Marine, mid-Cretaceous fore-arc strata on Cedros Island (Vargas and Pinos Formations) record the onset of extensional brittle deformation of the upper crust concomitant with initial uplift of blueschist-grade rock from great depth. The pre-extensional Vargas Formation is chiefly fine grained, and it contains facies interpreted as basin-plain, sand-rich-fan, and slope deposits that onlapped a Jurassic unconformity toward the north. The syn-extensional Pinos Formation is coarser grained than is the Vargas and records the initiation and filling of a northeast-southwest-trending, deep-marine, half-graben structure that formed by reactivation of a Jurassic fault zone located along the northern margin of the basin. The axis of the half graben acted as a submarine canyon that funneled gravelly sediment-gravity flows toward the south-west, whereas the shoulder of the half graben was draped by sandy turbidites and mud. A second episode of faulting on a fault parallel to, and synthetic with, the older half-graben fault produced a stress-transfer zone that steepened the intervening block, producing a catastrophic slope failure in the basin. Several points of evidence suggest that the canyon-bounding fault zone mapped at the northern margin of the basin was syndepositionally active. Basin-floor scarps are indicated by the presence of large, angular blocks derived from the Jurassic strata; these blocks occur within Cretaceous conglomerate and olistostromes, and as clast-supported breccia. Asymmetric basin subsidence is recorded in monotonic lithofacies trends that occur laterally away from the inferred fault zone. These trends include a decrease in average grain size and bed thickness, and an increase in interbedded mudstone and in lateral continuity of individual beds. Abundant slope-failure features, including slide blocks as much as 100 m wide by 40 m thick, also point to frequently recurring intrabasinal seismicity. The facies distribution and basin structures exposed on Cedros Island are analogous to aspects of the southern Viking Graben and the Ebro turbidite complex. Modern tectonic and physical analogues for the half graben are found at the Kuril margin and in the Aleutian are, where oblique convergence has produced fault-bounded submarine canyons of the same lateral and vertical scale as inferred for the Cretaceous basin on Cedros Island. The temporal coincidence between brittle deformation in the upper plate with peak blueschist metamorphism in the lower plate of the convergent margin suggests that initial blueschist uplift began soon after deepest burial.


The mammalian Trib family consists of Trib1, Trib2 and Trib3.Elevated levels of Trib2 have been linked with murine AML andassociates with a specific subset of human AML with Notch1mutations and dysregulated C/EBPa. However the regulation of Tribexpression is poorly understood; understanding this regulation isimportant both physiologically and pathologically.Promoter analyses indicated that several possible E2F1 bindingsites exist within the Trib2 promoter region. A complex regulatoryrelationship exists between C/EBPa and E2F1, and proliferationarrest mediated by C/EBPa involves repression of E2F1-target genes.Luciferase assays using a Trib2 promoter construct demonstratedthat E2F1 is a positive regulator of Trib2 and that this positiveinduction was dependent on E2F1's ability to bind directly to DNA.Further analyses revealed that this activation is repressed by wild type C/EBPa. Importantly, C/EBPap30, an N-terminal truncateddominant negative C/EBPa isoform commonly associated with AMLco-operated with E2F1 to induce Trib2 promoter activity. Bioinfor-matic analysis of human AML datasets revealed a negativecorrelation between Trib2 and C/EBPa expression, and a positivecorrelation between Trib2 and Notch1 expression. These resultscorrespond with our previous findings that Trib2 is a Notch1 targetgene and functions to degrade and inhibit wild type C/EBPa. Furtheranalyses demonstrated a positive correlation between Trib2 and E2F1expression in the human AML dataset supporting our findings.Together these data indicate a positive regulatory pathway forTrib2 expression mediated by E2F1 and C/EBPap30, and a negativeregulatory pathway involving E2F1 and wild type C/EBPa.


Mating behavior has been described for very few species of penaeoid shrimps. We describe some of the environmental conditions under which mating of Litopenaeus vannamei took place in the ocean, as inferred by the presence of attached spermatophores on the thelycum of females, combined with the presence of mature males with empty ampulla terminalis, both evidence of recent copulation. Out of a total of twelve 24 hr samplings on board the research vessel B/O EL PUMA, one was selected to examine mating. There were four periods of observation. The highest frequency of females with attached spermatophores were found during the daytime whilst the lowest was registered during the night. Females with attached spermatophore were mostly at stages IV and V of ovarian maturity and fell within the 30 - 50 mm of C.L. range. Copulating male size ranged between 30 and 40 mm of C.L. and there was a close relation between the percentage of mating females and males. Male to female ratio varied throughout the sampling period but it was never 1:1. The female mean size was, in all cases, bigger than the male mean size. Among the environmental factors, salinity and oxygen varied very slightly throughout the sampling period; temperature variation was more pronounced and those changes were attributed to the tidal oscillation.


We discuss a problem of handling resource reservations. The resource can be reserved for some time, it can be freed or it can be queried what is the largest amount of reserved resource during a time interval. We show that the problem has a lower bound of $\Omega(\log n)$ per operation on average and we give a matching upper bound algorithm. Our solution also solves a dynamic version of the related problems of a prefix sum and a partial sum.


Sequencing of the human genome and decades of genetic association and linkage studies have dramatically improved our understanding of the etiology of many diseases. However, the multiple causes of complex diseases are still not well understood, in part because genetic and sociocultural risk factors are not typically investigated concurrently. Hypertension is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and afflicts more African Americans than any other racially defined group in the US. Few genetic loci for hypertension have been replicated across populations, which may reflect population-specific differences in genetic variants and/or inattention to relevant sociocultural factors. Discrimination is a salient sociocultural risk factor for poor health and has been associated with hypertension. Here we use a biocultural approach to study blood pressure (BP) variation in African Americans living in Tallahassee, Florida by genotyping over 30,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and capturing experiences of discrimination using novel measures of unfair treatment of self and others (n = 157). We perform a joint admixture and genetic association analysis for BP that prioritizes regions of the genome with African ancestry. We only report significant SNPs that were confirmed through our simulation analyses, which were performed to determine the false positive rate. We identify eight significant SNPs in five genes that were previously associated with cardiovascular diseases. When we include measures of unfair treatment and test for interactions between SNPs and unfair treatment, we identify a new class of genes involved in multiple phenotypes including psychosocial distress and mood disorders. Our results suggest that inclusion of culturally relevant stress measures, like unfair treatment in African Americans, may reveal new genes and biological pathways relevant to the etiology of hypertension, and may also improve our understanding of the complexity of gene-environment interactions that underlie complex diseases.


Educators who wish to engage their students in multiagent experimentation and learning need an inexpensive multi-robot system that leverages existing equipment and open-source software. This paper proposes Overwatch as an inexpensive educational tool for teaching and experimenting in multi-robot systems. The interaction of multiple agents within a single environment is an important area of study. It is vital that agents within the environment perceive other agents as intelligent, acting within the environment as cooperative teammates or as competitive members of another team. To do so, the system must meet three goals: first, to allow multiple robots to communicate and coordinate; second, to localize within a shared global coordinate system; third, to recognize their teammates and other teams. The cost and scale of such experimental platforms places them outside the reach of many educational institutions or limits the number of agents that are interacting within the system (Liu and Winfield 2011). The goal of Overwatch is to create an experimental platform for multiagent systems that is comprised of much smaller, albeit less capable, robots, many of which are prevalent in academic institutions already. Making use of available open-source libraries and utilizing lower cost robots, such as Scribblers, allows for experiments with many agents. This enables Overwatch to fit into the budget limitations of an academic setting. The Overwatch platform provides the Scribblers with global localization capabilities. This paper presents the system in detail and includes experiments to show its ability to localize, interact with other agents, and coordinate behaviors with these other agents. Additionally, the details to setup this system are also included.


A polarization optical low coherence reflectometer (POLCR) is described that enables us to excite only the transverse electric (TE) mode of a test waveguide and to measure its Rayleigh backscatter signal distributions in the TE and transverse magnetic (TM) modes at a spatial resolution of 0.3 mm. The depolarization ratios of silica-based waveguides with relative refractive index differences of /spl Delta/=0.45 and 0.75% are obtained as 0.14 and 0.10, respectively, by measuring the bias in the ratio between the distributions in the TM and TE modes of each waveguide. By using the depolarization ratios and the Rayleigh backscatter signal levels, we calculate the ultimate polarization crosstalks to be -53 and -51 dB over 1 km, respectively. The actual polarization crosstalks of previously fabricated waveguides are about 50 dB higher than their ultimate limits for the same length of fiber.


Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), is one of the most serious pests affecting fruit, forest, industrial, and foliage plants worldwide. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize pathogenic bacteria from this pest and determine their pathogenicity. L. dispar larvae were collected from various populations in the forest areas of the Black Sea region of Turkey in May and June of 2008 and 2009, and 9 culturable bacterial isolates were obtained from these larvae. Morphological and physiological characteristics of bacterial isolates were determined by conventional and routine techniques, and biochemical properties and metabolic enzyme profiles were revealed using API20E and Phoenix 1000A panel test systems. Additionally, a 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis was performed to identify the isolates at the molecular level and to query against the NCBI genetic database. Consequently, 7 of the bacterial isolates were determined and characterized at the species level while the rest were characterized at the genus level. From the results of all tests, the isolates were identified as Pantotea agglomerans (Lyd1), Klebsiella sp. (Lyd2), Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (Lyd3), Serratia marcescens (Lyd4), Erwinia sp. (Lyd5), Bacillus thuringiensis (Lyd6), B. thuringiensis (Lyd7), B. thuringiensis (Lyd8), and B. thuringiensis (Lyd9). Of all bacterial isolates tested for insecticidal activity, 2 of the B. thuringiensis isolates (Lyd6 and Lyd9) were found to cause the highest insecticidal activity (90%) within 10 days of application. Furthermore, 100% insecticidal activity was observed with a crystal-spore mixture of the same isolates against Lymantria dispar larvae within 10 days.


Dynamic covalent chemistry aids in the synthesis of large, complex organic materials by allowing for the exchange of many individual subunits until the most thermodynamically stable product is formed often in one high yielding step. The boronate ester condensation reaction is just one example of a reversible, thermodynamically driven reaction that has been used in the synthesis of organic materials like covalent organic frameworks and polygons. These materials have many important and diverse applications and their synthesis and optimization is a rich area of research. Small arylboronate esters are considered the building blocks for the much larger frameworks that can be more difficult to work with and study. It was found that substitution in both ortho positions of phenylboronic acid precursors has a large effect on the conformations that these molecules take. In this project several di-ortho substituted arylboronate esters were studied computationally and synthetically in an attempt to explain the varying substituent effects. Steric repulsion can account for many of the conformational preferences of di-ortho substituted arylboronate esters, however computational analysis suggests that electronic effects are also influential in some cases.


The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is an emerging key technology to provide clean, renewable energy. Current state‐of‐the‐art catalysts still rely on expensive and rare noble metals, however, the relatively cheap and abundant transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as exceptionally promising alternatives. Early studies in developing TMD‐based catalysts laid the groundwork in understanding the fundamental catalytically active sites of different TMD phases, enabling a toolbox of physical, chemical, and electronic engineering strategies to improve the HER catalytic activity of TMDs. This report focuses on recent progress in improving the catalytic properties of TMDs toward highly efficient production of H2. Combining theoretical and experimental considerations, a summary of the progress to date is provided and a pathway forward for viable hydrogen evolution from TMD driven catalysis is concluded.


Randomized direct-search methods for the optimization of a function f : R → R given by a black box for f -evaluations are investigated. We consider the cumulative step-size adaptation (CSA) for the variance of multivariate zero-mean normal distributions. Those are commonly used to sample new candidate solutions within metaheuristics, in particular within the CMA Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES), a stateof-the-art direct-search method. Though the CMA-ES is very successful in practical optimization, its theoretical foundations are very limited because of the complex stochastic process it induces. To forward the theory on this successful method, we propose two simpli cations of the CSA used within CMA-ES for step-size control. We show by experimental and statistical evaluation that they perform su ciently similarly to the original CSA (in the considered scenario), so that a further theoretical analysis is in fact reasonable. Furthermore, we outline in detail a probabilistic/theoretical runtime analysis for one of the two CSA-derivatives.


The aim of this research consisted of examining parental socialization taking into account the nature and variability of daily situations. The objectives of this study were: to explore parent´ behavior according to the degree of importance of diverse situations included in the Parental Socialization Scale in Adolescence (ESPA29); and to analyze whether the importance of these situations is associated with parents´ different socialization practices. Using the information provided by experts in family and/or adolescence, responses of 223 adolescents on the ESPA29 were analyzed from dimensional and typological approaches depending on the relevance of the educative situations over which parents have to intervene. Data analysis showed that adolescents perceived their mothers´ behavior differently depending on the importance of daily situations. The need for understanding parental socialization across educative situations is highlighted.


# Dietary selenium: time to act {#article-title-2}

The essential trace element, selenium, which we largely obtain from bread and cereals, fish, poultry, and meat, plays a vital part in many metabolic functions. While new research increasingly suggests its relevance to disease prevention, evidence that dietary intake is falling in some parts of the world is giving cause for concern.

Selenium is a key component of a number of functional selenoproteins required for normal health. The best known of these are the antioxidant glutathione peroxidase enzymes, which remove hydrogen peroxide and damaging lipid and phospholipid hydroperoxides generated in vivo by free radicals and other oxygen derived species. If not removed, lipid hydroperoxides impair membrane structure and function1 and cause blood clotting disturbances by decreasing the production of prostacyclin while increasing the production of thromboxane.2 Furthermore, lipid hydroperoxides are not stable end products but, in the presence of transition metal ions, can decompose to give further reactive free radicals and cytotoxic aldehydes.3 Such secondary products may initiate more lipid peroxidation, promote atherosclerosis, damage DNA, and metabolically activate carcinogens.3

Selenium also plays an important role in the control of thyroid hormone metabolism. The iodothyronine deiodinases, which are responsible for the conversion of thyroxine (T4) to its active form, triiodothyronine (T3), are selenoenzymes.4 Selenium deficiency may cause reduced growth rates owing to a feedback response which …


Introduction Women using heroin and other drugs (WHOD) are at high risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and blood-borne viruses (BBVs). However, little attention has been paid to identify the psychosocial determinants of sexual practices among these women. An overview of these determinants could be key for health professionals and policy makers, to tackle STIs and BBVs and promote health among WHOD. The main aims of this study were to review the literature on the psychosocial determinants of sexual practices among WHOD, and to determine the nature and quality of the evidence. Methods The search strategy included five databases: PubMed, EMBASE, PsycNET, Web of Science and Scopus. PsycEXTRA was used for grey literature and other publications. Search terms included 'women*, 'heroin use*', 'sexual behaviour*', and 'HIV'. Only publications in English, and published between 1995 and June 2016 were included. The PRISMA 2009 guidelines and the Hawken method were used for quality assessment purposes. This systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (Ref. CRD42016039842). Results Out of the 11 985 publications screened, 30 peer-reviewed articles were included. Most publications were cross-sectional (n=27) quantitative studies (n=23), amounting 10 808 women. Psychosocial determinants identified included socio-demographic characteristics, sexual orientation, financial constraints, gender roles, gender-based violence, HIV status, feelings of love and trust, and unavailability of condoms. Conclusion This systematic review provides an insight into the psychosocial determinants of sexual risk practices of WHOD, and highlights the importance of conducting women-only studies. It also identifies research gaps, such as the need to focus on protective factors, relationship dynamics, sexual risks with non-paying partners, and the study of the broader sociocultural context of sex and sexuality. Overall, these findings could be crucial for the development of preventive strategies to tackle STIs and BBVs, and promote the sexual health and psychosocial wellbeing of WHOD.


We give for the Kahler manifold case an overview of the constructions of some naturally dened star products. In particular, the Berezin-Toeplitz, Berezin, Geometric Quantization, Bordemann-Waldmann, and Karbegov standard star product are introduced. With the exception of the Geometric Quantization case they are of separation of variables type. The classifying Karabegov forms and the Deligne-Fedosov classes are given. Besides the Bordemann-Waldmann star product they are all equivalent.


Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and non-affective psychoses such as schizophrenia are commonly acknowledged as discrete entities. Previous research has revealed evidence of high comorbidity between these conditions, but their differential diagnosis proves difficult in routine clinical practice due to the similarities between core symptoms of each disorder. The prevalence of comorbid non-affective psychoses in individuals with ASD is uncertain, with studies reporting rates ranging from 0% to 61.5%. We therefore performed a systematic review and pooled analysis of the available studies reporting the prevalence of non-affective psychosis in ASD. Fourteen studies, including a total of 1708 participants, were included, with a weighted pooled prevalence assessed at 9.5% (95% CI 2.6 to 16.0). In view of significant heterogeneity amongst the studies, subgroup analyses were conducted. We observed higher prevalence of non-affective psychoses among ASD inpatients versus outpatients, when operationalised criteria were used, and in studies with smaller sample sizes, whereas the figures were comparable between children and adults with ASD. Our results suggest that future studies involving larger samples should implement both operationalized criteria and specific scales for the assessment of psychotic symptoms in individuals with ASD. A deeper understanding of both differential and comorbid features of ASD and non-affective psychosis will be required for the development of optimized clinical management protocols.


It would be hard to exaggerate the variety of perspectives represented in the bibliography of 20th-century criticism devoted to Mallarme: his texts have in the last century without a doubt been among the most widely interpreted and closely scrutinized literary works. Of course, the diversity of approaches and conclusions advanced by the critics is to be expected when it comes to a body of work whose difficulty, density, and outright obscurity are legendary. It is therefore with some hesitancy that one refers to a new "orthodoxy" in Mallarme studies. The main tenet of this new doctrine is that Mallarme is a transcendental philosopher. It is true that from very early on Mallarme's work has been taken to be of philosophical significance. Early, philosophically-inclined readers tended to see in Mallarme an Idealist. In 1912 Albert Thibaudet, for example, while emphasizing that Mallarme did not have "une nature de philosophe" also claimed that "des mots propres a caracteriser l'oeuvre de Mallarme aucun ne reviendrait si souvent que celui d'idealisme" an idealism that is at once critical and "constructif, platonicien, qui dans les objets ne voit que leur essence intelligible et se cree, pour la vie de l'esprit, un monde de ces essences."(1) Some time earlier, Camille Mauclair, by contrast, claimed that "la conception fondamental de Stephane Mallarme procede directement de l'esthetique metaphysique de Hegel," such that, "pour lui, les idees pures etaient les seuls etres reels et virtuels de l'univers, alors que les objets et toutes les formes de la matiere n'en etaient que les signes. . . ."(2) Though these claims, especially those regarding Mallarme's putative Hegelianism,(3) have given rise to much debate, they should we be taken uncritically. For one thing, the notion of "idealism" used to qualify Symbolist or Decadent aesthetics was already an intellectual cliche in Mallarme's time. Idealism was so much in the air in the latter part of the century that, as early as 1893, Remy de Gourmont could complain that "ce mot traine dans; les journaux . . . c'est le mot a tout faire."(4) For another, it bears pointing out that Mallarme did not write any philosophical works. Although the "Idee" (with a capital letter) plays a significant role in his poetry and other writings, it is hardly used consistently. Most frequently it is much more closely allied to other capitalized Baudelairean poetic themes like "l'Azur" and "le Reve" than it is to any philosophical notion of the idea. For Mallarme, "l'Idee" is less an object of contemplation for reason than an object of desire: in the "Prose pour des Esseintes," he writes of the "Gloire du long desir, Idees," which he depicts as a group of flowers whose stem "grandissait trop pour nos raisons."(5) In other words, "the Idea" in Mallarme's work is a kind of shorthand for whatever stands in contrast with the real and the rational: mystical intuition, suggestion, affect.(6) It has little to do with the Platonic idea, which is above all universal or with the Hegelian absolute Idea which is, according to the famous dictum, both real and rational. Yet in recent years, Mallarme has continued to be treated as a philosopher, but the idealistic reading has been replaced by another philosophical view. In this new view, Mallarme's philosophy is not so much a form of Idealism as a form of its critique, an Ur-philosophy, a going beyond and encompassing of all philosophical categories. And since such categories are held to undergird--in the form of philosophemes(7)--our everyday concepts and categories, Mallarme's writings are held to effect a kind of philosophico-poetic transcendence, an unlimiting of our everyday language by returning to the play of possibilities that precedes it. Thus, for a theorist like Maurice Blanchot, Mallarme's success at seeming to empty his texts of content--saying nothing, as he seems to do in the famous "Sonnet en -yx"(8)--is tantamount to a kind of Heideggerian foregrounding of the stable categories of thought, a moving beyond mere beings toward the primordial Nothing, that Blanchot feels must underlie the mundane and constraining world of our concepts. …


A good deal of research and development has been carried out in architecture and protocol design, energy saving and location, but only a few studies have been done on network performance in WSN (Quality of Service-QoS). The commonly accepted QoS metrics include bandwidth, delay, delay jitter and reliability. Whereas the majority of developed applications for WSNs are event-critical applications, achieving reliable data transfer as the main factor of dependability and quality of service seems vital. In many applications, the reliability level required by the data packets is different. Also, there are some applications in which the significance of the data obtained from the sensor nodes, depends on the majority of the reports denoting occurrence of specific events in some parts of the environment. In this paper, we focus on building a routing protocol called MBRR which routes packets towards the destination node in a highly reliable manner by classifying data into differentiated classes. Moreover, MBRR employs a new adaptive policy called majority based re-routing policy in order to route the packets with instantaneously change in number implying occurrence of special events via more reliable paths.


Descent remains the definitive treatment for high altitude illness. However, in alpine settings of over 8000 ft, immediate evacuation is often impossible. A portable, lightweight (7 kg) hyperbaric bag has been devised capable of withstanding a pressure of 2 psi. The author investigated the optimal period of treatment in the bag to achieve resolution of symptoms and to prevent recurrence. Observations were recorded in Pheriche, Nepal at 13 920 ft. At this altitude, inflation of the bag to 2 psi effects a descent to 8400 ft. Dramatic improvements were seen in victims with symptoms of acute mountain sickness (AMS), high altitude pulmonary edema (RAPE) and cerebral edema (RACE). AMS, HAPE and HACE patients required time frames of 2, 4, and 6 h respectively to provide resolution of symptoms without complications or deterioration. The author advocates the hyperbaric bag as an effective adjunct and temporizing measure in the treatment of HAPE and HACE.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality after distal pancreatectomy (DP). The aim of the present study is to determine the risk factors that can lead to POPF.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted between January 2008 and December 2012. A total of 96 patients who underwent DP were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS
Overall, 24 patients (25%) underwent laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP) and 72 patients (75%) open surgery. The overall morbidity rate was 51% (49/96). POPF (32/96, 33.3%) was the most common postoperative complication. Grade B fistula (18/32, 56.2%) was the most common fistula type according to the International Study Group on Pancreatic Fistula definition. POPF rate was significantly higher in the minimally invasive surgery group (50%, p=0.046). POPF rate was 58.6% (17/29) in patients whose pancreatic stump closure was performed with only stapler, whereas POPF rate was 3.6% (1/28) in the group where the stump was closed with stapler plus oversewing sutures. Both minimally invasive surgery (OR: 0.286, 95% CI: 0.106-0.776, p=0.014) and intraoperative blood transfusion (OR: 4.210, 95% CI: 1.155-15.354, p=0.029) were detected as independent risk factors for POPF in multi-variety analysis.

CONCLUSION
LDP is associated with a higher risk of POPF when stump closure is performed with only staplers. Intraoperative blood transfusion is another risk factor for POPF. On the other hand, oversewing sutures to the stapler line reduces the risk of POPF.


Summary form only given, as follows. Autonomous mobile networks are distributed ad-hoc networks of nodes that can sense, actuate, compute and communicate with each other using point-to-point multi-hop communication. The nodes in such networks include static sensors, mobile sensors, robots, and humans. Such systems combine the most advanced concepts in perception, communication and control to create computational systems capable of large-scale interaction with the environment, extending the individual capabilities of each network component to encompass a much wider area and range of data. We discuss communication, control and information processing in networked robots. Due to the absence of any networking infrastructure, the nodes must cooperate to accomplish communication, global control and distributed information aggregation. We present distributed algorithms for routing messages that use mobility to guarantee message delivery, distributed algorithms for aggregating maps and using the maps to guide navigation, and some recent results on information diffusion.


Close region interference is a problem in point cloud processing at the selection of local region step. Thus, growing local region with discarding the unwanted points is a crucial stage before post processing. Euclidean minimum spanning tree (EMST) is widely used to overcome this problem. This study aims to investigate the utilization of EMST for three commonly used region growing algorithms k-nearest neighbor (k-NN), circular region growing (CRG) and hybrid connection table (HCT). The experiments are conducted on two different data sets that one represents close region interference while the other has varying thickness problems. The results are presented quantitatively by measuring similarity of the reconstructed curve with the original one and the algorithm runtime. Visual results are also presented. EMST usage is improving the accuracy of local region at close region interference while increasing algorithm run time. Consequently, HCT with or without EMST is the most preferable method.


Thyroid dysfunction is known to cause significant changes in glomerular filtration rate. The present cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the changes in biochemical markers of renal function in hypothyroid subjects before and after treatment. Thyroid function tests (T3, T4 and TSH levels) were assayed in 385 subjects. Based on TSH levels, subjects were classified as euthyroid (n=198), sub-clinical hypothyroid (n=98; TSH 6.1 to 19.9 μIU/ml) and overt hypothyroid (n=89; TSH ≥ 20 μIU/ml, abnormally low T4 levels). Forty-eight hypothyroid patients were re-evaluated after 3 months of thyroxine replacement therapy. Renal function tests were carried out in all subjects and statistically analyzed. Serum creatinine was significantly increased in subclinical and overt hypothyroid groups as compared to euthyroid subjects. Serum creatinine showed a significant negative correlation with T3 &T4 levels in overt group(r = -0.372 and r = - 0.371), whereas a positive correlation was observed with TSH (r=0.283). Uric acid levels were significantly increased in the overt group as compared to euthyroid subjects. Uric acid levels showed a significant negative correlation with T3 levels in the overt group (r= -0.298). After 3 months of thyroxine replacement therapy, creatinine and uric acids levels decreased significantly and were comparable to euthyroid levels. Hypothyroidism leads to reversible changes in renal function.


Background: Laparoscopic surgery is performed under general anesthesia with mechanical ventilation, and a high-volume, low-pressure endotracheal tube (ETT) with a sealing cuff pressure about 20–30 cm of H2O is commonly used for a proper seal and avoidance of overinflation. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an inhalational anesthetic that is used with oxygen in the ratio 50:50 for the maintenance of anesthesia if there is no facility of medical air. However, N2O increases the intracuff pressure of the tracheal tube due to diffusion of N2O in to cuff during general anesthesia. The present research was done to study the cuff pressure changes during laparoscopic surgeries with N2O anesthesia and to assess its variation during the various stages of surgery and also its correlation with position of the patient. Materials and methods: A study was done in a tertiary-level hospital over a period of 1 year in 70 patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. Endotracheal tube was inflated with incremental doses of 0.5 mL of air to a point where no leak on auscultation on the suprasternal area was noted. Cuff pressure measurement using cuff pressure monitor (Hand pressure gauge) was done at the time of first inflation of cuff up to 20–30 cm of H2O and airway pressure, along with total amount of air inflated was noted as "zero" reading. Thereafter, cuff pressure was measured at regular interval of 5 minutes. Cuff pressures and airway pressures were taken just prior to insufflation, 2 minutes after abdominal insufflation, thereafter every 15 minutes throughout surgery, and 2 minutes after desufflation and prior to extubation. Results: Out of 70 patients, maximum patients were of the age-group of 20–50 years (78.5%). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups. Cuff pressure at the induction was kept in range of 20–30 cm of H2O. In this study, mean tracheal cuff pressure at baseline was 21.10 + 6.16 (p value of 0.207) and prior to insufflation was 21 + 7.13 (p value of 0.733). The cuff pressures at 2 minutes post insufflation (P2), P15, P30, P45, and P60 were 31.40 ± 12.54 cm of H2O, 25.79 ± 8.68 cm of H2O, 24.61 ± 7.37 cm of H2O, 23.83 ± 9.43 cm of H2O, and 24.63 ± 4.77 cm of H2O, respectively. p value was strongly significant showing a positive correlation between pneumo-peritoneum and cuff pressures. We could see the cuff pressure continuously increasing in successive readings. Post desufflation and prior to extubation, there was a fall in cuff pressure with mean cuff pressure being 17.24 + 5.32 cm of H2O and 15.27 + 4.00 cm of H2O, respectively, which also suggests that cuff pressures increased with pneumoperitoneum. Conclusion: Use of N2O increases the cuff pressure (31.4 + 12.54 cm of H2O), especially immediately post-insufflation (35.54 + 12.06 cm of H2O), more so in head low position (36.28 + 12.13 cm of H2O). Mean airway pressure (Ppeak) also increased with pneumoperitoneum (22.60 + 4.38 cm of H2O). The regular monitoring of endotracheal tube cuff pressure should be a part of regular safe practice of anesthesia, and use of handy device like hand pressure gauge should be implemented in regular practice where N2O is used.


This paper presents a method for intelligent selection of the quantization scale factor used for varying bit rate and quality in the MPEG2 video encoding standard. The goal is to select the quantization scale factor, above which, noticeable quality degradation occurs. This method uses a bilayer fuzzy logic system to aggregate measurements taken on the block level. The rulebases are designed around the characteristics of the human visual system (HVS). By taking advantage of the HVS characteristics, an informed selection of the quantization scale factor with respect to the resulting quality can be made.


The kDB system, consisting of the propagation vector k and the plane perpendicular to k and containing the field vectors D and B, is developed to treat electromagnetic waves in anisotropic and bianisotropic media. In using the kDB system, we first transform from the original coordinate systems to the kDB, determine the characteristics of the normal modes, and then transform the results back to the original coordinates.


Fish oil is rich in polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3 PUFAs) which are generally recognized as being beneficial to the health [1]. The addition of fish oil to food products is attractive to both the consumers and the food industry. Indeed, these components will improve nutritional value and add product value. Omega-3 PUFAs are rich in double bonds in their fatty acid chains and this attribute renders them highly susceptible to lipid oxidation. Omega-3 PUFAs can be added to food products as neat oil or as a delivery system such as oil-in-water emulsions. In this last configuration, the oil is surrounded by an emulsifier e.g. proteins, phospholipids or hydro-colloids. This emulsifier layer is important and may protect the oil inside the droplets against prooxidants in the surrounding water phase; the emulsifier should act as a physical barrier between the omega-3 PUFAs and the prooxidants. But this protective aspect is a really complex process and it is dependent on the food matrix to which the oil is added [2]. Oxidation is presumed to be initiated at the emulsifier layer, i.e. the interface layer between the oil and water where the oil is most likely to come into contact with the prooxidants in the water phase. Hence the structure, thickness and composition of the interface layer is expected to have a great impact on the oxidative stability of the emulsion. These layers are consisting of food grade emulsifiers such as milk phospholipids, casein and whey protein and are estimated to be in the range of a few nm which is why we used several electron microscopy techniques to visualize and characterize them. For this work we compare chemical fixation/ room temperature embedding in resin, cryofixation/ freeze substitution and cryofixation/cryo imaging (freeze-fracture cryo-SEM) on several oil-in-water emulsions. Concerning chemical fixation, we adapted conventional protocols for preserving the emulsions, by developing agar pockets for encapsulation or embedding in capillary tubes (figure 1). Indeed to use chemical fixation with these samples is challenging because we need to minimize alterations of the samples while ensuring at the same time that the samples are stabilized so they do not collapse when the water is removed, e.g. milk encapsulated in agar capsules [3]. These new protocols give an interesting view of the emulsions and the organisation of the interface layer surrounding the oil droplets. With cryofixation we could image more details of this interface and we observed that cryo substituted material seems to correspond very well to images of freeze fractured frozen samples in cryo-SEM where protein aggregates seems to be visible in the water phase, see figure 2. With this work, we want to demonstrate the importance of combining different microscopic approaches to access the ultrastructure of the oil-in-water emulsions due to their complexity and instability [5].


Moving Cold Atoms with Quantum Ratchets The nanoscale dimensions of biological motors make them susceptible to thermal noise, but such motors can produce force in one direction by alternating application of an asymmetric potential, or ratchet, with periods of thermal drift in the motion. The quantum version of such motors can operate without dissipation, as long as there is some means to break time-reversal symmetry in the system. Salger et al. (p. 1241) report on a coherent quantum ratchet device consisting of Bose-Einstein condensate cold atoms placed into an asymmetric sawtooth-potential created by optical lattices. Symmetry breaking was accomplished by phase shifts in the driving potentials. As expected for such a quantum ratchet, the current depended on the initial phase of the driving potential. A quantum ratchet, which operates without dissipation, is created with a Bose-Einstein condensate and optical potentials. Classical ratchet potentials, which alternate a driving potential with periodic random dissipative motion, can account for the operation of biological motors. We demonstrate the operation of a quantum ratchet, which differs from classical ratchets in that dissipative processes are absent within the observation time of the system (Hamiltonian regime). An atomic rubidium Bose-Einstein condensate is exposed to a sawtooth-like optical lattice potential, whose amplitude is periodically modulated in time. The ratchet transport arises from broken spatiotemporal symmetries of the driven potential, resulting in a desymmetrization of transporting eigenstates (Floquet states). The full quantum character of the ratchet transport was demonstrated by the measured atomic current oscillating around a nonzero stationary value at longer observation times, resonances occurring at positions determined by the photon recoil, and dependence of the transport current on the initial phase of the driving potential.


Renewable energy sources introduce uncertainty regarding generated power in smart grids. For instance, power that is generated by wind turbines is time-varying and dependent on the weather. Electric vehicles will become increasingly important in the development of smart grids with a high penetration of renewables, because their flexibility makes it possible to charge their batteries when renewable supply is available. Charging of electric vehicles can be challenging, however, because of uncertainty in renewable supply and the potentially large number of vehicles involved. In this paper we propose a vehicle aggregation framework which uses Markov Decision Processes to control electric vehicles and deals with uncertainty in renewable supply. We present a grouping technique to address the scalability aspects of our framework. In experiments we show that the aggregation framework maximizes the profit of the aggregator, reduces cost of customers and reduces consumption of conventionally-generated power.


List of Figures, Illustrations, Photographs, and Tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. It All Started With Adam 2. The French Connection: Laissez Faire Avance! 3. The Irreverent Malthus Challenges the New Model of Prosperity 4. Tricky Ricardo Takes Economics Down a Dangerous Road 5. Milling Around: John Stuart Mill and the Socialists Search for Utopia 6. Marx Madness Plunges Economics into a New Dark Age 7. Out of the Blue Danube: Menger and the Austrians Reverse the Tide 8. Marshalling the Troops: Scientific Economics Comes of Age 9. Go West, Young Man: Americans Solve the Distribution Problem in Economics 10. The Conspicuous Veblen Versus the Protesting Weber: Two Critics Debate the Meaning of Capitalism 11. The Fisher King Tries to Catch the Missing Link in Macroeconomics 12. The Missing Mises: Mises (and Wicksell) Make a Major Breakthrough 13. The Keynes Mutiny: Capitalism Faces Its Greatest Challenge 14. Paul Raises the Keynesian Cross: Samuelson and Modern Economics 15. Milton's Paradise: Friedman Leads a Monetary Counterrevolution 16. The Creative Destruction of Socialism: The Dark Vision of Joseph Schumpeter 17. Dr. Smith Goes to Washington: The Triumph of Market Economics Index About the Author.


Consumers throughout the world have gained familiarity with the seaweed nori (porphyra spp) thanks to the popularity of Asian cuisine, particularly Japanese sushi. Few actually know much about the people who produce this seaweed, however. This article presents qualitative social science research undertaken in Northeastern Japan among a community of nori cultivators on their production process and cultural way of life. Natural scientists acknowledge that in order to manage natural resources, it is actually the resource users who must be managed. In order to manage resource users, with the goals of social and environmental sustainability, we must understand both society and cultural institutions. With this in mind, this article focuses on the division of labor among cultivators, particularly along gender lines and the impacts, on a cultural level, of technological change on nori production. Technological change has had a profound impact on both the manner of nori production as well as the household division of labor and work and gender roles. Women play a key role in nori production today. With better understanding of such outward manifestations of culture and society we can bring the human dimensions of systems to bear in order to better manage these, and other natural resources.


A fundamental resemblance between processes of probabilitive training and conditional reflex forming exist wile using lowintensive signal stimulus and probabilitive way of confirmation. A base of intrinsic unity of these methodical variants is a complicated way of elicitation of bond between signal stimulus and confirmation, absence of one-way interpreted information about an environment presuming probabilitive estimate using. In this case informative interaction between an individual and subjectively accidental environment takes place or the same, a process of subjectively probabilitive training. Accordingly probabilitive training is a dinamic process of training under conditions of subjective uncertainty based probabilitive estimate application and feedback elements existence.


Heights of nests and reeds in a colony of red bishops ( Euplectes orix ) in  Phragmites mauritianus  reeds on the Makabusi River, Zimbabwe were measured in two breeding seasons. Nests were placed high in the reeds with fewer above the mean and more below the mean than in a normal distribution. During the course of a breeding season, nest height increased in response to increasing reed height and the nest height/reed height percentage was relatively constant at 70%. Nest height had a higher correlation and regression coefficient with reed height in lower reeds than in reeds over 280 cm tall. Most nests were placed in reeds with diameters of 10-12 mm. Higher positions, where the diameters of the reeds were smaller than this, the reeds were weaker probably because of a lack of llgnificatlon. In one breeding season, nests used by females were significantly lower than nest frames left unused but breeding success appeared unaffected by variation in nest height. Nesting high in the reeds might be a response to ground predators and climatic factors, particularly the requirement for nest ventilation to remove excess water vapour.


This is an annotated critical edition of twelve lectures by William Sterndale Bennett (1816-75), the foremost English musician of the mid-Victorian period, principal of the Royal Academy, and conductor of the Philharmonic Society. Delivered at the London Institution and Cambridge University between 1858 and 1871, they are valuable both as representative of the Victorian understanding of musical history, and for Bennett's astute comments on the state of music and musical life at the time. They include admonishments to the British government for failing to offer adequate financial support to the art; interesting and often surprising views on many contemporary composers; and discourses on his own experiences as a professional musician. The lectures are presented with annotations which identify the persons, institutions and compositions referred to in the text. An extensive introduction sets the lectures in context and reflects on their significance to English musical history and to Bennett's personal career. Nicholas Temperley is Professor of Music Emeritus at the University of Illinois.


The number of nodes in sensor networks is continually increasing, and maintaining accurate track estimates inside their common surveillance region is a critical necessity. Modern sensor platforms are likely to carry a range of different sensor modalities, all providing data at differing rates, and with varying degrees of uncertainty. These factors complicate the fusion problem as multiple observation models are required, along with a dynamic prediction model. However, the problem is exacerbated when sensors are not registered correctly with respect to each other, i.e., if they are subject to a static or dynamic bias. In this case, measurements from different sensors may correspond to the same target, but do not correlate with each other when in the same Frame of Reference (FoR), which decreases track accuracy. This paper presents a method to jointly estimate the state of multiple targets in a surveillance region, and to correctly register a radar and an Infrared Search and Track (IRST) system onto the same FoR to perform sensor fusion. Previous work using this type of parent-offspring process has been successful when calibrating a pair of cameras, but has never been attempted on a heterogeneous sensor network, or in a maritime environment. This article presents results on both simulated scenarios and a segment of real data that show a significant increase in track quality in comparison to using incorrectly calibrated sensors or single-radar only.


PURPOSE: An apparatus for detecting scene changes (as distinct from shot cuts or edit points) in audio/video signals is disclosed, together with video recording and logging apparatus employing such detection. CONSTITUTION: The means for detecting scene changes comprises a filtering arrangement (20) which receives and filters the audio soundtrack accompanying the video signal to periodically determine a background audio signal level. By comparison (24) of current and previously determined (22) background levels, a scene change (SC) is flagged when the current background audio level differs from a previous background level by more than a predetermined amount. A table of scene change locations may then be built up and stored with the video and audio data.


The literature on sinusitis in infancy and childhood is far too voluminous to review in a few pages. It deals, for the most part, with reports on patients who have been referred to hospitals because of infections in the respiratory tract or on children seen in clinics and in practice. This report presents another type of approach to the investigation of the paranasal sinuses in children—the consideration of the paranasal sinuses of the average healthy child. Data on the growth of the sinuses and the variations in their size at different ages from birth to late adolescence have been reported prevously.1This paper represents an analysis of the evidences of infection of the respiratory tract as obtained from the history, the physical examinations and the roentgenograms of the chest and paranasal sinuses in the same group of average healthy children who furnished the material for the previous study. MATERIAL


In a pecuniary economy, households' spending is limited by the stock of state money and the flow of income received in the form of state money. Thus, households are subject to liquidity constraint as they incur debts in the established unit of account, and consequently need to obtain the widely accepted medium of exchange (Wray 1998; Bell 2001). Even when households' borrowing is unlimited, there is liquidity constraint to the extent that various interest rates and fees are administered by banks and business enterprises upon different households. Consequently, households are concerned with sound finance – or balancing their budgets at some point (albeit not at all times). The state's spending, on the other hand, is not limited by a stock of money, since the state spends by issuing its own IOU (Knapp 1924). Thus, there is no instrumental reason why a sovereign state should follow "sound finance" (Lerner 1943; 1947; Wray 1998). The idea that a sovereign government or nation faces financial burden due to federal deficits is based on a state-household budget analogy, according to which, in much the same way a household goes bankrupt if its debt continuously exceeds its income flow, continuous government deficits are also unsustainable. The view of government "sound finance" holds that there is some "prudent" government deficit-to-GDP ratio in the same fashion that there are sensible household debt-to-earnings ratios that are used in reasonable lending practices. Under such an analogy, in the same manner that households have a time line for repaying their debts (even if they are rolled over) the state eventually will have to face the retirement of government debt. Thus, according to this view continuous government deficits are wasteful and constitute a "burden" for future generations. The household-state analogy does not differentiate households and the state as distinct institutions with specific characteristics, powers and liabilities. An Institutionalist discussion of this analogy with reference to household and


Background and Objective: In December 2019, patients diagnosed with viral pneumonia due to an unidentified microbial agent were reported in Wuhan, China. A novel coronavirus was subsequently identified as the causative pathogen, provisionally named 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID 19). The article aimed to unmask the genetic stability and nature of the viruses and validated the safety guidelines adopted for the coronaviruses currently causing the global pandemic. Materials and Methods: This study uses in silico approach and bioinformatics tools to validate the stability status and characteristics of the novel SARS-COV 2 coronaviruses by retrieving nucleotide sequences isolated and deposited in the NCBI. Results: The results have revealed that 11 out of 12 isolates studied are genetically and thermally unstable. The aliphatic index ranged from 52.98-112.07 in MT187977.1-MT127116.1, respectively. The instability index among the sequences ranged from 39.58-73.65 in MT187977.1-MT152900.1 isolate, respectively. The G-C contents range from 37.28-49.26% in MN938385.1-MT187977.1, respectively. Phylogenetically, isolates MT127116.1, MT159778.1, MT050414.1 and MT042777.1 showed the same genetic and mutation pathway with an evolutionary distance of 0.4 and 0.8 divergence times relative to the last common ancestor. Conclusion: There is a need for concerted effort in studying and understanding the genetic and thermal stability status and other characteristics of the viruses to be able to find a suitable therapy and drug design for the pandemic and biosecurity of humans against the virus now and in the future.


Using mainly quantitative methods of evaluation, as well as patient comment assessment, this study evaluated whether changing the current informed consent process for labor epidural analgesia to a longer, more informational process resulted in a more satisfied patient. Satisfaction with the labor epidural informed consent process was evaluated using a questionnaire that was mailed and also available online. Half of the patient population was given a written labor epidural risk/benefit document at their 36-week obstetric check up. All patients received the standard informed consent. Survey responses were evaluated based on three independent variables dealing with the modality, timing, amount of informed consent information and one dependent variable, whether the patient's expectations of the epidural were met, which is equated with satisfaction. Patients in this study clearly indicated that they want detailed risk/benefit information on epidural analgesia earlier in their pregnancy. A meaningfully larger percentage of patients who received the written risk/benefit document were satisfied with the epidural process as compared to those who did not receive the document.


This study is a report on care practice. Its objective was to develop a proposal for education in health care from a group of people with tuberculosis, seeking to increase the effectiveness of their treatment. The data was obtained through a proposal for education in health care, developed through a living group. Two interrelated themes resulted from the process of analyzing the data: the perception of tuberculosis and its care and treatment, and social isolation. These represent the elements that influence education in health care for people with tuberculosis, as well as the meaning that such a situation has to these people.


In this study we use a combination of ionic- and photo-cross-linking to develop a fabrication method for producing biocompatible microstructures using a methacrylated gellan gum (a polyanion) and chitosan (a polycation) in addition to lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) as the photoinitiator. This work involves the development of a low-cost, portable 3D bioprinter and a customized extrusion mechanism for controlled introduction of the materials through a 3D printed microfluidic nozzle, before being cross-linked in situ to form robust microstructure bundles. The formed microstructures yielded a diameter of less than 1 μm and a tensile strength range of ∼1 MPa. This study is the first to explore and achieve GGMA:CHT microstructure fabrication by means of controlled in-line compaction and photo-cross-linking through 3D printed microfluidic channels.


Traumatic experiences and their consequences are often the core of life stories told by survivors of violence. In Trauma: Life Stories of Survivors leading academics explore the relationship between the experiences of terror and helplessness that have caused trauma, the ways in which survivors remember, and the representation of these memories in the language and form of their life stories.International case studies include the migration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, the life stories of Guatemalan war widows, violence in South Africa, persecution of political prisoners in South Africa and the former Czechoslovakia, lynching in the Mississippi Delta, resistance in Zimbabwe's liberation war, sexual abuse, and the ongoing Irish troubles. The volume reveals the complexity of remembering and forgetting traumatic experiences, and shows that survivors are likely to express themselves in stories containing elements that are imaginary, fragmented, and loaded with symbolism. Trauma: Life Stories of Survivors is a groundbreaking work of relevance across the social sciences. This new perspective on trauma will be of particular importance to researchers in psychology, history, women's studies, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies.


Shipping has always been a volatile and cyclical business. The extreme changes in revenues, operating cash flows, and asset values during the recent financial crises have upset the usual means of financing shipping companies. While bank debt will remain important in the future, the new regulatory environment has been forcing shipping banks to shift these risks from their balance sheets to capital markets through instruments such as loan securitization. As a result, the shipping industry will increasingly look to capital markets for external funds. And shipping banks are likely to change from being commercial bank lending institutions to becoming more like investment banks that arrange a variety of financing solutions, including high yield bonds or public equity. Risk management will be central to shipping companies in this new environment. Shipping companies can manage their own risks by modifying operations, employing freight and vessel price derivatives, or adjusting their capital structures. To arrive at the value‐maximizing combination of these three basic methods, they must decide which risks to bear, which to manage internally, and which to transfer to the capital markets. These decisions require shipping financial managers to assess the effect of each risk on firm value, understand how each contributes to total risk, and determine the most cost‐effective way to limit that risk to an acceptable level.


We consider a distributed learning setting where strategic users are incentivized by a fusion center, to train a learning model based on local data. The users are not obliged to provide their true gradient updates and the fusion center is not capable of validating the authenticity of reported updates. Thus motivated, we formulate the interactions between the fusion center and the users as repeated games, manifesting an under-explored interplay between machine learning and game theory. We then develop an incentive mechanism for the fusion center based on a joint gradient estimation and user action classification scheme, and study its impact on the convergence performance of distributed learning. Further, we devise adaptive zero-determinant (ZD) strategies, thereby generalizing the classical ZD strategies to the repeated games with time-varying stochastic errors. Theoretical and empirical analysis show that the fusion center can incentivize the strategic users to cooperate and report informative gradient updates, thus ensuring the convergence.


Decreased levels of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), an absolute cofactor for nitric oxide synthase (NOS), lead to uncoupling of NOS into a superoxide v. nitric oxide producing enzyme, and it is this uncoupling that links it to the development of vascular disease. However, the effects of in vivo deficiency of BH4 on neointimal formation after vascular injury have not been previously investigated. Hph-1 mice, which display 90% deficiency in guanine triphosphate cyclohydrolase I, the rate limiting enzyme in BH4 synthesis, were used. Hph-1 and wild-type mice, treated with either vehicle or BH4 (n = 15 per group), were subjected to wire-induced femoral artery injury, and NOS expression and activity, inflammation, cell proliferation, superoxide production, and neointimal formation were assessed. The major form of NOS expressed over vessel wall after vascular injury was endothelial NOS. Hph-1 mice exhibited lower NOS activity (2.8 +/- 0.3 vs. 4.5 +/- 0.4 pmol/min/mg protein, P < 0.01), and higher aortic superoxide content (5.2 +/- 2.0 x 10(5) cpm vs. 1.6 +/- 0.7 x 10(5) cpm, P < 0.01) compared with wild-type controls, indicating uncoupling of NOS. Treatment of hph-1 mice with BH4 significantly increased NOS activity (from 2.8 +/- 0.3 to 4.1 +/- 0.4 pmol.min(-1).mg protein(-1), P < 0.05), and attenuated superoxide production (from 5.2 +/- 2.0 x 10(5) cpm to 0.8 +/- 0.7 x 10(5) cpm, P < 0.05). Hph-1 mice also had higher inflammatory reactions and more cell proliferation after vascular injury. Furthermore, hph-1 mice responded by a marked increase in neointimal formation at 4 wk after vascular injury, compared with wild-type controls (intima:media ratio: 4.5 +/- 0.5 vs. wild-type 0.7 +/- 0.1, P < 0.001). Treatment of hph-1 mice with BH4 prevented vascular injury-induced increase in neointimal formation (intima:media ratio: 1.4 +/- 0.1 vs. hph-1, P < 0.001). Treatment had no effect on wild-type controls. In summary, we describe, for the first time, that in vivo BH4 deficiency facilitates neointimal formation after vascular injury. Modulation of BH4 bioavailability is an important therapeutic target for restenosis.


In recent years many binary alloys have been examined by means of X-rays and their structures have been determined at various compositions. It has been shown in this way that a pure phase consists of a single structure, whilst in the regions of mixed phases the alloy forms a simple mixture of two crystal types. Sometimes the range of composition of a pure phase is extremely narrow, as, for example, in the s-phase of the Cu-Sn alloy. The composition within this phase corresponds almost exactly with the formula Cu3Sn. Examples of this kind have naturally led to the conception of intermolecular compounds, and, since the forma tion of a compound in chemistry is described in terms of valency bonds, it is natural that in the existing literature attempts to discuss the reason for the formation of various phases, and the properties of the alloys in these phases, have been based mainly upon the conception of the homopolar bond.* It does not seem, however, that this conception is very successful in the interpretation of the formation and properties of metallic alloys. It is advantageous therefore to attempt an examination of alloys from the standpoint of the Bloch model.f In Bloch's theory a stationary state of an electron in a crystal is specified by the three components of a vector k which may be regarded as the average momentum associated with the state; k is not, however, the average velocity times the mass o f the electron, but is defined in such a way that the rate of change of k is proportional to the external force acting on the electron. $ Since the difference in k between two successive stationary states is in general exceedingly small, the vector k may be regarded as varying continuously from state to state. It is now a wellknown result of the theory that the energy of a state is not a continuous


Faster networks, faster processors, and standardized protocols have enabled the emergence of interactive applications running over commercial networks such as the Internet. In such applications, multiple users interact with one another by exchanging real-time information such as user position and orientation in a virtual world, live and recorded audio, video, and text. These applications include interactive shopping, team training, virtual meeting rooms, and multi-player games. However, to date, these interactive systems have supported a limited number of information types, offered limited scalability, and have failed to account for a heterogeneous network and processor environment. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of InVerse, an infrastructure that supports real-time interactive applications on the Internet. InVerse provides a common backplane for disseminating and managing multiple real-time data streams. Within this general-purpose structure, the InVerse system maximizes scalability by implementing a hybrid communications architecture that adapts itself to available network bandwidth, observed network latency, installed network security measures, and available services such as multicast.


This paper presents an analytic review of literature on the role of key individuals linked to the success of IS initiatives; namely, project champions. We follow a systematic literature review approach and select papers for inclusion and then exclusion drawn from the two domains of relevance: information systems and innovation studies. Inductive categorisation using human and software-enabled insights identifies seven core themes through which we can conceptualise and understand IS innovation champions: origins, competencies/identities, roles/activities, relationships/influence, resource identification/mobilisation, impact on projects/organisations, and support. We summarise what is known to date from the literature for each of these themes but – reflecting the rather formative nature of the field – we identify for each theme a set of directions intended to guide future research on IS innovation champions. We conclude with a summary characterisation of these champions from the literature which constructs them in terms of 3Rs: results, relationships and resources. These, in part, are then used to produce a condensed list of key future research priorities. Our ultimate aim is to stimulate greater understanding of, and interest in IS champions among researchers and practitioners, providing the former with a research agenda to take forward.


: Circulatory isolation of an upper or lower limb and perfusion of this with heated cytostatics is an established method of treating local recurrence and in-transit metastases from malignant melanoma. Not only recurrence-free survival but also total survival are increased compared with the results after surgical excision alone. Even when this method is employed in connection with excision of a primary tumour, there appear to be favourable effects as regards recurrence-free and total survival of patients in high risk groups (tumour thickness > 1.5 mm and/or Clark level IV-V). The actual treatment is well tolerated by the patients and complications in the form of oedema of the limb and wound infection are reversible. The frequency of amputation is low and, similarly, the mortality which is 0.6%. As the frequency of malignant melanoma is increasing and, as a great proportion of the melanomata are localized to the extremities, these patients should be offered hyperthermic regional perfusion on removal of the primary tumour and also if recurrence occurs.


Cannabis sativa contains more than 400 known compounds, of which the terpene chemicals, called cannabinoids, are unique to this species. The cannabinoids, which occur as the corresponding acids in the plant material, are the major psychoactive components in this species. The compounds are decarboxylated from the inactive acidic form into the active form by means of smoking. Previous research has made use of the tobacco industry's standard method and adaptations thereof to produce a cannabis smoke condensate. In this study the method of smoke production, which includes the puff frequency, puff length, and puff volume, was tested and the concentration of the major cannabinoid, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and the amount of by-products produced under the different conditions were quantified. This study aimed at combining the existing methodology and at providing quantitative results on the influence of the preparation method on the concentration of THC in the smoke. The results indicate that the method of smoke production influences the amount of THC produced (e.g., longer puff length yielding a higher amount of THC). The THC concentration in the smoke condensate varied between 22.17 mg/g of cannabis and 54.00 mg/g, while the amount of by-products produced varied between 25.57 mg/g and 107.40 mg/g.


The integration of developing countries into the world trading system is an important development mechanism to reduce poverty in these countries. Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) have recently spread in terms of quantity and type. Some of these, like the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) differ from previous RTAs as they explicitly support export capacities of developing countries. Therefore, it is particularly relevant to investigate the effect of eligibility for various types of RTAs first on exports and second on rejections at EU borders. Empirical analysis is carried out on 52 African countries' exports of fruits, nuts and vegetables and fish to the EU-27 from 2008 to 2013. Adopting the gravity framework we find that only EBA eligibility has induced significantly exports of fruits, nuts and vegetables from Africa to the EU-27. Estimating different count models using border rejection data from the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed database, we also find other trade enhancing effects of RTAs that go beyond tariff reductions, as all EU-Africa RTAs have negative effects on border rejections. The effects nevertheless differ across agreements and products. Specifically, EPA eligibility decreases rejections on both products, GSP decreases rejections on fish and fish products and FTA (TDCA and Euro-Med) decreases rejections on fruits, nuts and vegetables.


In medical informatics research, study questions frequently involve individuals who are grouped into clusters. For example, an intervention may be aimed at a clinician (who treats a cluster of patients) with the intention of improving the health of individual patients. Correlation among individuals within a cluster can lead to incorrect estimates of the sample size required to detect an effect and inappropriate estimates of the confidence intervals and the statistical significance of the intervention effects. Contamination, which is the spread of the effect of an intervention or control treatment to the opposite group, often occurs between individuals within clusters. It leads to an attenuation of the effect of the intervention and reduced power to detect a difference. If individuals are randomized in a clinical trial (individual-randomized trial), then correlation must be taken into account in the analysis, and the sample size may need to be increased to compensate for contamination. Randomizing clusters rather than individuals (cluster-randomized trials) can eliminate contamination and may be preferred for logistical reasons. Cluster-randomized trials are generally less efficient than individual-randomized trials, so the tradeoffs must be assessed. Correlation must be taken into account in the analysis and in the sample-size calculations for cluster-randomized trials.


Rapid and reliable detection and identification of Francisella tularensis (a tier 1 select agent) are of primary interest for both medical and biological threat surveillance purposes. The Biotoxis qPCR detection kit is a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay designed for the detection of Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, and F. tularensis in environmental or biological samples. Here, we evaluated its performance for detecting F. tularensis in comparison to previously validated qPCR assays. ABSTRACT Rapid and reliable detection and identification of Francisella tularensis (a tier 1 select agent) are of primary interest for both medical and biological threat surveillance purposes. The Biotoxis qPCR detection kit is a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay designed for the detection of Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, and F. tularensis in environmental or biological samples. Here, we evaluated its performance for detecting F. tularensis in comparison to previously validated qPCR assays. The Biotoxis qPCR was positive for 87/87 F. tularensis subsp. holarctica (type B) strains but also for F. tularensis subsp. novicida. It was negative for Francisella philomiragia and 24/24 strains belonging to other bacterial species. For 31 tularemia clinical specimens, the Biotoxis qPCR displayed a sensitivity between 90.32% and 96.55%, compared to qPCR tests targeting ISFtu2 or a type B-specific DNA sequence, respectively. All 30 nontularemia clinical specimens were Biotoxis qPCR negative. For water samples, the Biotoxis qPCR limit of detection was 1,000 CFU/liter of F. tularensis. For 57 environmental water samples collected in France, the Biotoxis qPCR was positive for 6/15 samples positive for ISFtu2 qPCR and 4/4 positive for type B qPCR. In conclusion, the Biotoxis qPCR detection kit demonstrated good performances for F. tularensis detection in various biological and environmental samples, although cross-amplification of F. tularensis subsp. novicida must be considered. This plate format assay could be useful to test a large number of clinical or environmental specimens, especially in the context of natural or intentional tularemia outbreaks.


This article presents a comparative analysis of alternative models of production with environmental concerns that may lead to higher effectiveness in initiatives undertaken by industrial firms towards the development of more sustainable operations. The objective is to organize the knowledge on the subject of such models and provide guidelines that may help managers in selecting the most fitting approach for their business, according to the strategy and conditions of the firm. Among the presented models, the Cleaner Production model stands out for promoting the approach of nurturing the concurrent strengthening of quality, productivity, and sustainability in the existing manufacturing processes by dealing more comprehensively with factors internal to the firm that may be directly controlled by the managers.


Requirements such as integrated view of the customer or global business process integration make enterprise wide management of master data a prerequisite for achieving business goals. The master data application architecture, as a part of enterprise master data management, plays a critical role in enterprises. Choosing the right master data application architecture is a controversial subject in many enterprises. Unfortunately, the current state of the art in research does not provide sufficient guidance for enterprises dealing with this subject. The paper aims at overcoming this gap in research by presenting a decision model for supporting enterprises in the decision-making process regarding the choice of the right master data application architecture. To design the model, Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis and Design Science Research Methodology were applied.


One important dimension of the quality of a graduate program is the quality of its faculty. Previous assessments of the publication productivity of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) faculties have been needlessly incomplete and narrow, reflecting publications only in a small number of CCJ journals. Assessments covering only CCJ journals fail to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of CCJ and bias results against programs whose most productive scholars publish in non‐CCJ journals. The present research covers the full array of major journals in which CCJ‐related research appears, by searching for articles using the multidisciplinary Web of Science database, as well as the Criminal Justice Periodical Index database. This broader approach yields substantially different results than those obtained in recent work that confined article counts to a few CCJ journals. Although the faculty of CCJ programs overwhelmingly focus their published scholarship on CCJ‐related topics, they publish most of it outside the few CCJ journals covered in past assessments. The more inclusive approach indicates that the most productive faculties of a CCJ doctoral program are those of the University of Cincinnati and the University of Florida; the latter ranked only 16th in a recent (2002) study based solely on CCJ journals.


Twenty-nine persons 60 to 91 years old participated in a study concerning living with stroke sequelae. They narrated stories about two different photographs showing a person of the same age and gender as themselves being fed or eating independently. The stories were analyzed and interpreted by means of a phenomenological hermeneutic method. Some interviewees identified themselves with the actor and the action that took place in the photograph and others did not. Four themes were found: uncertainty; sadness and mourning; gratefulness, hope, and satisfaction; and isolation. The stories varied regarding completeness and expressed optimistic or pessimistic future expectations. The stories were condensed into four core stories. The emotional content of each core story was expressed by a metaphor. The tacit knowledge embedded in the interview texts, expressed through core stories and metaphors, is essential to nursing care.


11q23–24 chromosome is a region containing frequent allelic loss (loss of heterozygosity; LOH) in human cancers. To examine cancer‐related allelic loss in the region between D11S940 and APOC3, we used 17 polymorphic markers and allotyped 28 lung cancer‐derived cell lines and their corresponding matched lymphoblastoid cell lines. LOH was found in 71.4% (20/28) of the lung cancer cell lines and was localized to two distinct minimal regions of loss. One region is bracketed by markers D11S1647 and NCAM2 and contains the gene encoding the β isoform of the A subunit of the human protein phosphatase 2A (PPP2R1B). Recently, mutations in this gene were described in lung and colon cancers, suggesting that PPP2R1B functions as a tumor‐suppressor gene. A second minimal region of loss was defined between markers D11S1792 and D11S1885, a region estimated to be less than 1 Mb. Thus, chromosome 11 likely harbors two sites of suppressor oncogene activity in lung cancer, one defined by the PPP2R1B gene and the second located telomeric to PPP2R1B. This study facilitates the identification and cloning of a second critical tumor‐suppressor gene involved in lung cancer, and possibly a variety of other cancers, on human chromosome band 11q23. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 25:154–159, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


At the beginning of 2018, President Trump started taking protective tariff measures against products from China in a sequence of events which started a "trade war" between the United States (U.S.) and China. As the value of trade flows affected on both sides rose to a significant amount, this episode will become an interesting research object in the future. A thorough analysis of many outcomes of interest is at this point in time -- and even will be in the next few years -- impossible due to a lack of data which will only become available at a later point. However, as is customary with historical preferential liberalizations in trade agreements and potentially the opposite of it through Brexit, it is possible to gauge consequences of this "trade war" or "trade dispute" when focusing on the stocks of listed companies around related tariff-change announcements or implementations by the U.S. and China in the relevant time span. This paper proposes such an analysis and finds, very much consistent with the rumors from business, that the associated protectionist tariffs appear to have done to a large extent the opposite of what was intended: they hurt domestic firms in targeted and also other, untargeted sectors of an acting country, and they affect third countries and territories which are not even party to the "trade war" or "dispute".


Nuclear poly(A) polymerase (PAP) polyadenylates nascent mRNAs, promoting their nuclear export, stability, and translation, while the related cytoplasmic polymerase GLD-2 activates translation of dead-enylated mRNAs. Here we characterize the biochemical activity of fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe Cid1, a putative cytoplasmic PAP implicated in cell cycle checkpoint controls. Surprisingly, Cid1 has robust poly(U) polymerase activity in vitro, especially when isolated in native multiprotein complexes. Furthermore, we found that upon S-phase arrest, the 3 (cid:1) ends of actin mRNAs were posttranscriptionally uridylated in a Cid1-dependent manner. Finally, Hs2 (ZCCHC6), a human ortholog of Cid1, shows similar activity. These data suggest that uridylation of mRNA forms the basis of an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of gene regulation.


Misfolded proteins are prone to engage in aberrant intermolecular interactions that can lead to formation of large aggregate structures. Aggregation causes loss-of-function toxicity because the aggregating protein fails to reach its native fold and function. In addition, Protein aggregates may exert gain-of-toxicity, which is due to the shear presence of Aggregate conformations that sequester important cellular factors and disturb cell morphology. Protein aggregation is associated with a large number of human diseases.
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a membrane-bound cellular organelle andthe site of synthesis of one third of the eukaryotic proteome including secretory proteins and proteins destined for the endomembrane system. After co-translational translocation into the ER, nascent proteins are assisted to fold by molecular chaperones and are subject to post-translational modifications. Secretory proteins are retained in the ER lumen until they are correctly folded and are then delivered to the Golgi apparatus for further modifications. If a protein fails to fold properly after repeated folding cycles, it is instead targeted for degradation via the ER-associated degradation pathway (ERAD).
The aim of the study presented in this thesis was to determine how the human ER quality control (ERQC) machinery deals with aggregation-prone proteins. This is of great interest because protein aggregates are differentially regulated by distinct cellular environments and many of the proteins that aggregate in diseases are in fact synthesised in the ER. To this end, we utilised de novo designed amyloidogenic β-proteins as generic models for protein aggregation. Due to their lack of evolved biological function, these model proteins allow the exclusive study of gain-of-function toxicity and enable us to dissect the effect of the ER environment on amyloidogenic proteins.
We determined that ER-targeted versions of the model β-sheet proteins are significantly less toxic and more soluble than their non-targeted counterparts, which form toxic insoluble aggregates in the cytosol and nucleus. We found that the ER-targeted β-protein ER-β23 is recognised by ERQC machinery and efficiently retained in the ER lumen in a soluble polymeric state. Strikingly, ER-β23 interacted with factors of the ERAD pathway,even though it was not efficiently degraded. Instead, ER-β23 inhibited the degradation of other ERAD substrates by sequestering low-abundant ERAD factors. The presented results demonstrate a marked capacity of the ER to prevent the secretion of potentially toxic aggregation-prone proteins and to limit the formation of insoluble aggregates in the ER
lumen. In addition, the data reveal a mechanism by which amyloidogenic proteins may disturb ER proteostasis.
Another aim of this study was to analyse the effects of small molecule proteostasis
modulators. We found that the anti-dopaminergic drugs fluphenazine and droperidolas well
as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors gefitinib and erlotinib improved
proteostasis in the presence of Protein aggregates. In case of the former, this effect was most likely achieved via induction of the cytosol stress response.
In summary, the work presented in this thesis provides novel insights into how aggregation-prone proteins behave in the environment of the ER and also demonstrates the potential of using small molecule modulators to improve cellular proteostasis in a disease context.


OBJECTIVE
To identify demographic or signalment factors associated with calcium carbonate urolith formation in goats.

DESIGN
Retrospective case series and case-control study.

ANIMALS
354 goats with calcium carbonate uroliths (case animals) and 16,366 goats without urinary tract disease (control animals).

PROCEDURES
Medical records of the Minnesota Urolith Center were reviewed to identify case goats for which samples were submitted between January 1, 1984, and December 31, 2012. Control goats evaluated at US veterinary teaching hospitals in the same time period were identified by searching Veterinary Medical Database records. Age, breed, sex, reproductive status, geographic location, season, and anatomic location of collected uroliths were analyzed to identify risk or protective factors associated with calcium carbonate urolithiasis.

RESULTS
Nigerian dwarf goats had higher odds of developing calcium carbonate uroliths than did Pygmy goats (reference group). Several breeds had lower odds of this finding, compared with Pygmy goats; odds were lowest for mixed, Anglo-Nubian, and Toggenburg breeds. Breeds of African origin (Pygmy, Nigerian Dwarf, and Boer) comprised 146 of 275 (53%) case goats with data available. Goats of African descent had a higher risk of developing calcium carbonate uroliths than did goats of non-African descent (reference group). Males and neutered goats had higher odds of calcium carbonate urolithiasis, compared with females and sexually intact goats, respectively. Age category, geographic location, and season were associated with detection of calcium carbonate uroliths.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Goats with calcium carbonate uroliths were typically neutered males, > 1 year of age, and of African descent. This study identified factors associated with calcium carbonate urolithiasis in goats; however, these associations do not allow conclusions regarding cause-and-effect relationships.


The present study was undertaken to determine whether neutrophilic granulocytes leave the vascular bed and enter body tissues, particularly the lung, in pathogen-free mice under normal steady state conditions and also under inflammatory stress. Tissues from normal mice and from mice with granulocytosis-producing tumor were processed for electron microscopic studies. Neutrophils have not been seen outside the capillary or in the pulmonary epithelium in alveoli under normal steady state or in mice with leukocyte counts of 300,000/mm3 in which capillaries were replete with neutrophils. Emigration of neutrophils outside the capillaries was observed under inflammatory conditions. Granulocytes were also observed to be concentrated for destruction in the spleen, perhaps the major site for removal of granulocytes. In the pathogen-free mice granulocytes did not appear to leave blood vessels and enter tissues.


In this paper, we consider multi-objective optimization problems involving not necessarily convex constraints and componentwise generalized-convex (e.g., semi-strictly quasi-convex, quasi-convex, or explicitly quasi-convex) vector-valued objective functions that are acting between a real linear topological pre-image space and a finite dimensional image space. For these multi-objective optimization problems, we show that the set of (strictly, weakly) efficient solutions can be computed completely by using at most two corresponding multi-objective optimization problems with a new feasible set that is a convex upper set of the original feasible set. Our approach relies on the fact that the original feasible set can be described using level sets of a certain realvalued function (a kind of penalization function). Finally, we apply our approach to problems where the constraints are given by a system of inequalities with a finite number of constraint functions.


Investors increasingly use machine learning (ML) algorithms to support their early stage investment decisions. However, it remains unclear if algorithms can make better investment decisions and if so, why. Building on behavioral decision theory, our study compares the investment returns of an algorithm with those of 255 business angels (BAs) investing via an angel investment platform. We explore the influence of human biases and experience on BAs' returns and find that investors only outperformed the algorithm when they had extensive investment experience and managed to suppress their cognitive biases. These results offer novel insights into the role of cognitive limitations, experience, and the use of algorithms in early stage investing.


We present Second Thought, a new learning paradigm that enables language models (LMs) to re-align with human values. By modeling the chain-of-edits between value-unaligned and value-aligned text, with LM fine-tuning and additional refinement through reinforcement learning, Second Thought not only achieves superior performance in three value alignment benchmark datasets but also shows strong human-value transfer learning ability in few-shot scenarios. The generated editing steps also offer better interpretability and ease for interactive error correction. Extensive human evaluations further confirm its effectiveness.


Abstract.
 New ornithischian remains reported here (MPEF-PV 3826) include two complete metatarsi with associated phalanges and caudal vertebrae, from the late Toarcian levels of the Cañadón Asfalto Formation. We conclude that these fossil remains represent a bipedal heterodontosaurid but lack diagnostic characters to identify them at the species level, although they probably represent remains of Manidens condorensis, known from the same locality. Histological features suggest a subadult ontogenetic stage for the individual. A cluster analysis based on pedal measurements identifies similarities of this specimen with heterodontosaurid taxa and the inclusion of the new material in a phylogenetic analysis with expanded character sampling on pedal remains confirms the described specimen as a heterodontosaurid. Finally, uncommon features of the digits (length proportions among nonungual phalanges of digit III, and claw features) are also quantitatively compared to several ornithischians, theropods, and birds, suggesting that this may represent a bipedal cursorial heterodontosaurid with gracile and grasping feet and long digits. In particular, the elongated non-terminal pedal phalanges and morphology of digit III resemble features present in arboreal birds, a unique condition found so far among ornithischians.


Characteristics of flow through curved channels is very complicated. In the
curved channel is formed due to secondary flow boundary layer interaction on the
corner region. Effects caused by this secondary flow is blocked the flow, thereby
reducing the flow effective area. The blockage of the flow will decrease the flow rate. In
addition to the secondary flow, in curved channel occurs also separation flow.
Separation process begins with the existence of a continuous fluid flow against the
friction and obstacles in the form of adverse pressure gradient. Adverse pressure
gradient on the fluid flow can cause the momentum of the flow decreases. If the flow
does not have enough momentum to overcome the adverse pressure gradient, then this
flow will separated and reverse direction from its main flow.
In this Final Project research was carried out with experimental and numerical
simulation methods. Studies carried out on rectangular bend 90°, at the Reynolds
number 68400 (velocity inlet of fluid 15 m/s). The variables measured were the pressure
on outer wall, inner wall, and radial section to obtain the pressure coefficient (Cp).
Then the results pressure coefficient (Cp) experimental compared with simulations. In
this simulation, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to predict the
phenomenon of separation flow and secondary flow occurring. In this study indicated
the phenomenon of secondary flow moves from the outer to the inner side and cause the
blockage effect. In the experiments obtained discharge coefficient (Cd) = 1.040917,
theoretical debit = 0.071958 m3/s, actual debit = 0.074902 m3/ s. And in the simulations
obtained discharge coefficient (Cd) = 1,017981, theoretical debit = 0,073579 m3/s,
actual debit = 0.074902 m3/ s.


The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate changes associated with vocal aging before and after an intensive program of voice treatment. Three aged (68–70 years) individuals (two men and one woman) each participated in three pre‐treatment and two post‐treatment recording sessions. All subjects received 16 sessions of voice treatment (LSVT) within one month. The LSVT has been designed to increase vocal loudness and functional oral communication through maximizing phonatory efficiency and previously has been documented to be effective in treating speech and voice disorders in patients with Parkinson's disease [Ramig et al., J. Speech Hear. Res. 38, 1232–1251 (1995)]. Acoustic, videostroboscopic, aerodynamic, electromyographic, and perceptual data will be discussed in relation to treatment‐related changes in sound‐pressure level in these aged subjects. [Work supported by NIH.]


Abstract A novel glycosphingolipidomic protocol using nano-high performance liquid chromatography coupled on-line to electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-QTOF-MS) focusing on the separation of isomeric ganglioside structures is described here. A highly efficient separation of α2–3- and α2–6-sialylated ganglioside species of different carbohydrate chain length was achieved on an HILIC-amido column, followed by sensitive flow-through ESI-QTOF-MS detection and unambiguous structural identification by tandem MS experiments. The protocol was applied to encompass the glycosphingolipidome of human granulocytes, where 182 distinct components could be clearly identified and assigned regarding the ganglioside type and the isomer distribution.


This article documents the earthquake ground motion database developed for the NGA-East Project, initiated as part of the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) research program and led by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER). The project was focused on developing a ground motion characterization model (GMC) model for horizontal ground motions for the large region referred to as Central and Eastern North America (CENA). The CENA region covers most of the U.S. and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and is characterized tectonically as a stable continental region (SCR). The ground-motion database includes the two- and three-component ground-motion recordings from numerous selected events relevant to CENA (M > 2.5, with distances up to 3500 km) that have been recorded since 1976. The final database contains over 27,000 time series from 82 earthquakes and 1271 recording stations. The ground motion database includes uniformly processed time series, 5% damped pseudo-spectral acceleration (PSA) median-component ordinates for 429 periods ranging from 0.01 to 10 s, duration and Arias intensity in 5% increments, and Fourier amplitude spectra for different time windows. Ground motions and metadata for source, path, and site conditions were subjected to quality checks by topical working groups and the ground-motion model (GMM) developers. The NGA-East database constitutes the largest database of processed recorded ground motions in SRCs and is publicly available from the PEER ground-motion database website.