Background and aims : In automated excavation operations especially excavating big tunnels with high operation speed the application of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) has been prevalent. Tunneling construction projects especially TBM excavating operations have experienced some accidents in recent years. Hazard control must be done through the process of risk management. This study was done with goal of risk analysis of automated excavation operations in one of the water transfer tunnel projects. Methods: In this study for risk analysis, energy trace and barrier analysis technique was used. In data gathering process were used observation method, worker experience and judgments, checklist, standards & regulations and incident records. Recognition of energy sources, targets, probability and severity of hazards were done by competence experts in various team works. The identified risks were prioritized and control measures were recommended. Results: In this study 51 hazardous energy sources in 6 energy categories were recognized. These identified energy sources included physical energy 29.4%, chemical energy 19.6%, mechanical energy 41%, electrical energy 8% and natural energy 2%. The crane section by 19.5%, shield by 10% and cutter head by 10% were the most and the least dangerous part of tunnel boring machine in excavation process. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, TBM operations include various energy sources. Energy trace and barrier analysis technique can be used effectively in risk analysis of TBM operations.


The purpose of this study was to determine the amount of strength transferred to the unexercised contralateral wrist flexor muscle group utilizing a unilateral maximal isometric strength measurement schedule with college men. Twenty right-handed male college freshmen were selected as subjects for this study. A cable tensiometer and associated equipment was utilized as the measuring instrument for maximal isometric strength of the wrist flexor muscles. Each subject was given a pre-test to obtain the initial strength of each wrist flexor muscle group. Following the pre-test a fourteen-day interval was allowed, during which the subjects were placed into two matched groups on the basis of their total pre-test scores. Group "A" was measured with the left hand first for five consecutive days and subsequently with the right hand for five consecutive days. Group \B" was measured in reverse order, right hand to left hand. A two-day rest period separated the five day unilateral measurement programs. All daily treatments consisted of five trials maximal one minute apart, and took place between the time of 10:00 A.M. and 12:00 Noon. The t-test for paired observations resulted in non-significant t's between the pre- test mean scores and the day one mean scores in all four unilateral measurement programs. The treatments by subject's analysis of variance design resulted in only the left hand of group \A\ demonstrating a statistically significant strength change. In this unilateral program only day one differed significantly from days two, four, and five. As non-significant t's occurred between the pre-test mean scores and the day one mean scores of the second measured hand, it was concluded that no cross transfer of strength occurred. On the basis of the data and within the limitations of this study the following conclusions seem warranted: 1. the repeated maximal isometric measurement schedules of short duration are satisfactory in a reliability sense for measuring the maximal strength of the wrist flexor muscles in a test re-test situation fourteen days apart. 2. The repeated maximal isometric measurement schedules are not capable of eliciting significant increases in strength potentialities of the exercised muscles during a five day measurement program. 3. No transfer effects of strength potentialities to the contralateral limb resulted as the exercised muscle group itself failed to demonstrate a significant increase in exerted strength.


Abstract— In this paper, we present the human action recognition method using the variational Bayesian HMM with the Dirichlet process mixture (DPM) of the Gaussian-Wishart emission model (GWEM). First, we define the Bayesian HMM based on the Dirichlet process, which allows an infinite number of Gaussian-Wishart components to support continuous emission observations. Second, we have considered an efficient variational Bayesian inference method that can be applied to drive the posterior distribution of hidden variables and model parameters for the proposed model based on training data. And then we have derived the predictive distribution that may be used to classify new action. Third, the paper proposes a process of extracting appropriate spatial-temporal feature vectors that can be used to recognize a wide range of human behaviors from input video image. Finally, we have conducted experiments that can evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the method presented is more efficient with human action recognition than existing methods.


Energy supply systems are facing significant changes in many countries around the globe. A good example of such a transformation is the German power system, where renewable energy sources (RESs) are now contributing 25% of the power needed to meet electricity demand, compared with 5% only 20 years ago. In particular, photovoltaic (PV) systems have been skyrocketing over the last couple of years. As of September 2012, about 1.2 million PV systems were installed, with a total installed peak capacity of more than 31 GWp. During some hours of 2012, PV already contributed about 40% of the peak power demand. It seems that Germany is well on the way to sourcing a major portion of its energy needs from solar installations. PV must therefore provide a full range of services to system operators so as to replace services provided by conventional bulk power plants.


observational studies that assessed the association of RDW and sepsis published until July 2019. The databases were searched with predefined protocols based on PRISMA guidelines. Pooled measures for Risk Ratio (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) were obtained using RevMan 5.3. Results: Seventeen studies enrolled 3,183 cases and 5,086 controls. The higher RDW was independently associated with sepsis-related mortality compared to lower RDW (RR 1.19; 95% CI [1.13–1.26], P<0.00001), comprising in-hospital (RR 1.22 [1.15–1.3], P<0.00001), 1-month (RR 1.34 [1.08–1.67], P=0.008), and 4-year mortality (RR 1.15 [1.13–1.17], P<0.00001). The WMD of RDW level between survivor and mortality group was 1.62% (95% CI [1.07–1.95], P<0.00001), including mortality in ICU (1.11% [0.26-1.96], P=0.01), in-hospital (2.06% [1.46-2.65], P<0.00001), and within 1-month (1.51% [1.07-1.95], P<0.00001). Among in-hospital patients, compared to non-sepsis, sepsis group had higher mean of RDW (WMD 1.91% [0.56–3.25], P=0.006). Conclusions: Sepsis cases and related mortality are significantly associated with higher RDW value. Thus, along with other clinical parameters, this promising finding of RDW could be useful as a simple and affordable prognostic tool, especially in the facility with limited resources.


The aim of this research was to develop new biobased non-ionic polymeric additives with significant bacterial inhibition and low leaching potential, so that they can be used to produce biopolymer materials for various applications such as biomedical devices, surgical textile, or food packaging. Two new non-ionic hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) were prepared by a facile solvent-free polymerization of an AB2-monomer derived from naturally existing molecular building blocks 2-phenylethanol, isatin, and anisole. The molecular structures and thermal properties of the obtained HBPs were characterized by GPC, NMR, FTIR, HRMS, MALDI-TOF, TGA and DSC analyses. Disk diffusion tests revealed that the two obtained HBPs showed more significant antibacterial activity against 9 different food and human pathogenic bacteria, compared with small molecular antibiotics. The maximal antibacterial effect of HBPs was achieved at 2 μg per disk (or 0.1 mg mL−1), which was significantly lower (∼1/15) compared to the linear antibacterial polymer chitosan. Such enhanced antibacterial properties can be attributed to the unique highly branched structures and effectively amplified functionalities of HBPs. Finally, the prepared HBPs were added into natural polymers cellulose and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), and the resulting biopolymer films showed no significant leakage after being merged in water for 5 days. This was in sharp contrast to the biopolymer films containing a small model compound, which leaked out significantly under the same conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first report on non-ionic bio-based dendritic macromolecules with significant bacteria inhibition and low leakage.


We perform numerical simulation of a lattice model for the compaction of a granular material based on the idea of reversible random sequential adsorption. Reversible random sequential adsorption of objects of various shapes on a two−dimensional triangular lattice is studied numerically by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The growth of the coverage ρ(t) above the jamming limit to its steady−state value ρ∞ is described by a pattern ρ (t) = ρ∞ − ρEβ[−(t/τ)β], where Eβ denotes the Mittag−Leffler function of order β ∈ (0, 1). For the first time, the parameter τ is found to decay with the desorption probability P− according to a power law τ = A P− −γ. Exponent γ is the same for all shapes, γ = 1.29 ± 0.01, but parameter A depends only on the order of symmetry axis of the shape. Finally, we present the possible relevance of the model to the compaction of granular objects of various shapes.


Key Point Analysis (KPA) has been recently proposed for deriving fine-grained insights from collections of textual comments. KPA extracts the main points in the data as a list of concise sentences or phrases, termed Key Points, and quantifies their prevalence. While key points are more expressive than word clouds and key phrases, making sense of a long, flat list of key points, which often express related ideas in varying levels of granularity, may still be challenging. To address this limitation of KPA, we introduce the task of organizing a given set of key points into a hierarchy, according to their specificity. Such hierarchies may be viewed as a novel type of Textual Entailment Graph. We develop ThinkP, a high quality benchmark dataset of key point hierarchies for business and product reviews, obtained by consolidating multiple annotations. We compare different methods for predicting pairwise relations between key points, and for inferring a hierarchy from these pairwise predictions. In particular, for the task of computing pairwise key point relations, we achieve significant gains over existing strong baselines by applying directional distributional similarity methods to a novel distributional representation of key points, and further boost performance via weak supervision.


The natriuretic peptides (NPs) B-type NP (BNP) and urodilatin (URO) exert renal protective properties via the particulate guanylyl cyclase A receptor (pGC-A). As a potential renal-enhancing strategy, we engineered a novel designer peptide that we call CRRL269. CRRL269 was investigated in human cell lines and in normal canines to define potential cardiorenal enhancing actions. The mechanism of its cardiorenal selective properties was also investigated. In vitro NP receptor activity was quantified with guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate generation. In vivo effects were determined in normal canine acute infusion studies. We observed that CRRL269 demonstrated enhanced pGC-A activity in renal compared with nonrenal cell lines. CRRL269 exerted enhanced resistance to neprilysin compared with URO. Importantly, CRRL269 exhibited significant and greater increases in urinary sodium excretion and diuresis, with less blood pressure reduction, than BNP or URO in normal canines. CRRL269 retained potent renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) suppressing properties shared by URO and BNP. Also, CRRL269 exerted less arterial relaxation and higher cAMP cardiomyocytes generation than BNP. CRRL269 possessed superior renal and pGC-A activating properties compared with BNP or URO in vitro. CRRL269 exerted enhanced renal actions while suppressing RAAS in vivo and with less hypotension compared with URO or BNP. Together, our study suggests that CRRL269 is a promising innovative renal-enhancing drug, with favorable protective actions targeting cardiorenal disease states through the pGC-A receptor.


We compared immigrant workers with native workers on several factors related to their perception of their work identity anchored in their psychosocial work environment, and the result of these factors on work stress and subjective health. The data for this study came from a survey among migrant laborers in the construction and cleaning business (N=125) and was compared to a native sample (N=654) we used in an earlier study. The present study showed that the migrant workers perceived more over-commitment and higher job stress than native workers. This finding was similar to the first study in relation to these two factors. In this study, however, the construction workers and cleaners did not have significant higher levels of mental health problems than native workers. The personal ambitions of the immigrants, measured as a higher level of over-commitment was seen as a driving force behind the patterns we found. In this new study, the construction workers and cleaners showed significantly lower commitment than the natives, but still a path from over-commitment to commitment was found and may function as a barrier from developing even more stress and mental health reactions over time.


Search and rescue satellite aided tracking (SARSAT) depends on the processing of emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signals which are received by a satellite in low polar orbit. Since the signal from a distressed vehicle is normally immersed in a background of other ELT signals (false alarms), interference, and noise, different methods of spectral estimation can provide advantages in estimating carrier frequency. A comparison between average spectrum and minimum spectrum for several real signals is provided here.


Summary During their flightless summer moult, Taiga Bean Geese Anser fabalis fabalis gather at communal moulting sites. Individuals from the Nord-Trøndelag breeding area in Norway have been observed to join with local individuals on moulting sites in Vilhelmina Municipality, Sweden. These two groups show distinct features in breeding habitat and migratory behaviour, but are they also genetically distinct? We used 12 microsatellite loci for genotyping 109 blood, feather and faecal samples from three sampling areas (Røyrvik in Norway and Stalon and Nästansjö in Sweden) to examine genetic diversity and structure. Clustering and Principal Coordinate analyses of all samples unveiled at least two distinct clusters, which were unevenly distributed over the sampling sites. Grouped by sampling sites, AMOVA and FST analyses showed that samples from the three sites differed genetically. These differences were larger between Røyrvik and Nästansjö than between Stalon and the other two. Relatedness was high among the Røyrvik samples. From our results we conclude that one of the clusters describes the Røyrvik breeding subpopulation, while the other(s) breed mainly in Sweden. Although these subpopulations simultaneously use the same moulting area in Vilhelmina, they appear to be ecologically, behaviourally and genetically distinct, in particular the Røyrvik sub-population. For goose conservation and management, we suggest that the Nord-Trøndelag (Røyrvik) subpopulation is considered a separate flyway management unit. Unravelling the Swedish sub-populations will need further study. For bird conservation is general, we suggest active genetic sampling for detailed population structure analyses and subsequent differentiated conservation and/or management schemes.


This manual provides a guide to basic methods and techniques of investigative journalism, and it consciously fills a gap in the literature of the profession. The majority of investigative manuals devote a lot of space to the subject of where to find information. They assume that once a reporter finds the information he or she seeks, he or she will be able to compose a viable story.


Many bacteria take up DNA from their environment as part of the process of natural transformation. DNA uptake allows microorganisms to gain genetic diversity and can lead to the spread of antibiotic resistance or virulence genes within a microbial population. Development of genetic competence (Com) in Bacillus subtilis is a highly regulated process that culminates in expression of several late competence genes and formation of the DNA uptake apparatus. The late competence operon comF encodes a small protein of unknown function, ComFB. To gain insight into the function of ComFB, we determined its 3D structure via X-ray crystallography. ComFB is a dimer and each subunit consists of four α-helices connected by short loops and one extended β-strand-like stretch. Each subunit contains one zinc-binding site formed by four cysteines, which are unusually spaced in the primary sequence. Using structure- and bioinformatics-guided substitutions we analyzed the inter-subunit interface of the ComFB dimer. Based on these analyses, we conclude that ComFB is an obligate dimer. We also characterized ComFB in vivo and found that this protein is produced in competent cells and is localized to the cytosol. Consistent with previous reports, we showed that deletion of ComFB does not affect DNA uptake function. Combining our results, we conclude that ComFB is unlikely to be a part of the DNA uptake machinery under tested conditions and instead may have a regulatory function.


This paper addresses the reality of foreign teenage motherhood in Spain. Its importance lies not in its quantitative dimension but the implications for a growing number of girls who face motherhood at an early age. Thus, after analysing the determinants of such pregnancies, the characteristics of the phenomenon in Spain are discussed highlighting the apparent inconsistencies between this reality and the regulatory framework. In analysing the protection policies we restrict ourselves to Andalusia as a territorial demarcation. Finally, we analyse the possibilities of social work intervention aimed at supporting young mothers in order to overcome the disadvantages they face.


When architecting an application, key nonfunctional requirements such as performance, scalability, availability and security, which influence the architecture of the system, are some times not adequately addressed. Performance of the application may not be looked at until there is a concern. There are several problems with this reactive approach. If the system does not meet its performance objectives, the application is unlikely to be accepted by the stakeholders. This paper suggests an approach for performance modeling for web based J2EE and .Net applications to address performance issues early in the development life cycle. It also includes a Performance Modeling Case Study, with Proof-of-Concept (PoC) and implementation details for .NET and J2EE platforms. Keywords—Performance Measures, Performance Modeling, Performance Testing, Resource Utilization, Response Time, Throughput.


Rosin was used as a raw material to prepare N-(3-rosin acyloxy-2-hydroxyl) propyl-N,N diethanolamine. First, rosin was modified with epoxy chloropropane. Then the modified rosin reacted with diethanolamine and N-(3-rosin acyloxy-2-hydroxyl) propyl-N, N diethanolamine was produced under the following conditions: modified rosin and diethanolamine mole ratio of 1:2, reaction temperature of 78°C, and reaction time of 2.5 h. The chemical structure of the product as a rosin amide derivative was identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method. The anti-fungal activity of this rosinyl tertiary amine was determined in vitro against wood decay fungi, Trametes versicolor, Gloeophyllum trabeum and mould fungi, Aspergillus niger and Paecilomyces variot Bainier. The anti-fungal experiment results signified that N-(3-rosin acyloxy-2-hydroxyl) propyl-N,N diethanolamine was active to these fungi at a certain concentration.


The findings at necropsy in three cases of severe craniocerebral injury associated with unconsciousness are reported with special reference to the histopathological findings in the myocardium. In the first case, death occurred 3 days after the trauma, in the second case 21 days after, and in the third case, 7years after. Necropsy showed myocardial lesions of recent origin in the first case, stromal condensation in the myocardium in the second, and cardiac hypertrophy with coexisting patchy fibrosis of the myocardium in the third. The relation between craniocerebral injury and subsequent myocardial fibrosis is discussed.


Aims: The aim of this study is to compare and evaluate pH and calcium ion release in newer calcium silicate-based root canal sealers. Methodology: Polyethylene tubes were cut into 35 tubes of equal sizes; with each tube measuring 10 mm length × 1 mm diameter. The tubes were pre-weighted using digital weighing balance machine to allow a similar weight of each tube. The polyethylene tubes were divided into four groups according to the materials with which they were filled. Group 1 (n = 5) control group, Group 2 (n = 10) sealapex, Group 3 (n = 10) mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) fillapex, and Group 4 (n = 10) White MTA. The tubes after being packed with the respective sealers were placed inside polypropylene flasks containing 10 ml of deionized water. The flask was closed and stored at a constant temperature of 37°C during all the evaluation period. At 24 h, 7 days and 1 month, pH and calcium ion released was measured using pH meter and atomic absorption spectrophotometer, respectively. Results: At 24 h, White MTA showed the highest pH (8.52) and highest calcium (Ca++) release (14.7). At 7 days and 28 days, MTA fillapex showed significantly higher pH (8.64; 8.7) and Ca++ release (10.30; 18.60) than the other two groups. Conclusion: Although at 24 h, the new calcium silicate-based root canal sealer, MTA fillapex showed the least Ca++ release but over longer time intervals, i.e., at 7 days and 28 days, MTA fillapex showed significantly higher pH and Ca++ release than both White MTA and sealapex.


Some older adults without neurological disease exhibit impaired decision-making in risky, nontransparent situations, like the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The prefrontal cortices are particularly vulnerable to age-related decline, and numerous studies implicate the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) in successful IGT performance. However, the relationship between IGT performance and VMPFC function in older adults has not yet been tested by fMRI. In the present study, older adults with seemingly no cognitive impairments performed the IGT and a non-gambling control task during fMRI. Group analyses indicate that in these older adults, regardless of IGT performance level, a right VMPFC subregion is activated during the IGT, while successful IGT performance is correlated with left VMPFC activation, suggesting that bilateral VMPFC during risky, nontransparent situations may contribute to successful decision-making in older adults. Individual subject analyses reveal substantial variation regarding the extent and location of VMPFC activation during the IGT, a finding not captured in the group analysis: There is no correlation between IGT performance and extent of activation in the right VMPFC, although there is such a correlation between left VMPFC activation and IGT performance.


The echocardiographic evaluation of the patient with aortic stenosis (AS) has evolved in recent years, beyond confirming the diagnosis and measuring the resting mean pressure gradient or valve area. New echocardiographic approaches have developed to address the clinical dilemmas related to discordant haemodynamic data, asymptomatic haemodynamically severe AS and low-flow, low-gradient AS in order to better evaluate the disease severity, enhance the risk stratification of patients and provide important prognostic information. This article reviews the echocardiographic evaluation of the AS patient and focuses on the echocardiographic assessment of the haemodynamic severity, the prediction of clinical outcome and the use of echocardiography to guide patient management in the presence of normal flow and low flow scenarios.


The crop yield potential is affected by the crop-weed competition and their control create a dependence on herbicide use who brings, as consequence, soil impacts. Knowing the weed's spatial distribution on the field is a feasible alternative for improving the crop yield. The goal of this paper is the identification of the spatial variability on physical and chemical attributes of soil as well as the weed's seedbank so that, when correlated, may find standards to help on field management. The experiment was conducted on Uberlandia Federal University premises at soybean no-till area. Using georeferenced soil samples, were analyzed the physical and chemical attributes as well as the weed's seedbank. The weed population on controlled environment was quantify, sorting out broadleaf and grassy weeds species. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistic and geostatistics for a semivariogram modeling, interpolation by the kriging methodology and the spatial variability maps achievement. The average value, coefficient of variation (CV%), asymmetry, kurtosis coefficient and the significant linear correlations interfered on data spatial variability which we concluded by the spatial dependences on the attributes that had a linear correlation between them. The semivariograms presented varied range between 202 to 752 meters. Using the maps, verified two different regions for the broadleaf and grassy weeds seedbank. For both situations there was influence by the soil attributes on infestation level, which makes it possible to target the herbicide management reducing costs and the environmental impact. From the analyzed data we conclude that there is a spatial dependence for the physical and chemical soil attributes and their spatial distribution explains the weed seedbank spatial variability.


Stereophotogrammetry and dense surface modelling are novel techniques that have been used to study face shape in genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders. In people with epilepsy, it has been recognised that the condition may be associated with underlying structural variants or malformations of cortical development in some cases. Here I recruited 869 people with epilepsy or unaffected relatives and control subjects to study face shape. I sought to explore whether face shape and symmetry, using new metrics for each, could help to predict those people with epilepsy who may have potential underlying genetic or structural causes. My reproducibility studies found that stereophotogrammetry and dense surface modelling were susceptible to error from changes in head position or face expression, but not from camera calibration, image acquisition and image landmarking. The next study found that in people with epilepsy, a measurement of atypical face shape, Face Shape Difference (FSD), was significantly increased in those with pathogenic structural variants compared to those without pathogenic structural variants. The FSD value was used to predict the presence of pathogenic structural variants with a sensitivity of 66- 80% and specificity of 65-78%. Body mass index affects face shape in a partly predictable manner. The effect of body mass index differences was controlled for in a further analysis. I then analysed facial asymmetry and showed that it was increased in people with developmental lesions in the brain but not in people with pathogenic structural variants. A final study showed that stereophotogrammetry, dense surface modelling, FSD and reflected FSD could be used to study a single genetic disorder associated with epilepsy, to find previously unrecognised face shape changes. Stereophotogrammetry and dense surface modelling therefore appear to be promising tools to aid both in discovery of underlying causes for epilepsy and in understanding of such causes in terms of facial development.


School counselors have a duty to formulate strategies that aid in the detection and prevention of child sexual abuse (American School Counselor Association, 2003). School counselors are charged with helping sexually abused children by recognizing sexual abuse indicators based on a child's symptomotology and/or behavior, and understanding how this trauma may affect children in the school setting. Mandated reporting issues, talking with children and adolescents about sexual abuse suspicions, and understanding trauma symptoms and their contribution to the difficulties that sexually abused children have in school are highlighted. In addition, how school counselors can collaborate with clinicians treating sexually abused children through role-appropriate advocacy, intervention, and aftercare strategies is described.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether olfactory status predicts cognitive decline (CD) over a 2-year follow-up period.

METHODS
The authors enrolled individuals in a community-based longitudinal study of memory and aging in the Japanese-American community in King County, WA, between 1992 and 1994. At baseline they screened 1,985 persons using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) and the 12-item Cross-Cultural Smell Identification Test (CC-SIT). Of these 1,985 people, 1,836 were found not to be demented. Two years later the authors rescreened 1,604 participants with the CASI. They defined CD as a 2-year loss of > or =5.15 points/100 on the CASI. They genotyped 69% of the 1,604 people completing both examinations for apolipoprotein E (apoE).

RESULTS
After adjusting for age, CASI score at baseline, education, smoking, sex, and follow-up time, the authors determined an odds ratio (OR) for CD of 0.90 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.97) for an increase in each correct point on the CC-SIT (range, 0 to 12). Compared with normosmics, the OR for persons with impaired olfaction (microsmics) was 1.25 (95% CI, 0.83 to 1.89) and for anosmics the OR was 1.92 (95% CI, 1.06 to 3.47). Persons who were anosmic at baseline and who had at least one APOE-epsilon4 allele had 4.9 times the risk of CD (95% CI, 1.6 to 14.9) compared with normosmics without the epsilon4 allele. The estimated relative risk among women was 9.7 (95% CI, 1.3 to 70.4), and for men the risk was 3.2 (95% CI, 0.8 to 12.6). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that although the area under the curve (AUC) for baseline CASI was only 0.51, the AUC for CC-SIT alone was 0.62. Adding CC-SIT to the ROC model with CASI improved the AUC curve from 0.51 to 0.62.

CONCLUSIONS
Unexplained olfactory dysfunction in the presence of one or more APOE-epsilon4 alleles is associated with a high risk of cognitive decline. Cross-Cultural Smell Identification Test classifies people with cognitive decline correctly to a greater degree than a global cognitive test.


Boyolali the county as well as agricultural areas are also a lot of people who are self-employed in the field of fisheries. One of the villages in the district of Palm Boyolali Tegalrejo is precisely in the village is the center of catfish farmers or village is often referred to as the catfish, because this area irrigation system is easy, but the land is not so fertile. in addition many are also many who cultivate farming/livestock catfish, tilapia fish and nag. At one point sometimes abundant fish harvest/surplus, then comes the idea of a housewife, how dishes of fish not only cooked and eaten (fried, baked) then made other kinds of fish dishes that made shredded. Besides durable was no less prestige with shredded cow. This iterative refinement turns made while held good and prospected. Even until the laboratory tests conducted on non cholesterol UGM turns, making it suitable for toddlers, seniors and people who prioritize health in general. In order to accommodate the harvest of fish farmers/fish farmers so established SMEs. The SME SME named MAMI (dharma mina) is located in the village Tegalrejo. The main problem faced by the SMEs is the supporting equipment production process. The equipment is the dominant fryer, presses (drainer) and oven. The desire of SMEs will increase its production capacity, however there is the most urgent problem is the tool presses (drainer) after completion of the oil pan. Equipment presses (drainer) is still very manual is the model of the lever. By looking at the condition of the course, SMEs need assistance and a touch of technology to speed up the production process. Program for Appropriate Technology development will result in a tool that serves to relieve the burden on small industries in order to increase revenue and productivity as well as a discourse for small industries, that this tool can be used for other waste treatment especially fibrous. In general, the economic potential of the products obtained, among others: the cost of making cheap instruments, oil draining process can be completed. Viewed from the side of science and technology, there are two value-added utilization of appropriate technology, and use of Tilapia and fish dishes nag as an alternative, which is a shredded. The design tool is simple, but has a very high benefit. The methodology used in the field survey, determine the capacity of the machine, machine design, manufacture, testing machines, evaluation. From the results of this engineering tool, it can be concluded as follows: (1) Equipment shredded oil drainer result of this design can work well, as expected. (2) Equipment drainer shredded fish small industry is very helpful in the process of making the shredded fish as an alternative side dish.


Seeks to provide understanding of the challenges facing management development in South Africa in the next decade: a desperate shortage of managerial skills; a particular need for trained Black managers to fill the opportunities that are opening up. Describes management development techniques and programmes offered in South Africa, and the kinds of institutions and organizations that offer them. Suggests that, despite the need, surprisingly little Black management development has been accomplished, and what has been done has often not addressed the marginal position in which many Black managers find themselves, nor used effective techniques which adequately match local culture. Draws on the authors′ research, and personal work experience in South Africa, for recommendations for improving South African management development programmes in the 1990s.


A vast number of game developers long for and seek to create games that impact and emotionally engages their players. However, it has proven to be a tough challenge to overcome, as a lot of narrative games today completely separate their emotional stories from their engaging gameplay.Extending this insight, this paper proposes the theoretical basis intendedto contribute to the understanding of how to create expressive AI agents, by answering the following question: How can developers tell stories through an AI agent's behaviour?A further key element in this paper is the creation of a conceptual framework, based on a literature study, exemplifying how AI agents can be designed to contribute and support the narrative in a game.The framework suggests that creating these types of AI agents is an iterative process of defining the core themes within a game, deriving an agent's purpose from these and building its behaviours from that purpose. Also, defining how to communicate these behaviours to the player. The framework also emphasizes the importance of user testing during the design process, as a way of evaluating the balance of transparency and emergence within the AI system of the game.The framework is exemplified with a case study conducted on an AI agent, designed and developed for the game Shelter 2: Paws by game studio Might and Delight. The results of the study shows that AI agent has a close connection to the narrative through the main themes of friendship, cooperation and growing up in the game. Finally, the AI agent design is evaluated through user tests, which shows that players interact with the agent as expected and share the game experience that is intended by the developers.


Several government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) reform proposals aim to develop a market of competitive guarantors to replace the current duopoly of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, based on an underlying assumption that lack of competition was the primary structural flaw of the mortgage market. However, before reaching conclusions about the right market structure for mortgage guarantors, the characteristics of the mortgage market should be evaluated in a disciplined way. The authors assess the competitive structure of the mortgage market according to well-established economic principles that are further informed by recent successes and failures. They then use this framework to explore what structures actually have the best chance of meeting society's goals.


Reliable, consistent, and comprehensive material property data are needed for microelectronic encapsulants for the purpose of mechanical design, reliability assessment, and process optimization of electronic packages. In our research efforts, the mechanical responses of several different capillary flow snap cure underfill encapsulants are being characterized. A microscale tension-torsion testing machine has been used to evaluate the uniaxial tensile stress-strain behavior of underfill materials as a function of temperature, strain rate, specimen dimensions, humidity, thermal cycling exposure, etc. A critical step to achieving accurate experimental results has been the development of a sample preparation procedure that produces mechanical test specimens that reflect the properties of true underfill encapsulant layers. In the developed method, 75–125 μm (3–5 mil) thick underfill uniaxial tension specimens are dispensed and cured using production equipment and the same processing conditions as those used with actual flip chip assemblies. Although several underfills have been examined, this work features results for the mechanical response of a single typical capillary flow snap cure underfill. A three parameter hyperbolic tangent empirical model has been shown to provide accurate fits to the observed underfill nonlinear stress-strain behavior over a range of temperatures and strain rates. In addition, typical creep data are presented.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


The current theory is based on the original version of (MN – rp �˚ �﷿ ) theory for brittle and quasi-brittle materials. It was developed with Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics LEFM to study the cracking in the elastic stage for non ductile materials and materials with low ductility. In this research a new of the theory version for the fracture of pure ductile materials and fracture in brittle – ductile transition for semi brittle semi ductile materials is proposed. This new proposed theory for ductile fracture is called the DMN-ductile theory. It has a new concept and a new mechanism. It proposed that the fracture direction can be predicted in the elastic stage in LEFM where the critical fracture load will include two parts one from the elastic stage and the other part from the plastic stage. The fracture load would be determined with Elastic – Plastic Fracture Mechanics EPFM. The direction of the fracture will be in LEFM in the beginning of the propagation and will extend in the same direction in the plastic stage for the same fracture increment, but it may change in the nest fracture problems. In addition, it unifies all views of researches on ductile fracture energy approach. It could introduce a new concept for the ductile fracture process for dealing with any crack and for predicting any required fracture aspect.


This article is driven by my initial perception that, when dealing with workrelated fi lms, it may be more interesting to ask what they do (how they seek to change the way we look upon the world) than what they show.1 Limiting my scope to Franco- Belgian fi lms, I concentrate on two fi ctions and two documentaries that focus on the workplace. The fi ctions are Laurent Cantet's Ressources humaines/Human Resources (FR, 2000) and Jean- Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's Rosetta (FR/BE, 1999), and the documentaries are Marc- Antoine Roudil and Sophie Bruneau's Ils ne mouraient pas tous mais tous etaient frappes/They Did Not All Die But Were Stricken (FR/BE, 2006) and Sabrina Malek and Arnaud Soulier's Un Monde moderne/A Modern World (FR, 2005). The number of work- related fi lms in France has been considerable in recent years, especially in the area of documentary, but with fi ction fi lm playing its part.2 I make no pretense that my chosen fi lms can somehow typify this wider corpus. What they clearly share with many other fi lms, nonetheless, is a desire both to engage with profound changes in the nature of work and to use the workplace to force hidden oppressions into visibility. In my analysis of the fi lms, I draw heavily on the work of two theoreticians, veteran fi lmmaker Jean- Louis Comolli and po liti cal phi los o pher Jacques Ranciere, the former because he has written more interestingly on fi lmic repre sen tation of work than anyone else I am aware of, the latter because he has provided such important insights into the complex interface of the po liti cal and the aesthetic. Some of Comolli's most important thoughts can be found in two articles published in the journal Images Documentaires and in his contribution to a group discussion or ga nized by Patrick Leboutte for the Seminaire des Images.3 In the latter, Comolli suggests that, throughout its history, fi lm has tended to neglect work. Ever since the Lumiere brothers famously fi lmed their workers exiting rather than entering the factory, cinema has associated itself more with leisure, with the escape from toil, than with what happens in the factory, the offi ce, or other place of labor. Of course, there have been exceptions, like Chaplin's classic Modern Times, but generally, when cinema has shown work, it has been reduced to what Comolli calls les confettis du travail, brief snatches of productive labor.4 In any case, as Comolli notes, work is a power relationship (the power of one over another, the submission of bodies to a discipline) that resists mise- en- scene. When it shows work, cinema is drawn to its spectacular dimension, the dance of body and machine that obscures salaried labor's oppressive nature. This is the typical fodder of the kind of fi lms that companies make about themselves, which concentrate on work's choreographed gestures to the exclusion of its duration, its harshness, its wear and tear of the worker, and its fatigue. Because of this, a cinema that really wishes to engage with work must, as Comolli says, "fi lm against cinema," or, in other words, fi nd ways of fi lming that refuse to be drawn to the spectacular surface.5 Picking up on Andre Bazin's celebrated suggestion that the cinema frame should be seen more as a cache, something that hides what surrounds it, than as a (pictorial) frame or a window (on the world), Comolli suggests that work- related fi lms should concentrate on what is offscreen. It is the ability to activate the offscreen that can bring the invisible into visibility, and the primary resource available to the fi lmmaker to do this is the spoken word.6 As Comolli puts it, "what you can't see directly can be recounted. Somebody comes and tells what happens at the time and in the space to which we do not have access. This is why recourse to the spoken word in times of oppression is important. When the production line is functioning, workers do not speak."7 If work is associated with silence and submission, the taking of voice tends to occur when work stops, typically because of workplace confl ict. …


Many anticancer drugs that are currently used in cancer treatment are natural products or their analogues by structural modification. Caffeic acid (3, 4-dihydroxycinnamic acid; CA) is classified as hydroxycinnamic acid and has a variety of potential pharmacological effects, including antioxidant, immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activities. As a drug carrier, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) introduced to improve stability, provide controlled drug release, avoid organic solvents and are obtained in small sizes. In this study, we developed solid lipid nanoparticles incorporating with caffeic acid using hot homogenization method. Caffeic acid loaded solid lipid nanoparticles were characterized regarding particle size, zeta potential, drug entrapment efficiency, drug release, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FT-IR. The effects of caffeic acid loaded solid lipid nanoparticles on MCF-7 cells were determined by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-dimethyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test and Annexin V-PI analysis. As a result, solid lipid nanoparticles could potentially be used for the delivery of caffeic acid and solid lipid nanoparticles formulation enhanced the effects of caffeic acid on MCF-7 cells. Some relevant patents are also referred in this article.


We report results from high-resolution studies of D5+ cluster ion collisions with low-energy electrons performed in a heavy ion storage ring. Absolute dissociative recombination (DR) and dissociative excitation (DE) cross sections were determined for the energy range from 0.0005 to 20 eV. The DR cross sections were exceedingly large at low energies, and DR resulted in efficient internal energy redistribution and pronounced fragmentation with two main product channels: D2+3D (0.62 ± 0.03) and 2D2+D (0.35 ± 0.01). The DR and DE cross sections were comparable in the energy range from 0.2 to 20 eV, which suggest that the two processes follow similar dynamics and are competing outcomes of the ion–electron interaction. A simple picture of the recombination process of D5+ which captures the essential physics is suggested.


Fruit including berries have been demonstrated to exhibit a broad spectrum of benefits including protection against cardiovascular, neurological, and lung diseases, as well as having antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti- diabetic and anti-aging properties. These protective effects are reported to be due to their high content of bioactive compounds, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, phenolic acids, ellagitannins, flavonoids and carotenoids. This thesis investigated the effect of pre- and postharvest factors on the concentrations of bioactive compounds in raspberries and blackberries. The factors studied included genetic variability, organic and synthetic fertilizers, seasonal variation (harvest-to-harvest and annual variation) in greenhouse, high tunnel and open field production, and post-harvest storage. Concentrations of bioactive compounds (anthocyanins, vitamin C, ellagic acid, carotenoids) in the berries, or in the leaves, were quantitatively analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography, and total phenolics were analysed by a spectrophotometric method. Generative parameters (yield, fruit size) investigated for the cultivar difference and organic nitrogen, responded differently to the nitrogen level within cultivars and varied significantly in primocane raspberries. Taste compounds, such as total acidity and different sugars, varied during the season and with nutrient regimes. Time of harvest also affected the ellagic acid content, which was high in early season, and the vitamin C content, which was high in late season in primocane raspberries. Significant changes were also found between different years. Vitamin C decreased significantly with high synthetic N and with low K application, but the application of high N with high K showed positive influence in the level of nutrients and bioactive compounds in blackberries except for ellagic acid. Increased level of organic fertilization (12-17 g N/plant) in primocane raspberries caused only minor changes in the analysed compounds. The post-harvest performance of raspberries regarding the levels of bioactive compounds was less dynamic than in blackberries. In addition, raspberries harvested in late season showed comparatively less changes in sugar content during storage as compared to early harvest, indicating less enzymatic activity in the late season.


In this thesis an open-source software for permeability upscaling is developed. The software is based on DUNE, an open-source C++ framework for finding numerical solutions of partial differential equations (PDEs). It provides functionality used in finite elements, finite volumes and finite differences methods. Permeability is a measure of the ability of a material to transmit fluids, and determines the flow characteristics in reservoir models. Permeability upscaling is a technique to include fine-scale variations of the permeability field in a coarse-scale reservoir model. The upscaling technique used in this thesis involves solving an elliptic partial differential equation. This is solved with mixed and hybrid finite element methods. The mixed method transforms the original second order PDE into a system of two linear equations. The great advantage with these methods compared with standard finite element methods is continuity of the variable of interest in the upscaling problem. The hybrid method was introduced for being able to solve larger problems. The resulting system of equations from the hybrid method can be transformed into a symmetric positive definite system, which again can be solved with efficient iterative methods. Efficiency of the implementation is important, and as for most implementations of PDE solvers, the computational time is dominated by solving a system of linear equations. In this implementation it is used an algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioner provided with DUNE. This is known to be efficient on system arising from elliptic PDEs. The efficiency of the AMG preconditioner is compared with other alternatives, and is superior to the others. On the largest problem investigated, the AMG based solver is almost three times faster than the next best alternative. The performance of the implementation based on DUNE is also compared with an existing implementation by Sintef. Sintef's implementation is based on a mimetic finite difference method, but on the grid type investigated in this thesis, the methods are equivalent. Sintef's implementation uses the proprietary SAMG solver developed by Fraunhofer SCAI to solve the linear system of equations. SAMG is 58% faster than DUNE's solver on a test case consisting of 322 200 unknowns. The scalability of SAMG seem to be better than DUNE's AMG as the problem size increases. However, a great advantage with DUNE's solver is 50% lower memory usage measured on a problem consisting of approx. 3 million unknowns. Another advantage is the licensing of the software. Both DUNE and the upscaling software developed in this thesis is GPL licensed which means that anyone is free to improve or adjust the software.


Autism and romance occupy a space of discomfort in mainstream media conversation. Employing post-structuralist textual analysis, I explore themes arising from mainstream media representations of autism and dating, sexuality, and romance through eleven feature articles from major American newspapers. The United States mainstream media applies a medical model lens to autism, associates immaturity and a lack of empathy with autistic people, and positions autistic sexuality as disruptive and dangerous. Because autistic sexuality representation counters conventional concepts of romance, autism and romance are positioned as opposing forces. The mainstream media portrays autistic people who date through supercrip narratives. Rather than showing the vast diversity of autism communities, mainstream news articles present autistic people through a heterosexualized, gendered, and whitewashed lens. As a disability studies scholar and autistic writer, I advocate for mainstream news coverage that takes a social model approach to autism, incorporates multiple identities, and provides accurate reflections of autistic people as loving adults, as well as disability rights activism that addresses underlying sexual ableism in American society.


We present an extended theoretical model for time-spreading optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) coherent systems. We have updated well-known model to evaluate multiuser interference to include arbitrary encoded/decoded chip shape, receiver transfer function, and optical thresholding before detection. Full asynchronous regime is also assumed to exploit statistical benefits over the dominant primary beat noise. The model provides clear improvements in terms of number of users and required intercodes crosstalk, leading to more feasible OCDMA systems.


Despite two decades of intensive research, it remains a challenge to design a practical anonymous two-factor authentication scheme, for the designers are confronted with an impressive list of security requirements (e.g., resistance to smart card loss attack) and desirable attributes (e.g., local password update). Numerous solutions have been proposed, yet most of them are shortly found either unable to satisfy some critical security requirements or short of a few important features. To overcome this unsatisfactory situation, researchers often work around it in hopes of a new proposal (but no one has succeeded so far), while paying little attention to the fundamental question: whether or not there are inherent limitations that prevent us from designing an "ideal" scheme that satisfies all the desirable goals? In this work, we aim to provide a definite answer to this question. We first revisit two foremost proposals, i.e. Tsai et al.'s scheme and Li's scheme, revealing some subtleties and challenges in designing such schemes. Then, we systematically explore the inherent conflicts and unavoidable trade-offs among the design criteria. Our results indicate that, under the current widely accepted adversarial model, certain goals are beyond attainment. This also suggests a negative answer to the open problem left by Huang et al. in 2014. To the best of knowledge, the present study makes the first step towards understanding the underlying evaluation metric for anonymous two-factor authentication, which we believe will facilitate better design of anonymous two-factor protocols that offer acceptable trade-offs among usability, security and privacy.


This paper explores consumer behavioural patterns on a magazine website. By using a unique dataset of real-life click stream data from 295 magazine website visitors, interesting behavioural patterns are noted: most importantly, 86% of all sessions only visit the blogs hosted by the magazine. This means that the visitors short-circuit the start page and are not exposed to any editorial content at all, and consequently not to any commercial content on those pages. Sessions visiting editorial content, commercial content or social media links actually represent only 1% or less of all sessions recorded. Consequently, the online platform gives very limited support for the business model. Our data questions the general assumption that online platforms are key components of a contemporary magazine's business model.


The UK's programme on endocrine disruption in the marine environment (EDMAR) was set up in 1998 to investigate in more detail the implications of earlier observations of strongly oestrogenic effects in flounder (Platichthys flesus) from several UK estuaries. Much of the work has focused on fish, including further studies of flounder, as well as investigations of sand gobies (Pomatoschistus minutus and P. lozanoi) and viviparous blennies (Zoarces viviparous). Some work has also begun to investigate androgenic effects in the stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). There have in addition been detailed chemical studies to identify the sources and types of oestrogenic substances. The additional work with flounder has confirmed the original findings that many industrialised UK estuaries are sufficiently oestrogenic to cause strong induction of yolk protein (vitellogenin or VTG) in male fish (by up to a million‐fold in excess of controls), as well as induction of intersex (ovotestis) in some male individuals (15–20% in some areas). Although the levels of activity at some sites have not changed significantly over 3 years, VTG titres have decreased at other sites, perhaps due to improvements in sewage treatment, although these findings need confirmation over a longer timespan. Experiments with male flounder showed that they did not produce VTG when caged in oestrogen‐contaminated estuaries, but experienced mild VTG induction when fed on mussels (Mytilus edulis) which had been held in an oestrogen‐contaminated estuary (the Tees) for 3 months. This shows that at least some oestrogenic substances have the potential for transmission through the food chain. Studies of the viviparous blenny have shown that, like in flounder, males are producing VTG (measured as VTG mRNA) in some estuaries, and up to 25% of male fish are showing intersex (ovotestis). Studies are under way to investigate whether this is affecting the production of fry in this species. Viviparous blennies are ideal for such work because the fry produced by each individual wild female can be directly counted and measured. Sand gobies from oestrogen‐contaminated estuaries did not show either induction of VTG mRNA or intersex, even though the former could be induced in the laboratory through exposure to reference oestrogens. However, high proportions of male gobies from oestrogen‐contaminated locations such as the Mersey and Tees showed a condition of the urogenital papilla (UP) in which the terminal part of this organ had grown villae resembling those seen on female papillae. The UP is used by both sexes to deposit gametes, and it is possible that the apparent feminisation seen in oestrogen‐ exposed males could interfere with normal reproduction. Experiments are in progress to attempt to replicate the condition (known as Male Intermediate Papilla Syndrome ‐ MIPS) in oestrogen‐exposed fish. The EDMAR programme has developed a biomarker of androgenic exposure, the glue protein spiggi, which is induced in female sticklebacks when they are exposed to exogenous androgens. Preliminary work has shown that there is only limited androgenic activity induced in female fish held in the Tees. However, a range of natural androgens has been detected in certain sewage discharges. Work is also progressing to investigate the possible effects of estuarine endocrine disrupters on smoltification in salmon. Finally, the yeast oestrogen screen (YES) has been used in a Toxicity Identification and Evaluation (TIE) scheme to identify substances probably causing these effects. The majority of oestrogenic activity in sewage effluents and estuarine waters has been attributable to oestradiol, although a small proportion is being caused by other natural steroids, as well as synthetic substances such as nonylphenol. However, the overwhelming majority of the activity in the investigated estuaries (Tees and Tyne) is to be found in the sediments. Most of the sediment‐bound activity remains to be identified, but little appears to be attributable to oestradiol. Although the EDMAR programme will only reach completion at the end of 2001, it is already apparent that oestrogenic effects are very widespread in 4 fish species from several industrialised UK estuaries. It appears that the sediments can become heavily contaminated with certain oestrogens, and it seems likely that fish become contaminated at least partly via consumption of benthic invertebrates. However, the full ecological implications of the effects observed in fish have not yet been fully elucidated.


This article seeks to bridge the gap between sociohistorical and aesthetic readings of Russian occasional verse by arguing that patronage itself can be seen as engendering its own poetics. The author focuses on hitherto unanalyzed features of Vasilii Petrov's lyrics addressed to various patrons. The close readings of Petrov's odes and epistles call attention to the poet's coordinating syntax as structuring the subordinative relationships between poet and patron, and articulating discourses of friendship, community, and the public, of civic virtue, and of social and lyric interdependence. The essay ultimately arrives at a definition of the poetics of patronage, in which the poet claims agency without insisting on his autonomy (as would his successors in the Romantic period), and in which the lyric voice relies upon an other, drawing inspiration from conditions of relationship rather than isolation.


The availability of complete or nearly complete genome sequences, a large number of 5' expressed sequence tags, and significant public expression data allow for a more accurate identification of cis-elements regulating gene expression. We have implemented a global approach that takes advantage of available expression data, genomic sequences, and transcript information to predict cis-elements associated with specific expression patterns. The key components of our approach are: (1) precise identification of transcription start sites, (2) specific locations of cis-elements relative to the transcription start site, and (3) assessment of statistical significance for all sequence motifs. By applying our method to promoters of Arabidopsis thaliana and Mus musculus, we have identified motifs that affect gene expression under specific environmental conditions or in certain tissues. We also found that the presence of the TATA box is associated with increased variability of gene expression. Strong correlation between our results and experimentally determined motifs shows that the method is capable of predicting new functionally important cis-elements in promoter sequences.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the long-term mortality, functional recovery and long-term complications of cerebral vein and dural sinus thrombosis (CVDST) admitted to Portuguese hospitals. A follow-up of symptomatic CVDST admitted to Portuguese hospitals since 1980 was performed. Fifty-one patients (retrospective cases) were re-evaluated during 1996; 91 consecutively admitted patients from 6/1995 to 6/1998 were followed up to 1999. In 1996, 4 (8%) of the retrospective cases had died (3 patients died in the acute phase), 4 (8%) could not be reached, 33 (64%) had recovered completely (Rankin 0 or 1) and 3 (6%) were dependent. The prospective cases had a mean follow-up of 1 year: 6 (7%) patients died in the acute phase, one (1%) died during follow-up, 75 (82%) recovered completely, and only 1 (1%) was dependent. For the prospective cases, worsening after admission (OR = 18.2; 95% CI = 2.9–112.4) and encephalopathy as the presenting syndrome (OR = 7.1; 95% CI = 1.2–40.9) predicted death or dependency, while absence of aphasia (OR 6.7, 95% CI = 1.6–33) and no worsening after admission (OR = 5.9; 95% CI = 1.6–20) predicted total recovery. During follow-up of the prospective cases, 4 (5%) patients had thrombotic events, 8 (10%) patients experienced seizures, 9 (11%) complained of severe headaches and 1 patient suffered severe visual loss. The long-term functional prognosis of patients with CVDST was fairly good with complete recovery in the majority of cases. However, these patients had a moderate risk of further thrombotic events and seizures.


Due to agriculture's increasingly complex technical and economic environment, the diversity of information required for competitive and profitable farming is growing as never before. With constant and, in some cases, reduced resources for agricultural programs, Extension must exercise special care in prioritizing informational efforts to best meet farm-client needs and retain an important base of public support. This paper presents a method of identifying popular informational priorities in Agricultural Extension. The method is illustrated by application to dairy programming in Massachusetts.


The propagation of flat domains in soft ferromagnetic thin films with uniaxial anisotropy has been utilized in the past to implement low-cost nonvolatile shift register memories. However the low density of storage, the poor quality of the films, and the complexity of the structure have overwhelmed the inherent low material cost and simple manufacturing tooling. As a result, the devices have not been competitive. A novel, very simplified structure using chemically deposited soft and hard exchange-coupled thin films is described. Localized magnetostatic fields are created through rectangular wide regions of the propagation channels in order to permit the storage of very small domains and the control of the domain propagation when the shift conductors are current pulsed. Experimental work on a 104 kbits/cm2density register geometry is reported, and the improvements necessary to reach higher densities are discussed.


The main purpose of the present research was to extend and consolidate knowledge about country-of-origin cue and its effects on the consumers' attitudes from least developed countries. In order to achieve the purpose, this research has been applied on Yemeni consumers. A correlational study was employed to measure the effects of country-of-origin on consumers' valuations of home appliance products made-in five selected Asian countries of origin namely Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. In this study, a theoretical framework of country-of-origin effects was tested in which the complete model was illustrated with associated variable which influenced consumers' attitudes and purchase intention. The data collection instrument used was questionnaire which was administrated personally and distributed to a total sample of 1095 households in three Yemeni regions which include six urban cities. From this number, 625 respondents answered the questionnaires. The data had been analyzed using the mean significant differences and significant relationship between independent and dependent variables. It involved statistical methods such as t-test, one-way ANOVA, coefficient Cronbach's alpha and regression analysis to draw the results. Yemeni consumers preferred the products made in Japan more followed by products made-in Malaysia and Korea. However, they were having less attitudes towards Chinese and Taiwanese products. In addition, significant differences were found in Yemeni consumers' perception, attitudes and purchase intention according to their regions. Besides, the information sources of country-of-origin knowledge were also identified. Television and wordof mouth were found to be the mostly used information sources by Yemeni consumers to know more about country-of-origin. Significant differences were found among respondents depending on their demographic background in the use of information sources.


The present study seeks to examine the effectiveness of a Positive Psychology Intervention in enhancing well-being in a multicultural school setting. 121 5th and 6th grade primary school male and female students participated in the study. 57.9% were native Greeks and 42.1% were migrant children. 81 students were allocated to the positive intervention group, while 40 students partook in a control group with no positive orientation. Students were asked to complete a questionnaire battery a day prior to the interventions and also fifteen days later. Results indicated that only the positive intervention was effective in enhancing positive emotional experiences, optimism and selfefficacy in peer interactions two weeks after its implementation. The results were mostly undifferentiated for gender, migrant and socioeconomic status as far as positive emotions are concerned, while the patterns of influence of demographic variables on the efficacy of the intervention concerning the participants' benefits in optimism and self-efficacy are discussed. The PPI group, as opposed to the control group, evaluated the intervention as particularly helpful with respect to all well-being variables, an effect maintained two weeks after the intervention. This positive intervention appears appropriate as a universal mental health promotion vehicle, especially within a demanding multicultural classroom context.


Abstract Purpose. Testing a newly developed Swedish version of the Body Image and Relationship Scale (BIRS) for test–retest reliability, convergent validity and inter-item analysis in a Swedish context for breast cancer survivors. Methods. A Swedish BIRS version, translation involving the input of experts and breast cancer survivors, with 41 items (BIRS-S) and the Short Form 36 (SF-36) were sent to a sample of 100 breast cancer survivors, mean age 61.7 years, diagnosed with breast cancer 20–42 months prior to the study. Retest was completed within 2–3 weeks. Results. 71 persons completed both dispatches. Reliability using Cronbach's alpha for the BIRS-S total was satisfactory 0.96 (range 0.87–0.93 for the three subscales). Intra-class correlation for the three subscales ranged between 0.88 to 0.93 revealing test–retest to be satisfactory. Convergent validity between the BIRS-S and SF-36 Physical Composite Score was − 0.68 for BIRS-S total. Convergent validity between the BIRS-S and SF-36 Mental Composite Score was − 0.65 for BIRS-S total. Inter-item analysis revealed the correlation between the original BIRS and the BIRS –S to be 0.98 for all three subscales. The new items correlated with the original BIRS ranging from 0.51 to 0.81 and with the BIRS-S ranging between 0.62 and 0.81. Conclusion. The BIRS-S demonstrates satisfactory test–retest reliability and validity according to the primary hypothesis of a moderate correlation to SF-36. It is not a new scale but an adapted version of the original instrument including specific areas of importance for Swedish breast cancer survivors.


A small coryneform bacterium was consistently isolated from sugarcane with ratoon stunting disease and shown to be the causal agent. A similar bacterium was isolated from Bermuda grass. Both strains multiplied in sugarcane and Bermuda grass, but the Bermuda grass strain did not incite the symptoms of ratoon stunting disease in sugarcane. Shoot growth in Bermuda grass was retarded by both strains.


Inadequate nightly sleep duration can impair daytime functioning, including interfering with attentional and other cognitive processes. Current models posit that attention is a complex function regulated by several separate, but interacting, neural systems responsible for vigilance, orienting, and executive control. However, it is not clear to what extent each of these underlying component processes is affected by sleep loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute sleep restriction on these attentional components using the Dalhousie Computerized Attention Battery (DalCAB). DalCAB tasks were administered to healthy women (aged 19–25 years) on two consecutive mornings: once after a night with 9 h time in bed (TIB), and once again after either another night with 9 h TIB (control condition, n = 19) or after a night with 3 h TIB (sleep restriction condition, n = 20). Self-ratings of sleepiness and mood were also obtained following each sleep condition. Participants showed increases in self-reported sleepiness and fatigue after the second night only in the sleep restriction group. Sleep restriction primarily affected processing speed on tasks measuring vigilance; however, performance deficits were also observed on some measures of executive function (e.g., go/no-go task, flanker task, working memory). Tasks assessing orienting of attention were largely unaffected. These results indicate that acute sleep restriction has differential effects on distinct components of attention, which should be considered in modeling the impacts of sleep loss on the underlying attentional networks.


To THE EDITOR: The article by Scott and Phillips' is based on the assumption that I argued for Australian acute hospitals to be manned by full-time "hospitalists",? This is not true. I referred to the "hospitalists" model which is used in American hospitals and made no statement supporting its implementation in this country. There are many other errors in Scott and Phillips' article. Few, if any, emergency physicians and intensive care physicians in this country would be interested in nonacute general hospital care of patients. Nor would doctors of either specialty involved in general hospital care take kindly to being referred to as "intensivists". The major thrust of my article was the changing nature of acute hospitals and the increasing problem of seriously ill patients receiving substandard care, resulting in preventable deaths, cardiac arrests and admission to intensive care.> I suggested that system-wide approaches to these problems, such as the medical emergency team, may decrease their incidence. One of Scott and Phillips' main themes seems to be based on the premise that these problems will be solved by continuing to practise the way we have, and perhaps increasing the role of general physicians in hospitals. This mayor may not be successful. However, as they have pointed out with other proposals, we would need to see the results of carefully conducted research. We would also need to be assured that the general physicians are trained in the theory and practice of acute resuscitation and are available within minutes for their rapidly deteriorating and seriously ill patients in hospitals. Personally, I believe we can only improve our care of the seriously ill by imp lementating better systems which operate 24 hours a day rather than relying on individuals, whether they be general physicians or hospitalists.


This paper presents the results from experimental study on the actual behavior of header end-plate connections. To better understand the hysteretic behavior of these connections in terms of the stiffness and the strength, sixteen specimens were considered and subjected to cyclic loads. The effect of some parameters such as thickness of the header end-plate, depth of the connection and the number of bolt rows on the behavior of header end-plate connections has been investigated by the help of experimental tests and finite element (FE) analyses. The moment-rotation relations of the connections governed by three parameters such as, initial stiffness, moment capacity and rotation capacity were obtained. Results revealed that the moment capacity increases with the increase in end-plate thickness and depth of connection. However, for the equal connection depth, increasing the number of bolt rows has not influenced the connection behavior remarkably.


As a significant stratum of film audiences, adolescents are often more susceptible to influence by film characters. Motivated by the question of what types of role models are presented to Iranian adolescents via the medium of cinema, we aim to study Narges Abyar's 2013 film Track 143 (Shiyar 143 2013) to figure out how the rhetorical mechanisms of the film persuade adolescent audiences to identify with the protagonist and imitate the positive aspects of the main character as their role model. To this end, we draw on the visual rhetorical method as our analytical framework and employ Albert Bandura's notion of observational learning to interpret the data. We hope to identify the rhetorical techniques employed effectively in Track 143 for persuading adolescent girls to follow a female protagonist of their own choosing as their role model. According to our findings, the film does not rely on logos or discursive reasoning. In this sense, the female protagonist overcomes her problems not through her own personal characteristics, which could have been taken up by female adolescent audiences, but through merely random and miraculous incidents.


ABSTRACT Dermanyssus gallinae, also known as the poultry red mite (PRM), is a blood-feeding ectoparasite of poultry and sylvatic birds. This mite is endemic in many parts of the globe and poses a threat to the egg industry, while compromising the health and welfare of hens, both directly and as a vector of diseases. In addition, people attacked by D. gallinae may develop gamasoidosis. Despite the high prevalence in several European countries, epidemiological information on D. gallinae in Portugal is scarce. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and infestation levels in laying farms in Portugal and evaluate the perception and attitudes of producers regarding D. gallinae. A survey was performed between August 2016 – November 2017, which included 24 farms in the NUTS2 regions Centro and Norte. Mites were sampled with corrugated cardboard traps and the perception and attitudes of farmers regarding the PRM were evaluated with the European COREMI questionnaire prepared by WG 1 of the COST action FA1404. D. gallinae was detected in 95.8% of farms (95% CI: 79.8–99.3%). The average number of trapped mites among farms was 5200 ± 16,522, with a median of 359 mites (interquartile range = 46–3135). Results from the questionnaire show that insufficient monitoring, under-detection and late and suboptimal treatment may contribute to the maintenance of significant infestation levels. The present data highlight the need for adequate monitoring of D. gallinae, timely action and effective treatment in order to improve poultry productivity and ensure human and animal health and welfare. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS A survey on the prevalence of D. gallinae in Portuguese layer farms is presented The perceived importance of D. gallinae was assessed with a questionnaire D. gallinae was detected in 95.8% of farms The results emphasize the need for adequate monitoring and treatment optimization.


A single field study was established to evaluate the effects of planting date (PD) on the yield and fiber quality characteristics of several cotton varieties commonly grown in the Upper Gila River Valley of Safford. Eight varieties selected for evaluation in 2003 ranged from medium to medium-full varieties. These varieties included two Delta and Pine varieties (DP555BR and DP655BR), two Fiber Max varieties (FM989BR and FM991BR), two Stoneville varieties (ST5303R and ST5599BR), one CPCSD variety (Riata), and one variety from the Arizona Cotton Growers Association breeding program (AG3601). These eight varieties were planted on three separate planting dates (1 April, 23 April, and 12 May; 341, 525, and 779 heat units accumulated after January 1, respectively) in a split-plot within a randomized complete block design with four replications. Overall analysis of variance revealed significant differences due to main effects (PD; OSL=0.00043), sub effects (variety; OSL=0.0029), and interaction effects (PD*variety; OSL=0.0266). Extremely cool conditions surrounding the first PD resulted in significantly lower yields that the other two planting dates. Yields for PD 1 ranged from 506 lbs. lint/acre to about 850 lbs. lint/acre with DP555BR producing the highest and CPCSD Riata producing the lowest yield. Conditions surrounding the second PD were much improved over PD 1. However, soil temperatures still hovered near to and below the optimum temperature of 65 o F. Yields were dramatically higher in PD 2 when compared to PD 1, ranging from a low of 847 lbs. lint/acre (AG3601) to 1139 lbs. lint/acre (FM991BR). PD 3 resulted in the best conditions for seedling emergence and stand establishment and produced the highest yield. Yields ranged from a low of 945 lbs. lint/acre (CPCSD Riata) to 1465 lbs. lint/acre (FM991BR). Fiber quality data demonstrated a couple of interesting trends. Micronaire tended to increase with later plantings for most varieties while fiber length had an inverse relationship with PD. Micronaire levels tended to be high enough to be discounted for every variety in at least one and usually two PDs, except for Riata. Riata had the lowest micronaire, and the longest and strongest fiber grades. These results are consistent with other evaluations of the high fiber quality associated with many of the California Acala varieties. However, relatively lower yields for this variety currently make it an unsuitable variety for this region despite the high fiber quality. Results from this evaluation demonstrate the importance of monitoring soil temperature and keeping a close eye on local weather forecasts when making planting date decisions regardless of the calendar date.


A numerical model was developed to analyze radioniclide transport within saturated fractured rock that accounts for the effect of nonlinear kinetic sorption of radionuclides on groundwater colloids. The interactions between radionuclides and colloids are assumed to be nonlinear and kinetic, while sorption of radionuclides on fracture surfaces and in rock matrix is described by a sorption distribution coefficient. Colloids may move with a velocity that is higher than the mean groundwater velocity. However, as there are insufficient data with which to assign a priori colloid velocity, we use a theoretical model based on hydrodynamic chromatography to evaluate the colloid velocity within a single fracture. Calculation results show that external surface forces acting on colloids could alter both the mobility of colloids and the host population of radionuclides in groundwater. The results also indicate that colloid-facilitated transport occurs depending on colloid concentration. Moreover, a simple two-member radionuclide decay chain is assumed and incorporated into the kinetic model.


The purpose of this study was to determine the occurrence of candida species in women referred to gynecology clinics (Tehran, Iran) with symptoms of vaginal candidiasis.150 vaginal swabs were collected from women with vaginal candidiasis. Then samples were cultured on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar for morphologic analysis. Genomic DNA of all clinical samples were extracted by glass bead and lysis buffer. PCR was performed to amplify ITS1- 5.8SITS2 in candida genome using universal primers. For final identification of candida species the PCR-RFLP was done. The result of this study showed that there were candida species in vagina of 110(73%) of the patients and four species of candida were identified. By using molecular method including: Candida albicans(87.2%), Candida labrata(10%), Candida tropicalis(1.8%) and Candida parapsilosis. (1%). According to our results however C. albicans was the most frequently isolated species (82.2%), nowadays the occurrence of the other non-albicans isolates such as Candida glabrata is increasing in vaginal candidiasis. The identification of candida species in vaginal candidiasis due to developing antifungal resistance is very significant for appropriate treatment and to prevent the spread of recurrent candidiasis in women.


Author(s): Orrico, Laura Ann | Advisor(s): Timmermans, Stefan; Ortiz, Vilma | Abstract: In this article-based dissertation I present four distinct – but interrelated – articles to expose the social life of a public marketplace. Drawing on over four years of ethnographic data, I present the experience of a group of marginalized entrepreneurs who independently generate income along the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Using an interactionist approach, I reveal the ground level processes through which people turn an otherwise everyday pathway into a place from which to make a living. In the first substantive chapter, I expose the participatory nature of public space regulation, shifting the way we link regulation to democratic participation and how we think about the 'publicness' of space. In the second substantive chapter, I locate a process of building, maintaining, and protecting trust in everyday interaction to expose the particular interactional work that trust does to manage workplace needs. In the next chapter, I present three ways of 'working' and 'intoxicating' – taking a break from work, working to intoxicate, and intoxicating out of work – to demonstrate how these different relationships become interrelated in a social ecology of work on the Boardwalk. Finally, I uncover the way in which workplace interactions are shaped by situated gender dynamics and expose the way 'intimacy' unfolds in this male-dominated marketplace. Throughout the dissertation, my analysis focuses on the importance of daily tensions. In a place known for its diversity, I locate commonality. In a place where homelessness, drug and alcohol dependency, and mental health problems flourish – I show work is sustained. In a place where people talk of suspicion and individualism – I uncover trust. In a space open to all – I reveal inclusion and exclusion. As a site of ongoing conflict and contestation, I show both fragility and endurance. This dissertation therefore highlights the way people make space their own – as they carve out a living, build a community, and live their lives.


Tartrazine was examined as a possible replacement marker for rhodamine B in the Livestock Protection Collar. Test solutions were formulated in six combinations; tartrazine at 0.5% and 1.07. concentrations, with and without compound 1080, and with and without nigrosin black. Each solution was examined for persistence of color in the laboratory and when applied to the wool of dried sheep hide. Hide pieces were allowed to weather naturally or were sprinkled to simulate rain. Tartrazine alone was also tested at concentrations of 0.5% and 1.0% on the necks of sheep. Over a 3—month period, no fading was noted in the laboratory for any test solution. When applied to wool, no loss of color was attributed to 1080 or nigrosin black and no long-term advantage was detected for a 1.0% over a 0.5% tartrazine solution, except on the sprinkled pieces. Tartrazine usually provided an identifiable mark on the wool of dried hides and on live sheep for 1 to 2+ months, depending on test conditions. Tartrazine is an acceptable replacement for rhodamine B in the Livestock Protection Collar.


Due to their large extent and high primary productivity, tropical dry forests (TDF) are important contributors to atmospheric carbon exchanges in subtropical and tropical regions. In northwest Mexico, a bimodal precipitation regime that includes winter precipitation derived from Pacific storms and summer precipitation from the North American monsoon (NAM) couples water availability with ecosystem processes. We investigated the net ecosystem production of a TDF ecosystem using a 4.5 year record of water and carbon fluxes obtained from the eddy covariance method complemented with remotely sensed data. We identified a large CO2 efflux at the start of the summer season that is strongly related to the preceding winter precipitation and greenness. Since this CO2 efflux occurs prior to vegetation green‐up, we infer that respiration is mainly due to decomposition of soil organic matter accumulated from the prior growing season. Overall, ecosystem respiration has an important effect on the net ecosystem production but can be overwhelmed by the strength of the primary productivity during the NAM. Precipitation characteristics during NAM have significant controls on sustaining carbon fixation in the TDF into the fall season. We identified that a threshold of ~350 to 400 mm of monsoon precipitation leads to a switch in the annual carbon balance in the TDF ecosystem from a net source (+102 g C/m2/yr) to a net sink (−249 g C/m2/yr). This monsoonal precipitation threshold is typically exceeded one out of every 2 years. The close coupling of winter and summer periods with respect to carbon fluxes suggests that the annual carbon balance is dependent on precipitation amounts in both seasons in TDF ecosystems.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the original plants of wild medicinal herbs in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province and find out the species of these plants.

METHODS
Based on the field investigation, specimen collection and literature reference, inductive analysis of the wild original plants of Chinese medicinal herbs in Quanzhou City had been carried out.

RESULTS
After investigation, it was discovered that there were 84 families 155 genera 184 species of original plants of Chinese medicinal herbs in Quanzhou City, of which 6 families 7 genera 9 species belonged to pteridophytes; 2 families 2 genera 2 species belonged to gymnosperms; and the rest were angio-sperms. Among the angiosperms, dicotyledons accounted for 62 families 117 genera 139 species; monocotyledons took up 14 families 29 genera 34 species. The plants mentioned above were the original plants of the 186 Chinese medicinal herbs and decoction pieces in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 edition).

CONCLUSION
This paper has explored the wild original plant species of Chinese medicinal herbs in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province to provide not only the basis for the local government's development and utilization of wild Chinese medicinal herbs but also the data for the fourth national survey of Chinese medicinal herb resources.


The development of the word and the rise of acts such as the destruction of worship houses disputes between religious communities and the acts of terrorism can harm the social order that has been well tied by Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. Thus, understanding about "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" is an important thing to be concerned and maintained by all elements of the nation. Because the diversity that has existed in Indonesia is a noble heritage deposited by the predecessors to be continued and maintained. Strengthening Bhinneka Tunggal Ika will be needed to reinforce the identity of Indonesia, and become a unifying media for any different faction to unite and to create the peaceful, secure, and prosperous life.


Artificial Intelligence methods to solve continuous-control tasks have made significant progress in recent years. However, these algorithms have important limitations and still need significant improvement to be used in industry and real-world applications. This means that this area is still in an active research phase. To involve a large number of research groups, standard benchmarks are needed to evaluate and compare proposed algorithms. In this paper, we propose a physical environment benchmark framework to facilitate collaborative research in this area by enabling different research groups to integrate their designed benchmarks in a unified cloud-based repository and also share their actual implemented benchmarks via the cloud. We demonstrate the proposed framework using an actual implementation of the classical mountain-car example and present the results obtained using a Reinforcement Learning algorithm.


Aim: This paper discusses the design and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of a Percutaneous Aor-tic Valve Stent. The aim of this study was to model a percutaneous aortic valve stent and subject it to finite element analysis. The design process was carried out to meet the functional and surgical requirements. Methods and Results: Analysis was done with different materials with loads ranging from 50 kgf/mm² to 73 kgf/mm². These forces were selected because these val-ues are far greater than the normal human blood pressure which ranges from 10kPa to 16kPa. It was also to understand the mechanical behavior of different stent materials under such high pressures. A stent model was generated and its physical, mechanical and behavioral properties were studied. Finite element analysis and simulation of the model enhanced the designer to optimize the geometry suitable for perform-ance during and after implantation. The design objective for the stent is to have long term du-rability, low thrombogenicity, resistance to mi-gration and paravalvular leak. Conclusion: The analysis performed in this paper may aid in understanding the stent's tolerable pressures ranges in comparison with the physiological pressures exerted by the heart and cardiac blood flow during abnormal cardiovascular conditions.


Introduction Seafloor topography influences ocean circulation in two basic ways. First, it steers ocean flows. Second, it provides barriers that prevent deep waters from mixing, except within deep passageways that connect ocean basins or in hydraulically controlled overflow regions. This paper explores the impact of both of these processes on ocean circulation. The examples highlighted here were among the broad range of topics explored at a workshop on "Ocean Circulation, Bathymetry, and Climate," held at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in October 2002.


OBJECTIVE
The combination of the high prevalence of problematic substance use and substance use disorders (SUD) with the low rates of spontaneous remission continues to generate interest in the development of novel and efficacious interventions. Theoretically, episodic future thinking (EFT) is capable of targeting various underlying psychological and neurobiological substrates of SUD by traversing various research domain criteria systems.

METHOD
The systematic review examines EFT as a potentially efficacious intervention for problematic substance use and SUD. The review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We examined 46 full-text studies (from 1,238 total records obtained from APA PsycInfo and Pubmed databases and reference list search), which yielded a final sample of 16 studies.

RESULTS
The studies showed heterogeneity in their risk of bias, EFT protocols, and control conditions. Overall, EFT showed benefits in reducing self-reported or task-based substance use-related outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
Future research directions include establishing the feasibility of EFT, examining the generalizability in decreasing real-world substance use, identifying mediators and moderators of EFT outcomes, and determining the sustainability of EFT effects over time. EFT has high potential for dissemination. Limitations and potential for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).


Hot carriers at metal surfaces can drive nonthermal reactions of adsorbates. Characterizing nonequilibrium statistics among various degrees of freedom in an ultrafast time scale is crucial to understand and develop hot carrier-driven chemistry. Here we demonstrate multidimensional vibrational dynamics of carbon monoxide (CO) on Cu(100) along hot-carrier induced desorption studied by using time-resolved vibrational sum-frequency generation with phase-sensitive detection. Instantaneous frequency and amplitude of the CO internal stretching mode are tracked with a subpicosecond time resolution that is shorter than the vibrational dephasing time. These experimental results in combination with numerical analysis based on Langevin simulations enable us to extract nonequilibrium distributions of external vibrational modes of desorbing molecules. Superstatistical distributions are generated with mode-dependent frictional couplings in a few hundred femtoseconds after hot-electron excitation, and energy flow from hot electrons and intermode anharmonic coupling play crucial roles in the subsequent evolution of the non-Boltzman distributions.


This article presents a systematic review of the literature on Digital Scholarship, aimed at better understanding the collocation of this research area at the crossroad of several disciplines and strands of research. The authors analysed 45 articlesin order to draw a picture of research in this area. In the first phase, the articles were classified, and relevant quantitative and qualitative data were analysed. Results showed that three clear strands of research do exist: Digital Libraries, Networked Scholarship and Digital Humanities. Moreover, researchers involved in this research area tackle the problems related to technological uptake in the scholar's profession from different points of view, and define the field in different – often complementary – ways, thus generating the perception of a research area still in need of a unifying vision. In the second phase, authors searched for evidence of the disciplinary contributions and interdisciplinary cohesion of research carried out in this area through the use of bibliometric maps. Results suggest that the area of Digital Scholarship, still in its infancy, is advancing in a rather fragmented way, shaping itself around the above-mentioned strands, each with its own research agenda. However, results from the cross-citation analysis suggest that the Networked Scholarship strand is more cohesive than the others in terms of cross-citations. (Published: 1 December 2016) Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2016, 24 : 32036 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v24.32036


This paper examines the effect of information sharing on supply chain configuration where the market characterized by demand uncertainty. A dynamic multi-stage game theoretic model with incomplete information is employed to capture the sequence of events. Our supply chain consists of two suppliers with exogenous wholesale prices and two retailers, the incumbent and the entrant, with asymmetric demand information. Informed incumbent prefers to conceal its private information from the entrant in order to reap more profits in the market. The channel of information flows is only through the first supplier and the incumbent can supply just from him, but the entrant is free to choose its proper supplier considering the point that the second supplier is uninformed. Our analytical model demonstrates that how the mean demand of the market, wherein our retailers compete, and its relation with the relative wholesale price of the suppliers play crucial role in equilibrium determination. Our results show under which circumstances separation and pooling equilibrium could occur in some range of demand variation. It is also shown that the entrant sometimes prefers to avoid information acquisition by choosing the second supplier and playing Cournot instead of Stackelberg which is more profitable for him in some occasions.