The potential effects of Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) melting on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) and global climate in the 21st century are assessed using the Community Climate System Model version 3 with prescribed rates of GrIS melting. Only when GrIS melting flux is strong enough to be able to produce net freshwater gain in upper subpolar North Atlantic does the MOC weaken further in the 21st century. Otherwise this additional melting flux does not alter the MOC much relative to the simulation without this added flux. The weakened MOC doesn't make the late 21st century global climate cooler than the late 20th century, but does reduce the magnitude of the warming in the northern high latitudes by a few degrees. Moreover, the additional dynamic sea level rise due to this weakened MOC could potentially aggravate the sea level problem near the northeast North America coast.


A company encounters many negative social consequences and persistent problems when it adopts a specific technical structure for an information system (IS). But, why do they continue using it, not wishing to abandon it? This paper uses the functionalist explanation to interpret the contradictory phenomenon through a real case which expects to enhance work efficiency and improve business processes by developing a new IS. During IS development and implementation, the rivalry between IT personnel and users occurs while they closely cooperate. Nevertheless, a shared belief that "IT/IS as the Secret Scroll of Kung Fu", which implies IT/IS with a magic power, has been unexpectedly developed between them. In other words, both divisions believe that IT/IS would be able to solve all unintended problems to be encountered. Therefore, they still kept cooperating to develop IS, and did not admit the failure of IS.


5035 PAKs are a family of serine threonine kinases characterized by a conserved N-terminal domain (CRIB domain) that binds the p21 GTPases, Cdc42 and Rac. The Group I PAKs (PAK1-3) have an autoinhibitory domain, which binds to and inhibits the kinase domain. The binding of Cdc42 and Rac proteins to the CRIB domain blocks this autoinhibitory domain, resulting in autophosphorylation and activation of kinase activity. Group II PAKs (PAK4-6) do not appear to have an autoinhibitory domain as their kinase activities are not activated by the binding of GTP-Cdc42. PAK6 was cloned by our lab, and independently by another lab, as an androgen receptor (AR) interacting protein. PAK6 also binds to the estrogen receptor (ERα) ligand binding domain and binding to both the AR and ERα are hormone independent. PAK6 RNA expression is highest in brain and testis, with lower levels in prostate, breast, and other tissues, but the specific cell types expressing PAK6 and the biological role of the AR and ERα interactions remain to be determined. Our experimental studies using affinity purified PAK6 antibody showed that PAK6 protein is expressed in prostate (LAPC4, LNCaP, CWR22Rv1, and PC3) and breast (HS578T, MDA-MB-231, MCF7, and HCC1937) cancer cell lines. By immunohistochemistry using the affinity purified antibody on tissue arrays, it was found that PAK6 is expressed in normal prostate epithelium (on the membrane) and its expression is increased and more cytoplasmic in many advanced prostate cancers. Our in vitro transfection data using CRIB domain mutants show that PAK6 is targeted to the plasma membrane by its CRIB domain, and that the CRIB domain is not involved in the .activation of PAK6 kinase activity. In contrast, we have recently reported that PAK6 is activated by MKK6 and p38 MAP kinase, suggesting that PAK6 plays a role in the cellular response to stress (Kaur et al., J. Biol. Chem. 2005;280(5):3323-30). We are currently using immunopurification of epitope tagged PAK6 in conjunction with mass spectroscopy to identify PAK6 associated proteins. One potential partner for PAK6 that we recently found by this approach is nucleolin, which is normally expressed in nucleolus, cytoplasm and as well as on the cell membrane. Nucleolin is an RNA binding protein whose activity is increased in response to stress by p38 MAP kinase, suggesting a link to PAK6. We are currently further assessing this interaction and identifying additional PAK6 associated proteins.


Few issues are as topical or controversial as the proposed public private partnership for the London Underground. In Getting Partnerships Going, three leading academics analyse the role that PPPS can play in financing transport investment projects. They discuss the Private Finance Initiative as a financial tool for some projects, but provide an alternative option for investing in London Underground.


On March 13, 2020, the United States declared a national emergency in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Subsequently, states enacted stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and reduce the burden on the U.S. health care system. CDC* and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)† recommended that health care systems prioritize urgent visits and delay elective care to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in health care settings. By May 2020, national syndromic surveillance data found that emergency department (ED) visits had declined 42% during the early months of the pandemic (1). This report describes trends in ED visits for three acute life-threatening health conditions (myocardial infarction [MI, also known as heart attack], stroke, and hyperglycemic crisis), immediately before and after declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic as a national emergency. These conditions represent acute events that always necessitate immediate emergency care, even during a public health emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 10 weeks following the emergency declaration (March 15-May 23, 2020), ED visits declined 23% for MI, 20% for stroke, and 10% for hyperglycemic crisis, compared with the preceding 10-week period (January 5-March 14, 2020). EDs play a critical role in diagnosing and treating life-threatening conditions that might result in serious disability or death. Persons experiencing signs or symptoms of serious illness, such as severe chest pain, sudden or partial loss of motor function, altered mental state, signs of extreme hyperglycemia, or other life-threatening issues, should seek immediate emergency care, regardless of the pandemic. Clear, frequent, highly visible communication from public health and health care professionals is needed to reinforce the importance of timely care for medical emergencies and to assure the public that EDs are implementing infection prevention and control guidelines that help ensure the safety of their patients and health care personnel.


Health authorities are focused on swiftly alleviating the spread of COVID-19 infections to support the overburdened healthcare system and reduce the mortality rates associated with the ongoing pandemic. Across Oman, there are 243 primary healthcare (PHC) clinics that act as the first point of contact for providing a comprehensive range of healthcare services. Further, they provide access to more than 30 programs that are delivered by well-trained primary care staff from different categories. PHCs adopted the strategy of providing healthcare services directly related to positive COVID-19 cases, preventing the likely spread of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers, and reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the community. This review outlines four major challenges that were observed and informally reported by the healthcare workers at PHCs in Oman from January to December 2020. Understanding the nature of these challenges can help health authorities in preparing effectively for any future viral outbreaks and mitigating them in a timely and efficient manner. One of the major challenges faced by PHCs was the reduction in outpatient services from January to December 2020 in comparison with the same time period in the last year. PHCs addressed the main health problems in the community through health promotion, as well as preventive, curative, and rehabilitative services under unusual circumstances. However, there is a need for a modified approach during circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This will help us cope with possible future viral outbreaks in a better manner.


Traditionally, the idealized image of the academician combines the clinical acumen of an Osler, the teaching charisma of a Socrates, and the de novo thinking of an Einstein. More recent realities have made it painfully apparent to most chairs of pediatric departments that the "triple threat" physician/academician is, at best, a rarity. Despite this new "academic morbidity," the chair is expected by deans, boards of trustees or regents, and legislators not only to manage patients well but also to teach the next generation of physicians and generate new knowledge in the process. Although the successes with which this goal can be reached are variable, all those who try have to make certain that financial ends meet if their departments are to survive. Since the halcyon days of more plentiful federal research funding of the 1960s have passed, it is painfully apparent that innovative and unique ways are needed to keep


Abstract. An analysis of flow tilt angles from a fetch-limited beech forest site with clearings is presented in the context of vertical advection of carbon dioxide. Flow angles and vertical velocities from two sonic anemometers by different manufacturers were analyzed. Instead of using rotations, where zero-flow angles were assumed for neutral flow, the data was interpreted in relation to upstream and downstream forest edges. Uncertainties caused by flow distortion, vertical misalignment and limited sampling time (statistical uncertainty) were evaluated and found to be highly significant. Since the attack angle distribution of the wind on the sonic anemometer is a function of atmospheric stratification, an instrumental error caused by imperfect flow distortion correction is also a function of the atmospheric stratification. In addition, it is discussed that the sonic anemometers have temperature dependent off-sets. These features of the investigated sonic anemometers make them unsuitable for measuring vertical velocities over highly turbulent forested terrain. By comparing the sonic anemometer results to that of a conically scanning Doppler lidar (Dellwik et al., 2010b), sonic anemometer accuracy for measuring mean flow tilt angles was estimated to between 2° and 3°. Use of planar fit algorithms, where the mean vertical velocity is calculated as the difference between the neutral and non-neutral flow, does not solve this problem of low accuracy and is not recommended. Because of the large uncertainties caused by flow distortion and vertical alignment, it was only possible to a limited extent to relate sonic anemometer flow tilt angles to upwind forest edges, but the results by the lidar indicated that an internal boundary layer affect flow tilt angles at 21m above the forest. This is in accordance with earlier studies at the site. Since the mean flow tilt angles do not follow the terrain, an estimate of the vertical advection term for near-neutral conditions was calculated using profile measurements of carbon dioxide. The estimated advection term is large, but it is not recommended to include it in the surface carbon balance, unless all terms in the carbon dioxide conservation equation can be precisely estimated.


The synthesis of Leu-enkephalin gene by an alternative approach was described in this paper. The sequence of the synthetic gene, 26 base-pairs in length, was derived from the amino acid sequence of the hormone peptide Leu-enkephalin. It bears single-stranded cohesive termini for the restriction endonucleases EcoR I and BamH I so that it may be inserted into a pBR 322 plasmid. The 4 deoxyoligonucleotide fragments, varying in length from octanucleotide to octadecanucleotide, were synthesized by an improved phosphotriester method developed in our laboratory. All chemically synthetic fragments were pure and had the correct sequences. The assembly of the Leu-enkephalin gene was carried out in a one-step ligation reaction catalysed by T4-DNA ligase with good yield. Finally, the purified products from polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis had the correct joining-points as predicted.


Cultural heritage appears to be a very useful use case for Semantic Web technologies. The domain provides with plenty of circumstances where linkages between different knowledge sources are required to ensure access to rich information and respond to the needs of professionals dealing with cultural heritage content. Semantic Web technologies offer the technological backbone to meet the requirement of integrating heterogeneous data easily, but they are still more adapted to be consumed by computers than by humans, especially non-engineers or developers. This chapter is about a technique which allows interaction in natural language with semantic knowledge bases. The proposed technique offers a method that allows querying a semantic repository in natural language and obtaining results from it as a coherent text. This unique solution includes several steps of transition from natural language to SPARQL and from RDF to coherent multilingual descriptions, using the Grammatical Framework, GF. The approach builds on a semantic knowledge infrastructure in RDF, it is based on OWLIM-SE and the data integration method Reason-able View supplied with an ontological reference layer. The latter is connected via formal rules with abstract representations derived from the syntactic trees of natural language input using the GF resource grammar library.


Members of the semaphorin family have been implicated in mediating axonal guidance in the nervous system by their ability to collapse growth cones and to function as chemorepellents. The present findings show that recombinant Semaphorin D has similar effects on cortical axons and, in addition, inhibits axonal branching. In contrast, semaphorin E acts as an attractive guidance signal for cortical axons. Attractive effects were only observed when growth cones encountered increasing concentrations or a patterned distribution of Semaphorin E, but not when they are exposed to uniform concentrations of this molecule. Specific binding sites for Semaphorin D and Semaphorin E were present on cortical fibers both in vitro and in vivo at the time when corticofugal projections are established. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that the population of cortical neurons used in our experiments express neuropilin-1 and neuropilin-2, which are essential components of receptors for the class III semaphorins. Moreover, semD mRNA was detected in the ventricular zone of the neocortex whereas semE mRNA was restricted to the subventricular zone. Taken together, these results indicate that semaphorins are bifunctional molecules whose effects depend on their spatial distribution. The coordinated expression of different semaphorins, together with their specific activities on cortical axons, suggests that multiple guidance signals contribute to the formation of precise corticofugal pathways.


The fast ever-growing interest in transition metal carbonitrides (MXenes) for energy and catalysis is undermined by the undesirable multi-surficial terminations, which severely limit their applications. In contrast, considering the intriguing and tunable electronic structure, rich surface active sites, and high thermal durability, termination-free MXene (MX) hosts a huge possibility for catalysis. As such, recent advances in the evolution from MAX to MXene, and then to MX are overviewed and compared briefly, before concentrating on the unique future of MX in multi-heterogeneous catalysis. This work also looks beyond the fundamental properties of MX and discusses the potential of such materials for applications in multi-electron redox reactions. It is convinced that the potential success of MX in future catalysis is promising. Further extension toward high entropy and single-atom modifications will consolidate the leading position of MX in catalysis.


A trip-let is an object as shown on the cover of Hofstadter's book Gödel, Escher, Bach: a solid, threedimensional object that, when viewed from three orthogonal directions, shows three different letters. In this paper we consider two problems related to the construction of such objects for a given set of three letters. First, we want to know whether the silhouettes of the object correspond to the letters we used to make the object. Second, we are interested in the connectedness of the final object: does it fall apart during construction? We obtain results on the combinatorial complexity of objects and silhouettes for letters given as general or rectilinear polygons with holes, and give algorithms to solve the problems efficiently for the rectilinear case.


Automobile demand has been widely and extensively investigated because of its effects on many related fields such as travel behavior, public policy and management, and transportation impact analysis. Although its importance has been well perceived in the field of transportation, the models developed frequently emphasize short-term forecasting, and interactions and simultaneity among the endogenous variables are rarely investigated. In addition, a large number of existing models adopt simple regression methods with time-series data. However, the approach may produce inconsistent estimates due to simultaneities of many other endogenous variables. A structural equation model has been constructed to estimate aggregated automobile demand with data from Korea. The model framework includes several endogenous and exogenous variables. The findings show significant interrelationships and simultaneities among automobile demand, driver population, and road length, and all exogenous variables strongly affect the endogenous variables as well. The model can be used as a basis for forecasting future automobile demand.


The probabilistic roadmap (PRM) planner is a popular method for robot motion planning problems with many degrees of freedom. However, it has been shown that the method performs less well in situations where the robot has to pass through a narrow passage in the scene. This is mainly due to the uniformity of the sampling used in the planner; it places many samples in large open regions and too few in tight passages. Cell decomposition methods do not have this disadvantage, but are only applicable in low-dimensional configuration spaces. In this paper, a hybrid technique is presented that combines the strengths of both methods. It is based on a robot independent cell decomposition of the free workspace guiding the probabilistic sampling more toward the interesting regions in the configuration space. The regions of interest (narrow passages) are identified in the cell decomposition using a method we call watershed labeling. It is shown that this leads to improved performance on difficult planning problems in two- and three-dimensional workspaces.


Let $\sigma$ be a random permutation chosen uniformly over the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$. We study a new "process-valued" statistic of $\sigma$, which appears in the domain of computational biology to construct tests of similarity between ordered lists of genes. More precisely, we consider the following "partial sums": $Y^{(n)}_{p,q} = \mathrm{card} \{1 \leq i \leq p : \sigma_i \leq q \}$ for $0 \leq p,q \leq n$. We show that a suitable normalization of $Y^{(n)}$ converges weakly to a bivariate tied down brownian bridge on $[0,1]^2$, i.e. a continuous centered gaussian process $X^{\infty}_{s,t}$ of covariance: $\mathbb{E}[X^{\infty}_{s,t}X^{\infty}_{s',t'}] = (min(s,s')-ss')(min(t,t')-tt')$.


Design competitions offer students an excellent way to gain hands-on experience in engineering and computer science courses. The University of Florida, in partnership with Motorola, has held two mobile computing design competitions. In Spring and Fall 2001, students in Abdelsalam Helal's Mobile Computing class designed killer apps for a Motorola smart phone.


Background: Imatinibmesylate (imatinib) is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor administered to patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Although imatinib-associated interstitial lung disease is uncommon, a few cases have been reported so far. However, in all these cases interstitial lung disease developed during the use of imatinib. The present case is the first report of imatinib-induced interstitial lung disease developing after discontinuation of the drug. Case presentation: A 51-year-old woman was administered oral imatinib for gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Ten weeks later, imatinib was discontinued because of facial edema. On this occasion, chest radiography showed no abnormal findings. However, 2 weeks after discontinuation of imatinib, she developed fever, dry cough, and dyspnea. Chest radiography and computed tomography showed diffuse interstitial infiltrates in both lungs. Examination of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid showed an increased proportion of lymphocytes. Imatinib-induced interstitial lung disease was suspected, because no other cause was evident. After administration of corticosteroids, her clinical condition and chest radiographic findings improved. Conclusion: We report a unique case of imatinib-induced interstitial lung disease that developed 2 weeks after discontinuation of the drug. Physicians should consider occurrence of imatinib-induced interstitial lung disease even after discontinuation of the drug.


The work reported in this dissertation covers one part of a general project--the development of methods for the commercial separation of pure paraffin and naphthene hydrocarbons from petroleum. Pure methane, ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, pentane, and isopentane are now being produced commercially from petroleum. Higher molecular weight paraffins and naphthenes, with the exception of the lower boiling isomeric hexanes, cannot be separated in a pure condition by distillation alone, as is done with the lighter paraffins. Higher hydrocarbons have been isolated on a laboratory scale only by combinations of methods and successive treatments which are not economically suited to commercial practice. The methods which have been used are: distillation at atmospheric and reduced pressure, chemical treatments (nitration, fuming sulfuric and chlorosulfonic acids), azeotropic distillation, fractional crystallization from solvents and/or equilibrium melting, adsorption on silica gel, and solvent extraction


ABSTRACT Rhythmically alternating beds of limestone and shale in pelagic deposits of the Cenomanian-Turonian North American Western Interior Seaway have been widely attributed to climatic cyclicity in the Milankovitch band. Whether these rhythmic beds record cycles of terrigenous dilution or of productivity remains controversial. We present results of a study of early Turonian strata of the Tropic Shale and Tununk Member of the Mancos Shale in southern Utah, aimed at testing the dilution model in a prodeltaic environment within 130 km of the paleoshoreline. The study transect consisted of four localities spaced along a 110 km onshore-offshore transect. In each of the four sections, we studied a stratigraphic interval characterized by beds of limestone or marlstone that alternate with beds of marly shale or calcareous shale. Along the transect, content of quartz sand and coarse silt in each of the beds generally decreases and content of calcium carbonate increases. In each section, quartz sand and coarse silt content varies antithetically with calcium-carbonate content. These observations suggest that the limestone/marlstone beds accumulated during times when rates of terrigenous sediment transport to offshore sites were relatively slow. Conversely, the shaly beds were deposited during times of enhanced terrigenous sediment flux. These ob ervations support the hypothesis that limestone-shale bedding rhythms record wet and dry phases of climate cycles. In Utah, the limestone/marlstone beds contain smaller proportions of mixed-layer illite/smectite clays than do the shaly beds. Climatic cyclicity apparently led to cyclic variations in the proportions of clay minerals supplied to the prodeltaic environments, or to variation in the loci of accumulation of different clay minerals. Analysis of intensity of bioturbation and preservation of fecal pellets also indicates that the limestone/marlstone beds accumulated under more oxic benthic conditions than did the shaly beds. Detailed examination of the alternating beds of limestone/marlstone and shale in southern Utah indicates that the deposits are characterized by a distinctive succession of facies. These deposits are better interpreted as bedding cycles, composed of three gradational lithologies, than as bedding rhythms, composed of two alternating lithologies. Data on grain size and calcium-carbonate content suggest that the bedding cycles correspond to shoaling-upward parasequences that developed in response to small-scale changes in relative sea level. Our study suggests that climatically modulated changes in fresh-water discharge and terrigenous sediment supply were mainly responsible for these sea-level changes and for cyclic variations in benthic oxygenation in prodeltaic environments of the earl Turonian Western Interior Seaway.


Previous studies showed working memory span predicted mathematical performance. However, it was unclear whether working memory span differed amongst children with poorer performances in mathematics (PM), English literacy (PL), or in both areas (PML). 150 Primary 5 pupils participated in the study. Assignment to performance groups was based on two standardised literacy measures and a mathematical problem solving task. Children scoring at or below the 25th percentile were classified as having performed poorly in that area. Working memory capacity was measured using the Working Memory Test Battery for Children. PML had similar working memory profiles as PL, but had lower scores than PM. Children classified as PM had similar profiles as did normally achieving children. These findings suggest children with difficulties in different topic areas may not benefit equally from working memory based intervention.


Clustering, the partitioning of objects with respect to a similarity measure, has been extensively studied as a global optimization problem. We investigate clustering from a game-theoretic approach, and consider the class of hedonic clustering games. Here, a self-organized clustering is obtained via decisions made by independent players, corresponding to the elements clustered. Being a hedonic setting, the utility of each player is determined by the identity of the other members of her cluster. This class of games seems to be quite robust, as it fits with rather different, yet commonly used, clustering criteria. Specifically, we investigate hedonic clustering games in two different models: fixed clustering, which subdivides into k-median and k-center, and correlation clustering. We provide a thorough analysis of these games, characterizing Nash equilibria, and proving upper and lower bounds on the price of anarchy and price of stability. For fixed clustering we focus on the existence of a Nash equilibrium, as it is a rather nontrivial issue in this setting. We study it both for general metrics and special cases, such as line and tree metrics. In the correlation clustering model, we study both minimization and maximization variants, and provide almost tight bounds on both the price of anarchy and price of stability.


The third session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom III) for the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) met at UN Headquarters in New York from 5-16 February 1996, to continue preparations for Habitat II, which will take place from 3-14 June 1996, in Istanbul, Turkey. Among the outstanding organizational issues addressed were NGO and local authority accreditation and financial resources. Negotiations on the draft Statement of Principles and Commitments and the Global Plan of Action (GPA) commenced at PrepCom III. The session was limited by both financial and time constraints. Lack of translation services precluded the possibility of informal night and weekend sessions. Delegates also spent a considerable amount of time debating issues unique to Habitat II's process, such as NGO participation in informal sessions. Substantive debates related to Habitat II included whether to identify a "right to housing" and the role of UNCHS in follow-up. Additional debates focused on issues discussed at previous UN conferences, such as "sustainable development," "equal" and "equity," and "gender." The volume and disparity of new proposals also resulted in lengthy discussions over the need for and availability of drafting groups. During the final days of negotiation, three Subgroups of Working Group II (the negotiating body for the text) and several informal negotiating bodies operated simultaneously. One section of the text, regarding capacity building, still has not been addressed in a first reading. The closing Plenary ran out of translation time before it could approve reports on all sections of the negotiated text. The combined effect of these factors resulted in the output of PrepCom III: a slightly improved but heavily bracketed text for Istanbul.


Efficiency of diesel engine is about 35-40 % remaining energy go waste. Maximum energy wastes in exhaust. In diesel engine 30-32% energy go waste in exhaust. So it is important to recover energy from exhaust.
Approximately 15% of all the electricity produced in the whole world is employed for refrigeration and air conditioning system. During recent years research aimed at the development of technologies that can offer reductions in energy consumption, peak electrical demand and energy costs without lowering the desired level of comfort conditions has intensified. By reason that absorption refrigeration technologies have the advantage that the peaks of requirements with the availability of the waste heat. My aim is to recover heat from exhaust gas and use it for absorption refrigeration system (Electrolux refrigeration system).


The invention relates to a polyethylene moulding compound having a multimodal molecular weight distribution which has an overall density of >=0.940 g/cm and an MFI190/5 in the range from 0.01 to 10 dg/min. The moulding compound according to the invention comprises an amount of from 30 to 60% by weight of low-molecular-weight ethylene homopolymer A which has a viscosity number VNA in the range from 40 to 150 cm /g, an amount of from 30 to 65% by weight of high-molecular-weight copolymer B comprising ethylene and a further olefin having from 4 to 10 carbon atoms which has a viscosity number VNB in the range from 150 to 800 cm /g, and an amount of from 1 to 30% by weight of ultrahigh-molecular-weight ethylene homopolymer C which has a viscosity number VNC in the range from 900 to 3000 cm /g.The invention also relates to a method for the production of the moulding compound in a three-step process, and to the use thereof for the production of hollow articles.


In their recent efforts to uncover the social structural causes of pollution, sociologists have explored the environmental effects of such factors as urbanization, modernization, class hierarchies, long economic cycles, and the world-system. However, they have yet to study what some consider to be the most intensive and effective environmental destroyer of all—organizations—and the effects of their structures. This paper proposes a new line of research that focuses on whether variations in pollution rates are associated with variations in organizational characteristics. As a first step toward developing this new approach, the authors investigate the effects of the organizational size of chemical plants on the rate of toxic emissions. Using data from the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory, results show that large chemical plants emit toxins at a significantly higher rate than do small plants, especially if they are embedded in a wider corporate structure (i.e., they are also branch plants or owned by a major firm). Implications for future research on the structural determinants of pollution are discussed.


Dividing the guidance stages into two main phases, a midcourse phase and a terminal phase, is a common practice in long range interceptions. The Midcourse Guidance (MCG) task is to keep the interceptor on an optimal trajectory under various problem constraints toward a Predicted Interception Point (PIP), whereas the Terminal Guidance (TG) task is to hit the target. This study develops a novel near-optimal spatial midcourse guidance to the PIP under a terminal angular constraint. The angular constraint is formulated in terms of a required difference between the interceptor and the target flight directions at impact. The article consists of two main parts: the planar case and the spatial case. The first part revisits the linear planar guidance problem with a terminal angular constraint between the velocities. Then a non-linear optimal control problem is solved numerically, either by minimizing the total squared acceleration, or by maximizing the total terminal energy. Finally, a new closed loop guidance law is proposed, with performances matching the optimal results for the non-linear case. The results were examined for various aerodynamic models. The second part extends the new guidance law to the spatial case, by determining the preferred spatial maneuver plane based on energy considerations. The proposed law is demonstrated for two important special cases: the arrival with an angular constraint of 90 0 and with the angular constraint of 0 0 (Head-On arrival).


To characterize the renal handling of protein in diabetics, the 24-h total protein excretion (Shevky-Stafford method), as well as urinary excretion, plasma concentration, and clearance of each of 17 proteins (radial immunodiffusion technique) were determined in 25 nondiabetic and 31 diabetic Pima Indians and in 25 nondiabetic Caucasians. Determination of 24-h total protein excretion demonstrated similar levels in nondiabetic Pimas [8.6 mg/24 h (median), 5.0-18.0 mg/24 h (95% confidence interval)] and nondiabetic Caucasians [10.1 mg/24 h, 7.0-24.0 mg/24 h] but significantly elevated levels in Pima diabetics [41.0 mg/24 h, 24.0-163.0 mg/24 h]. Total protein excretion was significantly greater among those with diabetes of 10 or more yr duration with retinopathy [163.0 mg/24 h, 24.0-436.0 mg/24 h] and those with recent onset of diabetes [39.5 mg/24 h, 24.7-81.0 mg/24 h], whereas long-duration diabetics without retinopathy [11.5 mg/24 h, 6.7-29.0 mg/24 h] and nondiabetic Pimas had similar values. Mean blood pressure and fasting plasma glucose levels were positively correlated with total protein excretion in the diabetic Pimas. Measurable quantities of only 9 of the 17 individual proteins were detected in the urine in more than 50% of all nondiabetic and diabetic subjects. They were β2- microglobulin, β2-glycoprotein I, α1-acid glycoprotein, α2 HS-glycoprotein, α1-antitrypsin, albumin, hemopexin, transferrin, and IgG. The excretions and clearances ofthese proteins were comparable in nondiabetic Pimas and Caucasians. Compared with nondiabetic Pimas, diabetics had significantly higher clearance and excretion of each of these proteins, except β2-microglobulin (mol. wt. = 11,600) and α-glycoprotein I (mol.wt. = 40,000). Long-duration diabetics with retinopathy and recent-onset diabetics both had significantly elevated clearance and excretion of the same proteins. In contrast, long-duration diabetics without retinopathy had significant increases of clearance and excretion only of hemopexin, transferrin, and IgG. The IgG/transferrin clearance ratios were not significantly different among the nondiabetic and diabetic groups. The other eight proteins were detected in the urine in measurable quantities in less than 50% of all subjects. These were prealbumin, gc-globulin, antithrombin III, plasminogen, haptoglobin, C3 activator, C4- component, and C3-component. While for statistical reasons, clearance data could not be analyzed for these proteins, a significantly higher percentage of diabetic Pimas had detectable excretion of these proteins except for C3 activator. In conclusion, diabetics, even of recent onset, have increased urinary excretion and clearance of proteins with a molecular weight greater than 40,000 compared with nondiabetics. This increased glomerular permeability appears to be nonselective for the larger proteins and can be detected shortly after the onset of diabetes. It might be predictive of the development of more severe renal disease after longer duration of diabetes.


Recent advances in communication and networking technologies are leading to a plethora of novel wireless services that range from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication to smart cognitive networks and massive Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Enabling these emerging applications over the fifth generation (5G) of wireless cellular systems requires meeting numerous challenges pertaining to spectrum sharing and management. In fact, most 5G applications will be highly reliant on intelligent spectrum management techniques, which should adapt to dynamic network environments while also guaranteeing high reliability and high quality-of-experience (QoE). In this context, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques that include deep learning, convolutional neural networks, and reinforcement learning, among many others, is expected to play a very important role in paving the way towards truly AI-driven spectrum management, thus enabling tomorrow's smart city services. Therefore, it has become imperative to investigate and apply AI techniques to solve emerging spectrum management problems in various wireless networks. This includes leveraging AI to address a wide range of wireless networking challenges ranging from network management to dynamic spectrum sharing and resource management.


The paper's thesis is that recent scholarly claims that a general right to asylum now exists are unfounded. The legal arguments underpinning the claim are twofold. First it is said that even states not bound by relevant conventions are nonetheless required by customary international law to honor the duty of non-refoulement in relation to refugees and others facing the prospect of serious harm. Second, the lex specialis principle is invoked to argue that all persons entitled to protection against refoulement (not just refugees) must be granted all of the refugee-specific entitlements codified in the Refugee Convention. Taken together, the two claims amount to an assertion that there is today a legally binding and universally applicable right to asylum for all seriously at-risk persons. Although both claims have normative appeal, the author contends that as a matter of international law they are conceptually flawed. Taking account of relevant ICJ jurisprudence, the paper argues that there is neither opinio juris nor relatively consistent state practice to support the putative duty of non-refoulement. And even if there were such a norm in customary international law, the lex specialis principle exists only to resolve normative conflict, not to fill a normative void, and therefore affords no basis for the attribution to non-refugees of Refugee Convention rights. In short, there is no leveraged right to asylum.


Abstract Betahistine is a medicine used to treat vestibular disorders that has also been used to treat tinnitus. Aim To assess the effects of betahistine on tinnitus in patients with vestibular disorders. Material and method Retrospective data were collected from patient records for individuals presenting with vestibular dysfunction and tinnitus. Patients included had received betahistine 48 mg/day and clinical outcomes were compared with a control group comprising individuals who were unable to receive betahistine due to gastritis, ulcers, pregnancy, asthma or hypersensitivity to the drug. Patients underwent control of any aggravating factors and also standard vestibular exercises as a basis for treatment. The intensity, frequency and duration of tinnitus were assessed on the first day of dosing and after 120 days of treatment. Clinical improvement was defined as a total or partial reduction of tinnitus after treatment. Results Clinical improvement was observed in 80/262 (30.5%) of patients treated with betahistine and 43/252 (17.1%) of control patients. Betahistine significantly (p<0.0001) improved tinnitus in treated individuals. Conclusion The daily dosage of 48 mg of betahistine during 120 consecutive days is useful to reduce or eliminate tinnitus in patients with vestibular disorders.


Recent research suggests differences between bimodal bilinguals, who are fluent in a spoken and a signed language, and unimodal bilinguals, who are fluent in two spoken languages, in regard to the architecture and processing patterns within the bilingual language system. In this chapter, we discuss ways in which sign languages are represented and processed and examine recent research on bimodal bilingualism. It is suggested that sign languages display processing characteristics similar to spoken languages, such as the existence of a sign counterpart to phonological priming and the existence of a visual-spatial loop analogous to a phonological loop in working memory. Given the similarities between spoken and signed languages, we consider how they may interact in bimodal bilinguals, whose two languages differ in modality. Specifically, we consider the way in which bimodal bilingual studies may inform current knowledge of the bilingual language processing system, with a particular focus on top-down influences, and the fast integration of information from separate modalities. Research from studies looking at both production and perception suggests that bimodal bilinguals, like unimodal bilinguals, process their languages in parallel, with simultaneous access to both lexical and morphosyntactic elements. However, given the lack of overlap at the phonological level (the presumed initial locus of parallel activation in unimodal studies) in bimodal bilinguals' two languages, we conclude that there are key differences in processing patterns and architecture between unimodal and bimodal language systems. The differences and similarities between unimodal and bimodal bilinguals are placed in the context of current models of bilingual language processing, which are evaluated on the basis of their ability to explain the patterns observed in bimodal bilingual studies. We propose ways in which current models of bilingual language processing may be altered in order to accommodate results from bimodal bilingualism. We conclude that bimodal bilingualism can inform the development of models of bilingual language processing, and provide unique insights into the interactive nature of the bilingual language system in general. Anthony Shook and Viorica Marian 2 "The analytic mechanisms of the language faculty seem to be triggered in much the same ways, whether the input is auditory, visual, even tactual..." -Noam Chomsky (2000, p. 100-101)


In this paper, a new approach to the image retrieval problem is presented, that uses edge potential functions (EPF) and genetic algorithms (GA). The method allows a user to draw a rough sketch of the shape and to find or rank the images in a database that contain a similar shape at any position, rotation and scaling factor. It is explained how GAs allow to exploit the capability of EPFs to attract a sketch contour as a result, the algorithm provides the set of geometrical transformations corresponding to the best match, and a confidence factor about the presence of a matching object. The method has been widely tested achieving very satisfactory results.


The Zouzan area is located in the SE of Torbat-e- Heydarieh city (NE Iran). This area is located on north part of the Lut block which consists of basaltic andesite, tuff and porphyritic andesite. The purpose of this research is to investigate the enrichment of metal elements in the Zouzan area and provide a metallic geochemical model. For this purpose, 488 stream samples were analyzed using by ICP-MS. The results were interpreted using staged factor analysis to determine the components that are rich in the study area. However, Concentration-Number (C-N) fractal modeling was used for interpretation of these data and presenting a final model. The results of this study indicate the concentration of anomalies of the Au, Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn as main elements in the central, NE and SW of the Zouzan area. Moreover, results obtained by the staged factor analysis shows the elements of the specified components by this method that enriched together in the study area. The place of enrichment is in the central NE and SW parts of the study area.


Introduction Rapid-response teams (RRTs) are interdisciplinary groups created to rapidly assess and treat patients with unexpected clinical deterioration marked by decline in vital signs. Traditionally emergency department (ED) disposition is partially based on the patients' vital signs (VS) at the time of hospital admission. We aimed to identify which patients will have RRT activation within 12 hours of admission based on their ED VS, and if their outcomes differed. Methods We conducted a case-control study of patients presenting from January 2009 to December 2012 to a tertiary ED who subsequently had RRT activations within 12 hours of admission (early RRT activations). The medical records of patients 18 years and older admitted to a non-intensive care unit (ICU) setting were reviewed to obtain VS at the time of ED arrival and departure, age, gender and diagnoses. Controls were matched 1:1 on age, gender, and diagnosis. We evaluated VS using cut points (lowest 10%, middle 80% and highest 10%) based on the distribution of VS for all patients. Our study adheres to the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) guidelines for reporting observational studies. Results A total of 948 patients were included (474 cases and 474 controls). Patients who had RRT activations were more likely to be tachycardic (odds ratio [OR] 2.02, 95% CI [1.25–3.27]), tachypneic (OR 2.92, 95% CI [1.73–4.92]), and had lower oxygen saturations (OR 2.25, 95% CI [1.42–3.56]) upon arrival to the ED. Patients who had RRT activations were more likely to be tachycardic at the time of disposition from the ED (OR 2.76, 95% CI [1.65–4.60]), more likely to have extremes of systolic blood pressure (BP) (OR 1.72, 95% CI [1.08–2.72] for low BP and OR 1.82, 95% CI [1.19–2.80] for high BP), higher respiratory rate (OR 4.15, 95% CI [2.44–7.07]) and lower oxygen saturation (OR 2.29, 95% CI [1.43–3.67]). Early RRT activation was associated with increased healthcare utilization and worse outcomes including increased rates of ICU admission within 72 hours (OR 38.49, 95%CI [19.03–77.87]), invasive interventions (OR 5.49, 95%CI [3.82–7.89]), mortality at 72 hours (OR 4.24, 95%CI [1.60–11.24]), and mortality at one month (OR 4.02, 95%CI [2.44–6.62]). Conclusion After matching for age, gender and ED diagnosis, we found that patients with an abnormal heart rate, respiratory rate or oxygen saturation at the time of ED arrival or departure are more likely to trigger RRT activation within 12 hours of admission. Early RRT activation was associated with higher mortality at 72 hours and one month, increased rates of invasive intervention and ICU admission. Determining risk factors of early RRT activation is of clinical, operational, and financial importance, as improved medical decision-making regarding disposition would maximize allocation of resources while potentially limiting morbidity and mortality.


Gafat is now a desolate spot located a few kilometers Northeast of Dabra Tabor, capital of South Gondar. Some one hundred and fifty years ago, it was a busy village. It was there that Emperor Tewodros II (1855 to 1868) set up his foundry to produce modern arms. Gafat did witness the production of many mortars including the largest one named "Sebastopol." The purpose of this study is to evaluate the modernization policy of Emperor Tewodros. The paper also tries to explain why that technology failed to take root in Ethiopia. The author has examined both primary and secondary sources to conduct a historical investigation on Tewodros's attempts at modernization. The author has also paid personal visits to the Gafat village twice. During the second visit in September 2015, he managed to locate the place where the blast furnace was set up to produce mortars. In addition, attempts have been made to critically evaluate and reinterpret available documents. The main findings of this paper show that Tewodros was trying to implement "translative" adaptation of western technology   in order to modernize his army. However, the objective condition of the country at the time did not allow the realization of Tewodros's dreams.

 Key words: Gafat, craftsmen, military technology, missionaries, mortars, modernization.


Most evolutionary game theory models solve for equilibrium levels of some behaviour on the restrictive assumptions that players choose their actions simultaneously, and that a player cannot change its action after observing that of its opponent. An alternative framework is provided by sequential or 'Stackelberg' games in which one player commits to a 'first move' and the other has an opportunity to observe this move before choosing its response. Recent interest in the economic literature has focused on Stackelberg games which exhibit 'endogenous timing', i.e. games in which a leader and a follower arise spontaneously as a consequence of each player attempting to maximize its reward. Here, we provide the first demonstration of endogenous timing in an evolutionary context using a simple model of resource competition (the 'tugof-war' model). We show that whenever two related individuals compete for a share of communal resources, both do best to adopt distinct roles in a sequential game rather than engage in simultaneous competition. Somewhat counterintuitively, the stable solution is for the weaker individual to act as leader and commit to a first move, because this arrangement leads to a lower total effort invested in competition. Endogenous timing offers a new explanation for the spontaneous emergence of leaders and followers in social groups, and highlights the benefits of commitment in social interaction.


This dissertation presents results of a medical image analysis project leading towards development of a comprehensive set of methods and tools for computational image analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) breast magnetic resonance image (MRI), with the aim to aid the physician in interpreting DCE breast MRI examinations. Toward this goal, we developed image analysis methods that would be needed in a breast MRI computer aided diagnosis (CADx) system. A novel contribution of this dissertation is the performance evaluation for each of the major algorithm components developed in this dissertation project. This dissertation begins with reviewing breast imaging techniques, including routinely used modalities in current clinical practice and emerging techniques still in development. We discuss at length the principles of DCE breast MRI, a very sensitive breast imaging modality that has been increasingly used in clinical practice. Then we review the diagnostic guidelines for interpreting DCE breast MRI, and explain the needs and challenges that arise in developing computational image analysis system for breast MRI applications. In this dissertation project, both the morphological and kinetic features of the lesion are automatically extracted for diagnostic purpose. In order to extract morphological features from the segmented lesions, the lesion needs to be accurately segmented out from its surrounding tissues. We utilized a probabilistic method to obtain an optimal segmentation map based on several algorithmic segmentation outputs. In evaluating the performance of segmentation algorithms, we compared the algorithmic segmentation results against manually segmented lesions, and further assessed the segmentation impact on subsequent classification stage. In order to extract accurate kinetic information, the motion needs to be compensated across image volumes acquired sequentially. In this dissertation, we comparatively assessed the similarity metric in registering DCE breast MR images. The performance of cross correlation(CC) coefficient, and mutual information (MI) were studied in both rigid and non-rigid registration schemes. Numerical results and statistical properties were reported. The resultant image quality after registration is discussed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this dissertation we implemented a classification system based upon quantitative morphological and kinetic features in improving the specificity of breast MRI. Morphological and kinetic features of the lesion were extracted automatically, and then the feature selection step was utilized to select the most relevant features to maximize the classifier performance. In our study, the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) is used as the performance metric of the classifier, and our results are competitive with those of previous studies. The dissertation concludes by summarizing the contribution of this project and suggesting the future directions of quantitative and highly automated approaches to breast MR image analysis.


Pro-inflammatory cytokines (CYT) lead to several changes in human islet (HI) protein expression, but few data are available on CYT-induced alterations at the whole proteome level, including post-translational modifications (PTM). We used label-free shotgun analysis (SG) and bi-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) to explore how CYT modify the proteome of isolated HI. For this purpose, HI were isolated from the pancreas of 5 nondiabetic organ donors (age: 74±6 years; gender: 3M/2F; BMI: 27.9±3.6 kg/m2) and then cultured for 48h in the presence of 50 U/ml interleukin (IL)-1β + 1000 U/ml interferon (IFN)-γ. Then, 40 or 250 μg protein extracts were used respectively for SG or 2DE (to assess lysine-acetylation) analysis, with the SG mass spectrometry data acquired by nano-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. SG identified around 3000 proteins, of which 286 were differentially expressed after CYT exposure. Of these, 176 were upregulated and 110 downregulated. Among the former, we found mediators of inflammation, proteins of the ER and the immunoproteasome system and oxidative stress modulators (e.g., CXCL2, CXCL10, PSMB8, PSMB9, PSMB10, SOD2). Among the downregulated proteins, there were cathepsins, antioxidant molecules and enzymes of glycolysis and Krebs' cycle (e.g., CTSH (a candidate gene for T1D), PRDX2, MDH). Ingenuity Pathway Analysis indicated that several upstream regulators were predicted to be differentially affected. Of them, 118 were presumably activated, including STAT1 and STAT2, NF-κB, JAK1, IRF1, HMGB1 and 36 inhibited, such as ACKR2, TRIM24, MAPK1, SUMO3. Bi-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed 151 spots that were lysine-acetylated, of which 2 were upregulated (PRDX3 and SOD1) and 4 downregulated (GDH, CTSD, ACAD9 and EIF4A1) by CYT. The present study shows novel proteomic changes, including specific PTM, induced in human islets by cytokine treatment that could play a role in beta cell dysfunction and demise and be the target for specific treatments. Disclosure F. Grano: None. F. Ciregia: None. M. Ronci: None. M. Mazzoni: None. L. Overbergh: None. C. De Luca: None. M. Suleiman: None. L. Marselli: None. P. De Simone: None. U. Boggi: None. C. Mathieu: Advisory Panel; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck & Co., Inc., Novo Nordisk A/S, Roche Diabetes Care, Sanofi. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; AstraZeneca, Novartis AG, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi. D.L. Eizirik: None. A. Lucacchini: None. L. Giusti: None. P. Marchetti: None. M. Bugliani: None. Funding INNODIA


Preclinical studies have shown a larger inhibition of tumour growth when exercise begins prior to tumour implant (preventative setting) than when training begins after tumour implant (therapeutic setting). However, post-implantation exercise may alter the tumour microenvironment to make it more vulnerable to treatment by increasing tumour perfusion while reducing hypoxia. This has been shown most convincingly in breast and prostate cancer models to date and it is unclear whether other tumour types respond in a similar way. We aimed to determine whether tumour perfusion and hypoxia are altered with exercise in a melanoma model, and compared this with a breast cancer model. We hypothesised that post-implantation exercise would reduce tumour hypoxia and increase perfusion in these two models. Female, 6–10 week old C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with EO771 breast or B16-F10 melanoma tumour cells before randomisation to either exercise or non-exercising control. Exercising mice received a running wheel with a revolution counter. Mice were euthanised when tumours reached maximum ethical size and the tumours assessed for perfusion, hypoxia, blood vessel density and proliferation. We saw an increase in heart to body weight ratio in exercising compared with non-exercising mice (p = 0.0008), indicating that physiological changes occurred with this form of physical activity. However, exercise did not affect vascularity, perfusion, hypoxia or tumour growth rate in either tumour type. In addition, EO771 tumours had a more aggressive phenotype than B16-F10 tumours, as inferred from a higher rate of proliferation (p<0.0001), a higher level of tumour hypoxia (p = 0.0063) and a higher number of CD31+ vessels (p = 0.0005). Our results show that although a physiological training effect was seen with exercise, it did not affect tumour hypoxia, perfusion or growth rate. We suggest that exercise monotherapy is minimally effective and that future preclinical work should focus on the combination of exercise with standard cancer therapies.


Populations of the Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans are declining as a result of insensitive forestry that has removed cavity trees. To conserve the cavities preferred by squirrels, we investigated the characteristics of the cavities they used as nests. We located 100 cavities with >3.0 cm entrance size (which they are able to enter), and investigated their use by the squirrels. We also recorded the entrance heights and entrance sizes of the cavities and the health and heights of cavity trees. The squirrels used 29 of 100 cavities. Entrance size and tree health strongly influenced cavity use, and entrance height had a weaker influence. Tree height was not correlated with cavity use. Squirrels preferred higher cavities with smaller entrances and on live trees. The entrance size of the cavities used was limited to ≤5.0 cm. Squirrels used 38% of live trees but only 14% of dead trees. In addition, the squirrels avoided cavities at low heights. They never used cavities 1.0 m height and with entrance sizes of 3.0 to ≤5.0 cm on live trees were preferred. We suggest that cavities with these characteristics should be conserved to protect the habitats of Siberian flying squirrels. Download the complete issue.


Abstract: This constant-market-shares (CMS) analysis shows the development of competitiveness, market and product structure of the Austrian merchandise exports from 1990 to 2006. The traditional CMS application was transformed to a dynamic model, such that the static indicators have been replaced by time series. This dynamic consideration of the CMS analysis helps to track all changes in the trade structure and competitiveness over time. The long-term trend of the indicators suggests that the Austrian foreign trade sector was able to maintain its market share in the global environment. While the Austrian foreign trade performance only slightly deviates from the pattern of the traditional industrialised countries, a strong structural changeis observable in the external sector of the emerging markets. The disadvantages in competitiveness of the Austrian foreign sector have vanished, however, the market and product structure effects show negative trends after 2000, pointing to vulnerability in the Austrian export sector.;


Lipases are a group of enzymes that hydrolyze the carboxyl ester bonds in acylglycerols releasing organic acids and glycerol. There is growing interest in identifying plant lipases because literature reviews show that plant lipases can be highly substrate specific and their substrate specificities can be useful in industrial applications. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to screen Arabidopsis thaliana putative lipases. Arabidopsis thaliana is chosen since it is a model plant organism with its genome sequenced. The strategy followed begins by cloning open reading frames that have sequences similar to known lipases, obtained from Arabidopsis Biological Research Center into Pichia pastoris expression vectors. Pichia pastoris is the host of expression because it is a host that is suitable for high yield expression without the requirement of time-consuming purification steps. The sequence verified constructs being transformed into Pichia pastoris are expressed in small scale in order to screen their lipase activities through a robust fluorogenic activity assay using 4-methylumbelliferryl derived substrates. The screening performed in this study investigated twenty seven putative Arabidopsis lipase activities and resulted in seven proteins of particular interest that can be further investigated through large scale expressions. The open reading frames screened in this study were successfully cloned into Pichia pastoris expression vectors; hence the constructs for large scale expressions are available. These constructs can be directly used for further investigation that may result in the annotation of new Arabidopsis thaliana lipases of commercial value in industrial applications.


This article outlines the processes undertaken to revise Canada's Food Guide and shares the updated science that underpins the dietary pattern. The Dietary Reference Intakes provide updated nutrient requirement values and better tools for dietary assessment and planning. Alignment with this updated science was an important component of defining and communicating accurate dietary guidance for Canada. Ensuring that stakeholders had access to the updated review of requirements led to the development of the text Dietary Reference Intakes: The Essential Guide to Nutrient Requirements. Equally important was ensuring that stakeholders were provided opportunity to influence the approach taken to giving dietary guidance, both content and the elements of the final package. A combination of research, consultation and expert advice guided the process to the release of Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide (2007).


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is crucial for vascular development in several organs. However, the specific contribution of epithelial-VEGF signaling in the liver has not been tested. We used a mouse model to specifically delete Vegf from the liver epithelial lineages during midgestational development and assessed the cell identities and architectures of epithelial and endothelial tissues. We find that without epithelial-derived VEGF, the zonal endothelial and hepatocyte cell identities are altered. We also find decreased portal vein and hepatic artery branching coincident with an increase in hepatic hypoxia postnatally. Together, these data indicate that VEGF secreted from the hepatic epithelium is required for normal differentiation of cells and establishment of three-dimensional vascular branching and zonal architectures in both epithelial and endothelial hepatic tissues.


Since its rise to prominence in the design and planning fields in the early to mid-1960s, citizen paritcipation processes and the contexts within which they occur have experienced an evolution that has impacted significantly both the practice of participation and the final results emanating from these processes. Over the last twenty years, several different methodologies have been crafted, each describing how groups of various sizes and constituencies could use participatory processes to address any number of issues and/or problems. Unfortunately, since smaller, "neighborhood scale" contexts were generally used as their primary referents, the transferability of these processes to larger, landscape-scale environments was in fact limileg; processes used in more densely populaled areas were found to be less well suited for use in langscapes where the impact of land ownership patterns, "company town" realities, and the role of ecological processes were much more integral to the success of the project or participatory process. This paper, filling a need for up-to-date case studies in participatory planning and design, identifies several critical issues to consider when utilizing participatory techniques in larger geograpaical and less densely-populated contexts. It then uses two case studies in the state of Oregon to illustrate these issues and to lead into a discussion of how participation at the landscape scale could and should evolve in the future.


The first Petascale supercomputer, the IBM Roadrunner, went online in 2008. Ten years later, the community is now looking ahead to a new generation of Exascale machines. During the decade that has passed, several hundred Petascale capable machines have been installed worldwide, yet despite the abundance of machines, applications that scale to their full size remain rare. Large clusters now routinely have 50.000+ cores, some have several million. This extreme level of parallelism, that has allowed a theoretical compute capacity in excess of a million billion operations per second, turns out to be difficult to use in many applications of practical interest. Processors often end up spending more time waiting for synchronization, communication, and other coordinating operations to complete, rather than actually computing. Component reliability is another challenge facing HPC developers. If even a single processor fails, among many thousands, the user is forced to restart traditional applications, wasting valuable compute time. These issues collectively manifest themselves as low parallel efficiency, resulting in waste of energy and computational resources. Future performance improvements are expected to continue to come in large part due to increased parallelism. One may therefore speculate that the difficulties currently faced, when scaling applications to Petascale machines, will progressively worsen, making it difficult for scientists to harness the full potential of Exascale computing. The thesis comprises two parts. Each part consists of several chapters discussing modifications of numerical algorithms to make them better suited for future Exascale machines. In the first part, the use of Parareal for Parallel-in-Time integration techniques for scalable numerical solution of partial differential equations is considered. We propose a new adaptive scheduler that optimize the parallel efficiency by minimizing the time-subdomain length without making communication of time-subdomains too costly. In conjunction with an appropriate preconditioner, we demonstrate that it is possible to obtain time-parallel speedup on the nonlinear shallow water equation, beyond what is possible using conventional spatial domain-decomposition techniques alone. The part is concluded with the proposal of a new method for constructing Parallel-in-Time integration schemes better suited for convection dominated problems. In the second part, new ways of mitigating the impact of hardware failures are developed and presented. The topic is introduced with the creation of a new fault-tolerant


Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, degenerative disease, which requires management of the symptoms via lifestyle modification and anti-diabetic pharmacotherapies. If glycaemic targets are not maintained, patients can often require the addition of a second drug to help achieve glycaemic control. Polypharmacy represents a substantial problem in some patient groups, reducing adherence and potentially impacting on clinical outcomes. Patients with type 2 diabetes may be taking a number of concomitant medications. For this reason, a single-tablet, combined therapy is an attractive prospect for achieving and maintaining glycaemic targets, reducing complexity and burden on patients, while promoting adherence. Metformin is widely used as a monotherapy, acting to improve insulin sensitivity, reducing glucose production and increasing uptake and utilisation of glucose in tissues. Gliclazide, a second generation sulfonylurea, stimulates the production of insulin. Combination of metformin and gliclazide is an appealing dual therapy option due to their complementary modes of action. The efficacy and safety of a range of combination therapies have been investigated in a number of clinical trials. In patients with inadequate glycaemic control, combination of metformin and gliclazide has consistently demonstrated favourable efficacy in clinical trials, reducing glycated haemoglobin, fasting blood glucose and post-prandial glucose. Both therapies are well-tolerated and show comparable, if not favourable safety profiles, including hypoglycaemia, weight loss, cardiovascular measures, and some evidence of benefits to oxidative status. In this review, we evaluate the efficacy and safety evidence supporting combined metformin and gliclazide therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and consider the wider benefits of combining these drugs as a single tablet.


This paper investigates the use of first person plural pronouns as a rhetorical device in political speeches. We present an annotation schema for disambiguating pronoun references and use our schema to create an annotated corpus of debates from the German Bundestag. We then use our corpus to learn to automatically resolve pronoun referents in parliamentary debates. We explore the use of data augmentation with weak supervision to further expand our corpus and report preliminary results.


Author(s): Chen, Shuo | Advisor(s): Ye, Tao; LiWang, Andy | Abstract: ABSTRACTAdding New Chemistry to Proteins via Genetic IncorporationbyShuo Chen, B.S., Peking UniversityDirected by: Professor Meng-Lin Tsao Professor Tao YeIncorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins provides a powerful way to add new chemistries to proteins, which would be an advantage to study protein behavior, to provide a site-specific protein modification method, and to enhance protein properties. Rather than incorporating unnatural amino acid into proteins by means of chemical methods, recent advances in genetic incorporation of unnatural amino acid into proteins might be an effective way to introduce novel chemical groups into proteins, which shows a promising future in chemical biology studies.The unnatural amino acid, 2-amino-3- (6-hydroxy-naphthalen-2-yl)propanoic acid (2NpOH) is an analogue of tyrosine, with an orthogonal reactivity and unique fluorescence properties, which can be utilized as site-specific bio-conjugation tag or as a biochemical probe. Based on rational design and random mutation, two aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (RS-NpOH), which can be utilized to introduce 2-amino-3- (6-hydroxy-naphthalen-2-yl) propanoic acid into protein in vivo in response to the UAG stop codon, were evolved. Protein expression with RS-NpOH showed that the unnatural amino acid could be successfully incorporated into proteins. Both ESI-MS analysis and the strong blue fluorescence acquired by addition of 2NpOH indicated that both aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases had high efficiency and fidelity for selective incorporation of 2NpOH.A chemoselective azo coupling reaction between the genetically encoded 2-naphthol group and diazotized aniline derivatives was developed. The coupling reaction only required very mild condition of pH 7 at 0 °C, and possessed fast reaction rate, high efficiency and excellent selectivity. Thus, it provides us an alternate method for bio-conjugation, such as PEGylation. Furthermore, to exploit the higher reactivity of the 2-naphthol residue under a nucleophilic addition coupling, an in vivo Mannich type reaction was proposed. It revealed that a cross coupling reaction could achieve between a lysine residue and a 2NpOH residue with the presence of formaldehyde at physiological conditions. Thus, new functionality can be attached to the unnatural amino acid site of proteins, and it would provide us a new tool to study the behavior of proteins and eventually the production of functionally enhanced proteins.In addition, the fluorescent feature of this unnatural amino acid was also studied upon insertion of the 2NpOH into the GFP chromophore for protein evolution. However, no red-shift fluorescence was observed as expected In this work, incorporation of two unnatural amino acids into single protein was also demonstrated.


Objectives: In this randomized prospective study, we investigated the effects of lornoxicam vs. ropivacaine for the management of postoperative pain in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients and Methods: Patients were randomized into three groups and received 150 mg (80 mL) ropivacaine or 16 mg lornoxicam (80 mL) or placebo (80 mL saline) via multi-regional intraperitoneal instillation and port sites infiltration. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device was used. Tramadol 50 mg tolerable dose, 5 mg/hour basal infusion, bolus dose 20 mg, locked 30 min, 4 hour limit were applied as 200 mg. Postoperative pain was assessed with 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) at rest, while coughing, and during mobilization. Pain scores were recorded in the post-anesthesia care unit, and at 2, 4, 8, 12,18 and 24 h after the surgery. Results: At 24 h, VAS scores at rest and while coughing were found significantly lower in ropivacaine and lornoxicam group when compared with control group (p=0.047). The percentage of patients needing tramadol was significantly lower with ropivacaine and lornoxicam compared with control (p<0.001, p=0.018). There was no statistically significant difference between ropivacaine and lornoxicam group. Conclusion: Multi-regional, intraperitoneal instillation and port site infiltration of ropivacaine and lornoxicam during laparoscopic cholecystectomy reduces the postoperative pain. ®


Our novel disruptive deployment
strategy focuses on using cost-efficient modules along with aggregated
connectivity that target 6G data throughput and capacity requirement. From our
perspective it would be a great benefit to operators and users. Cost
effectiveness will be met through integration and volume. Indeed, cost
efficiency would be derived from mass-market of sub-6GHz devices (already
mainly COTS) and later toward mmW such as 5G-FR2 and near-THz. Our shared
vision provides a great perspective for ubiquitous modularity and pervasive
networks which are clear and challenging objectives of 6G roadmaps.

Authors propose a vision and are
grateful for open discussions.


Micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are a group of small, noncoding RNA molecules 20–22 nucleotides (nt) in length that are predicted to control the activity of approximately 30% of all protein-coding genes in mammals. Their importance in fine-tuning the regulation of gene expression is evident in the fact that miRNA dysregulation plays important roles in many diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental disorders and viral infection. As our understanding of the biogenesis and mechanisms of action of miRNAs has grown over the past decade, so has the promise that miRNAs can serve as valuable therapeutic targets for a large number of diseases. Thus, using miRNAs as therapeutics is the next frontier for the study of these molecules in human disease.

Key Concepts:

The first miRNA (lin-4) was identified in nematodes in 1993.

miRNAs are now predicted to control the activity of approximately 30% of all protein-coding genes in mammals.

miRNAs regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level.

miRNAs function by targeting a specific region of a target mRNA typically located in the 3′ untranslated region (UTR).

miRNAs can function indirectly as either tumour suppressors or oncogenes.

miR-1 was observed to play a key role in cardiomyocyte differentiation.

miR-375 regulates insulin secretion by targeting myotrophin.

Expression of miR-107 decreases early in Alzheimer disease.

miR-122 is essential for hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in the liver.

Keywords:

microRNA;
cancer;
cardiovascular;
Alzheimer;
noncoding;
diabetes;
virus;
disease;
RNAi


The theme of waste is one of the major environmental challenges at the international level, with a significant impact in the strategies to be adopted in urban areas. Given the importance of the issue, the EU has required Member States to develop Waste Management Plans. Currently in Italy there are few Plans realized at the municipal level, and the existing tools have quite heterogeneous contents. The paper shows an EU research on the definition of guidelines for the preparation of an Urban Waste Management Plan; a Plan able to reach an integrated waste system, in which the different stages of management are coordinated and integrated in the context of the whole process. After the definition of the Guidelines, the paper presents a first elaboration for the Municipality of Genoa which involved University, Public Administration and practitioners in the sector. Currently the city doesn't have a dedicated Plan; the waste management is governed by the Regional Waste Management Plan (2014) and by the Urban Waste Prevention Programme (2010). The new Plan proposed for Genoa has important objectives to solve the specific problems of the territory: from the reduction of waste, to a management economically and environmentally sustainable, to valorization of recyclable and recoverable fractions through separate collection, aiming to the green economy until close of the cycle of the waste with the production of compost. In order to achieve a good level of implementation, following the preparation of the Plan, the participatory processes will play a key role in ensuring the full consent and cooperation between the actors involved and especially with the population that is the main actuator.


Urban public space is an important guarantee for the emergency under the public health emergencies, and its resilience is related to the health of citizens and the basic operation of the city. Based on the concept of "resilient city", the paper constructs an idea of resilient urban public space, and explains its connotation and characteristics. Combined with the staged anti-epidemic measures adopted by mainland cities in China in the COVID-2019, it analyzes the process and enlightenment of urban public space in response to public health emergencies, and summarizes a system of the "technical resilience- institutional resilience". It further proposes: (1) the technical resilience depend on health-oriented planning, including integrating the health impact assessment into the whole process of planning, improving the planning of the emergency unit and capacity, establishing a resilient public space system made up of "hub-node-flow", and designing the emergency space for "combination of peace and epidemic"; (2) urban public space institutional resilience depend on sound and smart social governance, including establishing the emergency response system, matching the emergency responsibilities, rights, capacities of communities, improving laws and regulations and other policy tools, and applying intelligent platforms for precise prevention and control. Technological resilience, integrated with institutional resilience, establishes a new paradigm for urban public space to respond to public health emergencies.


This chapter discusses about the behavior of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) different structures which can be used as interconnect in Very Large Scale (VLSI) circuits in nanoscale regime. Also interconnect challenges in VLSI circuits which lead to use CNT as interconnect instead of Cu, is reviewed. CNTs are classified into three main types including Single-walled Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT), CNT Bundle, and Multi-walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT). Because of extremely high quantum resistance of a SWCNT which is about 6.45 kΩ, rope or bundle of CNTs are used which consist of parallel CNTs in order to overcome the high delay time due to the high intrinsic (quantum) resistance. Also MWCNTs which consist of parallel shells, present much less delay time with respect to SWCNTs, for the application as interconnects. In this chapter, first a short discussion about interconnect challenges in VLSI circuits is presented. Then the repeater insertion technique for the delay reduction in the global interconnects will be studied. After that, the parameters and circuit model of a CNT will be discussed. Then a brief review about the different structures of CNT interconnects including CNT bundle and MWCNT will be presented. At the continuation, the time domain behavior of a CNT bundle interconnect in a driver-CNT bundle-load configuration will be discussed and analyzed. In this analysis, CNT bundle is modeled as a transmission line circuit model. At the end, a brief study of stability analysis in CNT interconnects will be presented.


Prune dwarf virus (PDV) is a member of the Ilarvirus genus which is widely spread all over the world and causes considerable economic losses in nurseries and orchards. The virus is transmitted via seeds and pollen and through vegetative reproduction. However, the mechanisms of cell-to-cell and systemic transport of the virus are still not known. For the first time this study presents phylogenetic characterization of the movement protein (MP) of PDV isolates from the GenBank database in the context of geographic origin. The prepared analyses were based on a comparison of the whole amino acid sequence of the MP-PDV, the RNA-binding domain (RBD) in MP of PDV and MPs of four viruses from the Bromoviridae family with known transport mechanisms. Two different bioinformatic programs ClustalW and Jalview were used, and MP sequence variability up to 8% at the amino acid level among PDV isolates was confirmed. In the constructed phylogenetic trees the isolate sequences clustered in three conserved groups. Further analyses revealed similarity of the MP amino acid sequence of PDV and Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) of up to 34% and a 40% similarity of RBD between these viruses which suggested that the PDV transport mechanism may be on some level the same as that for AMV.


The dissertation deals with the raising of children within the framework of the family andfrom the perspective of the parents. The study treats the parents' intentions and understanding of themselves as parents and their thoughts regarding parenting. An investigation wascarried out among parents from Christian contexts characterized as nonconformist and low-church. The purpose was to describe these parents' perspectives, strategies, and practical common sense in childrearing and to understand these aspects in the light of the socio-cultural context and the religious commitment.A questionnaire survey was carried out in a larger group (n=114) and semi-structured,open interviews with eighteen parental couples, selected from the larger group under study.The parents put particularly strong emphasis on the family and family child care in order to create emotional security for the children and to convey Christian faith and traditional ethical values such as reliability and honesty. As a strategy they also stressed church-related activities. In achieving these goals the parents did not want the children to feel estranged from the surrounding secular society. Therefore most of the parents put less emphasis on transmitting an old sub-cultural nonconformist life style.The preferred parenting-strategy seemed to be a guiding and interactive authoritative style with a concomitant idea of Christian parenting as characterized by an understanding-accepting behavior toward the children, with a strong emphasis on the concept of forgiveness-a phenomenon that grew with increased religious commitment. The parents rejected oldfashioned authoritarian child-rearing and wanted to develop a relationship based on confidence and openness. Variations were found in parental patterns related to the family environments, education and religious commitment.


In this article, the author dissects and refracts a single, defining moment in his life using autoethnography and the lenses of specific communication and social theories. The author mines the moment in first, second, and third person to uncover the different responses to overwhelming emotions ranging from the noble to the shameful in response to his father's "coming out of the closet." A torrent of emotion took the author by surprise and is the total moment of his analysis in this article. The author scrutinizes the multiple ways in which this moment was a release, a turning point, an ending, a beginning, bittersweet, hateful and hate filled, selfish, guilt ridden, and loving. Through multiple retellings of the event, like the film Groundhog Day, the author presents the moment in different narrative formats, from multiple perspectives, with relevant quotations and passages to thoroughly dissect the emotional layers.


The ganglion cyst is the most common soft-tissue mass of the hand and wrist. The etiology remains unclear, but it is thought to involve mucoid degeneration. Presenting complaints include pain, tenderness, and deforming mass. Treated nonsurgically, ganglion cysts have a high rate of recurrence. Knowledge of regional anatomy is essential for safe surgical excision. Complete excision of the cyst and pedicle as well as a swath of surrounding joint capsule minimizes the risk for recurrence. Copyright © 2002 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand


With the rapid development of information technology, today's talent training mode is no longer limited to traditional school education. At the same time, with the maturity of portable mobile devices, a new learning method—mobile learning has been born. In this paper, the narrative of data is taken into account in the way of user collaborative filtering recommendation. For prefilling the matrix, the project confidence level also needs to be considered during the whole process. The project confidence level is measured by information entropy model. In the process of correction, it combines with traditional cosine similarity, calculates the user similarity matrix, can budget equalization, and expands the original matrix. After filling the matrix, the user uses the method of similarity calculation, using Pearson similarity and combining with the Euclidean distance correction method. When comparing the particular result prediction with the actual prediction following the completion of the similarity matrix data, all results point to a considerable reduction in MAE and RMSE. The user does not assess the item score to forecast. This demonstrates how this technique may enhance the reliability and consistency of the mobile English system platform.


In customer relationship management (CRM) software refers to a system which helps organizations to keep the record of their customers. Customer relationship management (CRM) system covers a broad range of programs. It assists companies in gathering, managing and organizing the data of existing and potential customer. Customer relationship management systems (CRM) are helpful in making business interaction easy and convenient for each party. Marketing, sales and promotion are highly affected with customer relationship management systems. In today modern world, customer relationship management (CRM) systems are highly customized and accessible for every company at every level. These modern systems are making business easy for the organizations by making their customer base strong. Marketing and sales are the two most important aspects of any business. The customer relationship management (CRM) systems allow businesses to promote their product and services by knowing the demands and wants of their customers and creating a need for its product according to their demands. Business-customer relationship is easy to manage with the help of customer relationship management software. Business contracts, customer base, product placement and customer relationship are some of the most important issues being addressed by the customer relationship management software. Currently, there are many CRMs in the market. The choice to choose one is not as easy as it should. CRM is a system and companies who obtain it are not totally familiar with the technical details. Thus, this study compares the top CRM system from both technical and management point of views to give organizations a better understanding of CRM so the can make the best decision.


To improve the sensitivity of a car laser radar, the method of transmitting encoded signal has been discussed. However, for laser radar that transmits encoded signal, the bandwidth of transimpedance amplifier (TIA), which is used to transform current signal generated by photodiode in the receiver into voltage signal, was designed in the same way as those used in optical communication devices. Different from optical communication receivers, whose main purpose is to reproduce transmitting symbols, the optimal bandwidth of a car laser radar amplifier for maximizing detection ratio of the reflected signal is discussed in this paper. The amplifier, which is designed basing on the simulation results, is expected to improve the detection performance of the laser radar receiver.


Radioactive iodine provides a simple, effective, and safe treatment for cats with hyperthyroidism and is regarded by most authorities to be the treatment of choice. It is a particularly useful treatment for cats with bilateral thyroid involvement (found in approximately 70% of cats), cats with ectopic (intrathoracic) thyroid tissue, and the rare patient with thyroid carcinoma. Treatment with radioiodine avoids the inconvenience of daily, oral administration of an antithyroid drug, as well as the side effects commonly associated with these drugs. Use of radioiodine also avoids the risks and perioperative complications associated with anesthesia and surgical thyroidectomy. Radioiodine treatment involves a single, nonstressful procedure that is without associated morbidity or mortality. A single treatment restores euthyroidism in most cats with hyperthyroidism. Whereas the therapy is simple and relatively stress-free for cats, it does require special licensing and hospitalization facilities, nuclear medicine equipment, and extensive compliance with local and state radiation safety laws.


Objective: The aim of this research study was to examine the relationship between 4 sources of social support (support for the adolescent from family, support for the adolescent from friends, support for the caregiver from another adult, and support to the family from the health care provider) and adolescents' diabetes outcomes (illness management behavior and health status) using a diverse sample of urban adolescents. Method: One hundred forty-one adolescents with insulin-managed diabetes and their primary caregivers completed questionnaires assessing social support and illness management behavior. Glucose meters were downloaded and hemoglobin A1c assays were obtained. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model social support informed by social ecological theory. Results: The results of the structural equation modeling indicated that support for the caregiver from another adult was directly and positively related to support for the adolescent from family and indirectly related to better illness management. Support for the adolescent from family was directly related to better diabetes management and, through better management, to better diabetes health. Support to the family from the health care provider was not related to support for the adolescent and support to the adolescent from friends was not related to illness management, as hypothesized. Conclusion: This study identifies a novel target for social support intervention to improve adolescents' illness management behavior—the caregivers of adolescents with diabetes. By enhancing the social support caregivers receive from other adults in their lives, caregivers' ability to support their adolescent children with diabetes might also be improved which, in turn, improves adolescents' illness outcomes.


Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of the main priorities for almost all organisations, particularly in the banking world. However, Information technology (IT) has changed ways of interacting with customers, resulting in the appearance of the concept of Electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM), which has caused a shift from offline CRM to eCRM. ECRM aims to attract and retain customers (especially valuable ones), to improve customer service by creating a strong relationship with them, and to provide the required financial product at the right time. Thus, it is vital to identify readiness factors in any organisation to prevent eCRM failure.

Due to the current gap in the eCRM readiness and maturity assessment area in banks, this research attempts to fill this gap by developing a conceptual framework for eCRM readiness/maturity and accordingly create a tool for banks to assess their eCRM readiness and maturity. This tool helps banks to prevent any eCRM failure before and after implementation which is an essential concern for any organisation in order to gain competitive advantages. In addition to practical implications, the present study contributed to existing literature. This study contributed to the current understanding of eCRM readiness and maturity in banks and helps decision makers to assess their eCRM.

This study explores the social and technical aspects of eCRM in the Iranian banking industry. Hence, a pragmatic research approach using mixed methods with a range of stakeholders, such as employees, and managers, was employed in this research. As the purpose of this research is to identify the main eCRM readiness dimensions in Iranian banks and to assess eCRM readiness and maturity, an eCRM readiness/maturity framework was developed. The proposed framework was tested by devising and distributing a structured questionnaire and conducting a semi-structured interview in an attempt to survey a large number of bank employees, and decision makers at five different and well-known private and state banks in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. This survey provides an excellent penetrating study of the Iranian banking industry.

Regarding eCRM readiness, data collected from a quantitative approach was analysed statistically using the Software Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The qualitative data was interpreted using NVivo, which is a qualitative data analysis computer software package. Findings from the triangulation of data of qualitative and quantitative approaches were evaluated in order to determine the main eCRM readiness dimensions in Iranian banks.

Furthermore, from these findings, a case study bank was assessed in regarding eCRM readiness using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).

Regarding assessing eCRM maturity, an eCRM maturity model was developed, and a case study bank was selected. Based on the proposed eCRM maturity model, the maturity level of the selected bank was assessed using RADAR logic approach. In addition, this model was based on critical success factors (CSFs) and adapting the CRM3 maturity model.

The findings of the empirical research were evaluated against the initial framework, which was generated by integrating the proposed models for eCRM readiness and maturity. This framework consists of three dimensions for eCRM readiness (Organisational culture, corporate strategy, technology) and five level of maturity. Dimensions, factors, and levels in this framework were derived from a literature review. Finally, a revised framework was generated and based on stakeholder's perceptions, a conclusion was derived, and a recommendation to Iranian banks was made. An eCRM readiness/maturity assessment tool was created to help banks to determine whether they are ready or mature enough for the use of eCRM. The result from this assessment tool can be easily communicated amongst key members, which would help the Iranian banks to improve and promote their eCRM. In addition, this study attempts to fill the current gap in assessing banks eCRM readiness and maturity.


This paper describes the production of Outbreak, a game focused on the 1885 smallpox epidemic in Montreal. It is a preliminary report on the manner in which, by both theorizing about and building a game, we are responding to some of the questions that have animated the literature on computer games for history. The article begins with a survey of publications by researchers who have studied the capacity of games to support learning, and outlined how these can be used in concert with books and other media. We next provide the context to our project, which was conceived to market a film to be broadcast on television, and support a book on which the film was based – a bestselling history of a preventable tragedy that resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 Montrealers. We outline how we built from the book, creating a game that asked the player to save as many as possible from death, using tools that mimicked that which was available in the late nineteenth century. We conclude by reflecting on the lessons that we learned, and how we will apply these to our present and future projects.


The photo-thermal stability and tribological properties of Zdol lubricant, modified by substituting the OH groups with benzophenone, were investigated under laser beam exposure. The change of reflectance of the modified Zdol lubricant films induced by laser beam exposure was measured using a surface reflectance analyzer (SRA). The friction force of modified Zdol lubricant films was measured at the interface between a slider and a disk on a spin stand. Modified Zdol films show less reflectance change than pure Zdol. The photo-thermal stability under laser beam exposure increases with an increase of the substitution ratio. Reflectance change occurs due to depletion of the lubricant and/or modification of the lubricant optical properties under laser beam exposure. Unlike pure Zdol, the normalized friction force of modified Zdol remains constant under laser beam exposure. Modified Zdol lubricants are potential disk lubricants for heat-assisted magnetic recording applications.