Background Excess transmission of pressure pulsatility caused by increased arterial stiffness may incur microcirculatory damage in end organs (target organ damage [TOD]) and, in turn, elevate risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Methods and Results We related arterial stiffness measures (carotid‐femoral pulse wave velocity, mean arterial pressure, central pulse pressure) to the prevalence and incidence of TOD (defined as albuminuria and/or echocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy) in up to 6203 Framingham Study participants (mean age 50±15 years, 54% women). We then related presence of TOD to incident CVD in multivariable Cox regression models without and with adjustment for arterial stiffness measures. Cross‐sectionally, greater arterial stiffness was associated with a higher prevalence of TOD (adjusted odds ratios ranging from 1.23 to 1.54 per SD increment in arterial stiffness measure, P<0.01). Prospectively, increased carotid‐femoral pulse wave velocity was associated with incident albuminuria (odds ratio per SD 1.28, 95% CI, 1.02–1.61; P<0.05), whereas higher mean arterial pressure and central pulse pressure were associated with incident left ventricular hypertrophy (odds ratio per SD 1.37 and 1.45, respectively; P<0.01). On follow‐up, 297 of 5803 participants experienced a first CVD event. Presence of TOD was associated with a 33% greater hazard of incident CVD (95% CI, 0–77%; P<0.05), which was attenuated upon adjustment for baseline arterial stiffness measures by 5–21%. Conclusions Elevated arterial stiffness is associated with presence of TOD and may partially mediate the relations of TOD with incident CVD. Our observations in a large community‐based sample suggest that mitigating arterial stiffness may lower the burden of TOD and, in turn, clinical CVD.


Restrictions imposed by gauge invariance in noncommutative spaces together with the effects of ultraviolet/infrared mixing lead to strong constraints on possible candidates for a noncommutative extension of the Standard Model. We study a general class of noncommutative models consistent with these restrictions. Specifically we consider models based upon a gauge theory with the gauge group U(N1) × U(N2) × . . . × U(Nm) coupled to matter fields transforming in the (anti)-fundamental, bi-fundamental and adjoint representations. We pay particular attention to overall trace-U(1) factors of the gauge group which are affected by the ultraviolet/infrared mixing. Typically, these trace-U(1) gauge fields do not decouple sufficiently fast in the infrared, and lead to sizable Lorentz symmetry violating effects in the low-energy effective theory. In a 4-dimensional theory on a continuous space-time making these effects unobservable would require making the effects of noncommutativity tiny, MNC ≫ MP. This severely limits the phenomenological prospects of such models. However, adding additional universal extra dimensions the trace-U(1) factors decouple with a power law and the constraint on the noncommutativity scale is weakened considerably. Finally, we briefly mention some interesting properties of the photon that could arise if the noncommutative theory is modified at a high energy scale.


The term "broadband" generally describes a wide range of new Information Technologies that allow high speed high bandwidth data transmission and always-on access to the internet and other real-time services. The World Bank, in a 2010 report entitled "Building broadband: Strategies and policies for the developing world", asserts that for every 10 percentage-point increase in broadband penetration in developing countries, GDP growth can increase by up to 1.38 percent and that this potential growth surpasses that of telephony, mobile phones or narrowband Internet. The actual speed and bandwidth that constitute "broadband internet" is still a subject of international debate and countries have chosen to adopt different definitions for broadband speed. In Kenya, for instance, internet speeds of at least 256 Kb/s in either direction constitute broadband. The World Bank, in the above mentioned report, proposes that broadband be defined beyond the traditional notion of a specific type of network connectivity or minimum transmission speed. Rather, it proposes that broadband be viewed as an ecosystem that includes its networks, the services that the networks carry, the applications they deliver, and users. It is in this context that this study aims to provide an initial understanding of the factors affecting broadband readiness in a developing country, in this instance Kenya. In order to achieve this aim, this study 1 identified and examined various policy, regulatory, access technology, digital literacy, broadband demand and broadband supply side factors and their possible influence upon broadband readiness in Kenya. The data on these variables was collected using an on-line administered questionnaire approach. The findings of this study suggest that availability of a national broadband strategy, improvement in digital literacy, use of private public partnerships in the provision of broadband, provision of broadband connections to government, learning and health institutions, inclusion of broadband in universal service obligations, and improvement in the security of broadband connections are significant factors for improving broadband readiness of Kenya.


Diamicton in Biesiekierz (central Poland), whose age and origin has long provoked debate, is located above unquestionable Eemian biogenic deposits documented by palynological and Cladocera analyses. Petrographically, this diamicton shows some similarities to Warthanian till. Lithologically, it shows considerable weathering of the deposit, a possible selection of the component minerals and addition of dispersed biogenic matter. The results obtained so far as well as the palaeomorphological situation indicate that the diamicton is reworked till material, as are sand intercalations within it. Given the organic content of this diamicton, we infer that a long-term agricultural exploitation of its immediate surroundings was the main factor behind colluvial reworking and displacement occurring above the Eemian biogenic deposits in the fossil depression.


Hollywood actor Michael Sheen reads one of the most famous poems in the English language, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", in this collection, which is part of the Naxos AudioBooks "The Great Poets" series. Radical and daring, Coleridge worked with Wordsworth to transform poetry and bring it closer to the people. Original, atmospheric and pensive, the power of Coleridge's plain-spoken poetry inspired the tradition of Romantic poetry that sprung up in his wake. This popular anthology also contains Coleridge's other major narrative poem "Christabel", as well as "Kubla Khan", "Love", "Frost at Midnight" and "The Lime-Tree Bower My Prison".


Wireless control systems (WCSs) enable several advantages over traditional wired industrial monitoring and control systems, including self-organization, flexibility, rapid deployment, and lower maintenance. However, wireless network delay and packet loss can result in two main challenges for the control system: instability and performance degradation. This dissertation aims at solving the instability and performance degradation challenges by developing fault-tolerance and real-time approaches for a WCS.

For the instability challenge, we first developed a fault-tolerant network design and a novel model to meet the control system stability requirement for one-way wireless transmission. The evaluation results showed that our model was accurate with average 4.1\% difference from the simulation result. We scaled the work to two-way wireless transmission to meet the control system stability requirement by analyzing the worst-case end-to-end delay. We carried out an analysis to calculate the maximum number of conflicts that could happen during one message transmission, and then derived the worst-case end-to-end delay. The simulation results showed that our end-to-end delay analysis was accurate within 4.2\% of realistic simulation results.

For the performance degradation challenge, we explored a hybrid offline-online network reconfiguration framework with time-varying link failures to improve control system performance for the WCS with a single physical system. Accordingly, a precise network imperfection model and six reconfiguration algorithms had been developed to quantify and improve the performance, respectively. The case study results showed that our network imperfection model was accurate with Pearson correlation 0.993 and our network reconfiguration approach performed better than the state-of-the-art static scheme. To improve the overall control system performance for the WCS with multiple physical systems, we studied a dynamic packet assignment approach. The case study results demonstrated that our approach was effective in improving the overall control system performance.


In a survey of 60 lower and upper SES houses in Ankara, li ving rooms were evaluated by householders and architects using a Spaciousness -'Crampedness' Scale (s-c-s). The re sults of ANOVA indicated significant differences between the evaluations of the architects and the householders, as well as between the two SES houses. The evaluations of the upper SES living rooms were more'positive than the lower SF5 ones; independent of SF5, householders rated the inte riors more positively than the architects. Since 9 of the upper SF5 householders were architects, a further analysis was carried out to clarify whether the differences found between the architects and householders reflected mainly user-nonuser or professional differences. The results in dicated that there were no significant differences between the ratings of the two architect groups. However, these two professional groups evaluated the living rooms diffe rently on S-C-S factors: householder architects assessed their living rooms as being more appealing but not as well planned.


Introduction: There are concerns over the quality of generic medicines in Pakistan. This is due to perceived non-compliance with good manufacturing practice (GMP), whereby the quality of the raw materials is not being assessed. If not addressed, this will impact on the potential for generics exports from Pakistan, as well as on patient care. Consequently, there is a need to assess the current assessment and regulatory situation in Pakistan and to recommend a way forward that ensures the future quality of products. Objective: To assess the quality of the raw materials that are either imported to, or manufactured in Pakistan, that are then used to produce a leading analgesic (ibuprofen). As part of the assessment, the presence and levels of impurities will be determined. Subsequently, the findings will be used to recommend potential regulatory changes to improve patient care. Methods: The quality of 27 sourced raw materials and the reference product were assessed using a variety of quality assessment methodologies, including assay tests, and infrared spectroscopy and UV-spectrophotometry. The calculated values were then compared to values documented in the Certificate of Analysis (CoA), and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: All but one sample passed the spectroscopy identification tests. However, 81.5% of samples failed to comply with pharmacopoeia assay limits. There were also concerns with the use of HPLC methods used to assess the quality of raw materials, and over the fact that assay values obtained were not the same as those listed in the CoA. In addition, where manufacturers had concerns over the amount of ibuprofen in the raw material, rather than rejecting the product, they typically used higher quantities to make up any shortfall. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that there is an urgent need to improve the registration process for generic products in Pakistan. This should include implementing Common Technical Documents (CTDs) based on international standards. In this way, we will see generics being produced that result in improved patient care and that have potential for export from Pakistan.


The demographic transition in Brazil in recent years had reproduced a phenomenon known worldwide as population aging. The objective of this study was thus to identify the factors related to self-perceived need for dental treatment among elderly Brazilians. An in-depth analysis was performed with data from the 2003 national oral health survey, with a sample of 5,349 elderly individuals. Poisson regression models were used to identify the individual variables involved in self-perceived need for dental treatment. The variables associated with subjective need for dental treatment were different for edentulous and non-edentulous elders. These findings are important for planning the supply of dental services to the population, providing estimates of the main problems reported by these individuals and the number requiring treatment.


When the Somali Republic received independence, its parliamentary government decided to adopt three official languages: English, Italian, and Arabic all languages of foreign contact. Since the vast majority of the nation's citizens spoke a single language, Somali, which then had no written form, this decision made governing exceedingly difficult. Selecting any one language was equally problematic, however, because those who spoke the official language would automatically become the privileged class. Twelve years after independence, a military government was able to settle the acrimonious controversy by announcing that Somali would be the official language and Latin the basic script. It was hoped that this choice would foster political equality and strengthen the national culture. "Politics, Language, and Thought" is an exploration of how language and politics interrelate in the Somali Republic. Using both historical and experimental evidence, David D. Laitin demonstrates that the choice of an official language may significantly affect the course of a country's political development. Part I of Laitin's study is an attempt to explain why the parliamentary government was incapable of reaching agreement on a national script and to assess the social and political consequences of the years of nondecision. Laitin shows how the imposition of nonindigenous languages produced inequalities which eroded the country's natural social basis of democracy. Part 2 attempts to relate language to political thought and political culture. Analyzing interviews and role-playing sessions among Somali bilingual students, Laitin demonstrates that the impact of certain political concepts is quite different when expressed in different languages. He concludes that the implications of choosing a language are far more complex than previously thought, because to change the language of a people is tochange the ways they think and act politically."


Since the launch of MERIS on ENVISAT long term activities using vicarious calibration approaches are set in place to monitor potential drifts in calibration in the radiance products of MERIS. We are using a stable, well monitored reference calibration site (Railroad Valley, Nevada, USA) to derive calibration uncertainties of MERIS over time. We are using interpolation of uncertainties to derive a second set of uncertainties for a national data validation in the Netherlands. A satellite image derived land use map of the Netherlands (LGN4) is used to determine the largest homogeneous land use classes using a standard purity index (SPI). Potential adjacency effects are minimized using moving window filters on the pixels of the aggregated map. Multiple error propagation is being used to assess the impact of calibration accuracy on land use classification. A classification in 9 land use classes is finally performed on MERIS FR images of the Netherlands using image based spectral unmixing and matched filtering with endmembers derived from the LGN. We conclude that the classification performance may significantly be increased, when taking into account long-term vicarious calibration results.


A Japanese version of the Self-efficacy for Statistical Literacy Scale was developed. In a preliminary study with college students ( N = 110), a Japanese translation was developed based on the English version of this scale. In Study 1, the resulting Japanese version was verified in terms of validity and reliability with high school and college students ( N = 275). Results from Study 1 showed that self-efficacy for statistical literacy is positively correlated with subjective numeracy and critical thinking disposition. The mathematical score positively predicted self-efficacy for statistical literacy. In Study 2, we considered the extent to which self-efficacy for statistical literacy would change between before and after statistics education among high school students ( N = 167). Results from Study 2 suggested that self-efficacy for statistical literacy is enhanced by statistics education. Free-text descriptions provided by the participants revealed that they could accurately interpret numerical values and had higher interest in the study of psychology and their future career options. Potential contributions to education and study limitations are discussed.


Hard shoulder running (HSR) and queue warning are two active traffic management (ATM) strategies and are commonly used to alleviate highway traffic congestion. This study proposes an optimisation model for HSR operation in coordination with queue warning service during non-recurring traffic accident condition using an updated cell transmission model (CTM). The CTM in this study is updated in two aspects: first, the capacity reduction caused by traffic accident is considered in the CTM; second, a purposive desired lane-changing rate is updated in the CTM considering a driver's movement from one lane to another depending on the lane blocking after receiving queue warning. The HSR operation combined with queue warning is optimised to minimise the total time delay during traffic accident. The model is tested on the A12 highway in the Netherlands under two typical accident scenarios and presents a certain application value.


Introduction Recent data have raised questions over the efficacy of azithromycin 1g for the treatment of chlamydia infection. In order to measure effective absorption, we developed a protocol to quantify the concentration of azithromycin using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in self-collected high-vaginal swabs. Methods Ten healthy women were asked to self-collect a high-vaginal swab (baseline) prior to taking a 1g dose of azithromycin. A blood sample was collected four hours later to determine plasma concentrations of azithromycin. Participants then self-collected a high vaginal swab each day for a further 9 days. All swabs were preserved in 1ml of 100% Methanol and stored at –80°C prior to analysis. One ml of chloroform containing 10mg/ml of Leucine enkephalin as an internal standard was added to extract azithromycin. Azithromycin concentrations were calculated using a validated LC-MS/MS method. Data were normalised to the internal standard and to membrane lipid concentrations, measured in the same samples using LC-MS/MS. Results Azithromycin was detected at varying concentrations in all 10 women in all post-treatment samples. The highest average normalised azithromycin concentration of 953ng/ml (range = 267–2200ng/ml, standard error of mean (sem) = 181ng/ml) was detected on day 2 post-treatment. The lowest average azithromycin concentration was 164ng/ml (range = 51–387ng/ml, sem = 42ng/ml), 9 days post-treatment. The average concentration of azithromycin detected in blood samples was 339ng/ml (range = 107–628ng/ml, sem = 57ng/ml). In 9/10 women azithromycin concentrations remained above 64ng/ml, the hypothesised mean inhibitory concentration (MIC) of azithromycin for chlamydia, for the entire 9 days. Conclusion We have validated a method for detecting the azithromycin concentration in self-collected high-vaginal samples using LC-MS/MS. Azithromycin concentrations remained above the reported MIC of 64ng/ml for up to 9 days post-treatment in high-vaginal swabs from 10 healthy women.


This research studies the role of spermidine (Spd) in conferring tolerance in onion seedlings under oxidative sress, caused by NaCl. Stress condition was applied on two months old onion seedlings by adding 10 gL-1 of NaCl, where 100 µM of Spd was sprayed twice daily before counting the stress duration. Under salinity stress, seedlings were observed for 7 days, and data were measured on relative leaf water, proline, reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation (as malondialdehyde, MDA), amine oxidases, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in leaves. Salinity stress decreased the relative water content (RWC), where Spd application delayed the loss of RWC. Contrariwise, Spd increased the proline content in salinity stressed seedlings up to five days. Salinity increased the contents of superoxide (O2•-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and MDA continuously and significantly with stress duration. More importantly, application of Spd decreased the ROS and MDA contents in stressed seedlings more effectively, up to three days of stress. Spd maintained higher activities of polyamine oxidase (PAO) and diamine oxidase (DAO) under salinity. Higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) in presence of Spd over salinity during the study period, suggested their ROS scavenging role under salinity stress. Conversely, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) played important role in reducing the oxdative stress for 3 to 5 days. Spd also maintained higher reduced glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid (ASA) and their redox homeostasis in leaves during the study period. Thus, Spd observably confirms better tolerance in short term salinity.

 Key words: Spermidine, oxidative damage, salinity, antioxidants, onion seedlings.


Arsenic, cadmium, and lead have been associated with various forms of cancer, nephrotoxicity, central nervous system effects, and cardiovascular disease in humans. Drinking water is a well-recognized pathway of exposure to these metals. To improve understanding of the temporal dimension of exposure to As, Cd, and Pb in drinking water, we obtained 381 samples of tap and/or tap/filtered water and self-reported rates of drinking water consumption from 73 members of a stratified random sample in Maryland. Data were collected at approximately 2-month intervals from September 1995 through September 1996. Concentrations of As (range < 0.2-13.8 microg/L) and Pb (< 0.1-13.4 microg/L) were within the ranges reported for the United States, as were the rates of drinking water consumption (median < 0.1-4.1 L/day). Cd was present at a detectable level in only 8.1% of the water samples. Mean log-transformed concentrations and exposures for As and Pb varied significantly among sampling cycles and among respondents, as did rates of drinking water consumption, according to a generalized linear model that accounted for potential correlation among repeated measures from the same respondent. We used the intraclass correlation coefficient of reliability to attribute the total variance observed for each exposure metric to between-person and within-person variability. Between-person variability was estimated to account for 67, 81, and 55% of the total variance in drinking water consumption, As exposure (micrograms per day), and Pb exposure (micrograms per day), respectively. We discuss these results with respect to their implications for future exposure assessment research, quantitative risk assessment, and environmental epidemiology.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is a key regulator of several steps in cancer metastasis, including the establishment of bone metastatic lesions. TGF-β is released from bone during osteoclastic bone resorption and it stimulates breast cancer cells to produce osteolytic factors such as interleukin 11 (IL-11). We conducted a cell-based siRNA screen and identified heparan sulfate 6-O-sulfotransferase 2 (HS6ST2) as a critical gene for TGF-β-induced IL-11 production in highly bone metastatic MDA-MB-231(SA) breast cancer cells. HS6ST2 attaches sulfate groups to glucosamine residues in heparin sulfate which is a member of the glycosaminoglycan family of carbohydrates. Our subsequent studies with highly sulfated heparin-like glycosaminoglycans (HLGAGs) with low anti-coagulant activity indicated that a high-molecular-weight E. coli K5-derived heparin-like polysaccharide (K5-NSOS) inhibited TGF-β-induced IL-11 production in MDA-MB-231(SA) cells. We then evaluated the therapeutic potential of K5-NSOS and a low-molecular-weight synthetic heparin (fragmin) in a mouse model of breast cancer bone metastasis. MDA-MB-231(SA) cells were inoculated into the left cardiac ventricle of athymic nude mice which were then administered with K5-NSOS, fragmin, or vehicle once daily for 4 weeks. Both HLGAGs increased body weight, decreased osteolytic lesion area, and reduced tumor burden in bone. Our in vitro studies showed that both K5-NSOS and fragmin inhibited adhesion of breast cancer cells to ICAM-1, and K5-NSOS also inhibited adhesion to E- and P-selectin. Furthermore, K5-NSOS inhibited bone resorption activity of human osteoclasts in vitro. Our data support and further clarify the critical role of heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans in breast cancer metastasis and indicate that K5-NSOS is a potential antimetastatic and antiresorptive agent with low anticoagulant activity that could be further optimized as an anti-tumor agent.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 845. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-845


The EM algorithm is a popular method for maximum likelihood estimation from incomplete data. This method may be viewed as a proximal point method for maximizing the log-likelihood function using an integral form of the Kullback-Leibler distance function. Motivated by this interpretation, we consider a proximal point method using an integral form of entropy-like distance function. We give a convergence analysis of the resulting proximal point method in the case where the cluster points lie in the interior of the objective function domain. This result is applied to a normal/independent example and a Gaussian mixture example to establish convergence of the EM algorithm on these examples. Further convergence analysis of the method for maximization over an orthant is given in low dimensions. Sublinear convergence and schemes for accelerating convergence are also discussed.


In this study, dynamic response of exposure to a high-speed impact of Titanium, TI 6%AL4%V and Steel 4340 plates were investigated depending on increasing thickness of plates and the changing impactor geometry using finite element method. The plates were modeled using 200×200 mm size and 1 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm and 7 mm thickness. The impactor's material is Steel 4340 and for all analysis it has 350 m/s velocity. Four edges of the plates are fixed and the impact loads applied to center of the plates. Finite element analysis was performed using ANSYS/ Workbench/ Autodyn. As a result, the relation between displacement - thickness and damped energy – thickness are given in graphics.


Burnout among surgeons has been attributed to increased workload and decreased autonomy. Although prior studies have examined burnout among transplant surgeons, no studies have evaluated burnout in abdominal transplant surgery fellows. The objective of our study was to identify predictors of burnout and understand its impact on personal and patient care during fellowship. A survey was sent to all abdominal transplant surgery fellows in an American Society of Transplant Surgeons–accredited fellowship. The response rate was 59.2% (n = 77) and 22.7% (n = 17) of fellows met criteria for burnout. Fellows with lower grit scores were more likely to exhibit burnout compared with fellows with higher scores (3.6 vs 4.0, P = .026). Those with burnout were more likely to work >100 hours per week (58.8% vs 27.6%, P = .023), have severe work‐related stress (58.8% vs 22.4%, P = .010), consider quitting fellowship (94.1% vs 20.7%, P < .001), or make a medical error (35.3% vs 5.2%, P = .003). This national analysis of abdominal transplant fellows found that burnout rates are relatively low, but few fellows engage in self‐care. Personal and program‐related factors attribute to burnout and it has unacceptable effects on patient care. Transplant societies and fellowship programs should develop interventions to give fellows tools to prevent and combat burnout.


Coping of beams is usually done in order to allow for clearance at connections, but doing so reduces the beams strength and makes it susceptible to local web buckling at the coped section. Due to this reduction of the beam's strength, it was of interest to reinforce the web at the coped end. Previous researchers have proposed several design recommendations for reinforcement of coped beams. Possible measures involves welding on endplates or use of bolted connections at the coped end, and provision of stiffeners at the coped region. In this thesis a numerical study on the coped beam's strength and behaviour is presented. Nonlinear finite element analyses have been conducted to predict the structural behaviour and capacities of coped beams with varying cope dimensions. The beam was strengthened by either restraining the coped end from lateral translation or by provision of stiffeners at the coped region. The effect of restraining the coped end depended on the cope dimensions. For cope length-to-reduced beam hight ratios lesser than 1 (c/h_0 = 1), the effect was negligible. Reinforcement in longitudinal direction only did not prevent the occurence of local web buckling, so that the recommended reinforcement details of the coped beam included a combination of stiffeners in both vertical and longitudinal direction for which the beam was able to develop the plastic moment capacity of the full beam section without any significant sideways rigid body movement of the longitudinal stiffeners. The proposed design recommendations considers the webs slenderness and coped dimensions. For coped beams with web depth-to-thickness ratios (h_w/t_w) less than or equal to 58 and cope length-to-reduced web hight ratios (c/h_0) less than one, longitudinal and vertical stiffeners were required while double vertical stiffeners were required for cope ratios equal to or more than 1. For coped beams with web depth-to-thickness ratio more than 58 and less than or equal to 67 and cope ratios less than or equal to 0.5 vertical and longitudinal stiffeners were required, while double vertical stiffeners were required for cope ratios of more than 0.5.


The authors evaluated electromagnetic situation in melting divisions, on transformer substation. Studies covered alternating electric and magnetic fields of industrial frequencies and direct magnetic fields in fire mode of nickel production on workplaces during working shifts. Results proved that induction of the magnetic fields varies widely. Magnetic fields influence is accidental and remains additional factor affecting human body.


Experience goods are those where the utility received is not known until consumed. The purchase can be viewed as a lottery. Consequently, risk preferences should affect willingness to pay and the price. Data from panels of experts rating cigars is used to test this assertion. For inexpensive cigars evidence is presented that the variation in the ratings reduces the price, as is consistent with Prospect Theory where consumers are risk averse for gains from a reference point and risk loving for losses. For expensive cigars the variation reduces prices, which is consistent with consumers who are risk loving.


The Presence of Absence and Other States of Space argues that absence has an underlying presence that links the territorialised space of the non-place and the interstitial space of the border zone. It is posited that disturbed areas are created that interrupt, amongst other things, placial identity. It was also argued that the term "non-place" has a limited validity in contemporary society. Also, as a fine art, practice-led study, viewing space was continually questioned both with regard to my own practice and to other, mostly contemporary, artists. The research was multi-disciplinary and used observation and reflection to form the basis of studio practice from which exhibition material was then gathered. Ideas were tested in both conventional and unconventional exhibition spaces, predominantly through installation, expanded sculpture and site-specific. Throughout, theory and practice have existed side by side, each informing and being informed by the other in a circular and reflective manner. The academic and practice research base was international and included the UK, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Laos, Norway and United States of America. Primary authors included Marc Auge, Gaston Bachelard, Homi K. Bhabha, Michel De Certeau and Henri Lefebvre and, later, particular resonances were found in Martin Heidegger and Michel Foucault. Visual references were mainly Western and included Belgium artist, Francis Alys (b.1956) and Michael Elmgreen (b. Denmark 1961) and Ingar Dragset (b. Norway 1969). The main outcomes have been that absence was identified as an underlying concept especially regarding placial identity; that place was seen as a site of memory and experience in addition to being locational; the term "non-place" was found to be of general limited validity mainly due to the overwhelming presence of genericness caused chiefly by contemporary economic constraint. In the narrow authoritarian space of the border, a pause was identified that occurred in the everyday life of the user that showed similarity to the user of the non-place. Applied to the process of viewing it was accepted that, whilst the white cube mode of viewing was imperfect, no better system was found where the artwork could be idealised in such a way. As an overall viewing experience for the casual viewer however, it gave a poor outcome. Viewing of art in the everyday created dichotomies that related directly to the duration of display where permanent art could easily become invisible due to its constant presence. Immediate relevance was found in my own practice especially with regard to art exhibition and viewing. The importance of these findings concerns art and architecture where value has to be placed on social and cultural identity that then contributes to placial identity, thus creating presence instead of absence.


The success of the application of genetic algorithms (GA) or evolutionary optimization methods to the design and rehabilitation of water distribution systems has been shown to be an innovative approach for the water industry. The optimal design and rehabilitation of water distribution systems is a constrained non-linear optimization problem. Constraints (for example, the minimum pressure requirements) are generally handled within genetic algorithm optimization by introducing a penalty cost function. The optimal or near optimal solution is found when the pressures at some nodes are close to the minimum required pressure or at the boundary of critical constraints. This paper presents a new approach called the self-adaptive boundary search strategy for selection of penalty factor within genetic algorithm optimization. The approach co-evolves and self-adapts the penalty factor such that the genetic algorithm search is guided towards and preserved around constraint boundaries. Thus it reduces the amount of simulation computations within the GA search and enhances the efficacy at reaching the optimal or near optimal solution. To demonstrate its effectiveness, the self-adaptive boundary search strategy is applied to a case study of the optimization of a water distribution system in this paper. It has been shown that the boundary GA search strategy is effective at adapting the feasibility of GA populations for a wide range of penalty factors. As a consequence, the boundary GA has been able to successfully find the least cost solution in the case study more effectively than a GA without the boundary search strategy. Thus a reliable least cost solution is guaranteed for the GA optimization of a water distribution system.


OBJECTIVE
Diabetes is common among low-income elderly, dual-eligible (DE) Medicare/Medicaid patients resulting in significant morbidity, mortality, and cost. However, the quality of diabetes care delivered to these patients has not been evaluated. The aims of this study were to describe the quality of diabetes care provided to DE patients and compare it with non-DE patients.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
This was a cross-sectional analysis of administrative claims from 1 January 1997 through 31 December 1998. A total of 9,453 patients aged 65-75 years with diabetes participated in the study. These were Colorado Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) outpatients. The main outcome measures consisted of a proportion of patients receiving an annual hemoglobin A1c test, biennial eye examination, biennial lipid test, and all three of these care processes.

RESULTS
The mean patient age was 71 +/- 2.8 years. Over 22% of patients were identified as dual eligible, and they were significantly more likely to be younger, female, and of minority race/ethnicity; reside in a rural location; and have comorbid conditions compared with the non-DE population. DE patients had more visits to primary care physicians, emergency departments, and hospitalizations but were less likely to visit endocrinologists. DE patients were significantly less likely to receive an annual A1c test (73 vs. 81%; P < 0.0001), biennial ophthalmologic examination (63 vs. 75%; P < 0.0001), and biennial lipid testing (43 vs. 57%; P < 0.0001). The adjusted odds ratio of urban DE patients receiving all three care measures was 0.60 (95% CI 0.52-0.69) compared with urban non-DE patients. Minority race/ethnicity and emergency department use were significantly associated with not receiving diabetes care, whereas endocrinology visits were associated with an increased odds of receiving diabetes care.

CONCLUSIONS
DE Medicare/Medicaid status was independently associated with not receiving diabetes care, especially among those in urban areas.


Tunnelling, acceleration, and collision of electrons are the basic events in the process of high harmonic generation (HHG) in strong-field interaction with atoms. However, the periodic array of atoms in semiconductor structure makes three steps become interatomic coherent process which leads to complicated carrier dynamics and two sources of high harmonic emission: interband polarization and intraband current. The difference of features of high harmonic generation between semiconductors and atoms is strongly linked to the unique presence of intraband motion which manifests itself a nontrivial role in intertwined two dynamics. Here, we review recent experimental and theoretical advances of understanding coupled interband and intraband mechanisms of HHG in semiconductors. Particularly we focus on the influence of intraband motion on the interband excitation, and on the subsequent HHG emission and attosecond pulse generation.


In 2014, surveys were conducted in Korea to study the geographical distribution, host plants, and potential habitats of Pochazia shantungensis. The occurrence of P. shantungensis was confirmed in 43 cities and counties nationwide, and identified for the first time in Gyeongsangbuk-do. P. shantungensis has a wide range of diverse host plants comprising 113 species in 53 families, including crops, fruits, and forest trees. Since the hemipteran was first reported in Korea, 138 species from 62 families have been identified as P. shantungensis host plants. This insect feeds on the following major host plants: Malus pumila, Aralia elata, Styrax japonicus, Salix gracilistyla, Broussonetia kazinoki, Albizia julibrissin, Ailanthus altissima, Castanea crenata, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Cornus officinalis. Potential habitat was analyzed in the present study using the Maxent model with 12 variables (8 climate, 1 land cover, 1 forest type, 1 ecological zoning, and 1 distance). The model ROC AUC was 0.884, indicating a high accuracy. In the present study, precipitation of warmest quater, mean temperature of warmest quarter, forest type, and land cover were the most significant factors affecting P. shantungensis distribution, and habitat.


Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) fruits due to their high moisture content are spoiled and deteriorate in short period of time. Once fruits are harvested, respiration and transpiration are the two major physiological processes that significantly affect storage life and quality of the fruits. However, effects of these processes can be minimized through optimizing harvesting stage of fruits and applying physical barriers for oxygen diffusion and moisture migration. The aim of this work was to investigate the combined effect of stage of harvesting of fruits and application of edible coating materials on storage life and quality of tomato fruits. Treatment combinations were the three harvesting stages of the fruits (mature green, turning and light red stages) and two coating materials (pectin and chitosan with control). Treatments were laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications. Sample fruits were evaluated periodically for different parameters. The study showed that, coating of tomato fruits delayed the ripening process with better fruits quality than uncoated ones. Combined treatment combinations resulted in a significant delay in the change of weight loss, disease incidence, disease severity and ripening index as compared to control fruits. Moreover, in terms chemical parameters, coated fruits revealed higher amount of ascorbic acid, lycopene and phenolic contents. Fruits coated with either chitosan or pectin at turning stage of maturity showed relatively better results for most of the quality parameters. Maximum shelf life was observed for fruits harvested at turning stage coated by pectin (17 days) and chitosan (16 days) films than control (10 days) at the same stage of maturity. Therefore, storage life of the fruits with better quality can be extended by combining optimum stage of harvesting with use of edible coating materials.

 Key words: Tomato, harvesting stage, edible coating, pectin, chitosan, storage life.


We estimate the effect of binge drinking on accident and emergency attendances, road accidents, arrests, and the number of police officers on duty using a variety of unique data from Britain and a two-sample minimum distance estimation procedure. Our estimates, which reveal sizeable effects of bingeing on all outcomes, are then used to monetize the short-term externalities of binge drinking. We find that these externalities are on average £4.9 billion per year ($7 billion), about £80 for each man, woman, and child living in the UK. The price that internalizes this externality is equivalent to an additional 9p per alcoholic unit, implying a 20% increase with respect to the current average price.


The study sheds light on different types of obsession in Asylum and how each type of obsession affects the main characters in the novel. Sexual obsession is one of the types of obsession discussed in Asylumvia the female protagonist, Stella. Stella's sexual obsession with Edgar who is a patient in the mental hospital destroys her sanity and ruins her life as well as that of her son and husband. Her obsession is catastrophic. The narrator describes Stella's actions and gives the reasons for each activity. The reasons are based on psychiatric reasoning and they help the readers judge Stella's behavior.Obsessional Jealousy is the second type of obsession in Asylum which is exhibited by Edgarwho suffers from a paranoid psychosis. As a result of jealousy, he murders his wife brutally and also contemplates of harming Stella when he suspects that she is being unfaithful. The third type of obsession in the story is the obsession with power through the psychiatric, Peter. Peter is obsessed with power and is filled with the desire to control Stella and marry her. The issues discussed in this novel are relevant even in the contemporary world effectively. The study further explores the definition and history of obsession as well as the critical reception of the story.


Abstract In current scientific and political discourses there is common agreement that the future of Alpine agriculture is a challenge not only for farmers, but also for society at large. What remains unclear is the question of how to adapt agriculture towards sustainable development of the Alpine territory in a manner that takes sufficient account of local diversity. We propose to treat agriculture and rural development as a matter of local concern, starting with a definition of sustainable agriculture drawn up by local stakeholders. Based on a 3-year experiment, we examine the capacity of local people to take joint action to contribute in a consistent way to rural development and to sustainable agriculture. We discuss the assets and limitations of local projects based on multi-stakeholder participation, ie in relation to their capacity to initiate closer links between farmers and other stakeholders and renew the contribution of agriculture to rural development. Our paper highlights 2 main points: first, how social dynamics are initiated and how farmers and other actors take joint action towards sustainable development; second, we analyze the impact of such local projects on agriculture and rural development and the counterbalancing effects of global factors, including market trends and related policies. Finally, we discuss the consequences of our results for policies targeting sustainable rural development.


Most commonly, electrochemical experiments are carried out at room temperature, in aqueous or organic electrolytes that contain both an analyte and a supporting electrolyte. However, voltammetry has also been undertaken in a wide variety of more unusual or extreme settings; aluminium smelting involves electrolysis at over 900 °C, bipolar electrochemical experiments often require the absence of supporting electrolyte, and dopamine releases in rats have been monitored by in-vivo electrochemistry of the rats' brains.
 In this thesis, unconventional electrochemical investigations are described. These include electrochemical experiments in protic ionic liquids (PILs), in ultra-high vacuum and using closed bipolar electrodes. In each case, the experiments were undertaken in order to further research into energy storage systems. Although electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar is good for the environment, these sources are intermittent, and we need to develop efficient ways of storing this energy to compensate for the intermittency. The use of PILs, as well as closed bipolar electrodes, offer promising avenues to improving the efficiency of energy storage devices.
 Using hydrogen as a means of energy storage is one route to solving the problem of intermittency of renewable energy sources. Chapter 3 is a study of hydrogen oxidation at Pt ultra-microelectrodes in one PIL, diethylmethylammonium trifluoromethanesulfonate, [dema][TfO]. Voltammograms of hydrogen oxidation show both a diffusion-limited plateau and an 'additional' plateau at lower overpotentials than the former. Different theoretical models are used to simulate this reaction, and the reaction is found to be inhibited by adsorption of under-potentially deposited hydrogen, Hupd.
 In Chapter 4 a voltammetric method is developed for determining the concentration of precursor acid and base in PILs. The concentration of precursor acid is found to vary significantly depending on the method used to synthesise the PIL, and recommendations are made on how to synthesise a PIL with minimal precursor acid present. The base, by contrast, is found to evaporate out of the PIL very easily.
 In Chapter 5, voltammetry of two PILs is undertaken under conditions of ultra-high vacuum. Precursor acids in the PILs are found to be relatively stable even under vacuums of 10-8 mbar. By using in-line mass spectrometry, the products of [dema][TfO] oxidation are also investigated.
 Finally, closed bipolar electrodes are used in Chapter 6 to spatially separate H2 and O2 evolved in a water electrolyser. By separating these gases, the risk of the two species mixing is removed, making the electrolyser a much safer device to operate, particularly at low current densities.


Summary Cortical dysplasia is known to produce continuous epileptiform discharges (CEDs) on electrocorticogram (EcoG) and EEG recordings. The authors studied the incidence of CEDs on ECoGs and correlated this data with pathologic findings. Thirty ECoGs were reviewed that were performed on patients with parietal or occipital lobe epilepsy operated on since 1960. CED was classified as: (1) continuous or semicontinuous rhythmic spikes or sharp waves at frequencies ranging from 2 to 8 Hz, and (2) repetitive bursts of rhythmic polyspike activity lasting 2 to 10 s. All nontumoral pathologic specimens were reviewed. Epileptiform activity was classified using the following criteria: focal (one gyrus), regional (two gyri), lobar (three gyri), bilobar, or multilobar. Pathologic examination showed gliosis in eight specimens, focal cortical dysplasia in five specimens, tumoral lesions in eight specimens, and other pathology in nine specimens. CED was found in 11 ECoGs. In seven pathology specimens, significant gliosis was shown, and in the remaining four specimens, a dysplastic lesion was diagnosed. Epileptiform activity was widespread (lobar, bilobar, or multilobar) when gliosis or focal cortical dysplasia was present. Absence of epileptiform activity or a focal/regional distribution was found in tumors and other lesions. These data suggest that extensive gliotic lesions are highly epileptogenic and produce CEDs, which are morphologically undistinguishable from those produced by focal cortical dysplasia.


The Risk Index is a useful tool which allows quick conclusions regarding the possibility of something going wrong with a specific device or situation. In this work, the devices are high power transformers belonging to a specific company.This company is EDP Renovaveis (EDPR) which develops, manages and maintains wind farms with a total installed capacity of 9,036 MW (at the end of 2014), in ten countries located in Europe, North America and Brazil. Each of these wind farms has a substation with, at least, one high power transformer.High power transformers are expensive devices and are crucial to the proper operation of the wind farm. As so, they present great importance to EDPR. In order to maintain them and make sure, as far as possible, that a break-down does not happen, the company performs several tests a year on these pieces of equipment, taking note of any symptom that might cause alarm. These tests use different methods, and are performed by various entities with diverse time schedules.The amount of information to be taken into account for the Risk Index calculation is vast. From the location to the features of the transformer, going through the above mentioned tests, a sizable amount of data must be collected and processed. The Risk Index allows the ranking of the various conditions according to their real seriousness. For instance, if two transformers are in bad state, it should be able to determine which of them brings more negative consequences.The Risk Index is obtained by predicting the possible scenarios resulting from the symptoms that the transformer is displaying. The consequences resulting from each symptom have to be determined with the information that was gathered in solid previous research work, and using the knowledge available from experts in the area. The consequences have also to be estimated, using formulas based on real cases that have occurred, and taking into account all the influencing parameters of that specific equipment. Testing the algorithms in several transformers with different problems and environments (location, rated power, manufacturer, etc.) and comparing the results among them is the ultimate method to improve the reliability of these formulas.In order to complement the idea of the Risk Index, a Fail Index is also developed in this work. It simply pretends to illustrate the likelihood of failure of a given transformer. This index does not allow comparisons among different information, but it might be useful for a more down-to-earth analysis. It basically splits the transformer in its components. The state of each component is then decomposed in percentages, which are attributed to the results of the tests that contribute to evaluate the given component.Coming up with a risk index is not useful just for itself: it must be followed by a structured program that can efficiently process a great deal of information, and display the results in an intuitive way for its users.


Changes in land‐use and climate are likely to alter moisture and substrate availability in tropical forest soils, but quantitative assessment of the role of resource constraints as regulators of soil trace gas fluxes is rather limited. The primary objective of this study was to quantify the effects of moisture and substrate availability on soil trace gas fluxes in an Amazonian regrowth forest. We measured the efflux of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4) from soil in response to two experimental manipulations. In the first, we increased soil moisture availability during the dry season by irrigation; in the second, we decreased substrate availability by continuous removal of aboveground litter. In the absence of irrigation, soil CO2 efflux decreased during the dry season while irrigation maintained soil CO2 efflux levels similar to the wet season. Large variations in soil CO2 efflux consistent with a significant moisture constraint on respiration were observed in response to soil wet‐up and dry‐down events. Annual soil C efflux for irrigated plots was 27 and 13% higher than for control plots in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Litter removal significantly reduced soil CO2 efflux; annual soil C efflux in 2002 was 28% lower for litter removal plots compared to control plots. The annual soil C efflux:litterfall C ratio for the control treatment (4.0–5.2) was consistent with previously reported values for regrowth forests that indicate a relatively large belowground C allocation. In general, fluxes of N2O and CH4 were higher during the wet season and both fluxes increased during dry‐season irrigation. There was no seasonal effect on NO fluxes. Litter removal had no significant impact on N oxide or CH4 emissions. Net soil nitrification did not respond to dry‐season irrigation, but was somewhat reduced by litter removal. Overall, these results demonstrate significant soil moisture and substrate constraints on soil trace gas emissions, particularly for CO2, and suggest that climate and land‐use changes that alter moisture and substrate availability are therefore likely to have an impact on atmosphere chemistry.


Watching the late morning sun finally appear over the crest of the flat-topped mountains brings welcome warmth that starkly contrasts the crisp coolness of the desert nights in the Karoo. I can still smell the clove on my hands that was used to spice the springbuck and fat-tail sheep sausage we made the day before. The rich green colour of the lucerne crop seems almost out of place in the middle of such an expanse of dusty tan earth filled with volcanic rocks and small bushes that somehow manage to thrive in such a dry environment. In the background I hear the plunger of the windmill pump bobbing up and down, and the squeak reminds me that the vitality of the lucerne, the animals, and the farmers I'm staying with depends on a vast network of aquifers deep beneath the earth's surface. Undoubtedly, the farmers who originally battled against the harsh weather, remoteness and difficult terrain of the Karoo to settle here would never have suspected that the livelihood of their descendants would be so influenced by the activities of oil and gas corporations. Little did they know about the enormous reservoirs of natural gas buried even deeper than the aquifers, or the economic trends that would put these resources and the farmers themselves at the centre of one of the biggest debates of contemporary significance.


Electron spectrograms from 351 passes of the Isis 1 and 2 satellites were utilized to study statistically the effects of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), substorm activity, and the earth's dipole tilt angle on the latitude of the equatorward boundary of the nightside (2000–0400 magnetic local time) 'instantaneous' auroral oval. The boundary location (in invariant latitude) of the instantaneous oval at hourly local time intervals was identified in terms of the equatorward boundary of the diffuse >100-eV electron precipitation. The following characteristics were noted: (1) The north-south component (Bz) of the IMF plays the dominant role in controlling the motion of this boundary. The invariant latitude of the boundary is shown to shift by approximately ±4° depending on the direction of the IMF (northward and southward, respectively) relative to its position corresponding to Bz = 0. This indicates an inward motion of the associated boundary in the magnetotail by about 5 earth radii when the IMF changes its direction from northward to southward with large magnitude. There is a significant difference in the amount of the shift between the evening and morning sectors; i.e., for the same decrease in Bz value the boundary moves more equatorward in the morning sector than in the evening sector. When the obtained oval particle boundary was projected onto the equatorial plane of the magnetotail along magnetic field lines, good agreement was found between the projected boundary and the drift boundary (the Alfven layer) of low-energy electrons in the presence of the dawn-dusk electric field. Thus this agreement gives new evidence showing that the diffuse electron precipitation that produces the diffuse aurora originates near and at the inner boundary of the plasma sheet. (2) Substorm activity seems to have a separate role in determining the latitude of the equatorward boundary of the nightside auroral precipitation region. The boundary during substorm periods is statistically found to be 2°–3° lower in invariant latitude than that during quiet times. Even a simple classification into quiet and disturbed conditions improves the accuracy with which the auroral oval location can be inferred. By combining the IMF effect and the substorm effect it is indicated that the boundary is located at the lowest latitudes when a substorm takes place during a southward IMF with large magnitude, whereas the boundary is located in the highest latitudes when the IMF has a northward component during quiet times. (3) The equatorward boundary of the nightside auroral oval is located at higher latitudes in the winter hemisphere than in the summer hemisphere, although this effect of the earth's dipole tilt is usually smaller than the effects of the IMF and substorm activity.


Multiscale entropy (MSE), an estimate of the complexity of physiological signals has been used for assessing diabetes status. This method requires much computation effort. Our study aimed to examine the Poincaré plot, an easier method for computation to differentiate the diabetes status. We selected subjects and divided them into three groups including the non-diabetes (HbA1c ≤ 6.5%, n=22), diabetes with good control (6.5% < HbA1c < 8%, n=23), and diabetes with poor control (HbA1c ≥ 8%, n=17). Poincaré method used consecutive 250 data points of PPG pulse amplitudes from each subject's right index fingertip. This method resulted in SSR, the standard deviation of the original photoplethysmogram (PPG) pulse amplitude (SD1) and the standard deviation of the interval 1 PPG pulse amplitude (SD2) ratio. The SSR in the three groups of non-diabetes, diabetes with good control and diabetes with poor control were 0.50, 0.28, and 0.23, respectively and differed between groups (P < 0.05). Our findings suggested that the Poincaré plot of right-hand PPG pulse amplitude may be convenient to evaluate diabetes status.


Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) have a plethora of employment options upon graduation. Besides primary care, many are working in nontraditional settings such as urgent care, emergency departments, retail health, and specialty practices. In many of these settings, practitioners are required to perform procedures. However, more information is needed on the type of settings in which recent FNP graduates are working, the procedures being performed in these settings, and the perceptions of graduates of how prepared they felt to perform these procedures. Family nurse practitioners who completed an FNP program within the previous five years and who attended the 2019 AANP National Conference were invited to participate in a survey to assess their preparation in clinical procedures. Results revealed that more than half of the 198 respondents reported doing incision and drainage of abscesses and laceration repair. Respondents were divided on how they first learned to perform the procedures, with 47% stating that a preceptor demonstrated procedures to them during a clinical practicum experience, 42% stating that they learned on the job after graduation, and 43% reported that their FNP program provided training or simulation activities related to procedures. More than a quarter of respondents reported that they took a class on procedures. In all, 61% reported that they did not feel adequately prepared to perform procedures on graduation. Results indicated that colleges of nursing should ensure that FNP students have opportunities to master the procedures that are frequently performed by FNPs.


"The training I received from PLYMC's Kindergarten Readiness Workshop didn't simply help me to understand the number of ways our libraries are striving to support school readiness, it enabled me to effectively communicate with and engage parents and caregivers as to how they can be active participants in this endeavor as well. The workshop group activities created a dialogue that allowed me to internalize what we learned from the assigned readings by coming up with and discussing the different ways learning domains can be implemented in practice."—Marnie Alvarez, Readers' Services Librarian, Main LibraryThe growth articulated here is the result of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County's (PLYMC) Kindergarten Readiness Initiative. Mahoning County (OH) has a long history of supporting early literacy. After reviewing kindergarten readiness assessment results for our county, we realized we could strengthen our value in the community by articulating how we support all school readiness domains and look for ways to increase support to families who most need kindergarten readiness support.


Mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs), especially rotaxanes and catenanes, allow large-amplitude movement at the molecular level, making them the perfect prototypes for artificial molecular switches and machines. By applying external stimuli, the noncovalent interactions between their subcomponents can be interrupted and formed reversibly, leading to mechanical motions. Among various stimuli, pH stimulation is one of the most powerful and commonly used means of controlling motions by acids and bases. In this review, we summarize the pH-controlled mechanical motions including translocation in rotaxanes, circumrotation in catenanes and other kinds of motion in more sophisticated mechanomolecules, and discuss their operating mechanisms. In addition, we present several more recent developments of alternative stimuli for pH responsive motions.


In this thesis we introduce Gunslinger, a mid-air barehand interaction technique using hand postures to trigger command modes and small finger and hand movements for events and parameter control. Unlike past work, Gunslinger uses an 'arms down' body stance where both sets of fingers are tracked in mid-air with thigh-mounted sensors. This stance not only makes input more subtle and less fatiguing, but two-handed input and the reduced physical space needed to perform gestures makes it more compatible with large display touch input. The design of Gunslinger follows guidelines for relaxed barehand input that ensure that users can interact comfortably in mid-air without sacrificing the expressiveness of the interaction technique. We also provide continuous feedback about the hand sensing and posture recognition to ensure that the user never has to switch his visual attention to understand the system's responses. An implemented interaction vocabulary is described for map navigation which demonstrates how Gunslinger can be combined with touch input supported by a touch hand inference method leveraging the arms-down form factor. And we show how this can be achieved with an input vocabulary that is equivalent, coherent, and compatible across mid-air and touch input modalities. We conducted a four-part study to evaluate Gunslinger for resilience to Midas Touch, posture recognition quality with hand cursor feedback, distant pointing and clicking performance, and general usability for Gunslinger alone and when mixed with touch input. We then present the results of the study which show that Gunslinger has little Midas touch, reliable posture detection, good pointing throughput, and acceptable usability, even compared to faster touch input. In addition, we implemented and evaluated an rollback mechanism in order to address a stability issue arising from the study. Finally, we summarize our findings and describe extended studies to work on in the future.


Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) were considered extremely safe since their introduction for clinically used in 1988. However, in 2006, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) was reported in patients with end-stage renal failure who were exposed to some GBCAs. In 2014, gadolinium deposition was found to occur in the brain tissues of patients exposed to multiple GBCA studies.
This project aimed to review currently published studies regarding gadolinium accumulation in tissues after repeated GBCA administrations to identify and summarize the recent findings for this issue. Six scientific databases were electronically searched for relevant studies between 2009 and July 2016. The reference lists were also checked and tracked to find related articles. Studies were evaluated for relevance either by scanning their title and abstracts or reading the full text.
The primary search yielded 1765 papers, which were then narrowed down to 14 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Two more studies were found by manually searching the reference lists. Of these, three studies assessed gadolinium retention in the brain tissues on animal models, while the remaining 13 were human research studies.


SiMRX is a MRX simulation toolbox written in MATLAB for simulation of realistic 2D and 3D Magnetorelaxometry (MRX) setups, including coils, sensors and activation patterns. MRX is a new modality that uses magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) as contrast agent and shows promising results in medical applications, e.g. cancer treatment. Its basic principles were outlined in [2], further elaborated in [6], transferred into a rigorous mathematical model and analyzed in [3]. SiMRX is available at https: // gitlab. com/ foecke/ SiMRX/ . Acknowledgements and Contributions This toolbox was inspired by earlier work of Peter Hoemmen, Paul Koenigsberger and Daniel Baumgarten. In particular for the simulation of the 3D case, we recycled code fragments originally created by Peter Hoemmen and Paul Koenigsberger. Moreover, the 3D simulation step has been validated using a measured 3D dataset provided by Maik Liebl. The phantoms were created as part of a collaboration with Daniel Baumgarten and Peter Schier. As part of the ongoing collaboration with Daniel Baumgarten and Peter Schier this code may receive updates and new features in the future. Maik Liebl has been supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG) within the priority program SPP1681 (WI 4230/1-3). This work has been supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG) within the priority program CoSIP, project CoS-MRXI (BA 4858/2-1, BU 2327/4-1). keywords— magnetorelaxometry imaging; magnetic nanoparticles; modeling; MATLAB toolbox; SiMRX


BACKGROUND
Dental plaque, deposition of microorganisms embedded in extracellular matrix, initiates dental caries and periodontal diseases Thus, removal of dental plaque by mechanical or chemical means is the key intervention in prevention of dental caries and gingivitis.

METHODS
To compare the efficacy of chlorhexidine (0.2%) and sodium fluoride (0.05%) mouthwashes in reduction of plaque deposition, 75 children of age group 8-14 years were divided in three equal groups. Group A and group B were test groups for chlorhexidine and sodium fluoride respectively and group C was control group. The subjects were instructed to rinse the mouth with 10 ml of mouthwash for one minute twice daily for fifteen days. Amount of plaque was analyzed by Silness and Loe index at the beginning and end of the study period. Inter group and intra group comparisons were done to evaluate the efficacy of mouthwashes by using paired t test and Anova test.

RESULTS
There was significant reduction in plaque in both test groups (p= 0.000) whereas in control group, there was no significant reduction in amount of plaque (p=0.100) count. Efficacy of the both mouthwashes was statistically equal.

CONCLUSIONS
Sodium fluoride is as potent antimicrobial agent as chlorhexidine and would be better mouthwash due to its additional remineralization property for prevention of dental caries and gingivitis in children.


A myriad of digital files such as digital photos, music tracks, and illustration images are exchanged through digital devices. Some are intentionally given as a gift for a gesture of good relationship, but they often get dismissed from the receiver's attention due to many drawbacks of digital materials including intangibility. Gifts are realized in various forms such as artefacts, food, and hospitality, which embody multiple layers of functions and meanings that frame our social interactions. In this regard, it is questionable whether the digital gifts are able to express the sense of "gift-ness" from the outset. If doubtful, can we reform the method of the gift exchange to be distinct from mere file exchange? Building on the basis of literature in the gift exchange, this paper delivers design insights in a series of interactive prototypes to depict implications of our prior study. Prototypes are purposely designed to highlight the ephemerality of the unwrapping experience to employ in digital gifting. We demonstrate the Research Through Design practice that comprises of framing the problem space, prototyping the artefacts, and probing with potential users. Moreover, we discuss how tangibly wrapped digital gifts are appropriate in retaining the wider social recognition about the gift and gifting.


OBJECTIVE
The mechanisms inducing steroidogenesis in primary aldosteronism (PA) remain poorly defined. It was recently demonstrated that some G-protein-coupled receptors are abnormally expressed in aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA). We evaluated the potential role of LH and GNRH receptors (LHR (or LHCGR) and GNRHR) in regulating aldosterone secretion in a patient with APA arising during pregnancy (index case) and in a subset of other patients with PA.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
GNRH test was performed in the index case, 11 other PA, and 5 controls. GNRHR and LHR expressions were examined in 23 APA and 6 normal tissues.

RESULTS
Aldosterone response increased significantly (114%) in the index case after GNRH test was performed preoperatively, while it was blunted after adrenalectomy. Aldosterone also increased after human chorionic gonadotropin and triptorelin stimulation. A partial aldosterone response to GNRH was observed in other 7/11 PA, while a significant response was observed in two patients. Controls did not respond to GNRH test. GNRHR was overexpressed and LHR expression was moderate in the APA tissue from the index case. Moreover, LHR was found in normal adrenals and overexpressed in 6/22 APA. GNRHR was overexpressed in 6/22 APA, 2 of them with a 95- and 109-fold higher expression than normal. A correlation between the clinical and molecular findings was observed in five out of seven patients.

CONCLUSION
We describe a case of PA diagnosed during pregnancy, which appeared to correlate with aberrant LHR and GNRHR expression. Our findings suggest that a subset of patients with PA has aberrant LHR and GNRHR expression, which could modulate aldosterone secretion.


Local actors are to an increasing extent engaging in national and European Union (EU)–based development and sustainability agendas. These ventures often materialize in the form of temporary organizations such as pilots and projects. This article contributes to debates on project-based, experimental and temporary organizations by unpacking the organizational architecture of pilots and analyzing how the democratic autonomy of local public actors is formed. Through the example of smart city pilots, the study shows how a range of intersecting relations and hierarchies enable and circumscribe public-sector autonomy—from local actors' attempts to align pilots with political goals to the limitations of standardized and scalable knowledge and strict funding requirements.


Reducing the size of neural network models is a critical step in moving AI from a cloud-centric to an edge-centric (i.e. on-device) compute paradigm. This shift from cloud to edge is motivated by a number of factors including reduced latency, improved security, and higher flexibility of AI algorithms across several application domains (e.g. transportation, healthcare, defense, etc.). However, it is currently unclear how model compression techniques may affect the robustness of AI algorithms against adversarial attacks. This paper explores the effect of quantization, one of the most common compression techniques, on the adversarial robustness of neural networks. Specifically, we investigate and model the accuracy of quantized neural networks on adversarially-perturbed images. Results indicate that for simple gradient-based attacks, quantization can either improve or degrade adversarial robustness depending on the attack strength.


The rise in malicious usage of large language models, such as fake content creation and academic plagiarism, has motivated the development of approaches that identify AI-generated text, including those based on watermarking or outlier detection. However, the robustness of these detection algorithms to paraphrases of AI-generated text remains unclear. To stress test these detectors, we build a 11B parameter paraphrase generation model (DIPPER) that can paraphrase paragraphs, condition on surrounding context, and control lexical diversity and content reordering. Using DIPPER to paraphrase text generated by three large language models (including GPT3.5-davinci-003) successfully evades several detectors, including watermarking, GPTZero, DetectGPT, and OpenAI's text classifier. For example, DIPPER drops detection accuracy of DetectGPT from 70.3% to 4.6% (at a constant false positive rate of 1%), without appreciably modifying the input semantics. To increase the robustness of AI-generated text detection to paraphrase attacks, we introduce a simple defense that relies on retrieving semantically-similar generations and must be maintained by a language model API provider. Given a candidate text, our algorithm searches a database of sequences previously generated by the API, looking for sequences that match the candidate text within a certain threshold. We empirically verify our defense using a database of 15M generations from a fine-tuned T5-XXL model and find that it can detect 80% to 97% of paraphrased generations across different settings while only classifying 1% of human-written sequences as AI-generated. We open-source our models, code and data.


Objectives The objective was to assess if the peak bicarbonate level during secretin stimulation testing (SST) differs between patients with minimal change (or small duct) chronic pancreatitis (CP) versus those with obvious CP (or large duct) versus those without CP. Methods Two hundred nineteen patient records at the University of Florida who had been referred for SST were analyzed for peak bicarbonate, total volume of juice collected, age, sex, and clinical presentation. Results Fifty-one patients with minimal change CP were identified. Thirty-three patients were felt to have advanced CP, and 135 patients did not have CP by clinical criteria. The peak bicarbonate and total volume of pancreatic juice collected was significantly different (P < 0.001) between all 3 groups by multiple comparison testing. The peak bicarbonate of advanced CP and minimal change groups was less than controls (P < 0.001). There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) on direct testing between peak bicarbonate in advanced CP and minimal change CP. Conclusions The peak bicarbonate and volume measured during SST differs among patients with minimal change CP, advanced CP and in disease controls. These results could be useful in diagnosing minimal change/early CP.


One of the problems observed in desert villages is deterioration of agricultural activities resulted in unemployment and migration of residents to adjacent cities. It seems that the only way these villages can choose to survive is utilizing suitable alternatives for future development adapted with sustainability concepts. One of these villages is Kharanagh (located in 125km northeast of Yazd) that is situated near desert and has great potential for attracting tourists. On the other hand, Tourism and tourism economy is becoming one of the most important sectors in all over the world. Furthermore, many of planners and policy makers regard tourism industry as the main element of sustainable development. In parallel with, rural tourism is one of sub sectors of tourism industry that can have effective role developing regions and finally national development by a structured planning and identifying limitations and advantages. This article using RDS technique (that has a similar methodology and process to CDS 1 ) has depicted a development vision for Kharanagh village based on rural tourism development. This technique is based on one of the main goals of Reconstruction and Development Program that is used for reconstructing and developing villages and is the main program for challenging poverty and enabling rural residents. The finding shows that tourism attractions should be searched in historical, natural and socio-cultural aspects. As Kharanagh has so valuable heritage and is located in a region full of valuable centers and monumental buildings that we can focus on tourism to introduce and identify its attractions to bloom the village economically.


Molecular biology has entrenched the gene as the basic hereditary unit and genomes are often considered little more than collections of genes. However, new concepts and genomic data have emerged, which suggest that the genome has a unique place in the hierarchy of life. Despite this, a framework for the genome as a major evolutionary transition has not been fully developed. Instead, genome origin and evolution are frequently considered as a series of neutral or nonadaptive events. In this article, we argue for a Darwinian multilevel selection interpretation for the origin of the genome. We base our arguments on the multilevel selection theory of hypercycles of cooperative interacting genes and predictions that gene‐level trade‐offs in viability and reproduction can help drive evolutionary transitions. We consider genomic data involving mobile genetic elements as a test case of our view. A new concept of the genome as a discrete evolutionary unit emerges and the gene–genome juncture is positioned as a major evolutionary transition in individuality. This framework offers a fresh perspective on the origin of macromolecular life and sets the scene for a new, emerging line of inquiry—the evolutionary ecology of the genome.


Abstract At sites with powerful particle accelerators, the problem of groundwater activation by direct neutron radiation arises. Licensing of particle accelerators requires evidence that groundwater activation is within the legal limits and thus will not endanger workers, the public, or the environment. In this study we focus on the following radionuclides: 14C, 41Ca, 45Ca, 36Cl, 55Co, 57Co, 60Co, 3H, 54Mn, 24Na, 32P, 35S, 32Si, and 50V. The conventional approach for calculating activation of soil and groundwater is described and utilized for a fictive 5-MW proton accelerator at Jülich, Germany, with a beam loss of 1 W·m-1. An updated overview of partition coefficients for relevant radionuclides in sand, clay, loam, and organic soils is presented. Based on the two aforementioned methods, groundwater activation is estimated with a simplified homogeneous groundwater transport model. The results indicate 3H, 14C, and 36Cl as the most relevant radionuclides concerning the resultant activity concentrations and estimated dose rates at the site boundary. For this fictive test case, the site boundary is located a distance 250 m downstream of the accelerator, which leads to acceptable risk for the public, given the legal standards.


Dimensional stability of ramie jersey knit fabric was compared to that of cotton and rayon jersey fabric. Three experimental laundering procedures were employed: hand washing with flat drying, machine washing with flat drying, and machine washing with tumble drying. Experimental fabrics knit from ramie, cotton, viscose rayon, and high wet modulus rayon and from 50/50 mixtures for each fiber were laundered five times using each of the three laundering procedures. Major findings were that ramie and ramie-cellulosic knits have better dimensional stability than knits containing only cotton and rayon. Ramie knits also exhibit little progressive shrinkage and growth. Both cotton and rayon knits exhibited progressive shrinkage in the wale direction and progressive growth in the course direction. In general, method of drying was found to be a greater factor in maintaining dimensional stability than was method of washing. Tumble drying after washing was found to result in less course-wise growth than flat drying.


Recently the evidence of the helical magnetic structure modulated along $c$-axis with the period of four lattice parameters was obtained in easy $ab$ plane ferromagnetic superconductor EuRbFe$_4$As$_4$ [K. Iida et al., Phys. Rev. B 100, 014506 (2019)]. We argue that such structure may appear due to the presence of superconductivity. In spite of the very small value of the exchange field acting on the superconducting electrons in EuRbFe$_4$As$_4$, the exchange mechanism of interaction between superconductivity and ferromagnetism could dominate over the electromagnetic one and this circumstance could favor the emergence of the short-period magnetic structure (with the period less than the superconducting coherence length). Such a situation differs from one in the similar compound P-doped EuFe$_2$As$_2$, where the electromagnetic mechanism dominates and results in the magnetic structure with significantly larger period (of the order of London penetration depth). We also analyze the effect of the external magnetic field on the onset temperature of the modulated magnetic structure.


OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to investigate whether typical acupuncture methods such as needle placement, needle stimulation, and treatment frequency were important factors in fibromyalgia symptom improvement. DESIGN/SETTINGS/SUBJECTS: A single-site, single-blind, randomized trial of 114 participants diagnosed with fibromyalgia for at least 1 year was performed.

INTERVENTION
Participants were randomized to one of four treatment groups: (1) T/S needles placed in traditional sites with manual needle stimulation (n = 29): (2) T/0 traditional needle location without stimulation (n = 30); (3) N/S needles inserted in nontraditional locations that were not thought to be acupuncture sites, with stimulation (n = 28); and (4) N/0 nontraditional needle location without stimulation (n = 2 7). All groups received treatment once weekly, followed by twice weekly, and finally three times weekly, for a total of 18 treatments. Each increase in frequency was separated by a 2-week washout period.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Pain was assessed by a numerical rating scale, fatigue by the Multi-dimensional Fatigue Inventory, and physical function by the Short Form-36.

RESULTS
Overall pain improvement was noted with 25%-35% of subjects having a clinically significant decrease in pain; however this was not dependent upon "correct" needle stimulation (t = 1.03; p = 0.307) or location (t = 0.76; p = 0.450). An overall dose effect of treatment was observed, with three sessions weekly providing more analgesia than sessions once weekly (t = 2.10; p = 0.039). Among treatment responders, improvements in pain, fatigue, and physical function were highly codependent (all p < or = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS
Although needle insertion led to analgesia and improvement in other somatic symptoms, correct needle location and stimulation were not crucial.


The study was conducted in four districts of Gurage zone in Sothern Ethiopia to determine the N, P, K, organic carbon and nitrogen of cattle manure. Seventy two households, 36 from highland and 36 from midaltitude were randomly selected from a total of 360 sample households selected for the study. Around 88.05% of farmers in the study areas were keeping cattle for high demand of manure to fertilize enset fields and for milk production. There were no practices of using cattle dung as fuel or dung cake for sale. The sampled manure had nitrogen content of 2.68% and C/N ratio of 11:1 in highland and 2.24% with C/N ratio of 12:1 in mid-altitude. The organic matter obtained from manure in highland and midaltitude, respectively, were 51.89 and 44.82%. The gram of N, P, K, kg-1 DM of manure, respectively, were 26.8, 16.5 and 1.6 for highland and 22.4, 12.6 and1.2 for midaltitude. To realize production sustainability of enset system, cattle manure was found to be of paramount importance. Therefore, appropriate interventions in cattle production and forage development are the prime necessity to realize sustainability in enset production and households' food security.

 Key words: Cattle manure, Gurage Zone NPK, organic carbon, organic matter.


This paper describes the acceleration of virtual ecology models using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Our approach targets models generated by the Virtual Ecology Workbench (VEW); an existing tool used by biological oceanographers to build and analyze models of the plankton ecosystem in the upper ocean. Depending on the plankton study and required level of detail, the logic, memory, and data transfer requirements of the generated models can vary significantly. Using FPGAs, hardware implementations can be customized to the specific requirements of the ecological system under study and provide significant speed-ups compared to software implementations. This paper describes a framework for maximizing the speedup of VEW generated models implemented on FPGA-based acceleration platforms and then describes the implementation of a typical VEW generated model to validate the framework and demonstrate that significant speedups are possible. Based on timing and area estimates from a commercial synthesis tool, the example model implemented on a Celoxica RCHTX acceleration board featuring a Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGA performs 39 times faster at 150 MHz than the software implementation on an AMD Opteron 2200 series CPU at 1.0 GHz.


Ischaemic heart disease is the main cause of death. Most of these deaths are sudden and occur within the first few hours of onset of symptoms and before the patient reaches the hospital. It is generally accepted, that sudden death is due to ventricular fibrillation. The aim of this presentation is to review the studies of long-term antiarrhythmic therapy and beta-blockade in the prevention of sudden cardiac death. Studies, in which a given antiarrhythmic drug was routinely applied, have universally failed to show any protective effect. However, when effective patient specific drugs are selected during programmed ventricular stimulation, long-term treatment in high risk patients may be beneficial. Recently suggestive evidence has been presented, that long-term beta-blockade is beneficial in preventing sudden death and reducing overall mortality in ischaemic heart diseases although the antiarrhythmic properties of beta-blockers are relatively weak.


Rural landscapes are a vital component of the heritage of humanity. They are also one of the most common types of continuing cultural landscapes. There is a great diversity of rural landscapes around the world that represent cultures and cultural traditions. They provide multiple economic and social benefits, multi-functionality, cultural support and ecosystem services for human societies. This document encourages deep reflection and offers guidance on the ethics, culture, environmental, and sustainable transformation of rural landscape systems, at all scales, and from international to local administrative levels.


The gene for the so-called Mr 32,000 rapidly labeled photosystem II thylakoid membrane protein (here designated psbA) of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) chloroplasts is located on the chloroplast DNA in the large single-copy region immediately adjacent to one of the inverted repeat sequences. In this paper we show that the size of the mRNA for this protein is ≈ 1.25 kilobases and that the direction of transcription is towards the inverted repeat unit. The nucleotide sequence of the gene and its flanking regions is presented. The only large open reading frame in the sequence codes for a protein of Mr 38,950. The nucleotide sequence of psbA from Nicotiana debneyi also has been determined, and comparison of the sequences from the two species shows them to be highly conserved (>95% homology) throughout the entire reading frame. Conservation of the amino acid sequence is absolute, there being no changes in a total of 353 residues. This leads us to conclude that the primary translation product of psbA must be a protein of Mr 38,950. The protein is characterized by the complete absence of lysine residues and is relatively rich in hydrophobic amino acids, which tend to be clustered. Transcription of spinach psbA starts about 86 base pairs before the first ATG codon. Immediately upstream from this point there is a sequence typical of that found in E. coli promoters. An almost identical sequence occurs in the equivalent region of N. debneyi DNA.


By spectrally slicing a single longitudinal-mode from a master weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diode with transient wavelength scanning and tracking functions, the broadened self-injection-locking of a slave weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diode is demonstrated to achieve bi-directional transmission in a 200-GHz array-waveguide-grating channelized dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical network system. Both the down- and up-stream slave weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diodes are non-return-to-zero modulated below threshold and coherently injection-locked to deliver the pulsed carrier for 25-km bi-directional 2.5 Gbits/s return-to-zero transmission. The master weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diode is gain-switched at near threshold condition and delivers an optical coherent pulse-train with its mode linewidth broadened from 0.2 to 0.8 nm by transient wavelength scanning, which facilitates the broadband injection-locking of the slave weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diodes with a threshold current reducing by 10 mA. Such a transient wavelength scanning induced spectral broadening greatly releases the limitation on wavelength injection-locking range required for the slave weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diode. The theoretical modeling and numerical simulation on the wavelength scanning and tracking effects of the master and slave weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diodes are performed. The receiving power sensitivity for back-to-back transmission at bit-error-rate <10(-10) is -25.6 dBm, and the power penalty added after 25-km transmission is less than 2 dB for all 16 channels.


Recommender systems are software tools used to generate and provide suggestions for items and other entities to the users by exploiting various strategies. Hybrid recommender systems combine two or more recommendation strategies in different ways to benefit from their complementary advantages. This systematic literature review presents the state of the art in hybrid recommender systems of the last decade. It is the first quantitative review work completely focused in hybrid recommenders. We address the most relevant problems considered and present the associated data mining and recommendation techniques used to overcome them. We also explore the hybridization classes each hybrid recommender belongs to, the application domains, the evaluation process and proposed future research directions. Based on our findings, most of the studies combine collaborative filtering with another technique often in a weighted way. Also cold-start and data sparsity are the two traditional and top problems being addressed in 23 and 22 studies each, while movies and movie datasets are still widely used by most of the authors. As most of the studies are evaluated by comparisons with similar methods using accuracy metrics, providing more credible and user oriented evaluations remains a typical challenge. Besides this, newer challenges were also identified such as responding to the variation of user context, evolving user tastes or providing cross-domain recommendations. Being a hot topic, hybrid recommenders represent a good basis with which to respond accordingly by exploring newer opportunities such as contextualizing recommendations, involving parallel hybrid algorithms, processing larger datasets, etc.


Book synopsis: St Edmund, king and martyr, supposedly killed by Danes [or `Vikings'] in 869, was one of the pre-eminent saints of the middle ages; his cult was favoured and patronised by several English kings and spawned a rich array of visual, literary, musical and political artefacts. Celebrated throughout England, especially at the abbey of Bury St Edmunds, it also inspired separate cults in France, Iceland and Italy.

The essays in this collection offer a range of readings from a variety of disciplines - literature, history, music, art history - and of sources - chronicles, poems, theological material - providing an overview of the multi-faceted nature of St Edmund's cult, from the ninth century to the early modern period. They demonstrate the openness and dynamism of a medieval saint's cult, showing how the saint's image could be used in many and changing contexts: Edmund's image was bent to various political and propagandistic ends, often articulating conflicting messages and ideals, negotiating identity,politics and belief.


Embedded systems powered from time-varying energy harvesting power sources, for example solar PV or mechanical vibration, have traditionally operated using the principles of energy-neutral computing. That is, over a sensible period of time (e.g. 24 hours), the energy consumed is equal to the energy that was harvested. This has the advantage of making the system 'look like' a battery-powered system, yet typically results in large, complex and expensive power conversion circuitry and introduces challenges such as fast and reliable cold-start. In recent years, the concept of transient computing has emerged to challenge this, whereby low-power embedded systems can be designed to operate and perform useful computation when energy is available, and carefully 'hibernate' when the power disappears such that it can continue where it left off when supply is regained. In this talk I will explain this shift towards transient computing and the different approaches that have been proposed, and the new challenges that are raised as a result. I will also discuss a complementary approach to the powering of transient systems, named power-neutral computing. Instead of equating energy consumption to energy supply, as is the case in energy-neutral systems, power-neutral systems attempt to match instantaneous power consumption to the instantaneous power supplied. This fine-grained control permits better use of available resources while overcoming the disadvantages of energy-neutral computing; furthermore, it can work alongside aforementioned transient computing techniques if supply disappears altogether.


&NA; Date Presented 3/31/2017 This session discusses the themes that emerged from discussion boards that were part of a self‐management program for people with systemic sclerosis. Themes revealed more positive than negative strategies, thus supporting the inclusion of social interactions in self‐management programs. Primary Author and Speaker: Janet Poole Additional Authors and Speakers: Sharon Newbill, Jennifer Serrano, Pedro Cuencas, Dinesh Khanna


Studies were carried out in conscious, chronically-cannulated, spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rats to determine the comparative cardiovascular actions of a series of diuretic compounds. The effects of three oral doses of hydrochlorothiazide, trichlormethiazide, chlorthalidone, metolazone, spironolactone, triamterene, amiloride, furosemide, ethacrynic acid, MK-447, hydrochlorothiazide + amiloride, and MK-447 + amiloride on blood pressure and heart rate were monitored continuously for four hr and again 24 hr post-dose. Thiazides, thiazide derivatives and antikaliuretic diuretics exerted little or no antihypertensive effects, while the loop-acting diuretics (except ethacrynic acid) and combinations markedly reduced blood pressure. Antihypertensive responses to furosemide, MK-447 and the diuretic combinations were associated with either stable heart rate or paradoxical bradycardia, but not compensatory tachycardia. Heart rate remained relatively unaltered by individual doses of the remaining compounds.