Introduction: The TAXUS Liberté Post-approval Study (TL-PAS) studied long-term clini- cal outcomes for the TL stent in conjunction with the use of prasugrel and aspirin. A portion of patients from TL-PAS contributed to the Dual Anti-Platelet Therapy (DAPT) trial. Methods: Eligible and consecutive patients in the United States treated with TL stents were enrolled into TL-PAS (N=4199). Those meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for participation in the DAPT trial (N=3904). Patients received open-label prasugrel plus aspirin for 12 months after stent placement. At 12 months, patients without ischemic or bleeding events continued aspirin therapy and were randomized 1:1 to continued blinded treatment with either prasugrel or placebo for an additional 18 months (N=2202). At 30 months, study drugs were discontinued, and aspirin was continued through at least 33 months after stent placement. Events were adjudicated by a clinical events committee and monitored by the TL-PAS Data Monitoring Committee (DMC). Results: Nearly 3 years following randomization, the DMC noted a significant increase in spontaneous ischemic events following withdrawal of prasugrel therapy in randomized patients. This risk was observed in both random- ized arms: patients who switched to placebo after the first 12 months of unblinded DAPT and in patients randomized to blinded prasugrel who had completed an additional 18 months of drug therapy. In response, the DMC recommended that treatment be unblinded for TL-PAS patients when they completed 18 months of randomized drug treatment, to allow discussion of continuing prasugrel in those patients randomized to the active drug arm. Completed patient follow-up and the adjudicated death, unplanned revasularization, myocardial infarction, stroke and bleeding events will be available for presentation. Conclusion: An increased risk of ischemic events was observed after prasugrel cessation in patients randomized to either 12 months or 30 months of DAPT following placement of a TAXUS Liberté paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent and prompted the recommendation for unblinding of therapy by the DMC. A complete analysis of ischemic and bleeding events with the results of 12 versus 30 month treatment com- parisons will be presented. Introduction: The optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after drug- eluting stent (DES) implantation is a question of debate. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that in patients with DES implantation a 6 month duration is not inferior to a 12 month duration of DAPT with aspirin and clopidogrel in terms of clinical Methods: ISAR-SAFE is a randomized, double-blind, multicenter trial comparing 6 versus 12 months of clopidogrel therapy duration in patients with DES implantation. Patients were enrolled at 6 months after DES implantation and randomly assigned to either 6 further months of clopidogrel therapy or placebo. Based on sample size calculations the planned total number of patients was 6,000. A blinded overall analysis showed lower than expected event rates. This along with slow recruitment induced the DSMB to recommend stopping the trial after inclusion of 4,000 patients. A total of 4,005 patients have been enrolled. Primary endpoint is the composite of death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis, stroke and major bleeding at 9 months after randomization. Results: Results for clinical endpoints will be in November 2014. Conclusions: ISAR-SAFE is the largest and the only double-blind, randomized clinical trial assessing the value of shortening DAPT duration from 12 to 6 months in patients with DES implantation. Although the trial was stopped prematurely after inclusion of two thirds of patients it has the potential to provide major insights into the optimal DAPT duration after DES implantation. The trial was supported by the BMBF (FKZ 01KG0901) and Abbott Vascular. and 7( 0.4%) major bleeding. Conclusion: The risk benefit ratio (bleeding/stent thrombosis) of short/ long DAPT requires randomized trials. The primary endpoint of the ITALIC trial will be available at the meeting. ITALIC is the 1st randomized trial comparing 2 DAPT regimens in pts non resistant to aspirin. Background: Prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) has been an important public health priority due to the aging of the population and changes of lifestyle. We aimed to examine the efficacy of low-dose aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in Japanese elderly patients with multiple atherosclerotic risk factors who have no previous history of ASCVD. Methods: The Japanese Primary Prevention Projects (JPPP) is a multi- center, open-labelled, randomized, parallel-group trial which evaluates primary prevention with low-dose aspirin in Japanese patients aged 60 to 85 years with hypertension, dyslipidemia, or diabetes mellitus. Enrollment began in March 2005 and was completed in June 2007. A total of 14,466 individuals were randomly allocated to receive enteric-coated aspirin, 100mg/day or no aspirin. At randomization, study cohort had a mean age of 70.6 years. 57.8 % of the patients were women, 85.0% had hypertension, 71.7% had dyslipidemia, and 33.9% had diabetes. 80.4% of enrolled patients had ≥ 3 conventional risk factors. The primary endpoints were atherosclerotic events including fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke and other cardiovascular death. Secondary endpoints included each and combinations of primary and other cardiovascular endpoints as well as death from any cause. Endpoint assessment was done by a central adjudication committee blinded to treatment assignments. Results: The final analysis was done at a median follow-up time of 5.02 years (Quartiles: 4.55-5.33) according to the recommendation in Data Safety Monitoring Board. The number of eligible patients in aspirin and non-aspirin group was 7,220 and 7,244, respectively. There was no significant difference between two groups (P=0.544) while we observed 193 and 207 primary events in each group and the estimated hazard ratio was 0.941 (95%CI 0.774-1.145). The 5 year cumulative event rates were also 2.772% (95%CI 2.400%-3.201% Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the major cause of mortality and mor- bidity in pts with diabetes mellitus (DM). It is proposed that 64-slice coronary CT angiography (CCTA) may provide early CAD information on both myocardial ischemia and plaque burden, which could guide preventative therapy and reduce future cardiovascular events in high-risk otherwise asymptomatic DM patients. Methods: A total of 900 participants with high risk DM (males ≥ 50 yrs / females ≥ 55 yrs with DM ≥ 3 years on DM medication ≥ 1 yr, or males ≥ 40 yrs / females ≥ 45 yrs with DM ≥ 5 yrs on medication ≥ 1 yr) and no symptoms of CAD were randomly assigned to be assessed by CCTA or not. Pts randomized to CCTA (n=452) were managed by their physicians according to pre-specified trial recommendations based on the results of CCTA screening. Those randomized to the control arm (n=448) received standard medical therapy. Participants were monitored for procedures performed and changes in medical therapy accomplished at one year, and prospectively followed up for 4.0 ± 1.7 years for the combined primary clinical endpoint of death, MI and unstable angina. Results: Major baseline characteristics included age = 61 ± 8 years, males = 52%, DM duration = 13 ± 10 years, Type I DM = 12%, Insulin requiring = 43%, systolic BP = 130 ± 12 mm Hg, HgA1C = 7.5 ± 1.4% and LDL cholesterol = 87 ± 32 mg/dL. Of those randomized to the screening arm 285(63%) had at least some degree of atherosclerosis and 21 (4.7%) had severe (>70% stenosis) proximal vessel CAD. This resulted in 26 (5.8%) protocol coronary revascularization procedures, more use of statin therapy (83.1% versus 75.7%; p=0.008) and a significant reduction in blood pressure and LDL levels at one year compared to those randomized to control. The primary event rate was 7.6% and 6.2% for non-screened and screened groups respectively (Hazard ratio (HR) = 0.80, p=0.38). Conclusions: In this contemporary study population of patients with high risk, but well medically managed, asymptomatic diabetes, randomization to screening with CCTA resulted in a modest number of protocol recommended coronary revascularization procedures and a significant increase in the use of statin therapy. However, it did not result in a significant reduction in the primary clinical endpoint by 4.0 years. Background: Statin intolerance (SI) limits many patients (pts) from taking statins and achieving LDL-C goals. Ezetimibe (EZE) is a recommended option for SI pts. ODYSSEY ALTERNATIVE (NCT01709513) compared alirocumab (ALI) vs. EZE in pts with history of SI due to muscle symptoms (inability to tolerate ≥ 2 statins, 1 at lowest approved starting dose). The novel study design included a placebo (PBO) run-in period and statin rechallenge arm to SI. Methods: SI pts (with CHD/other CV risk factors) first received single-blind subcutaneous and oral PBO for 4 weeks (W), and were excluded if muscle-related adverse events (AEs) were reported with PBOs. Continuing pts were randomized (2:2:1 ratio) to ALI 75 mg self-administered via 1 - mL pre-filled pen every 2 weeks (Q2W) or EZE 10 mg/day or atorvastatin (ATV) 20 mg/day for 24 W. ALI dose was increased to 150 mg Q2W (also 1-mL) at W12 depending on CV risk and W8 LDL-C level. Primary endpoint was % change in LDL-C from baseline to W24 (intent-to-treat analysis). Pts could enter an open-label extension (OLE) and receive ALI 75/150 mg Q2W. Results: PBO run-in was completed by 87.0% (314/361) pts, 6.9% (25) discontinued due to muscle AE. Baseline mean LDL-C levels were 191–194 mg/dL (Table), 15% of pts had HeFH. ALI produced significant LDL-C reductions vs. EZE at W24 (Table). Although treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were generally comparable between groups, the rate of skeletal muscle related TEAEs was signific


In this paper, a functional simulation model for the voltage-source inverter (VSI) using the switching function concept is studied and the actual implementation of the model is proposed with the help of Matlab Simulink. Also, this concept is extended to the voltage-doubler-type pulse width-modulated (PWM) AC-DC rectifier and the PWM AC-DC-AC converter. With the developed functional model, the simplification of the static power circuits can be achieved so that the convergence and long run-time problems can be solved. Also, in the functional model, the design parameters, such as voltage and current ratings of the power semiconductor switches and load current, can be easily calculated. The general switching function concept is reviewed in brief and the proposed functional models for the VSI, voltage-doubler rectifier, and PWM AC-DC-AC converter and their implementations using Matlab Simulink are explained in detail. Also, several informative simulation results verify the validity of the proposed models.


Difficult airway management in critically ill patients has serious implications, as failing to secure a stable airway can lead to a brain injury or even death. Early recognition of a difficult airway can allow the clinician to minimize the potential morbid-mortality. In this chapter, we describe all about the common scenarios that we may tackle when we need to secure a patent airway. It is important to know common definitions about the airway, pre-visualize potential problems and knowing how to be aware of the different pathways on managing and solving the different problems that clinicians may face. It is highlighted to know all the different medical equipment and medication used when an airway is suspected not to be easy to manage or when problems arrive without warning and the practitioner needs to rapidly change the plan on the go. We discuss the current most relevant guidelines and literature about this subject trying to give a practical approach.


It is hard to find a book that explains, simply and fairly, what capitalism is, how it works, and its strengths and weaknesses. The very word capitalism was coined as a term of abuse. And still today, most books on the subject remain hostile to capitalism, or paint a distorted, confused picture of it. So commonplace is this that even capitalism's own supporters have trouble understanding what it is, and find themselves struggling to excuse the distortion rather than explain the reality. There is, therefore, need for a short guide that outlines the subject of capitalism plainly and fairly. This is that book. The book cuts through the prejudice and distortion to come up with a better definition of what capitalism actually is − and, just as importantly, what it is not − stripping. away the clutter that critics have loaded onto it, so that the core essence of capitalism can be understood. It also identifies what capital is, what forms it takes, how and why it comes into existence, its purpose, its use and its effects. It explores the economic, social and moral nature of capitalism and the institutions that uphold it. The book traces the history of capitalism, explains some of the key ideas of those who support it, and reviews the criticisms of those who do not. And it provides a frank assessment of capitalism's strengths and weaknesses and of its future.


It is shown that the magnetic-field coils of a stellarator can, at least in principle, be substantially simplified by the use of permanent magnets. Such magnets cannot create toroidal magnetic flux, but they can be used to shape the plasma and thus to create poloidal flux and rotational transform, thereby easing the requirements on the magnetic-field coils. As an example, a quasiaxisymmetric stellarator configuration is constructed with only 8 circular coils (all identical) and permanent magnets.


Objective – This study sought to determine the extent to which articles about information literacy-related topics have been published in science pedagogy journals. It also explored the nature of these references, in terms of authorship, Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) information literacy competency standards addressed, and degree of emphasis on information literacy topics. In addition to characterizing information literacy in the science pedagogy literature, the study presents a methodology that can be adopted by future efforts to explore representations of information literacy in the literature of additional academic disciplines.

Methods – The 2011 Journal Citation Reports® Science edition was used to identify the 15 journals with the highest impact factor in the "Education—Scientific Disciplines" subject category. Initially Web of Science was searched to identify occurrences of "information literacy" and related terms in the journals of interest during the 10 year period 2002-2011. This was supplemented by a title scan of the articles to ensure inclusion of relevant items that did not include library-centric terminology. Abstracts and, where necessary, full papers were reviewed to confirm relevance. Only articles were included: editorials, news items, letters, and resource reviews were excluded from the analysis.

Articles selected for inclusion were read in their entirety. Professional designations for each author were identified to characterize the authorship of this body of literature. Articles were also classified according to levels developed by O'Connor (2008), to indicate whether information literacy was a "Major Topic," "Substantive Focus," "Incidental Mention," or "Not Explicitly Named." Further analysis mapped each article to the ACRL information literacy competency standards (2000), to provide more detailed insight into which standards are most frequently addressed in this body of literature.

Results – Articles on information literacy-related topics appear only sporadically in science pedagogy journals, and that frequency varies depending on the specific subject area. Overall, librarians contribute a relatively small proportion of these articles, and are more likely to co-author with teaching faculty/graduate students than to publish alone or with other librarians. The degree of focus on information literacy topics (O'Connor level) varies depending on article authorship, with librarians more likely to treat information literacy as the "Major Focus" of their work. Additionally, the articles tend to cluster around ACRL information literacy standards two, three, and especially four, rather than addressing them equally.

Conclusions – The presence of some articles on information literacy-related topics in science pedagogy journals suggests that there is a willingness among these journals to publish work in this area. Despite this, relatively few librarians have pursued this publication option, choosing instead to publish articles on information literacy topics within the library and information studies (LIS) literature. As a result, librarians are missing out on the opportunity to share their published work in venues more likely to be seen and valued by subject faculty, and on the chance to familiarize science educators with information literacy topics. Future research should focus on: librarians' rationale when selecting target publications for their information literacy writing; science educator interest in writing and reading about information literacy topics in their pedagogical journals; and the impact of articles about information literacy in these journals on subject faculty perceptions of the topic's importance.

The methods used in this research have implications for the study of information literacy in other academic disciplines, and demonstrate that the study of information literacy in the literature of academic disciplines can provide valuable insights into representations and characterizations of information literacy in diverse fields of study. A better understanding of how subject faculty think and write about information literacy in their scholarly literature could have a significant impact on how librarians approach and collaborate with faculty in all fields of study.


This senior project talks about the unemployment problem of Greece, and examines the conditions of Greek unemployment for the last 25 years. In this project I traveled through the years from 1995 to today, I wrote down the statistics, trends, and projections for the future of unemployment in Greece. In this project I attempt to answer the question, Is Greece's Nightmare Over which is something difficult to answer. In this project, I review historical decisions by the Greek governments over the years and its consequences regarding unemployment. In order to understand the problem of Greece we need to first understand its labor market structure, something that is explained in this project. I also depicted the social effect of the financial crisis on people of Greece over the years of harsh austerity by presenting the suicide rates increases in those years. Continuing, I talked about the current trends and the big 10% reduction in unemployment from 28% in 2014 to 18.0% in December of 2018 and the policies that the current Greek government used to achieve this reduction. Finally, I introduced a projection of unemployment, from 2019 to 2022 which shows a further reduction of unemployment if the current trend continues, and I shared an employment program that I believe can certainly help Greece recover even more from its problem, which is still relatively high compared to the rest of the EU countries.


There is a complicated non-linear relationship between the factors and water demand. General regression neural network (GRNN) was adopted to model the non-linear relationship in the study. The prediction performance of GRNN can vary considerably depending on smoothing parameter. The optimal smoothing parameter is usually determined empirically based on trial-and-error. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, to improve GRNN prediction performance, was employed to optimize GRNN and determine an optimal value of smoothing parameter. At the same time, linear inertia weight and chaos variation operator are presented to improve traditional PSO algorithm searching capacity. GRNN forecasting model based on PSO algorithm was used to water demand in Yellow River Basin. The result shows that, compared with Back propagation based on Genetic algorithm model and GRNN based on Genetic algorithm prediction model, the new prediction model is reasonable.


Contemporary Japan has provoked many dystopian visions. This paper reviews two versions from the field of social / political criticism and from opposite sides of the political spectrum. Saeki Keishi's Jiyū to minshushugi wo mō yameru ("We've had enough of freedom and democracy!", 2008) depicts contemporary Japan as a country that is metaphysically failing as a result of its successful modernization and democratization, and exhorts its readers to revert to the famed "traditional values" in order to avert impending social and political disintegration. Mutsū bunmei ("Painless Civilization", 2003) by Morioka Masahiro pictures a vision of how humanity, freedom and the joy of life are lost due to relentless welfare engineering and suggests that we return to a more authentic mode of life. In spite of their conspicuous differences in intent, substance, and moral agenda, both dystopias converge in their denials of the political as a mode of analysis and a frame of action.


This article explores audiences' online reactions to public service broadcasting content manipulations. Drawing on a case study of Israeli televised content, we discuss the role user comments play in mediated calls for media literacy and civic awareness, allowing audiences to gather and discuss the impact of misinformation and fake news on culture, civic participation, and trust in public service media and other democratic institutions. We show how online mediated spaces that are considered aggressive and counterproductive should also be understood as facilitators of calls against misuse of public resources and manipulations spread in society. We thus suggest that alongside legacy mainstream media, user comments can become part of the solution for the prevalence of disinformation in our current digital media ecosystem.


Finite difference schemes for transient convection-diffusion problems on grids with local refinement in time and space are constructed and studied. The construction utilizes a modified upwind approximation and linear interpolation at the slave nodes. The proposed schemes are implicit of backward Euler type and unconditionally stable. Error analysis is presented in the maximum norm, and convergence estimates are derived for smooth solutions. Optimal approximation results for ratios between the spatial and time discretization parameters away from the CFL condition are shown. Finally, numerical examples illustrating the theory are given.


The high-temperature strength and thermal fatigue properties of Fe-Cr-Nb-Mo ferritic stainless steel (FSSNEW) developed for automobile exhaust system were investigated. The results show that the high-temperature tensile strength and yield strength of FSSNEW are better than or equal to those of the presently applied ferritic stainless steels. The thermal fatigue cracks nucleate at the V-notch. The inclusions along grain boundaries become prior regions for initiation of the cracks. The inclusions distributed at the defects make the formation of cracks in the materials easily through the effects of cycle thermal stress and thermal strain. The length and propagated rate of thermal fatigue cracks increase with the maximum tested temperature increasing. When the maximum temperature arrives at 900°C, the high-temperature oxidation is serious along the grain boundaries, which aggravates the cracks propagating along the grain boundaries. The principle mechanism of stress assisted grain boundary oxygen (SAGBO) embrittlement can be applied to illustrate the effects of external stress on aggravating the damage caused by environmental factors. Therefore, the high-temperature oxidation is the main reason for the propagation of thermal fatigue cracks. The FSSNEW is satisfied for the applied requirement of high-temperature strength in the hot side of the automobile exhaust system.


Differential learning achievement of the graduates of three types of BRAC schools viz., BRAC primary school, BRAC community school and BRAC formal school came out through a recent study with some hypothetical explanation of the reasons behind such difference. This study aims to fill this gap through an in-depth and qualitative exploration. Observation, in-depth interview and focus group discussion were the techniques applied using various checklists. Although the aim and objectives of all three types of schools were similar to those of the national level, the formal school students had better home background, qualified teachers, longer contact hour, use of full range of government prepared textbooks, and other enabling conditions in the schools, thus they had better performance compared to the other two types of school. In terms of value addition, the BPS model has contributed more than others with their limited wealth.


With the Development of New Technologies in Silkworm Rearing though Sericulture Has now Emerged as a Main Profession and a Major Cash Crop for the Rural People of the India in Tropical Areas but in Temperate Belt Like Kashmir the Constraints Faced by the Sericulture Farmers/silkworm Rearers Are More and these Are Responsible for Yield Gaps which Have to Be Considered Seriously and Accordingly the Extension Services Need to Be Modulated and Implemented. Exploitable Yield Gaps in Border Areas Are Often Caused by Various Factors Including Physical, Biological, Socio-Economic and Institutional Constraints which Can Be Effectively Improved through Participatory and Holistic Approaches. Kashmir Is a Univoltine Area where for Generations only one Crop in Spring Season Is Taken between May and June. Spring (May – June, 2009) Data of Kandi Kupwara J&K India (Border Area) Revealed Varying Cocoon Yields from 7 to 13 Kgs Dry Cocoons per 100 DFLS with Cocoon Price Varying from Rs. 172-430 per Kg. these Facts and Figures Prove that these Silkworm Rearers by Realizing the Potential of Sericulture (a New Culture in a Border Area) Increased their Income Substantially from Rs. 720 to Rs.5590/100DFLS. it Was Also Found that Sericulture Productivity Can Be Further Increased by Planting Improved Varieties of Mulberry as it Has Been Observed that where, Very Good Quality Mulberry Leaf and Inputs Are Available, the Sericulture Productivity Is Reasonably Good. the Present Communication, Therefore, Discusses the Extension Strategies and New Technologies to Improve the Essential Knowledge and Skills to the Sericulture Farmers to Improve the Yield and Profitability of Sericulture.


Sheep dairy products containing prebiotic and probiotic ingredients may have health-promoting properties. Thus, this study evaluated the effects of sheep milk ice cream [conventional full-fat (CONV), full-fat enriched with probiotic (PROB, 100 mg % wt/wt of Lacticaseibacillus casei 01), or nonfat synbiotic (SYNB, Lacticaseibacillus casei 01 and inulin, 10% wt/wt)] on carcinogen-induced colonic crypt cytotoxicity and premalignant lesion development. Male Swiss mice received 2 doses of colon carcinogen azoxymethane (AOM, 15 mg/kg of body weight) at wk 3 and 4. Two weeks before and during AOM administrations (4 wk) mice were treated with CONV, PROB, or SYNB by gavage (10 mL/kg). Mice were euthanized at wk 4 or 25 (n = 5 or 10 mice/group, respectively). At wk 4, a significant reduction in micronucleated colonocytes was observed in PROB and SYNB groups, and a significant decrease in both p53 expression and apoptosis indexes in colonic crypts was observed in SYNB group. At wk 25, both PROB and SYNB interventions reduced the mean number of colonic premalignant lesions. However, only SYNB group showed lower incidence and number of high-grade premalignant lesions in the colonic mucosa. These findings indicate that PROB or SYNB sheep milk ice cream, especially SYNB intervention, can reduce chemically induced mouse colon carcinogenesis.


The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging paradigm branded by heterogeneous technologies composed of smart ubiquitous objects that are seamlessly connected to the Internet. These objects are deployed as Low power and Lossy Networks (LLN) to provide innovative services in various application domains such as smart cities, smart health, and smart communities. The LLN is a form of a network where the interconnected devices are highly resource-constrained (i.e., power, memory, and processing) and characterized by high loss rates, low data rates, and instability in the communication links. Additionally, IoT devices produce a massive amount of confidential and security-sensitive data. Various cryptographic-based techniques exist that can effectively cope with security attacks but are not suitable for IoT as they incur high consumption of resources (i.e., memory, storage and processing). One way to address this problem is by offloading the additional security-related operations to a more resourceful entity such as a fog-based node. Generally, fog computing enables security and analysis of latency-sensitive data directly at the network's edge. This paper proposes a novel Fog Security Service (FSS) to provide end-to-end security at the fog layer for IoT devices using two well-established cryptographic schemes, identity-based encryption, and identity-based signature. The FSS provides security services such as authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. The proposed architecture would be implemented and evaluated in an OPNET simulator using a single network topology with different traffic loads. The FSS performed better when compared with the APaaS and the legacy method.


In this article,we study theoretically and numerically the interaction of a vortex induced by a rotating cylinder with a perpendicular plane. We show the existence of weak solutions to the swirling vortex models by using the Hopf extension method, and by an elegant contradiction argument, respectively. We demonstrate numerically that the model could produce phenomena of swirling vortex including boundary layer pumping and two-celled vortex that are observed in potential line vortex interacting with a plane and in a tornado.


Since the industrial revolution, automation has proven to be a vital component in the growth of any major industry. For positron emission tomography (PET), automation provides efficient, reproducible, and safe methods for routinely producing PET imaging agents, or tracers, using short lived radioisotopes. Over the years, many automated radiosynthesizers have been developed to automate the required production steps up through preparation of the tracer for intravenous injection into the patient or subject, both for clinical and preclinical applications. However, many commercial radiosynthesizers have temperature, pressure, and reagent compatibility limitations, which have required synthetic radiochemists to tailor and optimize synthesis protocols to fit within the constraints of a particular automated radiosynthesizer. Furthermore, the fluidic pathways on these systems generally need to be reconfigured for each tracer one wishes to make. To overcome these limitations, our group has developed a novel, three-reactor, automated radiosynthesizer (ELIXYS) based on the principle of dynamic fluid paths, which is achieved by actuating the reactors to different positions and pneumatically sealing them against a chemically inert gasket. The mechanism enables compatibility with high pressures and obviates the need for large numbers of pressure-limiting valves and fittings. Coupled with a chemist-friendly user interface, it also enables users to quickly automate known radiosyntheses and develop new protocols without requiring specific hardware modifications for each tracer. In this dissertation, I present the design, characterization, validation, and implementation of the system and discuss the capabilities, limitations, and overall work I performed with the system in automating 18F-labeled PET tracer radiosyntheses. I also include the translation of several known tracers onto the system, automation of tracers not previously automated, as well as characterization data helpful for others to more efficiently utilize this and other automated radiosynthesizers. Overall, radiosyntheses of 18F-labeled PET tracers performed on the ELIXYS resulted in similar or improved radiochemical yields and synthesis times compared to both automated and manual radiosyntheses, without the need for any hardware reconfiguration to make different tracers.


We study the link between homeownership and entrepreneurship using a model of occupational choice and housing tenure where homeowners commit a fixed budget to mortgage payments. Our model predicts that: (i) mortgage commitments, by amplifying risk aversion, diminish the likelihood that homeowners start a business; (ii) the negative link between homeownership and entrepreneurship is increasing in mortgage debt; and (iii) the negative relation is more pronounced for entrepreneurs in risky sectors. Exploiting the longitudinal dimension of the British Household Panel Survey to control for unobservables, we test and confirm these predictions. Leveraged home-buyers are 30% less likely to become entrepreneurs.


Multicore architecture has dramatically changed the general direction of software development dedicated for personal computers. As such, it is important for software designers to keep pace with the evolving challenges that happen in the hardware side, for example in this context of multicore architecture, so that they can leverage on the advantages of multicore technology as much as possible while developing software. As one of the well-known techniques, Divide and Conquer has a natural adaptation with the multicore technology. The technique needs to be further developed to fit into this new environment. In this paper, we present a new concurrent multithreaded Colored Petri Nets model that provides a new approach for scheduling Divide and Conquer problems on a multicore environment. Two new schedulers have been developed to control the actions of the model. The Multi Stealing Scheduler (MSS) has been designed to redistribute threads among the modelled cores. The MSS is general, scalable and it can be used for any Divide and Conquer problem. The second scheduler is the Local Threads Scheduler (LTS) that has the duty of threads creation and division inside each modelled core. In addition, the LTS introduces a new recursive method to provide the necessary information to multiply two matrices. Two main things have been achieved: First, workload among the modelled cores becomes well balanced; second, the technique produces a high level of concurrency between the elements of the model, which greatly minimise the execution time.


Editor's note: Starting with this issue and the short essays that appear below, Business Ethics Quarterly will include a "letters and responses" section. The purpose of this is to enable short dialogues between authors and their readers and critics. I am grateful to Richard Marens, Jerry Goodstein and Andrew Wicks for providing an interesting discussion for the inaugural installment of this section. Readers wishing to submit comments in the future, for consideration for this section, should submit them by email to email@example.com. All such letters should be between approximately 500 and 1000 words in length, be formatted according to Business Ethics Quarterly's normal style guidelines, and clearly constitute a reasoned response to an article recently published in Business Ethics Quarterly. The final publication decision regarding any particular letter is the province of the editors; submission of a letter is not a guarantee of its publication.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether guarantees characterised by different degrees of relationship lending (particularly referring to collateral and guarantees provided by Mutual Loan Guarantee Institutions) are able to convey some entrepreneurial orientation (EO) dimensions from firms to banks.

Design/methodology/approach
Exploiting data from a survey of Austrian and Italian SMEs, the empirical analysis is based on a sample of 328 small business firms. To test the signalling hypothesis, the authors used logistic regressions to assess the explanatory power of EO dimensions on the presence of several types of guarantees.

Findings
The analyses suggest that collateral cannot signal any EO dimension, even when controlling for the strength of the bank – firm relationship. Furthermore, SMEs are able to mitigate their financial risk through collateral only in a multiple bank – firm relationship. Lastly, innovativeness, competitive energy and aggressiveness allow SMEs to obtain external guarantees (mutual guarantees, bank guarantees and public guarantees, respectively), helpful in order to promote credit access.

Research limitations/implications
The mediation role of collateral and external guarantees on EO – credit access relation should be analysed in future research. Since the role of guarantees can change among different bank lending technologies, further studies should carefully consider lender's characteristics. Lastly, the use of loan data in respect of the firm data can help to better separate the effect of loan and firm attributes on the collateral.

Practical implications
The study suggests how managers and entrepreneurs should manage the financial risk through collateral in different situations (one–to–one and multiple bank – firm relationship). Furthermore, depending on the level of innovativeness, competitive energy and aggressiveness, a firm should request a specific type of external guarantees in order to increment the credit availability, to maximise the possibility of success and to improve its performance.

Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to analyse whether EO affects the request for guarantees instead of credit access. This can be helpful especially when the banks involved in the relation apply a transaction lending technology.


This cross-sectional study was undertaken to observe the relationship between taste recognition threshold for NaCl (salt taste sensitivity) and blood pressure (BP) prior to the onset of clinical hypertension. The study involved 160 girls and 159 boys aged ten through seventeen years. Three hundred and nineteen (35%) of the total population were relatively insensitive to NaCl taste (defined as threshold value > or = 60mM NaCl). In this, there was significant gender difference (chi 2 = 9.66, df = 2, p = 0.022) in the distribution of salt taste sensitivity, with more boys than girls having higher threshold values (> or = 60mM NaCl). In addition, a highly significant (p = 0.0103) but weak association (r = 0.1439) between salt taste sensitivity, and systolic BP was evident after adjustment for other confounding variables. This finding appears fairly specific for NaCl sensitivity, as no systematic relationship between any of the individuals parameters of BP (that is systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressures) and threshold values for sucrose, urea and HCl was apparent. Overall, however, the bulk of the data does not support a major role for NaCl taste sensitivity in the determination of BP levels in this group of Nigerian adolescents. Rather, height and gender were the most important factors that influenced BP.


This research has intended to identify the importance of the usability factor in the creation of a mobile application. Basically, when it comes to directory information, most of the tourists use a conventional method, such as printed maps, traveling books, online or traveling websites and also travel agents. From my perspective and with support from the field research, language impediments and directory
issues have been the most common problems in this research. While Smartphone's and apps are, increasingly, being used nowadays, there are not sufficient studies addressing the usability of smartphone user interfaces or applications that are focused for tourist guides. This paper describes the design and evaluation process of the user interface of a smartphone application designed to be a
guide or directory for tourists. Two successive versions of the user interfaces were tested with different groups. The results and findings from two rounds of usability tests led to recommendations regarding an inclusive design and
the designing of apps that are useful for tourists and which may be a useful contribution to the broader community when designing interfaces for smartphones. Overall, the users enjoy using the new application that is more user friendly and easier to use and navigate with. The findings can be used as a reference to set certain standards in mobile application design and creation, and also to be used for academic benefits


Abstract The composite concrete slab systems with steel-deck incorporated has become an alternative to conventional slab models, since it often does not require the use of shoring, promoting several constructive practices, beyond operation of the reinforcement as a positive moment. The procedure of verification of composite slabs is based on the semi-empirical method m and k. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the application of the "m-k method" in a group of slabs with alternative dimensions as the usually adopted in the tests, even as to correlate the values obtained with the results found when testing the models as proposed by the ANSI 2011 test standard, since the normative method is costly and expensive. Therefore, four-point flexural tests were performed on slab models considering only one deck module, varying two spans, the same procedure was repeated in slabs with usual construction dimensions (normative models). The linear regression method was applied to the data found in order to obtain the parameters that would be analyzed. The main results show that the alternative model with the adopted dimensions does not present values that can be applied directly to the normative models, since the increase of the shear span reduces in a significant way the theoretical resistance of the slabs. Nevertheless, the values for the m and k obtained of both alternative and normative models can be adopted confidently as part of the sizing process of the respective models. The deviations between theoretical and experimental resistance satisfy the specifications of the ANSI 2011 standard for both models helped in the confirmation of the previous statement. The expectation of this paper is to assist in the search for new procedures for determining parameters m and k.


Thermal control of printed circuit board and integrated circuit package is challenging in microelectronics because the power density increases when smaller and more complicated packages are designed. Temperature rising due to power dissipation and hotspots worsens harmful clock skew and jeopardizes reliability of products. To overcome these risks, designers have to perform electromagnetic-thermal co-simulations at the early design stage. However, it is difficult to detect the hotspots in the package because very high-resolution simulations are needed. In this paper, an improved adaptive finite element method (FEM) is applied to detect hotspots, which only needs one-step adaptive refinement for a given error threshold, which is very fast and uses much smaller computation resources. Furthermore, instead of electromagnetic-thermal co-simulation, this method directly finds potential hotspots based on the volumetric heat generation. Test results show that the adaptive FEM only takes about 60 times the memory and CPU time to detect all hotspots when compared to the initial FEM solution.


The Eu2+ activated SrI2 is gaining ground in spectroscopic applications, thanks to its excellent scintillation properties like high light yield and good energy resolution. The exploitation of these properties for other application fields is limited by the hygroscopic nature of the SrI2. Single crystal scintillating screens exhibit high spatial resolution, this combined with the high density, high effective atomic number, and the high light yield of the SrI2 could be used for high resolution X-ray imaging. In this work, the suitability of thin -screens for X-ray radiography applications was tested. First a packaging technique was developed that protected the hygroscopic screens during measurements. Our results show high resolution of the images obtained with thin -scintillator screens. With these results, we think that the SrI2 -scinitillator is not only a candidate for spectroscopic applications, but also for high resolution X-ray imaging applications.


Abstract Weed maps are typically produced from data sampled at discrete intervals on a regular grid. Errors are expected to occur as data are sampled at increasingly coarse scales. To demonstrate the potential effect of sampling strategy on the quality of weed maps, we analyzed a data set comprising the counts of capeweed in 225,000 quadrats completely covering a 0.9-ha area. The data were subsampled at different grid spacings, quadrat sizes, and starting points and were then used to produce maps by kriging. Spacings of 10 m were found to overestimate the geostatistical range by 100% and missed details apparently resulting from the spraying equipment. Some evidence was found supporting the rule of thumb that surveys should be conducted at a spacing of about half the scale of interest. Quadrat size had less effect than spacing on the map quality. At wider spacings the starting position of the sample grid had a considerable effect on the qualities of the maps but not on the estimated geostatistical range. Continued use of arbitrary survey designs is likely to miss the information of interest to biologists and may possibly produce maps inappropriate to spray application technology. Nomenclature: Capeweed, Arctotheca calendula (L.) Levyns.


ABSTRACT Nicotine adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) performs key roles in electron transport reactions, as a substrate for poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and NAD+-dependent protein deacetylases. In the latter two processes, NAD+ is consumed and converted to ADP-ribose and nicotinamide. NAD+ levels can be maintained by regeneration of NAD+ from nicotinamide via a salvage pathway or by de novo synthesis of NAD+ from tryptophan. Both pathways are conserved from yeast to humans. We describe a critical role of the NAD+-dependent deacetylase Hst1p as a sensor of NAD+ levels and regulator of NAD+ biosynthesis. Using transcript arrays, we show that low NAD+ states specifically induce the de novo NAD+ biosynthesis genes while the genes in the salvage pathway remain unaffected. The NAD+-dependent deacetylase activity of Hst1p represses de novo NAD+ biosynthesis genes in the absence of new protein synthesis, suggesting a direct effect. The known Hst1p binding partner, Sum1p, is present at promoters of highly inducible NAD+ biosynthesis genes. The removal of HST1-mediated repression of the NAD+ de novo biosynthesis pathway leads to increased cellular NAD+ levels. Transcript array analysis shows that reduction in cellular NAD+ levels preferentially affects Hst1p-regulated genes in comparison to genes regulated with other NAD+-dependent deacetylases (Sir2p, Hst2p, Hst3p, and Hst4p). In vitro experiments demonstrate that Hst1p has relatively low affinity toward NAD+ in comparison to other NAD+-dependent enzymes. These findings suggest that Hst1p serves as a cellular NAD+ sensor that monitors and regulates cellular NAD+ levels.


A Difficult Cycle: The Effect of Labor Market Changes on The Employment And Program Participation of People With Disabilities David C. Stapleton, David Wittenburg, and Elaine Maag This paper examines the dynamics behind the employment and program participation trends of workers with disabilities. We find strong evidence that labor market declines induce male workers with disabilities to exit employment and enter the disability programs. However, the evidence only weakly supports the hypothesis that male workers with disabilities are more likely than those without disabilities to lose their jobs in a declining labor market. Rather, those who lose their jobs are much less likely to re-enter employment in later years. Our findings for women with disabilities suggest that adverse labor markets do not have a disproportionately large impact on employment exits, though they do induce program entry. For information about the full paper please contact Anne Sieverding at email@example.com www.edi.cornell .edu 201 ILR Extension Building • Ithaca, NY 14850 • tel. 607.255.7727 • fax. 607-255.2763


Pathobiologic characteristics were determined for three mildly pathogenic (MP) ratite-origin avian influenza viruses (AIVs). Ratite-origin AIVs produced respiratory disease in rheas, and virus was reisolated from oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs on days 2-6 postinoculation. Inoculation of two ratite-origin AIVs in the upper respiratory tract of chickens resulted in viral infections, but the mean chicken infectious dose (CID50) for A/emu/Texas/39924/93 (H5N2) (Emu/Texas) virus was 500-fold lower than the CID50 for the A/rhea/North Carolina/39482/93 (H7N1) virus. In ovo and in vivo passage of the MP parent Emu/Texas isolate resulted in emergence of a highly pathogenic (HP) variant that had high plaquing efficiency in chicken embryo fibroblast cultures and was highly lethal in chicken pathotyping tests. This variant virus produced gross lesions in chickens similar to those reported for other HP AIVs. These findings demonstrated that ratite-origin AIVs can produce significant clinical disease in rheas and have a realistic potential for interspecies transmission to domestic poultry. Furthermore, HP variants can emerge from MP H5 ratite-origin AIVs if introduced and allowed to circulate in chicken populations.


Risk Adjusted Return On Capital (RAROC) is a loan-pricing criterion that has become increasingly prevalent in the banking industry since the 1990s. Under RAROC, a bank sets the loan term such that a certain rate of return is achieved on the regulatory capital required by the Basel capital regulation. The amount of regulatory capital for each loan is calculated either under the standardized approach ("standardized banks", the regulatory capital equals to a fixed proportion of the loan amount) or the internal rating-based (IRB) approach ("IRB banks", the regulatory capital is related to the Value-at-Risk (VaR) of the loan). Using a model in which the bank first sets the loan terms and the newsvendor-type retailer then decides the order quantity and the borrowing amount, this paper quantifies the impact of the adoption of the RAROC criterion and the specific approach used to calculate regulatory capital on the bank's loan-pricing decision and the retailer's inventory decision. We find that among the loan terms that satisfy the bank's RAROC criterion, the one that benefits the retailer the most requires the bank to specify an inventory advance rate in addition to the interest rate. Under this Pareto dominant loan term, the retailer's inventory level decreases with the bank's cost of capital and regulatory capital adequacy ratio. Further, the order quantity is more sensitive to his asset level when facing an IRB bank compared to a standardized bank. For the retailer with high (low) initial asset, the retailer's profit and inventory level are higher under the IRB (standardized) loan. For the retailer with medium initial asset, an IRB loan leads to a higher retailer profit but a lower consumer welfare due to a lower inventory level. When the interest rate that the bank can charge is capped by regulation, retailers borrowing from a standardized bank are more likely to be influenced by the interest rate cap than those borrowing from an IRB bank. Under strong empire-building incentives, e.g., the bank will offer loan terms to maximize the size of the loan instead of the retailer's profit, while low-risk retailers still prefer IRB loans, retailers with medium initial asset level shift their preference from IRB banks to standardized banks.


CdTe nanocrystals have been synthesized in aqueous solution at 92oC under open-air conditions. During the reaction, aliquots of the samples were taken at different growth times and used to obtain their UV-Vis absorbance and photoluminescence spectra in order to estimate the nanocrystal size. The absorption peaks are located around 459 nm for 1 h, 478 nm for 2 h, 491 nm for 4 h, 532 nm for 7 h and 610 nm for 94 h of growth time. The mean nanocrystal size for these samples is 2 nm, 2.2 nm, 2.3 nm, 2.6 nm and 3.4 nm, respectively, according to the theoretical calculations of 1s1/2 – 1s3/2 excitonic transition. Finally, CdTe nanocrystals were assembled using layer-by-layer technique on glass substrates, using PDDA as cationic polyelectrolyte and negatively charged CdTe nanocrystals. The Raman spectroscopy shows that CdTe nanocrystals preserve the nanoparticle properties after being assembled.


Benefiting from large-scale vision-language pre-training on image-text pairs, open-world detection methods have shown superior generalization ability under the zero-shot or few-shot detection settings. However, a pre-defined category space is still required during the inference stage of existing methods and only the objects belonging to that space will be predicted. To introduce a "real" open-world detector, in this paper, we propose a novel method named CapDet to either predict under a given category list or directly generate the category of predicted bounding boxes. Specifically, we unify the open-world detection and dense caption tasks into a single yet effective framework by introducing an additional dense captioning head to generate the region-grounded captions. Besides, adding the captioning task will in turn benefit the generalization of detection performance since the captioning dataset covers more concepts. Experiment results show that by unifying the dense caption task, our CapDet has obtained significant performance improvements (e.g., +2.1% mAP on LVIS rare classes) over the baseline method on LVIS (1203 classes). Besides, our CapDet also achieves state-of-the-art performance on dense captioning tasks, e.g., 15.44% mAP on VG V1.2 and 13.98% on the VG-COCO dataset.


We consider the partitioning of a problem on a domain with unequal work estimates in different subdomains in a way that balances the workload across multiple processors. Such a problem arises for example in solving partial differential equations using an adaptive method that places extra grid points in certain subregions of the domain. We use a binary decomposition of the domain to partition it into rectangles requiring equal computational effort. We then study the communication costs of mapping this partitioning onto different multiprocessors: a mesh- connected array, a tree machine, and a hypercube. The communication cost expressions can be used to determine the optimal depth of the above partitioning.


Polymer-based electrolytes based on commercially available epoxy resins were prepared through the addition of a liquid electrolyte, a solution of a lithium salt in an ionic liquid. The polymer monoliths were characterized using impedance spectroscopy, 3-point bending test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption (BET). The balance of ionic conductivity and flexural modulus is crucially dependent on the relative proportions of epoxy resin to electrolyte. Also the effect of the liquid electrolyte on curing kinetics and processing was assessed by complex viscosity measurements and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Only one out of the three resins investigated exhibited a significant acceleration effect.


Since agriculture can't create enough job opportunities many rural dwellers rely on non- farming incomes. Evidences from many European countries show that non-agricultural economy influences greatly rural areas economic growth thus improving rural population working and living conditions. Serbian rural areas negligence determines a considerable delay in the structural adaptation to EU standards. The aim of this work is to present basic indicators on the level of rural economy diversification, to identify and explain the changes happening in the rural areas during the transition process with a special focus on how and why rural operators diversify their activities and to present some measures and actions undertaken to stop the negative tendencies and to revitalize rural territories in Serbia. Recent data from The Serbian Bureau of Statistics as well from the specialized national and international literature have been used. The achieved level of diversification was assessed by analyzing the labour force market and the income sources. Results explicitly show that sources of income and livelihoods diversification is an integral part of the business strategies of most rural households. Serbia has significant potentialities and strengths for rural economy diversification but they are not properly used. In fact, most of rural labour force is still engaged in agriculture (about 47%). Since agriculture is, in many Serbian areas, lowly productive and potential for its intensification is limited and/or can be environmentally degrading, living conditions improvement can be achieved only through households livelihoods diversification. Diversity of Serbian rural areas potentialities and contexts means that rural development strategies design and implementation should be tuned to their specificities. Therefore, collaboration of the public, civil and private sectors on the local, national and regional level is highly required and the participation of the local communities is a must. A more dynamic rural economy is not possible without valorising all available potentials and assets. This multifaceted research is based on a set of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) indicators using easily accessible yet objectively verifiable and high quality input data. It can be easily used by decision makers, scientists and development practitioners to monitor the level of economy diversification in Serbian rural areas and to compare it with performances in other European countries in order to achieve a better tuning of rural development policies. Limitations of this kind of research are due to the lack of an adequate statistical base.


Strain transfer ratio is one of the key characteristics to determine the accuracy of sensors for strain measurement and structural health monitoring. This paper presented a theoretical study on the strain transfer ratio of optical fiber sensors, which is generally bonded on the surface of target structure by adhesives to measure strain or stress. Compared to the prior efforts where only one type of loads, either mechanical or thermal, is considered, this paper included both of them in the modeling of strain transfer ratio and derived a general analytical expression for their relationships. It has been found that the strain transfer ratio is not a constant in some cases but varies with the strain being measured. The work studied the characteristics of fiber optic sensor in two consecutive approaches: 1) A simplified 2-dimentional multi-layer analytical model was built to derive the expression of strain transfer ratio as a function of the structural and material properties; 2) a numerical model that considers the realistic 3-dimentional structure of the sensor installation scenario was established for validating the analytical model in different case studies. Simulation results have shown that the analytical model matches well with the behavior of strain transfer ratio estimated by the numerical model, with an error less than 1.35%. Based on the validated analytical model, the discussion was further extended to derive the lower limit of the bonding length of optical fiber sensors to satisfy the requirement of measurement accuracy.


The question of whether mouthwash dilutions, recommended by the producers, contribute to irritation of the oral mucosa was examined. Twenty frequently used mouthwash brands were examined by the pollen tube growth test, an alternative in vitro method for the irritation assessment of ingredients of cosmetic formulations. The test is based on the photometric quantification of pollen tube growth inhibition. This parameter is expressed by IC50 values which characterize the cytotoxic potency of a product. The IC50s clearly revealed that none of the tested mouthwashes should cause acute irritation if used at the recommended dilution. However, 4 to 5 of the mouthwashes could probably irritate the oral mucosa acutely, when used in the form of the original producer concentrations.


Structural identifiability is a fundamental prerequisite for parametric model identification. It concerns uniqueness of the parametric structure given a dynamical model and a set of input/output experimental dates. Proving structural identifiability propriety for non linear systems is considered until now a very difficult problem. Many approaches have been proposed in the literature but there isn't a generic method suitable for any non linear case. The main concern of this paper is to present an overview of different approaches used to test structural identifiability for non linear systems. Important aspects and difficulties of identifiability analysis is reviewed and illustrated by an example of an active sludge process characterized by rational polynomial non linearities and specified initial conditions.


Magnetic fluid has many advantages when serving as lubricant. With an appropriate magnetic field this lubricant can prevent leakage and increase the load capacity of lubricant film. It can also be fixed at the friction zone by applying an external magnetic field. This paper aims to improve the lubrication performance of friction pairs under alternating magnetic fields. The test was conducted on a NG-x reciprocating friction tester. Test results using the magnetic fluid and those using expanded graphite were compared. The tribo-surfaces were obtained in real time. It is concluded that the magnetic fluid lubricant has better lubricating property than the nonmagnetic lubricant (expanded graphite) because it can cling on friction pairs uniformly, and the endurance magnetic fluid lubricant is better than that of nonmagnetic lubricant.


A natural hydrothermal field is considered to be a useful analogue of carbon dioxide mineralization because it integrates the long-term interaction signal. The hydrothermal field of Galicia is characterized fluids resulting from a granit reservoir with pCO2 from 103 to 105 Pa and pH from 10 to 6. Fluids are characterized by an increase of major elements correlated to pCO2. We evaluated the effect of deep CO2 perturbation We evaluated the effects of deep CO2 perturbation on the fluid-rock interaction system. Mineral reactivity which produces changes in the fluid mineral composition is mainly dependent on the 'real' reactive surface area. The mineral surface area participating in reactions resulting from this pCO2 gradient was estimated by an inverse model approach. Input data was based on the chemical composition of the fluids we sampled. The rate of mineral dissolution was estimated by the observed pH and equilibrium conditions. Moreover, the major elemental concentrations allowed us to quantify the variation of the reactive surface area of minerals involved with the overall water-rock interaction. The irreversible mass transfer process, ruled by the continuum equilibrium condition, was defined by the overall degree of reaction advancement, using a set of polynomial equations solved independently of time scale.We found that reactive surface area of calcite, albite and K-feldspar increases by 2 orders of magnitude over the entire CO2 fluid-rock interaction process, while the reactive surface area of biotite increases by 4 orders of magnitude. This shows that fluid neutralisation and consequent CO2 mineralization under the form of carbonate species is greatly dependent on the behaviour of the reactive surface area of the mineral association in this geological context. We propose that biotite plays a basic role on the pH stabilisation and redox control of environmental perturbation and CO2 mineralization.


This paper, takes in consideration the most important components of the macro system, of social care services in Albania, according to an ecological perspective. It analyzes the impact and the implementation of national legislation, social policy, national strategies, and different models of interventions in the social care services. The ecological model of Bronfenbrenner (1979, 2000), reveals that the devlopment is result of interaction between the person and its environment and varies according to social context. The macro system, one of the component of this context is defined as the set of attitudes, values and social rules imposed by the other subsystems of other levels. Considering the institution as a whole, we identify its macro- system as a set of legislation, social policies and different models. The macro system analysis serves as a starting point for a depth assessment of the social care programs, based on the eco-systemic perspective. There are 24 public residential centers in Albania, which have dual dependence between the central government (State Social Service) and local governments (municipalities). These centers treat and support with services 6 social categories of people in need: children (orphans, abandoned, in vulnerability situation); people with disabilities (children, young and old people); old people; victims of trafficking; victims of domestic violence; families in need. Their establishment and functioning is regulated according to the Albanian legislation, social policies, strategies and standards. Through the study of law, social policies, strategies and standards set, that exist in Albania for social care services and through the interviews with leaders and services specialists, as well, have been identified the models used in the design of legislation and social policies and theirs impact in the development of social care services in Albania. The results showed that despite the changes in legislation and social policy based in a social inclusion perspective, the programs of social care services are not fulfilling this perspective.


We present a general computational narrative model encompassing primitives of space, time, and motion from the viewpoint of deep knowledge representation and reasoning about visuo-spatial dynamics, and (eye-tracking based) visual perception of the moving image. The declarative model, implemented within constraint logic programming, integrates knowledge-based qualitative reasoning (e.g., about object / character placement, scene structure) with state of the art computer vision methods for detecting, tracking, and recognition of people, objects, and cinematographic devices such as cuts, shot types, types of camera movement. A key feature is that primitives of the theory - things, time, space and motion predicates, actions and events, perceptual objects (e.g., eye-tracking / gaze points, regions of attention etc) - are available as first-class objects with deep semantics suited for inference and query from the viewpoint of analytical Q&A or studies in visual perception. We present the formal framework and its implementation in the context of a large-scale experiment concerned with analysis of visual perception and reception of the moving image in the context of cognitive film studies.


The seismic period which occurred in a portion of Guidonia Montecelio and Tivoli territory, two towns situated about twenty kilometres NE of Rome, affected four areas with a high density of population: Guidonia, Collefiorito, Villalba and Bagni di Tivoli. Even though the events had a very low magnitude (less than 3.0), local phenomena, like rumbles and strong vibrations of the ground, frightened inhabitants also because some months before (January 26, 2001) in a village named Marcellina situated a few kilometres away from Guidonia, a large sinkhole (600 m) had appeared without fore signals. The «Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia» (INGV) installed some digital stations that monitored the seismic phenomena. This paper has the aim to process all the information acquired during the period, both from the micro and macro seismic point of view, in order to explain the phenomenology that involved the area. The synergy of the two methodologies lead us to the conclusion that two different seismotectonic structures originated the events, one in an anti-apenninic direction, the other in a N-S direction.


An experimental investigation examined the capability of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) actuators to control a high-lift device system. Aerodynamic tests investigated the potential of utilising the actuator to control the flap side-edge vortex flow field. Acoustic tests examined the attenuation of slat noise with a DBD actuator. The sparse knowledge related to the control of a vortex flow field with a DBD actuator necessitated a more fundamental study that used a NACA 0015 wing. From this study, it was shown that the application of control resulted in a more diffused tip vortex. The actuator's ability to control the evolving vortex flow field was weakly dependent on the Reynolds number but strongly dependent on the angle of attack. Consequently, a DBD actuator was applied to a flap side edge. However, it was concluded that the actuator had no discernible effect on the flow field due to its addition of momentum being too low to destabilise the formation of the flap side-edge vortex. The slat research concerned the attenuation of the leading-edge component of high-lift device noise. At an angle of attack of two degrees, several tonal noise components with broadband content appeared in the slat noise spectrum. These noise features were successfully suppressed with a DBD actuator operating in open-loop control. For closedloop control, a quasi-static feedback controller was implemented. Comparable levels of performance were obtained for both control methods with more than a 20 dB reduction achieved in the dominant tonal noise feature. The research conducted shed new light on the application of DBD actuators to control the high-lift device system. However, further research is needed if the device is to be utilised to control flap side-edge flow field. The attenuation of slat tonal noise with broadband content was achieved with the actuator.


Novel biopolymeric films based on bacterial cellulose (BC) modified with high methoxylated pectin (HMP) were developed for drug delivery. The ability of the films to incorporate an antibiotic, levofloxacin (Levo), was analyzed. Incorporation efficiencies were determined using films with different proportions of HMP (from 0.1% to 2.0%) with a maximum drug payload of 6.23 mg g−1. Characterization studies revealed the existence of a cooperative network between both polymers and deep structural changes in the BC matrix. Besides, the presence of HMP decreased water loss in the BC films from 93% to 75% after 90 min. Additionally, the capacity of the films to incorporate macromolecules was studied using Human Serum Albumin (HSA) as a model protein. The presence of HMP enhanced by more than 3.5 times the encapsulation efficiency (EE) of HSA, and no pH dependence was observed. Release kinetics of both molecules showed hyperbolic profiles with sustained release. In independent experiments, the presence of HMP generated a decrease of around 50% in the release rates of both macromolecules. Additionally, the incorporation of HSA into the BC–HMP matrix modulated the Levo release profile. The antimicrobial activity of Levo released from the BC–HMP–HSA films was confirmed using Staphylococcus aureus. In vitro studies revealed no apparent cytotoxicity of the released compounds in mammalian CHO cells.


As climate changes, species' ranges may shift poleward. However, habitat loss in intervening areas has been hypothesized potentially to impede the movements of these species. Populations near range margins offer opportunities to study how marginal species have reacted to habitat loss. We examined the presence/absence of bird species in landscapes that were historically mainly forested (natural land covers) in Southern Ontario, Canada. We used logistic regression to determine each bird species' probability of occupancy (pocc) as a function of natural cover in 991 landscapes, each 100-km2. We distinguished three groups of species: i) southerly species whose northern range limits fall in the study area (n=37), ii) northerly species whose southern range limits fall in the study area (n=35), and iii) mid-range species (n=106). We compared pocc for these three groups of species in six different habitat guilds. We found that species near their southern range edges are less likely to occur in landscapes where forest amount is reduced, while species near their northern range edge are more likely to occur in landscapes with reduced forest. This result is independent of habitat guild. Our results are inconsistent with the hypothesis in the climate change literature proposing that loss of natural land cover near poleward range margins would inhibit range expansion in response to climatic warming. Rather, we hypothesize that, at southern range edges, the dual stresses of climatic warming and forest conversion both reduce species' ability to occupy a landscape. However, near northern (potentially expanding) range edges, partially disturbed landscapes are more readily invaded than undisturbed landscapes.


Evaluation theories can be tested in various ways. One approach, the experimental analogue study, is described and illustrated in this article. The approach is presented as a method worthy to use in the pursuit of what Alkin and others have called descriptive evaluation theory. Drawing on analogue studies conducted by the first author, we illustrate the potential benefits and limitations of analogue experiments for studying aspects of evaluation and for contributing to the development and refinement of evaluation theory. Specifically, we describe the results of two studies that examined stakeholder dialogue under different conditions of accountability frame, interpersonal motives, and epistemic motives. We present the studies' main findings while highlighting the potential for analogue studies to investigate questions of interest concerning evaluation practice and theory. Potentials and pitfalls of the analogue study approach are discussed.


This paper describes fast 32-bit dynamic adder using nonprecharge multiplexers and reduced precharge voltage technique. Design adopting novel multiplexers reduces transistor count, resulting in the reduction of total parasitic capacitance. Reduced precharge voltage makes the discharge time shorter. Experimental circuit has been fabricated using 0.4 /spl mu/m CMOS technology and we confirmed the delay of 1.4 ns at the supply voltage of 3.3 V at room temperature.


In this thesis we solve two-dimensional linear parabolic partial differential equations with pure Dirichelet boundary conditions, using the bilinear covolume-upwind finite volume method on rectangular grids to discretize the spatial variables and the CrankNicholson method for the time variable. These PDEs provide a model for problems from various fields of engineering and applied sciences, such as unsteady viscous flow problems, the simulation of oil extraction from underground reservoirs, transport of air and ground water pollutants and modeling of semiconductor devices. Finite volume method has the important advantage of allowing the conversion of integrations over the control volume to integrations over its boundary based on Green's Theorem. Then, one can use quadrature rules to approximate the resulting integrals. In order to avoid non-physical oscillations that can arise from the numerical solution of convection-dominated problems when using the central finite volume scheme, we generate non-standard control volumes using local Peclet's numbers and the upwind principle. We numerically compare the covolume-upwind finite volume method with the central and the upwind finite volume schemes, demonstrating stability and better convergence of the method through various examples.


The metabolic pathways for purines in parasitic protozoans differ significantly from the corresponding pathways in human beings. Leishmania and Trypanosoma cruzi have particular enzymatic reactions that have relevance for chemotherapy. Certain purine analogs are metabolized by the parasites to nucleotides and aminated to the analogs of adenine nucleotides. These halt protein synthesis and cause the break-down of RNA. The most important purine analogs with respect to chemotherapeutic potential are the pyrazolo [3,4-D]-pyrimidines. The prototype, allopurinol, is nontoxic to human beings and is aminated to adenine nucleotide analogs by the organism. Studies in vitro and in vivo have demonstrated its antiparasitic action and led to its development as a chemotherapeutic agent for diseases caused by these organisms. Clinical investigations now have demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of allopurinol in cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania braziliensis and in chronic Chagas' Disease.


As important regulators of gene expression long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are implicated in various physiological and pathological processes, including cancer. An oncogenic role of MNX1 antisense RNA 1 (MNX1-AS1) lncRNA has been suggested in cervical cancer and glioblastoma. In this study, we investigated the clinicopathological significance and biological function of MNX1-AS1 in gastric cancer (GC). The expression of MNX1-AS1 was analyzed by qRT-PCR in 96 GC and adjacent non-tumor tissues in relation to clinicopathological features and overall survival (OS) of patients, and in five human GC cell lines compared to a normal gastric epithelial cell line. Loss-of-function experiments using small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting MNX1-AS1 (si-MNX1-AS1) were carried out in AGS and MGC-803 GC cell lines. Cell proliferation (CCK-8 assay), migration (Transwell) and invasion (Transwell Matrigel), and protein expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), E-cadherin, N-cadherin, vimentin and matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) were analyzed in transfected GC cells. Expression of MNX1-AS1 was significantly higher in GC vs. adjacent non-tumor tissues. Higher MNX1-AS1 expression was significantly associated with tumor size, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that GC patients with higher MNX1-AS1 expression had worse OS compared to patients with lower MNX1-AS1 expression. Multivariate analysis showed that MNX1-AS1 is an independent poor prognostic factor in GC. Knockdown of MNX1-AS1 significantly inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion of AGS and MGC-803 cells, and resulted in increased E-cadherin and decreased PCNA, N-cadherin, vimentin and MMP-9 expression. Taken together, these results suggest that MNX1-AS1 has an oncogenic function in GC and potential as a molecular target in GC therapy.


Recent advances of computational methodology to predict the important properties of a drug, like IC50, LogP, CC50, etc., assist in model and in-silico characterization of these compounds as a drug for variant deadly diseases. With the help of these methodologies, the drug potency of thio-propionate derivatives of iron, ruthenium and osmium carbonyl clusters which are less toxic, water soluble and easy metabolic, are tested as HIV drug along with their metabolic probability study. It is observed that IC50 of Ru5(CO)14(m -H)(m -S(CH2)2COO-)Na+ is only 220 picomole as HIV-1 capsid A inhibitor. Its inhibition activities in other enzymatic processes involved in the HIV life cycle in the human body are also studied and compared with the most used market available drugs. It is observed that this modeled compound shows excellent inhibition activities at different stages of HIV life-span inside the human body and could be considered as a multi-stage, mutation resistant HIV drug.


In economic, technical and political terms, the security of energy supply is of the utmost importance for Europe. Alongside competition and sustainability, supply security represents a cornerstone of the EU's energy policy, and in times of rising geopolitical conflict plays an increasingly important role in its external relations. Within this context, the contributors analyse and explore the natural gas, nuclear, and hydrogen energy sectors, which will be of critical significance for the future of energy supplies in Europe.


The creation of unstable heavy particles at the Large Hadron Collider is the most direct way to address some of the deepest open questions in physics.
Collisions typically produce variable-size sets of observed particles which have inherent ambiguities complicating the assignment of observed particles to the decay products of the heavy particles. Current strategies for tackling these challenges in the physics community ignore the physical symmetries of the decay products and consider all possible assignment permutations and do not scale to complex configurations.
Attention based deep learning methods for sequence modelling have achieved state-of-the-art performance in natural language processing, but they lack built-in mechanisms to deal with the unique symmetries found in physical set-assignment problems.
We introduce a novel method for constructing symmetry-preserving attention networks which reflect the problem's natural invariances to efficiently find assignments without evaluating all permutations.
This general approach is applicable to arbitrarily complex configurations and significantly outperforms current methods, improving reconstruction efficiency between 19% - 35% on typical benchmark problems while decreasing inference time by two to five orders of magnitude on the most complex events, making many important and previously intractable cases tractable.
A full code repository containing a general library, the specific configuration used, and a complete dataset release, are available at https://github.com/Alexanders101/SPANet


If an incident occurs on the road, the normal flow of traffic stream is interrupted and the road capacity reduces. This thus leads to huge social, economical losses, such as traffic congestion, air pollution, etc. This study was conducted to examine an effect on an incident management system by carrying out an simulation analysis and an social cost analysis. For the simulation analysis, incidents in a normal situation were compared with those in an incidental situation and thus travel time, queue length, and accident duration were selected as an evaluation indicator. It was analyzed that after an incident situation occurs, the length of vehicle in waiting rapidly increases and thus travel time also largely increases. To make an social cost analysis, vehicle operation cost (VOC) and vehicle operation time (VOT) were used an index. The results showed that travel time cost per driver and vehicle in an incidental situation all increased, compared with that in a normal situation. It was also observed that the longer the lasting hours are, the higher the travel time increases.


Support Vector Machine (SVM) is widely recognized as a potent data mining technique for solving supervised learning problems. The technique has practical applications in many domains such as e-commerce product classification. However, data sets of large sizes in this application domain often present a negative repercussion for SVM coverage because its training complexity is highly dependent on input size. Moreover, a single kernel may not adequately produce an optimal division between product classes, thereby inhibiting its performance. The literature recommends using multiple kernels to achieve flexibility in the applications of SVM. In addition, color features of product images have been found to improve classification performance of a learning technique, but choosing the right color model is particularly challenging because different color models have varying properties. In this paper, we propose color image classification framework that integrates linear and radial basis function (LaRBF) kernels for SVM. Experiments were performed in five different color models to validate the performance of SVM based LaRBF in classifying 100 classes of e-commerce product images obtained from the PI 100 Microsoft corpus. Classification accuracy of 83.5% was realized with the LaRBF in RGB color model, which is an improvement over an existing method.


This study suggests utilization of a real-time online courses for Korean Studies, and intends to investigate the effectiveness of Global E-School courses through surveys. Despite the increasing needs for Korean Studies courses at universities abroad, access to these courses still remains low; this is because most of the specialized Korean Studies courses in diverse topics are still conducted in Korea. For this purpose, E-Learning can be used, but its utilization is low because of the limited interactions between professors and learners. A satisfaction survey was divided into two parts: 1) program contents and 2) operation methods. Twenty-four professors and 73 learners, from both Korea and overseas, participated in the survey. The results showed that most of the professors and learners were satisfied with the contents of the programs and the way they were operated. However, in terms of enhancing learner motivation and technical aspects, they showed low level of satisfaction, implying needs for improvement. This finding is meaningful in that it suggests the possibility of using real-time online courses to open of Korean Studies courses at universities outside Korea.


This study extends prior memory reports in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by investigating memory for narratives after longer recall periods and by examining developmental aspects of narrative memory using a cross‐sectional design. Forty‐seven older children/adolescents with ASD and 31 youth with typical development (TD) and 39 adults with ASD and 45 TD adults were compared on memory for stories from standardized measures appropriate for each age group at three intervals (immediate, 30 min, and 2 day). Both the youth with and without ASD had difficulty with memory for story details with increasing time intervals. More of the youths with ASD performed in the range of impairment when recalling the stories 2 days later as compared to the TD group. The adults with ASD had more difficulty on memory for story details with increasing delay and were poorer at recall of thematic information (needed to create a gist) across the three delay conditions as compared to the TD group. Analyses of the individual results suggested that memory for details of most of the adults with ASD was not impaired when applying a clinical standard; however, a significant percentage of the adults with ASD did not make use of thematic information to organize the narrative information, which would have helped them to remember the stories. The youth with and without ASD performed similarly when both were at a stage of development when memory for details is the primary strategy. The adults with ASD had difficulty with use organizational strategies to support episodic memory. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1523–1532. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


A new monitoring system for the thermal neutron fluence rate and gamma dose rate is described for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). A small pn junction Si diode was used as a new detector which was mechanically stronger and had better stability than a surface barrier detector. The pulse height of signals due to thermal neutrons was sufficiently high and was separated from signals due to gamma rays. The radiation damage to the detectors which results in a reduction of the pulse height was found to be quite small. By using the detectors, the thermal neutron fluence rate and gamma dose rate, not only in the head but also in the body, were measured simultaneously during therapy, and the new system has been efficiently used for BNCT of brain tumours.


SUMMARY: A method is described for handling large quantities of taxonomic data by an electronic computer so as to yield the outline of a classification based on equally weighted features. This enables Similarity to be expressed numerically, and would allow taxonomic rank to be measured in terms of it. An example in bacteria is given, and the results compared with the conventional classification. The method is to count the number of similar and of dissimilar features between strains and to sort the strains into groups whose members have a high percentage of similarities.


Background: Confrontation of mortality in young adults (YAs) with advanced cancer often leads to significant feelings of grief over the loss of opportunity to achieve lifetime goals and milestones as well as other cancer-related losses. Literature on the palliative care needs of YAs with advanced cancer suggests that an intervention targeting well-being may provide significant benefit to this patient population. Promotion of positive emotions may be helpful in enhancing well-being in YAs with advanced cancer by helping them focus on the pleasures that life still has to offer. Gratitude, one such positive emotion, is characterized by the affirmation of goodness in life. Gratitude interventions have been shown to improve well-being in patients experiencing traumatic life events and to be negatively correlated with anxiety and depression. It can be cultivated in a short time frame and lends itself well to a self-directed journaling intervention. Because of their known comfort with and usage of the Internet to seek information and build community, an Internet-delivered gratitude intervention may best meet the needs of YAs with advanced cancer. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility and acceptability of an online gratitude intervention for YAs with advanced cancer and to evaluate its preliminary effects on gratitude, mindful observation, positive and negative affect and emotional experience, and psychological well-being, when compared with a waitlist-control group. Design and Methods: This study was a randomized, prospective, waitlist-controlled feasibility study informed by the Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotion. Participants were recruited through social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter) and other online forums. Participants gave consent and completed pre-intervention measures online. Those in the experimental group kept a daily, online gratitude journal for 21 days. Automated daily emails were sent to remind participants to journal. All participants completed follow-up measures after 21 days and again 30 days later. Results: Overall 26 potential participants expressed interest in the study, and 19 participants were enrolled using exclusively online recruitment methods. Geographic diversity was excellent, but the sample lacked racial and gender diversity. Attrition was 15.8%. Average number of journal entries was 14, with an average word count of 186. Post-intervention, the experimental group saw significant improvement in gratitude (p=0.043), mindful observation (p=0.012), negative emotion (p=0.042), negative affect (p=0.007), self-acceptance (p=0.011), and personal growth (0.035). Large overall effect sizes were seen for gratitude, mindful observation, negative emotion, and negative affect. The control group saw significant improvement in positive relations with other (p=0.041). At the 30-day follow-up overall effect sizes remained large for gratitude, mindful observation, negative emotion, and negative affect. A large effect size was also seen at 30-days for personal growth. Conclusion: The results of the MyGratefulSelf study provide support for the ongoing exploration of the Internet as a way to reach young adults with cancer and engage them in them in clinical and behavioral research studies. The Internet may be and effective resource for engagement of young adults if used as a tool for social networking and community engagement rather than a virtual bulletin board. Additionally, the MyGratefulSelf study adds to the current literature of the efficacy of gratitude interventions by demonstrating a significant impact on well-being in a highly distressed clinical population, however the results are limited in generalizability dues to the small sample size. Future, fully powered studies should expand on the MyGratefulSelf system to promote better engagement and enhance its positive effects.


Although the Chicago area is famous the world over for its splendid architecture, the architectural treasures of the suburban area have remained largely unknown. Ira Bach, assisting by Susan Wolfson, has now provided a comprehensive readable guide to more than 850 nineteenth century dwellings, commercial buildings, public buildings, and churches which are memorable and well worth visiting for their fine architecture and their historic significance. Organized by county, then by town, this book shows us the real roots of Chicago architecture. The 35 Walking Tours make up the heart of the book. Each tour has been planned to walk you from one historic building to the next in each of 35 towns. There are easy-to-follow foot maps, as well as invaluable notes on style and design. All the Walking Tours are 2 miles or less from start to finish. Also included is an Introduction by Carroll William Westfall, associate professor of history of architecture and the art of University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. 42 major maps accompany the foot tours and auto routes, and over 110 photos were made especially for this book by Harold A. Nelson, an architect and photographer."


Abstract Background Excellence in clinical reasoning is one of the most important outcomes of medical education programs, but assessing learners' reasoning to inform corrective feedback is challenging and unstandardized. Methods The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine formed a multi-specialty team of medical educators to develop the Assessment of Reasoning Tool (ART). This paper describes the tool development process. The tool was designed to facilitate clinical teachers' assessment of learners' oral presentation for competence in clinical reasoning and facilitate formative feedback. Reasoning frameworks (e.g. script theory), contemporary practice goals (e.g. high-value care [HVC]) and proposed error reduction strategies (e.g. metacognition) were used to guide the development of the tool. Results The ART is a behaviorally anchored, three-point scale assessing five domains of reasoning: (1) hypothesis-directed data gathering, (2) articulation of a problem representation, (3) formulation of a prioritized differential diagnosis, (4) diagnostic testing aligned with HVC principles and (5) metacognition. Instructional videos were created for faculty development for each domain, guided by principles of multimedia learning. Conclusions The ART is a theory-informed assessment tool that allows teachers to assess clinical reasoning and structure feedback conversations.


This volume contains presentqtions and workshop papers from the International Congress on "The European Dimension of Vocational Training--Experiences and Tasks" that provided those with responsibility for vocational training a forum for analyzing and discussing challenges that have emerged from European cooperation in vocational training. Two introductory speeches (Karl-Hans Laermann and Achilleas Mitsos) precede the workshop papers. Workshop A, "The Bottom-Up Approach to Europe," looks at the form and content of projects based primarily on the initiative of chambers, companies, schools, and other vocational training institutions and designed to promote transnational cooperation in initial and continuing vocational training. Its first topic, "Euro-Regions--Transnational Cooperation in Border Areas," is addressed in an introduction (Jochen Reuling), two case studies (Kurt Bang; Bob Bierling and Horst Scheel), and panel discussion. Its second topic, "Large Companies Elsewhere in Europe--Vocational Training Cooperation within and between Companies," is considered in an introduction (Richard Koch), three case studies (Hanne Sampson; Friedwald Brecht; Ulrich Gruber), and panel discussion. Its third topic, "The Relationship between Local Initiatives and European Promotion Programmes," is covered in an introduction (Richard Koch), presentation (Helmut Brumhard), and panel discussion. Workshop B, "Training for Europe," looks at a European professional training area that is taking shape. Its first topic, "Occupation-Related Foreign Language Instruction," is addressed in an introduction (Brigitte Wolf), two presentations (Jan van Weeren; Dorothea Weidinger), and panel discussion. Its second topic, "Occupational Skills for Europe-Wide Ccepetence," is considered in an introduction (Brigitte Wolf), three practical examples (Marina Schurmann; Johannes van de Vosse; Ferdinand Fuchs), and panel discussion. Its third topic, "Provision for Latecomers in the Training System: Recognition of Young Workers' Work Experience and Previous Learning Record," is covered in an introduction (Brigitte Wolf), four presentations (Annie Bouder; Ruud Klarus; Marinella Giuvine: Peter-Werner Kloas), and panel discussion. Workshop C, "European Vocational Training Research," presents results from research programs. Its first topic, "Prospects for Company-Based Initial Vocational Training in Europe," is addressed in an introduction (Iochen Reuling), three presentations (Rene Lassere; Maria Hofstatter; Arthur Schneeberger), and a panel discussion. Its second topic, "Continuing Training and Company Organization Development in Europe," is considered in an introduction (Edgar Sauter), presentation (Ingrid Drexel), and panel discussion. Its third topic, "Vocational Training Systems and Global Competition," is covered in an introduction (Richard Koch), two presentations (David Soskice; Felix Rauner), and panel discussion. Other contents °i"Main Findings of the Workshop Sessions" (Hermann Schmidt) , "Closing Discussion" (moderated by Alfred Hardenacke), and a participant list. (YLB) MIN111101611111112111111111 -Richard Koch Jochen Reuling (Eds.)