these open-system loss processes are then simply unavailable for condensation onto planetesimals forming even much later, after the nebula has cooled, overcoming a critical difficulty encountered by previous models of this type. We model open-system loss processes operating at high nebula altitudes, such as resulting from disk winds flowing out of the system entirely, or layered accretion directly onto the young Sun. We find that mass-loss rates higher than those found in typical T-Tauri disk winds, lasting short periods of time, are most satisfactory, pointing to multiple intense early outburst stages. Using our global nebula model, incorporating realistic particle growth and inward drift for solids, we constrain how much the MVE-depletion signature in the inner region is diluted by the drift of undepleted material from the outer nebula. We also find that a significant irreversible loss of the common rock-forming elements (Fe, Mg, Si) can occur, leading to a new explanation of another long-standing puzzle of the apparent "enhancement" in the relative abundance of highly refractory elements in chondrites.


Author(s): Baird, Jennifer | Advisor(s): Davies, Elizabeth | Abstract: Children with complex chronic conditions (CCC) comprise a substantial proportion of the patient population in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The parents of these children have developed expertise in the management of their child's condition, and they are often intimately involved in daily care routines, many of which are both intricate and highly specialized. Developing therapeutic relationships with these parents can be challenging in the technical, chaotic PICU environment, but optimal nursing care is dependent upon the development of such relationships. It is necessary to better understand the key elements of these therapeutic relationships and the barriers that nurses face in their attempt to connect with these families. This qualitative, grounded theory study attempted to identify "best practices" in parent-nurse interactions for the parents of children with CCC hospitalized in the PICU and to understand contextual factors that impacted these interactions. Participants were the parents of children with CCC (n=7) and direct care PICU nurses (n=12) from a single academic PICU in the western United States. Data was gathered through observation, interviews, and review of texts, including hospital policies and materials for parents. Parents consistently identified a need to have continuity of care from a small group of nurses who valued their child as an individual. They also wanted to receive care from nurses who appreciated the expertise that parents possess and who viewed care as a mutual collaboration between parent and nurse. Nurse participants showed an understanding of parents' wishes but also identified barriers to providing the desired care, including environmental and system constraints, difficulties engaging with other members of the healthcare team, and the behaviors and expectations of parents and other family members. Nurses identified multiple components of their direct care role, some of which made collaboration with parents more challenging, and they expressed concern about the emotional aspects of their work. The discrepancy between the care that parents of children with CCC desire and the care that PICU nurses are willing and able to provide suggests that more work must be done to facilitate optimal patient and family-centered care for this patient population.


With recent advances in technology and the controllability it offers, Voltage Source Converter based HVDC (VSC-HVDC) is expected to be the preferred choice for integration of renewable energy sources and when building large HVDC grids. As it is a relatively new technology when compared to the more mature Classic HVDC, many studies are aimed at operation and stability of VSC-HVDC interconnecting AC grids. When performing simulations on large systems interconnecting AC grids with VSC-HVDC, the computational load will be heavy due to the complexity of the models associated with VSC-HVDC. It is therefore desirable to develop simplified models suitable for studies where the main interest is in slow dynamics, where such complexity might have a negligible impact on the results. In this thesis the goal was to implement a simplified model of a VSC-HVDC in the software tool PowerFactory to be used in transient stability studies. First, a detailed model was implemented in PSCAD and PowerFactory for EMT simulations. In order to use the model for simplified RMS simulations in PowerFactory, it was found that several adjustments had to be made in order to get a more similar performance to the detailed models, when considering the slow dynamics of the system. After the simplified model had been implemented it was verified by simulating different cases and comparing the results to the detailed models in PowerFactory and PSCAD. In most cases the simplified model was a good representation of the detailed models. The verified model was then included in a larger multimachine system in order to evaluate the impact of VSC-HVDC on AC systems. It was found that the computational time could be reduced drastically using the simplified model, with negligible differences in the results. From these simulations it was concluded that due to the high controllability of VSC-HVDC and the ability to produce or consume reactive power as needed, it could be used to improve the transient stability of the AC system.


Volcanic ash deposited on paved surfaces during volcanic eruptions often compromises skid resistance, which is a major component of safety. We adopt the British pendulum test method in laboratory conditions to investigate the skid resistance of road asphalt and airfield concrete surfaces covered by volcanic ash sourced from various locations in New Zealand. Controlled variations in ash characteristics include type, depth, wetness, particle size and soluble components. We use Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) for most road surface experiments but also test porous asphalt, line-painted road surfaces, and a roller screed concrete mix used for airfields. Due to their importance for skid resistance, SMA surface macrotexture and microtexture are analysed with semi-quantitative image analysis, microscopy and a standardised sand patch volumetric test, which enables determination of the relative effectiveness of different cleaning techniques. We find that SMA surfaces covered by thin deposits (~1 mm) of ash result in skid resistance values slightly lower than those observed on wet uncontaminated surfaces. At these depths, a higher relative soluble content for low-crystalline ash and a coarser particle size results in lower skid resistance. Skid resistance results for relatively thicker deposits (3–5 mm) of non-vesiculated basaltic ash are similar to those for thin deposits. There are similarities between road asphalt and airfield concrete, although there is little difference in skid resistance between bare airfield surfaces and airfield surfaces covered by 1 mm of ash. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for maintaining road safety and effective cleaning techniques in volcanic ash environments.


BACKGROUND
Non-adherence to recommendations for treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) is common, but the reasons are not sufficiently understood.

OBJECTIVES
We aimed to assess and compare the influence of specific patient characteristics on GPs' treatment decisions for UTI in four European countries.

METHODS
GPs in The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Germany were presented 18-26 case vignettes of UTI. Linear regression models were used to determine which patient characteristics predicted non-optimal decisions.

RESULTS
Adherence to national recommendations varied both within and between countries, but there were remarkable similarities in the case characteristics predicting non-optimal decisions: a history of UTI and the patient's age were strongly related to prescription of second-choice antibiotics and longer treatment courses.

CONCLUSION
In all countries many GPs were reluctant to follow the recommendations in UTI cases that they might perceive as being more complicated.