To meet the high precision sun tracking needs of a space deployable membrane solar concentrator and other equipment, an existing algorithm for accurately computing the sun position is improved. Firstly, compared with other theories, the VSOP (variation seculaires des orbits planetaires) 87 theory is selected and adopted to obtain the sun position in the second equatorial coordinate system. Comparing the results with data of the astronomical almanac from 2015, it is found that the deviation of the apparent right ascension does not exceed 0.17 arc seconds, while that of the apparent declination does not exceed 1.2 arc seconds. Then, to eliminate the difference in the direction of the sun position with respect to the satellite caused by the size of the satellite's orbit, a translation transform is introduced in the proposed algorithm. Finally, the proposed algorithm is applied to the orbit of the satellite designated by SJ-4 (shijian-4). Under the condition that both of the existing and improved algorithms adopt the VSOP87 theory to compute sun position in the second equatorial coordinate system, the maximum deviation of the azimuth angle on the SJ-4 is 35.19 arc seconds and the one of pitch angle is 19.93 arc seconds, when the deviation is computed by subtracting the results given by both algorithms. In summary, the proposed algorithm is more accurate than the existing one.


Estimate pressure drop throughout petroleum production and transport system has an important role to properly sizing the various parameters involved in those complex facilities. One of the most challenging variables used to calculate the pressure drop is the friction factor, also known as Darcy–Weisbach's friction factor. In this context, Colebrook's equation is recognized by many engineers and scientists as the most accurate equation to estimate it. However, due to its computational cost, since it is an implicit equation, several explicit equations have been developed over the decades to accurately estimate friction factor in a straightforward way. This paper aims to investigate accuracy of 46 of those explicit equations and Colebrook implicit equation against 2397 experimental points from single-phase and two-phase flows, with Reynolds number between 3000 and 735000 and relative roughness between 0 and 1.40x10. Applying three different statistical metrics, we concluded that the best explicit equation, proposed by Achour et al. (2002), presented better accuracy to estimate friction factor than Colebrook's equation. On the other hand, we also showed that equations developed by Wood (1966), Rao and Kumar (2007) and Brkić (2016) must be used in specifics conditions which were developed, otherwise can produce highly inaccurate results. The remaining equations presented good accuracy and can be applied, however, presented similar or lower accuracy than Colebrook's equation.


BACKGROUND
Currently there are two main sources of mortality data with cause of death assignments in China. Both sources-the Ministry of Health-Vital Registration system and the Chinese Disease Surveillance Point system-present their own challenges. A new approach to cause of death assignment is a smartphone-based shortened version of a verbal autopsy survey. This study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of this new method conducted by township health care providers (THP) and village doctors (VD) in rural China, where a large proportion of deaths occur in homes and cause of death data are inaccurate or lacking.

METHODS
The Population Health Metrics Research Consortium mobile phone-based shortened verbal autopsy questionnaire was made available on an Android system-based application, and cause of death was derived using the Tariff method (Tariff 2.0); we called this set of tools "msVA." msVA was administered to relatives of the deceased by six THPs and six VDs in 24 villages located in six townships of Luquan County, Hebei Province, China. Subsequently, interviews were conducted among 12 interviewers, 12 randomly selected respondents, and five study staff to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using msVA for mortality data collection.

RESULTS
Between July 2013 and August 2013, 268 deaths took place in the study villages. Among the 268 deaths, 227 VAs were completed (nine refusals, 31 migrations and one loss of data due to breakdown of the smartphone). The average time for a VA interview was 21.5 ± 3.4 min (20.1 ± 3.5 min for THP and 23.2 ± 4.1 min for VD). Both THPs and VDs could be successful interviewers; the latter needed more training but had more willingness to implement msVA in the future. The interviews revealed that both interviewers and relatives of the deceased found msVA to be feasible, acceptable, and more desirable than traditional methods. The cost of conducting a new VA was $8.87 per death.

CONCLUSIONS
Conduction of msVA by VDs in their own villages was feasible and acceptable in rural northern China. Broader implementation of msVA across rural China could potentially improve the coverage and quality of cause of death data, allowing for better national health evaluation and program planning.


This paper presents the design, implementation, and comparative analysis of two intelligent neural network based controllers employed for nonlinear dynamic compensation and adaptive trajectory tracking of a mobile robot system. The first control law is an integration of a backstepping controller with a neural network which is designed to learn the inverse dynamic model of the robot and to compensate for the existing nonlinearities and uncertainties in the mobile robot system. This control scheme is a novel robust tracking controller which has the advantage of dealing with unmodeled and unstructured uncertainties and disturbances in the system. In the second proposed control scheme, the neural network is used to continuously tune the gains of the kinematic based controller in a backstepping structure. The online learning and adaptive capabilities of neural networks are utilized in these techniques to achieve a smooth and fast robot tracking motion. The simulation results verify the tracking performance of the proposed control algorithms over the classical backstepping controller.


We compared modern limnological characteristics of three lakes near the world's northernmost base metal (lead-zinc) mine, Polaris Mine, which operated from 1981 to 2002 on Little Cornwallis Island (Nunavut, Canada), to a suite of sites from Resolute Bay (Qausuittuq), Cornwallis Island. Although both study regions are underlain by broadly similar geology and experience nearly identical climatic conditions, present-day water chemistry variables differed markedly between sites on the two islands. Specifically, the lakes near the Polaris Mine recorded substantially higher concentrations of zinc and lead, as well as several other heavy metals (cadmium, molybdenum, nickel, uranium, vanadium), relative to the sites on Cornwallis Island. Although the Polaris Mine closed in 2002, elevated levels of heavy metals in our 2017 survey are likely a legacy of contamination from prior operations.


Reingold has shown that L = SL, that s-t connectivity in a poly-mixing digraph is complete for promise-RL, and that s-t connectivity for a poly-mixing out-regular digraph with known stationary distribution is in L. Several properties that bound the mixing times of random walks on digraphs have been identified, including the digraph conductance and the digraph spectral expansion. However, rapidly mixing digraphs can still have exponential cover time, thus it is important to specifically identify structural properties of digraphs that effect cover times. We examine the complexity of random walks on a basic parameterized family of unbalanced digraphs called Strong Chains (which model weakly symmetric logspace computations), and a special family of Strong Chains called Harps. We show that the worst case hitting times of Strong Chain families vary smoothly with the number of asymmetric vertices and identify the necessary condition for non-polynomial cover time. This analysis also yields bounds on the cover times of general digraphs. Next we relate random walks on graphs to the random walks that arise in Monte Carlo methods applied to optimization problems. We introduce the notion of the asymmetric states of Markov chains and use this definition to obtain some results about Markov chains. We also obtain some results on the mixing times for Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods. v Finally, we consider the question of whether a single long random walk or many short walks is a better strategy for exploration. These are walks which reset to the start after a fixed number of steps. We exhibit digraph families for which a few short walks are far superior to a single long walk. We introduce an iterative deepening random search. We use this strategy estimate the cover time for poly-mixing subgraphs. Finally we discuss complexity theoretic implications and future work.


Evidence suggests that, in Pavlovian conditioning, associations form between conditioned stimuli and multiple components of the unconditioned stimulus (US). It is common, for example, to regard USs as composed of sensory and affective components, the latter being either appetitive (e.g., food or water) or aversive (e.g., shock or illness) and, therefore, to suppose different USs of the same affective class activate a common affective system. Furthermore, evidence is growing for the suggestion that, in competitive learning situations, competition between predictive stimuli is primarily for association with the affective system activated by the US. Thus, a conditioned stimulus (CS) previously paired with one US will block conditioning to another CS when both are presented together and paired with a different US of the same affective class, a phenomenon called transreinforcer blocking. Importantly, similar effects have been reported when steps are taken to turn the pretrained CS into a conditioned inhibitor, which activates the opposing affective state to the excitor that it inhibits. Thus, an appetitive inhibitor can block conditioning to a second CS when they are presented together and paired with foot shock. Here we show that the same is true of an aversive inhibitor. In two experiments conducted in rats, we found evidence that an aversive inhibitor blocked conditioning to a second CS when presented in a compound and paired with food. Such findings demonstrate that affective processes and their opponency organize appetitive-aversive interactions and establish the valences on which they are based, consistent with incentive theories of Pavlovian conditioning.


Germanium-on-silicon photodetectors have been heavily investigated in recent years as a key component of CMOS-compatible integrated photonics platforms. It has previously been shown that detector bandwidths could theoretically be greatly increased with the incorporation of a carefully chosen inductor and capacitor in the photodetector circuit. Here, we show the experimental results of such a circuit that doubles the detector 3dB bandwidth to 60 GHz. These results suggest that gain peaking is a generally applicable tool for increasing detector bandwidth in practical photonics systems without requiring the difficult process of lowering detector capacitance.


Purpose of the Study. To determine the prevalence of allergic colitis (AC) in a cohort of healthy infants with rectal bleeding. A secondary purpose was to determine if bleeding would resolve in untreated infants with rectal bleeding without biopsy-proven AC. Study Population. There were 22 infants ≤6 months of age with rectal bleeding recruited from the referral area of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati, OH). All subjects had a negative history of bleeding disorders, negative stool cultures, positive hemoccult, and a negative history and physical examination for signs of infection, Hirschsprung disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. Methods. AC was defined histologically as colonic mucosa with ≥6 eosinophils per high-power field and/or eosinophils in the colonic crypts or muscularis mucosae. Formula or maternal diet was changed only for infants with histologic findings of AC. Formula-fed infants were switched to an extensively hydrolyzed formula and were rebiopsied at 3 weeks. If the biopsy was normal, they were continued on the formula and managed clinically. Those with continued histologic evidence of colitis were changed to an amino acid–based formula and rebiopsied at 6 weeks. Breastfed infants continued breastfeeding while mothers followed a milk-protein–free diet. Those with resolution of bleeding and normal biopsies at 3 weeks continued with breastfeeding and a restricted maternal diet. Those with persistent histologic evidence of colitis were rebiopsied at 6 weeks with no further dietary change. Those with persistent bleeding were changed to hydrolysate and rebiopsied at 6 weeks. Those with persistent bleeding and histologic evidence of AC at 6 weeks were changed to an amino acid–based formula. Results. Of 22 subjects, 14 (63.6%) had histologic evidence of AC. Five had normal biopsies and 3 had nonspecific colitis. Seven of the 14 with AC were formula fed. Six of the 7 had resolution of bleeding, on average, in 1.8 weeks (range: 1–5 weeks). One of the 7 was changed to an amino acid formula at 3 weeks and had resolution of bleeding at 5 weeks. The remainder of the 14 were breastfed. Six were followed to completion of the study. One had a delayed diagnoses because of development of worsening rectal bleeding and an abnormal biopsy at week 3 despite a normal biopsy at the onset of the study. The infant failed to improve with hydrolyzed formula but had resolution of bleeding by week 8 after initiation of an amino acid formula. Of the remaining 5, 2 had normal histology at week 3 with maternal elimination of cow's milk. Two had improvement by week 3, and 1 had no change. The average time for resolution in the breastfed group was 5.6 weeks (range: 2–8 weeks). For the 5 infants without histologic evidence of colitis, the average time for resolution of bleeding was 3.25 weeks. In those with nonspecific colitis, 2 had resolution by week 6, and the third was ultimately diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. Conclusions. A significant proportion of infants with rectal bleeding may not have AC and may undergo unnecessary, expensive formula or maternal diet changes that may discourage breastfeeding. Reviewer Comments. This small study provides important insights about the prevalence and natural course of proctocolitis. A much larger prospective placebo-controlled study that compares treatment versus no treatment would be very helpful.


Gelam putih (M. cajuputi Powell) in Central Kalimantan, has not been exploited well. In vitro test conducted to evaluate the potential of gelam leaves as cattle feed. The measured variables were NH3, volatile fatty acids (VFA), dry matter Digestibility (DMD) and organic matter Digestibility (DMO). Completely randomized design was made with 5 different treatments and 4 replications, in order to get 20 experimental units. Data were analyzed by analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Followed by Duncan's multiple range test with a significance level of 5%. The results showed that the giving 100% of gelam leaves produced NH3 dan VFA for about 4.01 and 151.25 mM, also DMD and DMO by 58.35 and 52.38%. These results were significant (p<0.05), higher than the grass field, so it can be concluded that the waste of gelam leaves, potentially be used as cattle feed.


The study was undertaken to increase the intake of vegetables rich in beta-carotene by young children through nutrition education of their caregivers. 156 children aged 6-59 months were selected from households of very poor socioeconomic status in the comparison area of Matlab MCH-FP Project. Nutrition education intervention was provided to the caregivers of these children on the importance of feeding vegetables rich in beta-carotene. This education included verbal communication and cooking demonstrations. It was provided by trained female community health workers once every 2 months over a period of 12 months from April 1994 to March 1995. Information on the consumption of green leafy vegetables by the children for the preceding 3 days was collected at baseline and after the 12-month intervention by interviewing the caregivers. The green leafy vegetables were categorized into high, medium, and low contents of beta-carotene. The proportion of children who consumed vegetables with high content of beta-carotene increased from 28% at the baseline to 96% after the intervention, showing a highly significant increase (p .000). The mean frequency of intake of vegetables rose from 0.65 per 3 days at baseline to 4.33 after the intervention. This increase in intake was also highly significant (p .000). The significant increase in the consumption of vegetables was achieved within a period of one year from the intervention. This shows that changes in the feeding practices of young children were feasible through education and motivation, which can develop confidence among the caregivers regarding the beneficial outcome of the recommended foods.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate whether acute volume changes in single volume segments of the left ventricle can be correlated with global volume changes. If so, changes in global volume might be predicted from changes in segmental volumes.

DESIGN
Volume changes were recorded in six pigs in five intraventricular segments, from apex to heart base, using the conductance catheter (at baseline, after 60 min of apical ischaemia, during preload reduction and afterload increase). A computer algorithm was created to calculate the instantaneous absolute difference between the curve shape of global and normalized segmental volume as a percentage of global stroke volume.

RESULTS
For a mid-cardiac volume segment constituting 34 (14-39)% [median (range)] of global stroke volume, the mean difference over a cardiac cycle was 4 (1-8)% at baseline. Apical ischaemia resulted in apical dyskinesia, but did not influence the mid-cardiac segment.

CONCLUSIONS
The volume curve from a segment at mid-cardiac level seems to be a good estimator of the global volume curve, thus giving a foundation for estimation of global volume changes from such a segment.


In order to create a more flexible system for citizens and businesses in Kosovo, the Government of Kosovo made a decision by which from 1 April 2014 increased the salaries for 25% for employees receiving salaries and pensioner compensation and other social categories from the Kosovo budget. This Government decision carries some problems with regard to public finance management and impact on the country's economy by creating a new reality in the payroll and public spending. Direct impact of this document: Decision No: 01/176. 10 March 2014, are: First, the increase in wage expenditures was not planned in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2014-2016 and this has given an indication of macroeconomic inefficiency (Assessed by the Kosovo Finance Ministry). Secondly, this increase decreases capital investment costs, which have the greatest potential to generate economic growth. Thirdly, wage growth along with spending on the Pristina-Skopje highway is expected to increase the  budget deficit over the fiscal rule. Such a situation was also present at the time of investments in the Motorway Vermicë - "Nations connection way". In order to balance the increase of budget expenditures with revenues, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), at the conclusion of the Kosovo visit in March 2015, suggested to the Government of Kosovo that in the continuation of the increase of the various excise duties to see the possibilities for growth Value Added Tax (VAT) which would bring a substantial increase in budget revenues. At the 20th meeting of the Government of Kosovo, dated 24 March 2015, during this IMF visit, the Government took a series of decisions on fiscal changes. Among other things, these decisions have to do with the approval of new draft laws: 1. Changes in Value Added Tax (VAT); 2. Changes in Corporate Income Tax; 3. Changes in Personal Income Tax; and 4. Changes in excises duties of cars, tobacco, and alcoholic beverages etc. Based on the analysis of these changes and their effects, one can make an assessment of the economic and fiscal effects of the aforementioned laws. Some of the key findings of this study-analysis section show that small businesses will be negatively impacted by lowering the VAT threshold, while the abolition of VAT on machinery and raw materials will lower the cost of production and potentially increase investments in manufacturing sectors. Reform in fiscal policy encourages greater investment in production and at the same time improves business liquidity. According to an estimate by the Ministry of Finance, businesses will have about 27.6% cheaper start of production process. Keywords: Kosovo budget.,VAT, Tax, IMF, Ministry of  Finance, fiscal


Purpose - The aim of this paper is to assess and explain the role of grounded theory (GT) in interpretive management accounting research (IMAR) and seeks to answer the question: can interpretive researchers use GT? And if so, how? Design/methodology/approach - This is a theoretical paper that attempts to investigate how researchers can use GT in relation to their ontological stance, methodological position and research methods. Findings - The paper suggests that GT offers a balance between the expediency of the research findings, thereby allowing researchers freedom to interpret management accounting practices, and the development of rigorous theory from IMAR. Research limitations/implications - The paper provides an analysis of GT from an interpretive perspective and, clearly, there are other research perspectives which could have been discussed. Practical implications - GT can be a powerful tool that researchers could use to collect and analyse empirical data. However, researchers need to align GT with the broader paradigm they adopt when researching social phenomena. The paper provides some general guidelines for IMARs who want to use GT in their research. Originality/value - This paper shows that GT can offer interpretive researchers a way of balancing the need to develop theory, which is grounded in everyday practices, and the recognition that the research process is inherently subjective. However, it is argued that in interpretive research GT cannot provide a simple "recipe book" which, if followed rigorously, will result in a high-quality research (i.e. valid, reliable and unbiased). Nevertheless, the guidelines provide a way for IMARs, who use GT to improve the quality of their research findings.


Palmar foot pain is frequently treated by steroid injections into the distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) in the anticipation that the steroid will diffuse to the navicular bursa and palmar foot structures. The object of this study was to determine if triamcinolone acetonide (TA) would in fact be able to locally diffuse from the DIPJ into the navicular bursa in horses affected by palmar foot pain. Both forelimb DIPJs (nine horses) were injected with 10 mg of TA. Navicular bursa fluid samples, both forelimb and one hind limb (systemic control), were analysed for TA with high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) six hours later. Foot radiographs were graded (0–4) on severity of changes. Forelimb navicular bursa TA concentrations (mean±sd log10, 3.20±0.56) were significantly higher than systemic control concentrations (mean±sd log10, 1.89±0.3) (P<0.0001). Horses with a radiographic grade of >2 were four times as likely to have TA log10 concentrations less than 3.2 (158.49 ng/ml). TA locally diffused from the DIPJ into the navicular bursa in horses affected by palmar foot pain; TA concentrations decreased as radiographic severity increased.


STUDY DESIGN
Prospective longitudinal cohort.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to determine whether functional treadmill testing (FTT) demonstrates differences between patients treated operatively and nonoperatively for adult symptomatic lumbar scoliosis (ASLS).

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA
ASLS has become increasingly prevalent as the population ages. ASLS can be accompanied by neurogenic claudication, leading to difficulty walking. FTT may provide a functional tool to evaluate patients with ASLS.

METHODS
One hundred and eighty-seven patients who underwent nonoperative (n = 88) or operative treatment (n = 99) of ASLS with complete baseline and 2-year post-treatment FTTs and concurrent patient-reported outcomes were identified. FTT parameters included maximum speed, time to onset of symptoms, distance ambulated, time ambulated, and Back and Leg pain severity before and after testing.

RESULTS
At baseline, patients treated operatively reported worse post-FTT back pain (4.39 vs. 3.45, P = 0.032) than those treated nonoperatively, despite similar ODI, SRS-22 Pain and Activity domain scores. Mean time ambulated (+2.15 vs. -1.20 P = 0.001), pre-FTT back pain (+0.19 vs. -1.60, P < 0.000) and leg pain (+0.25 vs. -0.54, P = 0.024) improved in the operative group but deteriorated in the nonoperative group. On the 2-year follow-up FTT, both groups showed improvement in post-FTT back pain (-0.53 vs. -2.64, P < 0.000) and leg pain (-0.13 vs. -1.54, P = 0.001) severity but the improvement was statistically significantly greater in the operative compared to the nonoperative group.

CONCLUSION
FTT results at baseline were worse in patients treated operatively than those treated non-operatively. FTT may be a useful adjunct to assess treatment outcomes in patients with ASLS and may help surgeons counsel patients regarding expectations 2 years after operative or nonoperative treatment for ASLS. At 2-year follow-up, time ambulated deteriorated in patients treated nonoperatively but improved in patients treated operatively. Although both groups showed improvement in post-FTT Back and Leg pain at 2 years, the improvement was greater in the operative compared to the nonoperative group.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
2.


The present DNS study, the first of its kind, explores the effect that the location of a cylinder, immersed in the turbulent wake of a grid-element, has on heat transfer. An insulated single square grid-element is used to generate the turbulent wake upstream of the heated circular cylinder. Due to fine-scale resolution requirements, the simulations are carried out for a low Reynolds number. Three locations downstream of the gridelement, inside the production, peak and decay regions, respectively are considered. The turbulent flow in the production and peak regions is highly intermittent, non-Gaussian and inhomogeneous, while it is Gaussian, homogeneous, and fully-turbulent in the decay region. The turbulence intensities at the location of the cylinder in the production and decay regions are almost equal at 11%, while the peak location has the highest turbulent intensity of 15%. A baseline simulation of heat transfer from the cylinder without oncoming turbulence was also performed. Although the oncoming turbulent intensities are similar, the production region increases the stagnation point heat transfer by 63%, while in the decay region it is enhanced by only 28%. This difference cannot be explained only by the increased approaching velocity in the production region. The existing correlations for the stagnation point heat transfer coefficient are found invalid for the production and peak locations, while they are satisfied in the decay region. It is established that the flow in the production and peak regions is dominated by shedding events, in which the predominant vorticity component is in the azimuthal direction. This leads to increased heat transfer from the cylinder, even before vorticity is stretched by the accelerating boundary layer. The frequency of oncoming turbulence in production and peak cases also lies close to the range of frequencies that can penetrate the boundary layer developing on the cylinder, and therefore the latter is very responsive to the impinging disturbances. The highest Nusselt number along the circumference of the cylinder is shifted 45 degrees from the front stagnation point. This shift is due to the turbulencegenerating grid-element bars that result in the prevalence of intense events at the point of maximum Nusselt number compared to the stagnation point.


Abstract In several European countries, access to citizenship via naturalisation is conditional upon the payment of substantial fees or upon proof of a certain degree of economic self-sufficiency. Thus, if not acquired by birth, citizenship as political membership depends on the economic performance of an individual. In this article, economic criteria for naturalisation (income, employment, welfare benefit requirements and naturalisation fees) were scrutinised in nine EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) over the period from 1985 to 2014. After describing their empirical variation, the article investigates in which contexts they are more or less strongly developed. The study finds that naturalisation fees in particular have increased over time. Differences in economic criteria for naturalisation can be explained by the long-term power of far-right parties and by immigration rates, while other institutional, structural and political factors have only very limited explanatory power.


The bioluminescent scales of the polynoid worm Acholoe astericola are covered with photogenic and non-photogenic excitable epithelial cells which are electrically coupled. The luminescent activity is intracellular and occurs in brief flashes. All the epithelial cells produce non-overshooting action potentials which have been shown to be Na-dependent. In the photogenic epithelial cells (photocytes) the increase of the stimulus strength elicits another action potential specifically correlated with a flash. This membrane response begins by a fast overshooting Ca-dependent spike potential followed by a Na-dependent secondary depolarization. The excitationluminescence coupling is dependent on Ca entry into the photocytes.


Simple Summary Using tools from both mathematics (especially wavelet theory) and computer science (machine learning), we present a general new method for modelling the evolution of epidemics which is not restricted to human populations. A crucial novel feature of our approach is that it significantly takes into account that an epidemic may take place in certain types of waves which cannot only be of a global as well as local nature, but can also occur at multiple different times and locations. In the particular case of the current Covid-19 pandemic, based on recent figures from the Johns Hopkins database we apply our model to France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, as well as the US federal states New York and Florida, and compare it and its predictions to established as well as other recently developed forecasting methods and techniques. Abstract We introduce the concept of epidemic-fitted wavelets which comprise, in particular, as special cases the number I(t) of infectious individuals at time t in classical SIR models and their derivatives. We present a novel method for modelling epidemic dynamics by a model selection method using wavelet theory and, for its applications, machine learning-based curve fitting techniques. Our universal models are functions that are finite linear combinations of epidemic-fitted wavelets. We apply our method by modelling and forecasting, based on the Johns Hopkins University dataset, the spread of the current Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic in France, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, as well as in the US federal states New York and Florida.


Although analogies have been drawn between some types of meandering rivers and medium- to high-sinuosity, aggradational, leveed submarine channels, a number of different or additional processes operate in submarine channels. Analysis of several individual submarine channels suggests that they undergo much slower bend growth than alluvial rivers and may reach a planform equilibrium, in contrast to meandering rivers, in which bends progressively migrate downstream. Sinuous leveed submarine channels should therefore aggrade to produce isolated ribbons of thalweg deposits (of predictable 3D geometry), in contrast to the stacked channel belts characteristic of most alluvial meandering rivers. A simple model of the flow structure and flow evolution of turbidity currents traversing submarine channels is proposed, based on theoretical, experimental, and field-derived concepts. It predicts that submarine channel flows are highly stratified, have significant supra-levee thicknesses, and form broad overbank bodies of low-concentration fluid moving along the entire channel length. The interaction between the broad body of overbank fluid and within-channel flow is controlled by the processes of towing and angular shear, whose possible effects on channel sedimentation and planform stability are explored.


The prevalence of chronic otitis media was studied in an urban and a rural community in southern Vietnam in 1995. A total of 3,300 children, aged from 6 months to 10 years, were selected randomly by taking every third child on the vaccination list. In this cross-sectional study, 453 ears were found to have chronic otitis media or sequelae otitidis, giving an overall prevalence of 6.86%. A total of 140 ears had perforations. Various attic changes were found in 73 ears and other chronic tympanic membrane changes, such as atrophy, tympanosclerosis and adhesions, in 219 ears. Cholesteatoma was seen in two ears.


In this work, we report about the mechanical relaxation characteristics of an intrinsically self-healable imidazole modified commercial rubber. This kind of self-healing rubber was prepared by melt mixing of 1-butyl imidazole with bromo-butyl rubber (bromine modified isoprene-isobutylene copolymer, BIIR). By this melt mixing process, the reactive allylic bromine of bromo-butyl rubber was converted into imidazole bromide salt. The resulting development of an ionic character to the polymer backbone leads to an ionic association of the groups which ultimately results to the formation of a network structure of the rubber chains. The modified BIIR thus behaves like a robust crosslinked rubber and shows unusual self-healing properties. The non-covalent reversible network has been studied in detail with respect to stress relaxation experiments, scanning electron microscopic and X-ray scattering.


Several academic departments offer conferences, courses, seminars, and workshops throughout the region where students can earn UI credit or Continuing Education Units (CEU) (see regulation D-5 for information on CEU's). These conferences, courses, seminars, or workshops are taught by UI faculty members or by qualified local instructors who are approved by the respective college in which the course is offered.


Abstract The usefulness of functional analysis procedures for the assessment and treatment of behaviors associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has been the subject of a number of recent investigations. This article provides a selected review of recent studies and examines potential implications for practice. Conclusions suggest that functional analysis may be particularly useful for identifying behaviors that are (or are not) maintained by social consequences and for the subsequent development of optimal individualized treatments. A review of recent studies in which the researchers have conducted functional analyses while also conducting concurrent medication assessments is also provided. Conclusions illustrate the unique contributions of functional analysis procedures to medication assessments. Subsequent implications for determining the most beneficial uses of medication are discussed. In conclusion, the procedures of a local public-school-based program are described to illustrate the potential for classroom-based applications of general functional assessment procedures to evaluate the effects of behavioral and medication treatments.


Alabaster sculptures in the form of panels for altarpieces or free standing images were one of the most significant artistic outputs of late medieval England, but they remain poorly understood. They have, moreover, featured only rarely in wider art-historical studies of the later European Middle Ages. On one hand this is a historiographical predicament. For ideological and aesthetic reasons, English alabaster was quarantined; it was seen as an isolated and provincial phenomenon by a series of scholars writing from the late nineteenth century onwards. The narrow picture they formed has remained firmly in place. On the other hand the destructive consequences of the English Reformation continue to obscure our view. Many hundreds of panels are broken or dispersed as a result of sixteenth-century iconoclasm, and there is little surviving documentary evidence to identify who made them or where they were made for.
The central aim of this thesis is to reassess English alabasters by exploring them in their proper European contexts. Chapter One sets the scene by outlining the status and significance of English alabaster carving after the Reformation. From here the discussion moves on in Chapters Two and Three to explore the production of altarpieces and free-standing sculptures. Chapter Four builds on this approach by reuniting a single altarpiece, before zooming out to address the trade, reception and functions of Continental prints and sculptures circulating between England and the Low Countries. This chapter demonstrates the complex interplay between printed and sculptural forms. Chapter Five looks at the post-medieval reception and reuse of English alabasters on the Continent, specifically in Denmark and Holland. By considering English alabaster sculpture in a broader European context, a new history of 3 the corpus and a new framework for understanding its status and significance is proposed.


Ol Doinyo Lengai (ODL, Tanzania, East African Rift) is the only known volcano currently erupting carbonatite on Earth with 30 yr. cycles alternating between quiescent carbonatite effusion and explosive, compositionally-zoned silicate eruptions. We performed isothermal crystallization and thermal gradient experiments involving ODL nephelinite, Na2CO3 and H2O to understand magmatic differentiation in this system using SEM-EDS x-ray analysis, x-ray tomography, SIMS and LA-ICPMS to characterize samples. Isothermal crystallization experiments document that hydrous liquids coexist with nepheline+feldspar; as peralkalinity increases, temperatures decrease. Presence of Na2CO3 increases the solubility of water in the liquid. Experiments placing nephelinite with H2O+ Na2CO3 in a 1,000–350°C thermal gradient show that rapid reaction occurs, resulting in virtually melt-free mineral aggregates having mineral layering reflecting systematic differentiation throughout the capsule. Both types of experiments argue that a continuous interconnected melt exists over a large temperature range in alkalic magmatic systems allowing for differentiation in a reactive mush zone process. Liquid compositions change from carbonate-water bearing nephelinites at high temperature down to hydrous carbonate silicate liquids at <400°C. We propose a model for ODL eruption behavior: 1) nephelinite magmas pond and build a sill complex downward with time; 2) hydrous carbonate melts form in the mush and buoyantly rise, ultimately erupting as natrocarbonatites observed; 3) H2O contents build up in melt at the bottom of the sill complex, eventually leading to water vapor saturation and explosive silicate eruptions. The model accounts for eruption cycling and the unusual compositional zoning of ODL silicate tephras.


A considerable amount of electronic products are returned after sales, especially in such an economic downturn situation. After repair and refurbishment, the used products can be returned into the markets which fulfill the forward supply chains into a close loop. In this paper, we consider the service parts planning in the beginning of product rolling plan together with the sales through quantities to minimize the inventory level in the period of product lifecycle. A Petri Net is used to model a simple closed-loop supply chain with shared sales information. PUSH and PULL inventory policies are used in this research. Finally, it is investigated how a third party service provider uses this mechanism to improve the accuracy of inventory planning.


The reaction of diethyl diazoacetate (10) with 9H-fluorene-9-thione (2a), thiobenzophenone (2b), and adamantanethione (2c), respectively, in THF yielded 1,3-dithiolane carboxylates (Scheme 2). Whereas in the first two cases the reaction proceeded at room temperature, heating to 60°C was necessary when the less reactive 2c was used. The additions with 2a and 2c occurred in a regioselective way, yielding 1,3-dithiolane-2-carboxylate 11a and 1,3-dithiolane-4-carboxylate 12c, respectively, with opposite regiochemistry. On the other hand, a mixture of the two regioisomeric cycloadducts 11b and 12b was formed in the case of 2b. The analogous reaction of 10 with the sterically crowded thione 13 gave thiirane 14 as the sole product, and with the corresponding dithione 16, a mixture of the cis- and trans-dithiiranes 17 and 18 was formed (Scheme 3). Desulfurization with tris(dimethylamino)phosphine yielded the alpha,beta-unsaturated esters 15 and 19/20, respectively. The alpha,beta-unsaturated ester 22 was the only product in the reaction of 10 with 9H-xanthene-9-thione (21), which had to be carried out at 60°C.


Background: The rapid outbreak of Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) originating in Wuhan, China, and the subsequent declaration of a state of "pandemic" on March 11, 2020 has necessitated a widespread global response to manage and control the transmission, spread and impact of COVID-19. Mobile technology has been leveraged in a number of ways to control the spread of COVID-19, including to support knowledge translation. Mobile applications are accessible, acceptable, easily adopted, and have the ability to support social distancing efforts. The following review assesses the mobile applications currently available to address COVID-19 and seeks existing studies in the literature that evaluate such applications. Methods: 3 databases (Embase, Web of Science and PubMed), 2 application stores (GooglePlay and Apple's App Store) and google search engine were searched from inception until April 05, 2020 using key words and search strings to identify relevant apps and/or literature. Reviews of the obtained results were examined by two reviewers in double-blind nature and assessed for inclusion or exclusion. Results: 36 studies, 72 websites and 312 mobile-based applications were identified through searches. 14 applications met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Additional eHealth tools identified through the search strategy were considered for supplemental analysis (including online dashboards and applications not available through application stores).Conclusion: This review provides a brief assessment of the goals of applications addressing COVID-19, the types of approaches being used by these applications, and draws conclusions on the needs not being met by such application-based interventions. Innovation and collaboration between government, healthcare organizations and application developers is needed to address the identified gaps and facilitate the successful harnessing of mobile applications in the management of COVID-19.


Five new species from different tribes of the family Onychiuridae, namely Heteraphorura kaprusi sp. nov. (Hymenaphorurini), Deuteraphorura dashtenazensis sp. nov. and Onychiuroides mazandaranensis sp. nov. (Onychiurini), Protaphorura hyrcanica sp. nov. and P. iranica sp. nov. (Protaphorurini), from different Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests in the Northern Iranian province of Mazandaran are described and illustrated. H. kaprusi sp. nov. belongs to the oriental species-group of the genus characterized by granulated vesicles in PAO, D. dashtenazensis sp. nov.-to the group of Deuteraphorura species with 1+1 pso on Th. I, and with 3+3 pso on the posterior part of head and Th. II-Abd. III tergites, O. mazandaranensis sp. nov.-to the group of Onychiuroides with 4 papillae and 5 chaetae on AIIIO, P. hyrcanica sp. nov. and P. iranica sp. nov.-to the group of Protaphorura species with 3 pso on Ant. base, 2+2 pso on Th. II and subcoxae 1 of legs II-III without pso. In addition two other species have been found in the same forests: Protaphorura sakatoi (Yosii, 1966) and Protaphorura golestanica Kaprus', Shayanmehr Kahrarian, 2017 (second record of the species). An identification key of the 30 species of Onychiuridae recorded so far from Iran is given.


Lisson Gallery presents 'The Fallout of Living,' a rich and entirely new body of work by Ryan Gander. In his second solo exhibition at Lisson Gallery, Gander continues to explore layered systems of meaning through his simultaneously playful and deeply conceptual practice.

'The Fallout of Living' sees Gander reach new levels as a masterful visual storyteller, while taking an introspective direction in his work. The title of the exhibition refers to the fallout from the moment in an artist's life when, having become so fluent in visual language, their life and practice have become indistinguishable. This innate creativity infiltrates, and is inextricable from, all aspects of daily life, every decision (down to the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the placement of objects in your home) becomes creative and aesthetic.

'I Is…(I)' (2012) and 'Tell My Mother not to Worry (ii)' (2012), both take inspiration from Gander's daughter at play - an inherently creative process - first making a simple den and then pretending to be a ghost beneath a sheet. Replicated in marble, the sculptures capture fleeting moments in the creative development of a child and transform them into permanent monuments to artistic growth.


The temporalis muscle flap has proved its usefulness in the reconstruction of extensive oropharyngeal defects in the last 4 years in 26 patients. Although the functional qualities of the reconstructed area are not as superb as jejunal mucosa, due to a certain fibrosis of the muscle-fascia flap, much less surgical effort is required with this flap, since it is situated in the vicinity of the defect. Moreover, its short vascular pedicle guarantees the safe taking of the flap. The cosmetic alteration caused by the flattening of the temporal fossa is considerably attenuated with the replantation of the zygomatic arch. Especially in the multimorbide oropharyngeal cancer patient, the temporalis muscle flap with its reasonable surgical effort and its reliability represents a valuable alternative in the reconstruction of extensive defects.


Due to pressures of just-in-time manufacturing, many assembly lines in industries are now being designed as the U-shape assembly line balancing (UALB). When compared to the straight assembly line balancing (SALB), it has better balancing, improved communication, fewer workstations, and more flexibility for adjustment. This paper proposes the application of the tabu search (TS) method for the UALB. With the proposed method, the TS can address the number of tasks assigned for each workstation, and also assign the sequence of tasks for each workstation according to precedence constraints. In this paper, three UALB problems from a survey of literature are tested against the proposed method. From the result, it was found that the TS-based method can give optimal solutions for the UALB problems.


As machine sizes have increased and application runtimes have lengthened, research into fault tolerance has evolved alongside. Moving from result checking, to rollback recovery, and to algorithm based fault tolerance, the type of recovery being performed has changed, but the programming model in which it executes has remained virtually static since the publication of the original Message Passing Interface (MPI) Standard in 1992. Since that time, applications have used a message passing paradigm to communicate between processes, but they could not perform process recovery within an MPI implementation due to limitations of the MPI Standard. This dissertation describes a new protocol using the exiting MPI Standard called Checkpoint-on-Failure to perform limited fault tolerance within the current framework of MPI, and proposes a new platform titled User Level Failure Mitigation (ULFM) to build more complete and complex fault tolerance solutions with a true fault tolerant MPI implementation. We will demonstrate the overhead involved in using these fault tolerant solutions and give examples of applications and libraries which construct other fault tolerance mechanisms based on the constructs provided in ULFM.


We analyze the clump population of the spiral galaxy Sp 1149 at redshift 1.5. Located behind the galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223, Sp 1149 has been significantly magnified allowing us to study the galaxy on physical scales down to ∼100 pc. The galaxy cluster frame is among the targets of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH), an ongoing Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Multi-Cycle Treasury program. We have used the publicly available multi-band imaging data set to reconstruct the spectral energy distributions of the clumps in Sp 1149, and derive, by means of stellar evolutionary models, their physical properties. We found that 40% of the clumps observed in Sp 1149 are older than 30 Myr and can be as old as 300 Myr. These are also the more massive (luminous) clumps in the galaxy. Among the complexes in the local reference sample, the star-forming knots in luminous blue compact galaxies could be considered progenitor analogs of these long-lived clumps. The remaining 60% of clumps have colors comparable to local cluster complexes, suggesting a similar young age. We observe that the Sp 1149 clumps follow the M∝R2 relation similar to local cluster complexes, suggesting similar formation mechanisms although they may have different initial conditions (e.g., higher gas surface densities). We suggest that the galaxy is experiencing a slow decline in star formation rate and a likely transitional phase toward a more quiescent star formation mode. The older clumps have survived between 6 and 20 dynamical times and are all located at projected distances smaller than 4 kpc from the center. Their current location suggests migration toward the center and the possibility of being the building blocks of the bulge. On the other hand, the dynamical timescale of the younger clumps is significantly shorter, meaning that they are quite close to their birthplace. We show that the clumps of Sp 1149 may account for the expected metal-rich globular cluster population usually associated with the bulge and thick disk components of local spirals.


Segmentation of anatomical structures is a prerequisite for many medical image analysis tasks. We propose a method that integrates local voxel classification and global shape models. The method starts by computing a local feature vector for every voxel and mapping this, via a classifier trained from example segmentations, to a probability that the voxel belongs to the structure to be segmented. Next, this probabilistic output is entered into a global shape model. This shape model is constructed by mapping aligned blurred versions of reference segmentations of the training data into a vector space and applying principal component analysis (PCA). The mapping onto a vector space that is applied guarantees valid results from the PCA. An advantage of using such a shape model is that there is no need to define corresponding landmarks on all training scans, which is a hard task on 3D data. Segmentation of unseen test data is performed by a least squares fit of the results of the voxel classification, after alignment and blurring, into the PCA space. The result of this procedure is for each voxel a probability that it belongs to the structure to be segmented conditioned on both local and global information. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the method on segmentation of lungs containing pathologic abnormalities in 3D CT data.


Large repositories of high precision light curve data, such as the Kepler data set, provide the opportunity to identify astrophysically important eclipsing binary (EB) systems in large quantities. However, the rate of classical "by eye" human analysis restricts complete and efficient mining of EBs from these data using classical techniques. To prepare for mining EBs from the upcoming K2 mission as well as other current missions, we developed an automated end-to-end computational pipeline—the Eclipsing Binary Factory (EBF)—that automatically identifies EBs and classifies them into morphological types. The EBF has been previously tested on ground-based light curves. To assess the performance of the EBF in the context of space-based data, we apply the EBF to the full set of light curves in the Kepler "Q3" Data Release. We compare the EBs identified from this automated approach against the human generated Kepler EB Catalog of ∼ 2600 ?> EBs. When we require EB classification with ≥ ?> 90% confidence, we find that the EBF correctly identifies and classifies eclipsing contact (EC), eclipsing semi-detached (ESD), and eclipsing detached (ED) systems with a false positive rate of only 4%, 4%, and 8%, while complete to 64%, 46%, and 32%, respectively. When classification confidence is relaxed, the EBF identifies and classifies ECs, ESDs, and EDs with a slightly higher false positive rate of 6%, 16%, and 8%, while much more complete to 86%, 74%, and 62%, respectively. Through our processing of the entire Kepler "Q3" data set, we also identify 68 new candidate EBs that may have been missed by the human generated Kepler EB Catalog. We discuss the EBF's potential application to light curve classification for periodic variable stars more generally for current and upcoming surveys like K2 and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.


Date palm stones (DPS) can be used as inexpensive adsorbents, which are inferior to commercial activated carbons, but their potential low cost makes them competitive. The promising microemulsion modification process has the potential to improve the adsorption performance of DPS. In this study, the extent of change in the physicochemical properties of DPS due to the microemulsion modification and the removal of methylene blue (MB) and hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) have been investigated. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis showed that DPS surface contains non-polar/hydrophobic and polar/hydrophilic functional groups, whilst the microemulsion attachment to DPS surface is either by its hydrophilic or by its hydrophobic part. The microemulsion modification increased the basicity of the surface, causing an increase in the zero point of charge (pHZPC) and significantly reduced the surface area and total pore volume of DPS. The sequestration of MB and Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions by DPS and microemulsion-modified DPS (MDPS) showed that the solution pH had the most noticed effect on Cr(VI) removal. The sequestration of MB by DPS was endothermic but changed to exothermic after modification, whilst the sequestration of Cr(VI) by both solid adsorbents was endothermic. The sequestration capacity of MB was higher but lower for Cr(VI) by MDPS compared with DPS. Overall, microemulsion modification of DPS had changed their physicochemical properties and altered their capacity of sequestrating different pollutants from aqueous solutions.


The auto exposure control (AEC) system in a video camera selects the suitable aperture size, gain setting, and exposure time such that the exposure best fits the scene brightness. Although a few approaches to AEC have been proposed, most of them lack smart mechanisms to quickly estimate the right exposure when users suddenly change the scene. The problem becomes more serious when some regions in the captured video frame are overexposed or underexposed. In this paper, we propose a robust AEC approach to real-time video recording. The proposed system consists of a well-designed control flow as well as some heuristic rules to scene brightness measurement and exposure adjustment. To get a more accurate estimation on scene brightness, the system adaptively selects suitable sensor operational modes. The proposed auto exposure also includes mechanisms to detect occasional moving objects and the flicker of the fluorescent light. Experimental results proved that the proposed AEC system has good performance under various conditions, and it helps to improve the recorded video quality.


Recent research findings have shown that cooperative learning improves students' thinking skills as it allows them to communicate actively with each other (Johnson, Johnson and Smith, 2014). Therefore, cooperative learning has been proposed by many educators to be implemented in classrooms to produce lifelong learners and critical thinkers (Lunenburg, 2011). The current study investigates the effect of cooperative learning in Biology classroom, on students' learning and achievement of scientific skills. A convenient sample of 120 students from two grade levels, seven and ten, participated in the study in a private school in Beirut, where biology was taught to each class of the two different grades using two different teaching methods: cooperative learning (experimental group) and individualistic-direct learning (control group). Pre- and post- tests were administrated to both groups of each grade to compare students' achievement particularly in scientific skills items before and after intervention. Results of the study show that cooperative learning has a significant effect on students' achievement in learning and practicing scientific skills in grade ten, however no significant effect was shown in the acquisition of new scientific skills for grade seven students.


Micro plasma has been recently studied to investigate the effects on various cells. We study a micro-plasma produced by a plasma needle that is operated with RF power and its effects on G361 melanoma cells. The micro plasma size ranges from sub-mm to several mm at a few watts of RF power. For the bio-medical treatment, low-temperature plasma is obtained and gas temperature is controlled within several tens of degrees in order not to disturb cell activities. Elementary spectroscopic studies to obtain plasma characteristics are presented for Ar and He plasma with different frequencies of RF power. Also the preliminary results of the micro plasma effects on G361 melanoma cells are presented. It was observed that the irradiation of micro plasma induces cell death through the deprivation of tyrosine phosphorylation in the G361 cells.


Recent recommendations for the dietary management of diabetes mellitus state that diet needs to be individualized so that there is improved glucose and lipid control in the patient. In a majority of individuals with diabetes, this is best done with a diet that is low in fat and high in carbohydrate, particularly that of cereal origin. However, symptoms of hyper- and hypoglycemia must be averted. Most cereal products, however, tend to have a high glycemic index. Cereals such as Prowashonupana barley or fractions of oat bran are particularly high in the soluble fiber β-glucan, which when taken with a meal increases the viscosity of the meal bolus once it has reached the small intestine, where the absorption of nutrients occurs. This high viscosity delays absorption. A 50% reduction in glycemic peak can be achieved with a concentration of 10% β-glucan in a cereal food. A significant lowering of plasma LDL cholesterol concentrations can also be anticipated with the daily consumption of ≥3 g of (β-glucan. Diabetic individuals can benefit from diets that are high in (β-glucan, which, as a component of oats and barley, can be incorporated into breakfast cereals and other products.


This contribution is focusing on the question: 'In what way is the issue of religious education in general and Islamic religious education in particular articulated in Europe and in Turkey, and what can be learned from the respective articulations for the interreligious dialogue?' In the first section, the historical context is presented that makes up the diversity and situatedness of models of religious education (RE) in Europe, and its relation to citizenship education. Then the role of Islam in RE in Europe is addressed. In particular, Islam and RE/Islamic RE in the Dutch context is highlighted. In the second section, the Turkish educational system is described from the Ottoman Empire to the Republican Era, including the position of Islam. Turkey's present day secularised educational system is presented and the changed position of Islam in education. In the third section, the authors introduce the concept of 'conversational analysis' by using 'European tinted lenses' to further explore the Turkish articulation of Islam in education, and 'Turkish tinted lenses' to explore the European articulation with regard to Islam in RE. Concluding, some interesting aspects are emphasised where European and Turkish educators can learn from and with each other, and some recommendations for further research are given.


ABSTRACT Despite more than 150 years of diatom research in India, cymbelloid taxa have rarely been investigated when compared to the other parts of the world. A new freshwater species of Encyonema Kützing was discovered from the mountain ranges of Peninsular India and is described based on light and scanning electron microscopy observations. This paper provides a comparison of the new taxa with morphologically similar taxa of the genus Encyonema. Encyonema keshrii, sp. nov., is characterized on the basis of distinctive morphological characters including valve and apex shape as well as striae density. Enccyonema keshrii, sp. nov., is found to be a wide spread taxon with distribution across the Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas of Indian subcontinent.


In this paper we will propose the use of social robots as interface between users and services in a Smart Environment. We will focus on the need for a robot to recognize the user's feedback, in order to respond and revise its behaviour according to user's needs. As we believe speech is a natural and immediate input channel in human-robot interaction, we will discuss the importance of recognising, besides the linguistic content of the spoken sentence, the attitude of the user towards the robot and the environment. In this way, the meaning of the user dialog will be made clear when hardly recognisable by the analysis of the utterance structure. Then, we will present the results of the application of a potential approach used for integrating the linguistic analysis with the recognition of the valence and arousal of the user's utterance. In order to achieve this goal, we collected and analysed a corpus of data to build an interpretation model based on a Bayesian network. Then we tested the accuracy of the model using a test dataset. Results will show that the integration of the linguistic content with the recognition of some acoustic features of spoken sentences perform better in recognising the key aspects of user's feedback.


Population density and spatial distribution of abyssal epibenthic holothurians using fine scale time series imagery (2007-2017) by Larissa Lemon Master of Science in Applied Marine and Watershed Science California State University Monterey Bay, 2018 Holothurians are one of the most abundant megafauna observed in abyssal deep-sea communities and are important in the distribution of nutrients in the deep-sea. Despite their abundance and importance, there is little known about their natural history and population dynamics. These taxa respond to fluctuations in organic carbon supply, which originates as surface primary production and sinks through the water column. Previous studies have estimated population density and spatial ecology based on seasonal or monthly observations, that cannot detect fine-scale temporal changes. This study examines the rapid changes in population of 16 holothurian species observed at Station M, a long-term time series site Station M in the northeast Pacific, over a ten year period (2007 2017) using hourly timelapse imagery and periodic videographic surveys conducted with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Holothurian density, mainly driven by the dominance of Peniagone sp. A, peaked from November 2013 to January 2014. Lags between changes in mass flux and rapid holothurian community responses were recorded, with Peniagone sp. A and Peniagone vitrea showing the strongest correlation to in situ measured mass flux (r = 0.40, p=0.015; r=0.41, p<0.0001) with a lag of 149 and 100 weeks, respectively. Spatial distribution of holothurians did not differ with changes in density. Similar population density and spatial distances of holothurians were found in continuous time-lapse and seasonal ROV imagery. The results demonstrate the advantage of using high temporal resolution imagery with long-term presence on the sea floor coupled with periodic videographic surveys to characterize the ecology of deep-sea benthic communities. These foundational community and population data will be vital in quantifying any future changes associated with climate change and increased extractive activities on the seafloor.


An aerial trail of odorous pheromone molecules extends downwind from a female pink bollworm moth that is receptive for mating. Males apparently sense the boundaries of the trail during their characteristic zigzag flights across it. Contrary to previous beliefs, the mechanism by which the males steer toward the odor source does not require a sensing of wind direction.


This article asserts that Congress should amend the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") to recognize emotional support animals as service animals. The article analyzes laws and policies from other arenas such as transportation and higher education to demonstrate the need for and potential structure of such change. Indeed, the article proposes specific amendment language based upon this analysis. Providing clarity for all Americans, this expanded, clear language will benefit our society and its goals for inclusion and breaking the stigma of mental illness.

The use of emotional support animals to alleviate or mitigate symptoms associated with mental health issues has been a topic of debate since its inception. On one hand, there is the community of people who have expressed a need to use support animals to help them to participate in society, including while traveling by airplane. On the other hand, the Department of Transportation has had to assess whether allowing support animals on airplanes would pose a direct threat to the safety or health of others. In the air travel context, support animals have been treated as service animals and special rules have been created to manage the situation.

Nonetheless, in most other contexts, support animals are not treated as service animals, so therein lies the confusion. Between the ongoing debate, the need for clarification under the laws, and people's desire to use emotional support animals to facilitate their participation in society on a daily basis, the law in this area is in a state of flux.

Section II of this article provides the legal background on this issue and describes the current controversy over how to treat service animals and emotional support animals under federal law.

Section III is an overview of the alternative approaches to defining service animal. Specifically, this section looks at the broader definitions of service animal in the contexts of transportation, higher education, and cities and states.

Section IV of this article proposes language that can be used to redraft the ADA's definition of service animal through the lens of the alternative approaches discussed in this article. This new definition includes the foundational pieces of the current definition regarding traditional service animals plus the inclusion of emotional support animals to provide parity among people with physical disabilities and people with mental health issues.

Section V provides predictions for the future and how the inclusion of emotional support animals as service animals under the ADA may affect society at large.

Broadening the ADA's definition of service animal to include emotional support animal will have both positive and negative consequences. Nonetheless, the risk that comes with positive change will be worth it in the end. The biggest issue will most likely be how to ensure that users of emotional support animals are legitimate, meaning there needs to be a mechanism in place to handle issues of fraudulent behavior. With the carefully crafted definition of emotional support animal and the robust fraud mechanisms outlined in this article in place, people with mental health disabilities can have the promise of the ADA fulfilled and be fully integrated into society while still protecting the interests of businesses and others.


The Transcultural Rewriting of the Italian Ethnoscape This paper explores the transcultural elements in contemporary Italian-Canadian women's writing and analyzes how these writers incorporate local elements from their heritage cultures, from the host Canadian culture and from the mixing of these cultures within the Italian-Canadian context, in order to transcend boundaries, bridge cultures and languages, and open their writing up to broader, more globalized issues. Drawing on Appadurai's theorization of global «scapes», it shows how these writers move away from the typical concerns of the previous tradition of Italian-Canadian writing and embrace global dimensions which allow them to rewrite the Italian diasporic «ethnoscape» and reimagine issues of identity and belonging in transnational spaces. By re-appropriating their heritage culture(s) in non-elegiac terms, their works make a significant contribution to the redefinition of notions of ethnicity, culture, nationality and female identity. In the light of  cross-cultural negotiations and interactive polylogue among cultures, the essay explores the transcultural elements in contemporary Italian-Canadian women's writing and analyzes how local elements from heritage and host cultures are incorporated in these writings in order to open up to globalization. DOI: 10.1400/204636


Reducing microbial infections associated with biomedical devices or articles/furniture noted in a hospital or outpatient clinic remains a great challenge to researchers. Due to its stability and low toxicity, the N-halamine compound has been proposed as a potential antimicrobial agent. It can be incorporated into or blended with the FDA-approved biomaterials. Surface grafting or coating of N-halamine was also reported. Nevertheless, the hydrophobic nature associated with its chemical configuration may affect the microbial interactions with the chlorinated N-halamine-containing substrate. In this study, a polymerizable N-halamine compound was synthesized and grafted onto a polyurethane surface via a surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) scheme. Further, using the sequential SI-ATRP reaction method, different hydrophilic monomers, namely poly (ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA), hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), and [2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl] dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide (SBMA), were also grafted onto the polyurethane (PU) substrate before the N-halamine grafting reaction to change the surface properties of the N-halamine-modified substrate. It was noted that the chains containing the hydrophilic monomer and the polymerizable N-halamine compound were successfully grafted onto the PU substrate. The degree of chlorination was improved with the introduction of a hydrophilic monomer, except the HEMA. All of these hydrophilic monomer-containing N-halamine-modified PU substrates demonstrated a more than 2 log CFU reduction after microbial incubation. In contrast, the surface modified with N-halamine only exhibited significantly less antimicrobial efficacy instead. This is likely due to the synergistic effects caused by the reduced chlorine content, as well as the reduced surface interactions with the microbes.


In the present investigation, low temperature nitriding has been attempted on AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel by using a laboratory fluidized bed furnace. The nitriding was performed in temperature range between 400°C and 500°C. X-ray diffraction, metallography, and corrosion tests were used to characterize the resultant nitrided surface and layers. The results showed that fluidized bed process can be used to produce a precipitation-free nitrided layer characterized by the S phase or expanded austenite on austenitic stainless steel at temperatures below 500°C. But there exists a critical temperature and an incubation time for effective nitriding, below which nitriding is ineffective. The corrosion behaviour of the as-nitrided surfaces is significantly different from that previously reported for low temperature plasma nitriding. This anomaly is explained by the formation of iron oxide products and surface contamination during the fluidized process.


Electromagnetic spectrum can be identified as a resource for the designer, as well as for the manufacturer, from two complementary points of view: first, because it is a good in great demand by many different kind of applications; second, because despite its scarce availability, it may be advantageous to use more spectrum than necessary. This is the case of Spread-Spectrum Systems, those systems in which the transmitted signal is spread over a wide frequency band, much wider, in fact, than the minimum bandwidth required to transmit the information being sent.
Part I of this dissertation deals with Spread-Spectrum Clock Generators (SSCG) aiming at reducing Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) of clock signals in integrated circuits (IC) design. In particular, the modulation of the clock and the consequent spreading of its spectrum are obtained through a random modulating signal outputted by a chaotic map, i.e. a discrete-time dynamical system showing chaotic behavior. The advantages offered by this kind of modulation are highlighted. Three different prototypes of chaos-based SSCG are presented in all their aspects: design, simulation, and post-fabrication measurements. The third one, operating at a frequency equal to 3GHz, aims at being applied to Serial ATA, standard de facto for fast data transmission to and from Hard Disk Drives.
The most extreme example of spread-spectrum signalling is the emerging ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, which proposes the use of large sections of the radio spectrum at low amplitudes to transmit high-bandwidth digital data.
In part II of the dissertation, two UWB applications are presented, both dealing with the advantages as well as with the challenges of a wide-band system, namely: a chaos-based sequence generation method for reducing Multiple Access Interference (MAI) in Direct Sequence UWB Wireless-Sensor-Networks (WSNs), and design and simulations of a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) for impulse radio UWB. This latter topic was studied during a study-abroad period in collaboration with Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.


Background: Nowadays, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the most commonly used nonsurgical procedure which restores blood flow to the heart tissue. Such procedures may stimulate myocardial injury and release of myocardial necrosis biomarkers. Although higher levels of cardiac troponins (cTns) are associated with later adverse events, the prognostic importance of the lower levels of cTns, especially highly sensitive assays, is still a matter of controversy. According to the above points, in the present study, we aimed to assess the prognostic power of mild to moderate elevations in hs-cTnT levels (as an indicator of periprocedural myocardial necrosis) for predicting the one-year outcome of PCI. Methods and
Results: In the present study, all the patients undergoing elective PCI between March 2011 and April 2013 at Tehran Heart Center were followed up. Based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria, finally, 2309 patients were qualified for the study. For measuring hs-cTnT, three blood samples were drawn: the first immediately before the beginning of PCI (baseline), the second 6 h after PCI, and the last 12 h after PCI. The hs-cTnT levels were analyzed using Elecsys 2010 analyzer and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were assessed one month and one year after the procedure. Based on the pre- and post-procedural hs-cTnT levels, the patients were divided into three groups. But, the differences between the three hs-cTnT groups in terms of frequencies of MACE were not significant.
Conclusions: This prospective study demonstrated no association between mild to moderate elevations in hscTnT after PCI and one-year MACE.


For invasive breast cancer, immunohistochemical (IHC) techniques are often used to detect the expression level of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) in breast tissue to formulate a precise treatment plan. From the perspective of saving manpower, material and time costs, directly generating IHC-stained images from Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained images is a valuable research direction. Therefore, we held the breast cancer immunohistochemical image generation challenge, aiming to explore novel ideas of deep learning technology in pathological image generation and promote research in this field. The challenge provided registered H&E and IHC-stained image pairs, and participants were required to use these images to train a model that can directly generate IHC-stained images from corresponding H&E-stained images. We selected and reviewed the five highest-ranking methods based on their PSNR and SSIM metrics, while also providing overviews of the corresponding pipelines and implementations. In this paper, we further analyze the current limitations in the field of breast cancer immunohistochemical image generation and forecast the future development of this field. We hope that the released dataset and the challenge will inspire more scholars to jointly study higher-quality IHC-stained image generation.


In the era of modern language teaching, a new dimension has been added in the existing methods and techniques. With the development of technology, new innovations are being brought up in language teaching. Nowadays, language teachers are using different audio-visual aids to facilitate the teaching process. Along with text books, language teachers are likely to use related pictures, audio clips, videos, power point slides, posters and so on in language classrooms. The purpose of this study is to investigate the benefits that the language teachers as well as the learners get in using audio-visual aids in teaching English language. A qualitative method has been followed to collect the data of this research. It has been found that the use of audio-visual aids assists both the teacher and the learners in teaching and learning language skills. This research provides guidelines for the novice teachers on effective use of audio-visuals aids in language teaching.


I've been asked several times to give talks about various aspects of the scientific publishing enterprise, and sometimes to comment specifically on how to write a manuscript that will have maximal impact. While many in my audiences have felt that my presentations are designed for students and trainees, I hope everyone listens, as sometimes even established scientists are prone to making mistakes. I hope here to outline a few pointers that will help your manuscripts skate through the submission and peer review process. Some points may be elementary, but all bear repeating.


: The purpose of this study was to define the fat filtration characteristics of a packed polyester wool filter when used alone in the cardiotomy suction (12 cases) and the arterial lines (10 cases) during clinical hemodilution, extracorporeal circulation. The pressure gradient-flow relationship and the efficiency of removal of fibrin microparticles were first ascertained in vitro. Total fat was extracted from the polyester wool with a Soxhlet device. Whole blood and plasma lipids were measured before and after bypass. The results showed a 23 mm. Hg pressure drop across a wool filter with a water flow rate of 5 L. per minute and a 40 to 52 percent efficiency for fibrin microparticles 15 to 250 mu. The total lipid extracted from the cardiotomy filters averaged 376 plus or minus 72 mg. compared with 512 plus or minus 95 mg. in the arterial line filters, although there was no statistically significant difference. Additionally 245 plus or minus 101 mg. of nonlipid material were extracted from the arterial line filters. The postperfusion whole blood contained a higher concentration of lipid than the preperfusion blood when corrected for dilution. It was concluded that significant quantities of solids, two thirds of which were fat, were removed by packed polyester wool filters during total body perfusions. Most of the fat was derived from the cardiotomy suction system. The amount of filtered fat and solids increased with perfusion time. These findings endorse the concept of cardiotomy filtration during extracorporeal circulation.


Process fragments are a cornerstone of process modeling in both Service Oriented Architecture and Business Process Management. The state of the art lacks shared, language agnostic definitions of the basic concepts and properties of process fragments. This absence of a common foundation for the research on process fragments hinders the comparison and reuse of the results in the state of the art, and renders impossible the reaching of agreed, intensional definitions of the different typologies of process fragments. The present work aims at filling this gap by providing a framework of language agnostic definitions of properties of the syntactic structure of process fragments based on the mereotopology of discrete space. Alongside familiar mereologic concepts like inclusion, overlap and disjointness, we cover fundamental concepts for process fragments like (dis)connection, selfconnectedness, borders, interiors and exteriors. Besides providing a foundation for further research on process fragments, we discuss the immediate application of the concepts defined in this work in the scope of the change management of process models.


Abstracts Purpose: For patients in rural Texas, accessing cancer specialists is quite challenging. Texas has many remote areas without community-based cancer care, requiring patients to travel long distances for specialized cancer professional consultations and services. An anticipated shortage of medical oncology expertise will exacerbate this situation. The advent of telemedicine tools has created an opportunity to easily extend specialized cancer services to underserved populations of patients with cancer in Texas. However, more research is needed to explore how well telemedicine tools will be accepted and used by both patients and oncologists alike. Data suggesting that teleoncology services are well accepted and liked by patients and health care professionals would provide a basis for expanding this method of delivering care. If effective, telemedicine tools could help patients with cancer in rural Texas, and throughout the United States, access the same quality of cancer care as their counterparts living in urban areas.

METHODS
This pilot study will compare the effectiveness and reliability of remote oncologic clinical evaluations conducted via a telemedicine application with the traditional method of onsite evaluations in a private practice setting in rural East Texas. Patient and physician satisfaction with the clinical consultations and their perceptions of the telemedicine application will be assessed using a questionnaire administered at the conclusion of the clinical meetings.

RESULTS
Initial results indicate high patient and physician satisfaction scores as well as high reliability and adequacy of the equipment and technology being used.

CONCLUSION
Both patients and physicians are highly satisfied with the quality of teleoncology examinations and express openness to this method of delivering care.


: Dynamics of the Adh activity and frequencies of alleles AdhF and AdhS were analyzed under selection for delayed senescence. The experiments were performed on Drosophila melanogaster. Lines AdhS cn and AdhF vg and experimental populations cn and vg, selected for an increased duration of reproductive period (late oviposition) were used. Analysis of fertility, longevity, viability and resistance to starvation showed that selection for late oviposition resulted in delayed senescence of flies of the experimental populations. Genetic structure of population vg changed considerably with regard to the Adh locus. This was confirmed by parameters of activity, thermostability and electrophoretic mobility of the enzyme isolated from flies after 30 generations of selection. Analysis of frequencies of the Adh alleles showed that in both selected populations, which initially had different genetic composition, accumulated allele AdhS, which encodes the isozyme that is less active but more resistant to inactivation. Genetic mechanism of delayed senescence in Drosophila is assumed to involve selection at vitally important enzyme loci, including Adh.


Data on oral health, sugar consumption, fluoride availability and other preventive programmes from twenty selected developed and developing countries were reviewed to identify the changes in oral health in children and causes associated with these changes during the past 20 years. Nine developed (industrialized) countries showed apparent substantial reduction (30-50 per cent) in the prevalence of dental caries in 5 and 12 year old children during the past decade. The countries are: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the USA. Caries in Thailand and Nigeria and other developing countries appear to have increased considerably. The most probable reasons for the decrease in dental caries in children in the developed countries were considered to be associated with: the widespread exposure to fluoridated water, fluoride supplements, especially the regular use of fluoridated toothpaste; the provision of preventive oral health services; the increased dental awareness through organised health education programmes; the ready availability of dental resources. The factor common to all countries with a substantial reduction in caries was fluoride, either as fluoridated water or toothpaste. Countries with decreased caries but no fluoridated water supplies all had experienced a rapid increase in the availability and the use of fluoridated toothpaste during the past 10 years. The contribution of improved dental health programmes, other than those involving fluoride, could not be adequately assessed. These changes, which appear to be continuing, have relevance also to similar countries which might just be entering the reduction phase, or for which that phase may already have begun, though it is as yet unnoticed and unreported. They also have relevance to developing countries in indicating how caries and perhaps periodontal disease have been controlled and prevented. It is inevitable that in developed countries with reducing dental caries there will be a decreased need for dental services and hence a change in the need for dental personnel. However, the lack of adequate data in most countries makes prediction of future changes in oral health and manpower needs a precarious procedure. The whole review indicates the urgent need for regular monitoring of oral health status in all countries and for better personnel planning and production.


Soils play a significant role in the movement of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) within a catchment and are a major source of DOC to surface waters. Recent DOC increases in some surface waters in Europe and North America could be indicative of changes in soils leading to greater export of DOC. Organo-mineral soils have the ability to act as both sources and sinks for DOC due to the presence of a large organic layer as well as mineral horizon(s). However, the role of these soils in the movement of DOC within catchments requires further research. This study investigated the factors controlling the sorption and release of DOC in organo-mineral soils. Firstly, the sorptive properties of DOC leached from organic horizons beneath Calluna vulgaris (heather), Molinia caerulea (grass) and Picea sitchensis (forest) were investigated using a batch study and three isotherm models. The forest exhibited greatest adsorption to the mineral soil but released DOC with a high specific ultra-violet absorbance (SUVA). Both the heather and grass showed no net adsorption but released DOC with a lower SUVA. Secondly, the Langmuir isotherm was used to derive sorption parameters for 20 mineral soils collected from 11 UK upland sites. The sorption parameters showed no differences by soil type (gleysol or podzol) or by horizon (A, B, E). The maximum sorption capacity (Qmax) was greater for soils beneath graminoids than for soils beneath forest or shrubs. The amorphous forms of aluminium (Alo) were the most significant predictor of Qmax. However, the occurrence of adsorption was controlled by soil pH; adsorption increased with increasing soil pH. The most significant control on desorption within the soils was Alo. Iron content was not a major contributor to sorption within these soils. Thirdly, a column study was carried out to determine the effect of soil solution retention time on the adsorption of DOC to mineral soil. Sorption equilibrium was reached within 24 hours which would suggest that in soils prone to waterlogging most DOC sorption would occur in 24 hours. Additionally it was observed that there is a fixed sorption equilibrium concentration which differs only by DOC source. The work of this thesis suggests that vegetation cover could be used to manage DOC export in soils. The work here also suggests that the recovery of organo-mineral soils from previous acid deposition is likely to be having the effect of enhancing adsorption in the mineral horizons. However, as mineral horizons recover beyond their optimum pH for adsorption then it is likely that greater release of DOC from the mineral horizons will occur and increases in DOC will be observed in the catchments.


Sm: I would like to comment on your correspondent's letter on lithium-induced tremor (Journal, November 23, 1974). The appearance of hand tremor in patients receiving lithium carbonate is a well documented treatmentrelated phenomenon. The sensitivity of individual patients to the neurotoxicity of lithium is highly variable and does not appear clearly related with dose or serum level. Tremor may appear and persist at serum lithium levels that are well within the accepted therapeutic range, that is, 0·6 mEqj!. to 1'5 mEq/I. However, the likelihood of neurotoxicity appearing with lithium carbonate increases with serum levels above 1·5 mEqjl. Reports on the incidence of tremor vary. Vacaflor et alii' reported tremor in 80% of patients on long-term lithium administration at blood levels of 0·6 mEq/l. to 1 mEqjl., while Baldessarini and Stephens' found tremor of unstated severity in four out of 62 patients receiving prophylactic lithium treatment for four months or more. These were among 14 patients who developed transient neurotoxicity, and all but two of these !patients were receiving a phenothiazine or an antidepressant in addition to their lithium carbonate. Only 20% of the treatment group as a whole were receiving multiple drug therapy, which suggests a significantly increased risk of toxicity with these drug combinations. The emergence of neurotoxicity appears related to individual sensitivity, abnormal scalp EEG and negative sodium balance." There .Is some evidence that patients other than manic-depressive patients are more likely to manifest neurotoxicity with lithium at lower serum levels.' Tremor may fluctuate and is made worse by anxiety. Usually it is of minimal severity and does not require treatment. If it is embarrassing to the patient, or is increasing in severity or associated with other adverse effects. reducing the dose and stabilizing the patient at a lower serum level may be appropriate. If, however, control of affective symptoms is jeopardized by reduction of dose, the tremor can be treated with a betaadrenergic blocker. A double blind study by Kirk et alii' showed Ipropranolol to be more effective than placebo in reducing lithium-induced tremor. The mode of action of a beta-adrenergic blockade in this situation is uncertain. Finally, I share your correspondent's dismay that such practical issues of pharmacotherapy appear to have been omitted from his psychiatric training, but would like to assure him that such issues are currently included in the curriculum of the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry training course.


Finding the thermoelastic damping in a vibrating body, for the most general case, involves the simultaneous solving of the three equations for displacements and one equation for temperature (called the heat equation). Since these are a set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations there is considerable difficulty in solving them, especially for finite geometries. This paper presents a single degree of freedom (SDOF) model that explores the possibility of estimating thermoelastic damping in a body, vibrating in a particular mode, using only its geometry and material properties, without solving the heat equation. In doing so, the model incorporates the notion of "modal temperatures," akin to modal displacements and modal frequencies. The procedure for deriving the equations that determine the thermoelastic damping for an arbitrary system, based on the model, is presented. The procedure is implemented for the specific case of a rectangular cantilever beam vibrating in its first mode and the resulting equations solved to obtain the damping behavior. The damping characteristics obtained for the rectangular cantilever beam, using the model, is compared with results previously published in the literature. The results show good qualitative agreement with Zener's well known approximation. The good qualitative agreement between the predictions of the model and Zener's approximation suggests that the model captures the essence of thermoelastic damping in vibrating bodies. The ability of this model to provide a good qualitative picture of thermoelastic damping suggests that other forms of dissipation might also be amenable for description using such simple models.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider the preliminary findings arising from two case study library authorities in the North East of England, examining current volunteer use in Public Libraries. Specific reference to quality and professionalism will be discussed, to identify key trends and ways forward.

Design/methodology/approach

This research involved a series of interviews with key staff, a staff survey, user survey and volunteer focus groups.

Findings

The early-stage results of the qualitative analysis are reported, including key emergent themes relating to quality and professionalism. Triangulation of the key stakeholder opinions will be carried out.

Research limitations/implications

This research relates to an area that is a key factor of modern public library provision, and helps to illustrate the complex environment that exists.

Practical implications

Volunteer use in public libraries is a feature of the hybrid model of library provision in the twenty-first century, and the need to ensure quality and professionalism to improve service provision is even more critical.

Social implications

This research considers current thinking amongst stakeholders within public libraries and attempts to move the debate about volunteer use in library service provision forward.

Originality/value

It provides initial thoughts on what features are essential for successful volunteer use in public libraries, with regard to quality and professionalism.


Quality sexual health education is a significant influence on how decisions are made throughout one's life. In order to make safe and healthy choices, like wearing condoms, getting tested for sexually transmitted infections, and being prepared for puberty, quality sexual health education is needed. This qualitative study at the University of Pittsburgh involved interviews with a total of 11 people, nine females and two males. All of the interviewees were college educated and ranged in age from 21 to 25 years old. Understanding the sources of people's sexual health education is important because it can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of current sexual health education practices, parental involvement, and media influence, and how these can be improved. Looking retrospectively at how young adults have received their sexual health education provides a critical look at how their knowledge has influenced their lives to this point, and what they now know on the subject. Several public health relevant themes emerged in this study; sexual health education is needed and wanted earlier in life, should be provided in a realistic way, and should include parental involvement. Inaccurate or inadequate sexual health education can lead to being unprepared for puberty, ignoring symptoms of sexually transmitted infections, and using contraceptives incorrectly. When people are provided with correct, accurate and comprehensive sexual health information they can make better decisions, like being prepared for puberty, getting tested for sexually transmitted infections, and using contraceptives correctly.


This editorial argues for more research connecting media and communication as a discipline and the Arab Uprisings that goes beyond the mainstream techno-deterministic perceptions. The contributions in this thematic issue can be summarized around three central arguments: First, mainstream media, like TV and journalism, are central and relevant actors in the post-Arab Uprisings phase which have often been overlooked in previous literature. Second, marginalized actors are still engaged in asymmetric power struggles due to their vulnerable status, the precarious political economy, or a marginalized geographic location outside centralized polities. Finally, the third strand of argument is the innovative transnational geographic and chronological synapses that studying media and Arab Uprisings can bring. The editorial calls for more critical and interdisciplinary approaches that follow a region marked by inherent instability and uncertainty.