Besides the traditional indices such as biochemistry, arterial blood gas, rapid shallow breathing index (RSBI), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score, this study suggests a data science framework for extubation prediction in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) and investigates the value of the information our prediction model provides. A data science framework including variable selection (e.g., multivariate adaptive regression splines, stepwise logistic regression and random forest), prediction models (e.g., support vector machine, boosting logistic regression and backpropagation neural network (BPN)) and decision analysis (e.g., Bayesian method) is proposed to identify the important variables and support the extubation decision. An empirical study of a leading hospital in Taiwan in 2015–2016 is conducted to validate the proposed framework. The results show that APACHE II and white blood cells (WBC) are the two most critical variables, and then the priority sequence is eye opening, heart rate, glucose, sodium and hematocrit. BPN with selected variables shows better prediction performance (sensitivity: 0.830; specificity: 0.890; accuracy 0.860) than that with APACHE II or RSBI. The value of information is further investigated and shows that the expected value of experimentation (EVE), 0.652 days (patient staying in the ICU), is saved when comparing with current clinical experience. Furthermore, the maximal value of information occurs in a failure rate around 7.1% and it reveals the "best applicable condition" of the proposed prediction model. The results validate the decision quality and useful information provided by our predicted model.


On the basis of available information it is not justifiable to conclude that endotoxins are responsible for extrinsic allergic alveolitis by biological activities that are associated with endotoxin properties per se. Endotoxin-like material has been found in materials associated with byssinosis, farmer's lung and sewage sludge disease and a case for their involvement in the aetiology of byssinosis and sewage sludge disease can be made out. However, endotoxin-like activity in farmer's lung is less important than the hypersensitivity reaction except possibly where heavy doses of mouldy hay dust are inhaled. The indirect role of endotoxin in promoting a hypersensitivity response, i.e. by adjuvant activity, etc., is undoubtedly more important than is its direct action in this disease.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Gaining insight into the molecular pathways involved in the development of HCC is hence a prerequisite to design and develop novel and effective therapeutic strategies. Metabolic reprogramming is a universal feature of tumor cells and is characterized by increased glycolysis and diminished oxidative phosphorylation, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. More recently, it has become evident that tumor cells heavily rely on gluta-mine metabolism to compensate for the Warburg effect and to replenish the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. However, the molecular mechanisms by which glutamine supports tumor cell metabolism remain largely unexplored. In this thesis, I have established the role of the nuclear receptor LRH-1 as a key regulator in the process of hepatic tumorigenesis. I observed that LRH-1 promotes DEN-induced hepatocellular carcinogenesis (HCC). I demonstrated that LRH-1 facilitates the production of NADPH from glutamine by favoring a non-canonical glutamine pathway that optimizes reductive biosynthesis. Importantly, chronic and acute disrup-tion of LRH-1 also impaired glutamine-induced anaplerosis and I±-KG availability, ultimately leading to im-paired mTORC1 signaling to block cell proliferation. Moreover, LRH-1 also coordinates glutamine-dependent asparagine synthesis to protect tumor cell from apoptosis induced by glutamine depletion itself. As a result, gain-of-function of LRH-1 sustained aspar-agine homeostasis upon glutamine-deprivation to promote cell survival. Collectively, these studies unveiled an unexpected role of LRH-1 in cancer intermediary metabolism, and warranted further studies on pharma-cological inhibition of LRH-1 to interfere with hepatocellular carcinogenesis.


Regarding the nature of yield data, there are two basic characteristics that need to be accommodated while we are about to model a yield distribution. The first one is the nonstationary nature of the yield distribution, which causes the heteroscedasticity related problems. The second one is the left skewness of the yield distribution. A common approach to this problem is based on a two-stage method in which the yields are detrended first and the detrended yields are taken as observed data modeled by various parametric and nonparametric methods. Based on a two-stage estimation structure, a mixed normal distribution seems to better capture the secondary distribution from catastrophic years than a Beta distribution. The implication to the risk management is the yield risk may be underestimated under the common selection -- Beta distribution. A mixed normal distribution under a time-varying structure, under which the parameters are allowed to vary over time, tends to collapse to a single normal distribution. The time-varying mixed normal model fits the realized yield data in one step that avoids the possible bias caused by sampling variability. Also, the time-varying parameters imply that the premium rates can be adjusted to represent the most recent information and that lifts the efficiency of the insurance market.


Background Fever of unknown origin (FUO) remains one of the major diagnostic challenges for the clinician. Although infection, malignancy and collagen vascular disease are accepted the 3 most important causes of FUO, the relative importance of these major categories might have changed because of improvements in serodiagnosis, culture techniques and radiologic imaging modalities. Rheumatic diseases not uncommonly present with fever. Objectives Our objective was to make an uptake of our knowledge regarding causes of FUO in our hospital together with more detailed analysis of collagen vascular and granulomatous disorders presenting with FUO. Methods In this clinical investigation, we retrospectively evaluated hospital records of patients who were hospitalised in our Infectious Diseases Service from January 1990 through September 2000 to investigate the cause of prolonged fever. One hundred forty-five patients (63 female, 82 male, mean age: 38.5, min-max: 16–80) meeting the classical criteria of FUO were included in the present study. Results Infections, rheumatic diseases and malign disorders were found in 93 (64.1%), 24 (16.6%) and 8 patients (5.5%), respectively. Infectious causes are the most common cause in all age groups, and rheumatic disease are the second. Malign diseases were diagnosed in 2.7% of patients under age 50, and percentage of these disorders increased to 15.6% among patients over 50. Miscellaneous conditions were found in 2 patients (1.4%), and despite detailed evaluation 18 patients (12.4%) remained undiagnosed. List of rheumatic diseases diagnosed as causes of FUO in the present study are given in Table 1.Abstract THU0231 Table 1 List of rheumatic diseases diagnosed as causes of FUO Frequency Percent FMF 2 8.3 Unclassified collagen tissue disease 4 16.6 Sarcoidosis 2 8.3 Seronegative arthritis 2 8.3 SLE 3 12.5 Temporal arteritis 2 8.3 PAN-like vasculitis 4 16.6 Others (Behçet's D, PM, Still's, RA, WG) 5 20.8 Conclusion In conclusion, despite widespread use of antibiotics and increasingly useful diagnostic technologies, infectious disease still remain the leading cause of FUO among our group of patients, and collagen vascular diseases together with granulomatous disorders are the second most common group. The percentage of tumours was higher in our elderly patients than in the younger ones but still clearly lower than other causes of FUO in adults. Infectious Diseases Department of Hacettepe University is one of the reference centres in Turkey, and many undiagnosed cases are being referred to our hospital. Therefore we believe that, although we performed the present study only from our hospital reports, the results may reflect the general population of central Anatolia.


The research is an investigation of sibling rivalry and its socialization.
Eighty mothers of two, three and four-child families were interviewed
and 189 of their children tested by means of a specially constructed
Children's Test. The test provides a matrix of the child's attitude
to and involvement with all family members. The mother's interview data
indicate the extent to which the mother differentiates between her children,
her perception of sibling relationships and her general orientation to
key socialization issues.
The first part of the thesis, sets out the 'demographic' data on
maternal preference and sibling relationships. Patterns of maternal
preference were observed in two and three-child families, but not in
four-child families. The analysis of sibling attitudes indicated that
positive and negative sibling affect is related to ordinal position and
sibling status.
The second part, focusses on socialization issues. The socialization
style of the mother was conceptualized as either personal or positional
and operationalized by means of a specially constructed scale. This
personal-positional factor was closely related to the mother's handling
of key socialization issues and, more specifically, to her attitude to
and handling of sibling rivalry. When the children of personal mothers
are compared with those of positional mothers, different amounts of
reported jealousy are found, but the direction of the influence varies
with family size. The effect of a personal or positional socialization
seems to be to lessen or heighten the significance of structural influences
in the family.


25th International Conference on Recent Advances in Echocardiography and Allied Technique (MRI, CT Scan, Nuclear), March 28, 2009, Embassy Suites Orlando International Drive, 8978 International Drive, Orlando, Florida Conference Director: Dr. Navin C. Nanda. Email: Jointly sponsored by the University of Alabama School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham Echocardiography Laboratory, Birmingham, Alabama and the International Society of Cardiovascular Ultrasound.


BACKGROUND
Alcohol is a significant risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To date, no rodent model has demonstrated the formation of hepatic neoplasia in the setting of chronic alcohol consumption alone.

METHODS
We investigated whether rats selectively bred for high alcohol preference (P rats), allowed free access to water, or water and 10% (v/v) alcohol, for 6, 12, or 18 months, develop hepatic neoplasia.

RESULTS
At necropsy, liver tumor incidence and multiplicity were significantly increased in 18-month alcohol-consuming versus water-consuming P rats. These data were confirmed histologically by glutathione-S-transferase pi-class (GSTp) staining. Phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (MAPK/ERK) staining was also increased in the sinusoidal lining cells within livers of alcohol-consuming versus water only P rats. In addition, cytochrome p450IIE1 (CYP2E1) mRNA, protein expression/activity, and intrahepatic oxidative stress were significantly increased in alcohol-consuming P rat livers versus water only. In contrast, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase expression decreased in alcohol-consuming versus water only P rats. No significant difference in alcohol dehydrogenase expression was detected.

CONCLUSIONS
These data demonstrate that chronic alcohol consumption is associated with hepatic neoplasia, MAPK/ERK activation, increased CYP2E1 activity, and intrahepatic oxidative stress in P rats. As these rats are well characterized as a model of alcoholism, these findings identify a novel rodent model of alcohol or "alcoholism"-induced liver neoplasia.


OBJECTIVE
To explore whether there is an increased prevalence of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) in known cystic fibrosis (CF) carriers. Self-reported CRS affects 13% to 14% of the US population and clusters in families, which suggests that genetic factors may play an etiologic role. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited recessive disorder that invariably affects the sinuses. The frequency of CF mutations has been reported to be higher in patients with CRS than in unaffected controls.

PATIENTS
Obligate CF carriers (parents of patients with CF) were recruited from the Johns Hopkins CF clinic. The presence of signs and symptoms of CRS was assessed by a sinus disease questionnaire. A subgroup of participants was evaluated by a physician experienced in the diagnosis of CRS.

RESULTS
Fifty-three (36%) of 147 obligate CF carriers who returned a completed questionnaire had self-reported CRS. Twenty-three CF carriers (14 with and 9 without CRS based on self-reporting in the questionnaire) were clinically evaluated. Seven were diagnosed as having CRS (all 7 with self-reported CRS), while another 6 had allergic rhinitis or recurrent acute rhinosinusitis (all 6 with self-reported CRS), and 10 had no evidence of active sinus disease (1 with self-reported CRS). The sensitivity (100%) and specificity (56%) of the questionnaire for physician-diagnosed CRS was similar to that of other survey instruments used to estimate the prevalence of self-reported CRS in the general population.

CONCLUSION
Carriers of a single CF mutation have a higher prevalence of CRS than the general population.


Qualitative and numerical simulation of regional groundwater flow in the Colorado Plateau during Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous time has led to a model of uranium deposition in areas of upwelling solutions. Paleogeographic reconstruction shows that surface drainage and therefore groundwater flow was generally toward the northeast and east. Croundwater flowing in these directions, principally through Triassic-Jurassic and Permian sandstones, encountered sediments of variable thickness due to buried uplifted or downdropped Precambrian blocks. The buried uplifted blocks caused upward movement of groundwater around them. These inferred zones of upwelling are closely associated with concentrations of Jurassic- and Cretaceous-age uranium deposits. The results are consistent with hypotheses of an upwelling brine mixing and reacting with descending meteoric water and causing uranium precipitation at the fluid interface. Whether the uranium came from above or below the interface is an unsolved problem, but this model helps to identify better the sources of the waters and also suggests target areas for exploration.


Hydrogen has the capacity to provide society with the means to carry 'green' energy between the point of generation and the point of use. A sustainable energy society in which a hydrogen economy predominates will require renewable generation provided, for example, by artificial photosynthesis and clean, efficient energy conversion effected, for example, by hydrogen fuel cells. Vital in the hydrogen cycle is the ability to store hydrogen safely and effectively. Solid-state storage in hydrides enables this but no material yet satisfies all the demands associated with storage density and hydrogen release and uptake; particularly for mobile power. Nanochemical design methods present potential routes to overcome the thermodynamic and kinetic hurdles associated with solid state storage in hydrides. In this review we discuss strategies of nanosizing, nanoconfinement, morphological/dimensional control, and application of nanoadditives on the hydrogen storage performance of metal hydrides. We present recent examples of how such approaches can begin to address the challenges and an evaluation of prospects for further development.


We propose a novel dual processing model of linguistic routinisation, specifically formulaic expressions (from relatively fixed idioms, all the way through to looser collocational phenomena). This model is formalised using the Dynamic Syntax (DS) formal account of language processing, whereby we make a specific extension to the core DS lexical architecture to capture the dynamics of linguistic routinisation. This extension is inspired by work within cognitive science more broadly. DS has a range of attractive modelling features, such as full incrementality, as well as recent accounts of using resources of the core grammar for modelling a range of dialogue phenomena, all of which we deploy in our account. This leads to not only a fully incremental model of formulaic language, but further, this straightforwardly extends to routinised dialogue phenomena. We consider this approach to be a proof of concept of how interdisciplinary work within cognitive science holds out the promise of meeting challenges faced by modellers of dialogue and discourse.


Introduction Naevus of Ota is a congenital condition that may involve the skin, eyeball and even intracranial structures usually in the distribution of the ophthalmic and maxillary divisions of the trigeminal cranial nerve. The purpose of this study was to summarise our experience with the ocular clinical presentation, imaging, outcome, treatment of complications and to offer a new classification of patients with naevus of Ota. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the patients' medical records and the following parameters were retrieved and analysed: demographics, clinical presentation complications and treatment of complications. Imaging characteristics of patients with naevus of Ota were compared with images from the same period of time of 57 age-matched and gender-matched patients without naevus of Ota (control group). Results The series was composed of 40 patients (18 males, 22 females) whose mean age at diagnosis was 35.27 years (range 0.5–77 years). Thirty-three patients (82.5%) were type I naevus of Ota according to the Tanino classification, three patients (7.5%) were type II, one patient (2.5%) was type III and three patient (7.5%) were type IV (bilateral naevus of Ota). We further classified all cases in according to the ocular involvement extent. Three patients developed malignant transformation to choroidal melanoma and four patients developed glaucoma. Conclusions In this study, a new clinical classification based on the involved ocular component and extent of the involvement (in quadrants) of the globe is suggested first. Further studies are needed to assess whether our clinical ocular classification can assist in identifying patients at risk for developing glaucoma and malignant transformation.


Abstract
 The problem of selecting appropriate objective functions for the identification of a lumped conceptual rainfall–runoff model is investigated, focusing on the value of the model in an operational setting. A probability-distributed soil moisture model is coupled with a linear parallel routing scheme, and conditioned on rainfall–runoff observations from three catchments in the southeast of England. Using an abstraction control problem, which requires accurate simulation of the intermediate flow range, it is shown that using the traditional RMSE fit criterion, produces operationally sub-optimal predictions. This is true in the identification period, when applied to a testing period, and to proxy catchment data. Using a second case study of the Leaf River in Mississippi (USA), where the focus changes to predicting flood peaks over a specified threshold, also suggests that the relevant flood threshold should govern the objective function choice. It is concluded that, due to limitations in the structure of the employed model, it would be counter-productive to try to achieve a good all-round representation of the rainfall–runoff processes, and that a more empirical approach to identification may be preferred for specific forecasting problems. This leaves us with the question of how far hydrological realism should be sacrificed in favour of purpose-driven objective functions.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) refers to the lesions that accumulate in the brain and spinal cord. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the mos t sensitive and versatile modality used to show changes in the tissues over time. There has been significant interes t in evaluating the relationship between the brain atrophy and disease progression rather than the spinal cord atrophy. The cervical spinal cord has an important effect on the disease progression. Regarding the literature, spinal cord abnormalities in MS patients are more common in the cervical segments in comparison to the thoracic and lumbar regions. This s tudy was conducted extract the spinal cord in MS patients from MRI images in the Department of Neurology, Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. In this s tudy, 51 MRI images were obtained from 49 individuals, out of whom 28 were healthy (21 females and 7 males) and 23 had MS (17 females and 6 males). The participants aged between 21 and 45. The MRI images were normalized using an automatic image analysis method. Thereafter, the desired candidate areas were determined using data preprocessing, edging, and edge detection techniques. Appropriate areas were recognized by applying appropriate conditions and using prior knowledge about spinal cord and vertebrae. By measuring specific parameters that was conducted under the supervision of a consultant, as an input to a well-suited and well-used artificial neural network, it was decided if the person had MS or not. According to the Dyce index, 72% of the regions were accurately selected by the automated method presented in the image segmentation. In addition, we diagnosed MS by measuring the FP, FN, TP, and TN values in artificial neural network outputs with a precision of over 70%. With the help of the proposed method, we tried to find a simple and effective method for auto-segmentation of cervical MRI images with a specific purpose for parsing, measuring the parameters, and then diagnosing MS in patients. The method presented will be of great help to the physician regarding future decision making, and it is hoped that this method and its results, with improvement and implementation, will be used as a technique and accessible to all individuals related to this issue, especially physicians.


Abstract A study of the bromine content and facies in the salt successions (representing PZ1, PZ2 and PZ3 cycles) from the Late Permian (Zechstein) salt basin in Poland evidences fluctuations in mother brine concentrations. The study indicates that the local (better recorded in facies of the shallow basin and its margins) and regional changes were the result of Late Permian climate variations and eustatic sea-level rises and drops. The observed trend for a lowering of brine concentration is attributed to more humid climate periods accompanied by frequent rainy seasons. Such a change from arid to more humid climatic conditions was observed in all three studied cycles, proving the variations of a dominant warm and dry climate, assumed for the inner part of the Pangea supercontinent in the Late Permian. The coastal zone of the Pangea supercontinent was more affected by the atmospheric perturbations, which were more frequent at the boundary between the continent and the ocean. The intracontinent areas were characterized with a more stable climate, thus interpreted by the authors, that the climate changes in the successions coming from the inner part of such intracontinental basin, far from the continent coasts (as the Polish part of the European Permian Basin) as the evidence for climate instability in the whole Zechstein period. The authors recorded the climate fluctuations in an area, which should be characterized with the most constant climate, particularly during the evaporite deposition. The prolonged more rainy periods that succeeded the warm and arid periods were recorded in the central part of the continent. Eustatic sea-level fluctuations, responsible for large changes in brine concentrations, became independent from the climatic variations. Sea-level rises initiated huge marine water input and caused extreme refreshing of the bottom salt brine in deep-water basin parts. Two such events were registered in salts of the PZ1 cycle, and a further three in the evaporite succession of the PZ3 cycle. A single rapid drop in sea-level, resulting from a postulated tectonic close of the narrow North Atlantic seaway that conducted ocean water to the evaporite basin, was detected in the lower part of the PZ2 salt succession. This caused the evaporite basin cutoff, its successive desiccation and, consequently, the production of potash-bearing salts.


Introduction Syndromic management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as practised in most poorly resourced countries misses out asymptomatic infections. Affordable nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) are needed for accurate STI diagnosis and treatment. Methods As part of a cohort study assessing a diagnostic STI care model among young South African women presenting for syndromic care, we evaluated the clinic-based point-of-care (POC) tests Xpert CT/NG and OSOM Trichomonas Rapid Test against the laboratory-based Anyplex II STI-7, a multiplex real-time PCR assay which detects Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), Trichomonas vaginalis (TV), M. genitalium (MG), M. hominis (MH), U. urealyticum (UU) and U. parvum (UP) in a single reaction. All positive and discordant results were confirmed with a third molecular assay, the FTD STD9. Results Vaginal swabs taken from 247 women were assessed in parallel. 238 of 247 (96.4%) results were in agreement comparing Xpert and Anyplex. All nine discrepant results were positive for CT on Xpert but negative on Anyplex. FTD STD9 confirmed three positive and six negative results. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of Xpert for CT against the two assays was 100%, 97.1%, 86.0%, 100%, respectively; and for NG 100%, 99.6%, 92.3%, 100%. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of OSOM for TV against the two assays was 77.8%, 100%, 100%, 99.2%. In addition to the CT, NG and TV detection, the Anyplex identified a prevalence of 4.8% MG, 33.5% MH, 19.1% UU and 51.4% UP in this population. Conclusion The overall performance of Xpert CT/NG against laboratory-based assays was comparable. A lower PPV may lead to some overtreatment, however, in a high burden STI and HIV region, where STIs are often asymptomatic, the high sensitivity and specificity are reassuring. The widened spectrum of Anyplex targets highlights the high burden of Ureaplasma and Mycoplasma species in this setting, whose clinical significance need further exploration.


Analyze the epidemiological profile of and years of life lost to suicide in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, from 2000 to 2015. This is an ecological study in which data on death were sourced from the Mortality Information System. Years of Potential Life Lost were calculated over the historical series. A total of 2,266 deaths by suicide were analyzed, identified during the period, with the most frequent cases being those occurring at home, by hanging, among men, black people, single people and the elderly. More Years of Potential Life Lost were counted in the economically active age group (30-39 years old). Thus, recognizing the epidemiological characteristics of suicide in Rio Grande do Norte may guide more effective actions and strategies targeting risk populations and reinforces the need for further studies focusing on regions with the highest rates in the state. Moreover, mental health care must be adapted to age and gender, besides approaching social support needs and feeling of belonging.


GdN thin film device structures, including magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), were grown by physical vapour deposition and their electrical properties were investigated. Growth compatibility between GdN and various contact metals (Al, Au, Gd and Nb) was assured using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. I developed a photomask and lithographic process to isolate electrical behaviour perpendicular to the plane of the films. Al and Au were confirmed to make ohmic contact to GdN, while Gd and Nb both formed Schottky-like barriers at the interface with GdN. In MTJ structures, device electrical characteristics were dominated by tunnelling behaviour through the GaN barrier layer. The Simmons model was successfully applied to tunnelling measurements of Al/GdN/GaN/GdN/Gd structured MTJs to determine the barrier properties. MTJs grown with Al bottom contacts were grown with 1.5eV potential barrier height and 2.5 nm width. Finally, MTJs contacted with Nb exhibited a large magnetoresistance (> 500%), greater than GdN-based MTJs recorded in the literature [Warring et al. "Magnetic Tunnel Junctions Incorporating a Near-Zero-Moment Ferromagnetic Semiconductor", Phys. Rev. Appl., vol.6, p.044002, 2016].


We present a new framework to analyze accelerated stochastic mirror descent through the lens of continuous-time stochastic dynamic systems. It enables us to design new algorithms, and perform a unified and simple analysis of the convergence rates of these algorithms. More specifically, under this framework, we provide a Lyapunov function based analysis for the continuous-time stochastic dynamics, as well as several new discrete-time algorithms derived from the continuous-time dynamics. We show that for general convex objective functions, the derived discrete-time algorithms attain the optimal convergence rate. Empirical experiments corroborate our theory.


Visual servoing involves choosing actions that move a robot in response to observations from a camera, in order to reach a goal configuration in the world. Standard visual servoing approaches typically rely on manually designed features and analytical dynamics models, which limits their generalization capability and often requires extensive application-specific feature and model engineering. In this work, we study how learned visual features, learned predictive dynamics models, and reinforcement learning can be combined to learn visual servoing mechanisms. We focus on target following, with the goal of designing algorithms that can learn a visual servo using low amounts of data of the target in question, to enable quick adaptation to new targets. Our approach is based on servoing the camera in the space of learned visual features, rather than image pixels or manually-designed keypoints. We demonstrate that standard deep features, in our case taken from a model trained for object classification, can be used together with a bilinear predictive model to learn an effective visual servo that is robust to visual variation, changes in viewing angle and appearance, and occlusions. A key component of our approach is to use a sample-efficient fitted Q-iteration algorithm to learn which features are best suited for the task at hand. We show that we can learn an effective visual servo on a complex synthetic car following benchmark using just 20 training trajectory samples for reinforcement learning. We demonstrate substantial improvement over a conventional approach based on image pixels or hand-designed keypoints, and we show an improvement in sample-efficiency of more than two orders of magnitude over standard model-free deep reinforcement learning algorithms. Videos are available at this http URL .


In an unselected population of 23,713 participants who underwent clinical exome sequencing as a part of the Healthy Nevada Project (HNP) in Northern Nevada (Renown Health, Reno, Nevada) from March 15, 2018, to Sept 30, 2018 (Table S1) we find a 1.26% carrier rate for expected pathogenic and likely pathogenic genetic variants in (FH: LDLR, PCSK9, APOB), Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC: BRCA1, BRCA2) and Lynch Syndrome (LS: MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PSM2) with over 90% of carriers undetected under current medical practice. 26% of carriers were found to have advanced disease with 70% first diagnosed before the age of 65. Less than 20% of all carriers had any documented suspicion for inherited genetic disease in the medical record and upon direct follow-up survey under 40% of carriers had family history of relevant disease. A population preventative genetic screening approach for patients under 45 may improve outcomes.


Background/Objectives: This study proposes a user location-based lighting collaboration system that guarantees the target illuminance and uniformity at local position of the user in an indoor space and minimizes energy consumption. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The proposed system is divided into the dynamic cell positioning process and lighting collaboration process. The dynamic cell positioning process finds the specific location of a user based on the RSSI signal intensity of the BLE beacon and smartphone that the user carries. The lighting collaboration process calculates each output of the surrounding lights in consideration of the target illuminance at the user position and then performs dimming control accordingly. Findings: To evaluate the performance of the proposed system, this study includes two control groups - two similar systems - and compares the target illuminance, uniformity, and lighting energy consumption. Control Group A is a system that comprehensively controls all light/light fixture installed in that space while Control Group B divides the space to sub-zones and groups lightings in each zone for controlling. The system performance evaluation result shows that the lighting energy consumption of the proposed system was 1,804W while those of Control Group A and Control Group B were 2,644W and 2,511W, which indicates a savings of as much as 31% and 28%, respectively. In addition, the proposed system satisfied a uniformity requirement as high as 0.8 while maintaining the target illuminance. Application/Improvements: The result indicates that the proposed system had energy saving effect as much as 31% compared to Control Group A and 28% compared to Control Group B.


Every time a flood occurs in our country, especially in the presence of human victims, the most common sentences that are repeated and immediately find credit in the public opinion, in the absence of objective controls, are roughly the following: "It is the first time something like this happens", "Such violent rain has never been seen", "Nothing like this has ever happened for as long as anybody can remember". The day after the storm that on 1 st October 2009 devastated the villages of Altolia, Giampilieri, Guidomandri, Itala and Molino, south of Messina, and the nearby town of Scaletta (37 dead, 1,656 displaced people, a large number of houses made uninhabitable, public works destroyed and endless human sufferings), many people were quick to declare that it was an unexpected and unforeseeable event, due to weather events "never before recorded in those areas". Well, it suffices to reconstruct the events of the last three centuries to see that all the eastern slopes of the Peloritani Mountains have been repeatedly affected by disastrous storms, due to various, contingent, unfavorable factors such as the specific geo-morphological nature of the soil, the structure of the hydrographic system, the peculiar thermo-pluviometric regime, the influence of the currents in the Strait of Messina, and, not least, the lack of human foresight. Our work also shows how the massive works of watershed improvement by reforestation carried out during the twentieth century have contributed to making floods less frequent and disastrous.


Rice grassy stunt virus (RGSV, IRRI isolate) has six genomic RNA segments. The nucleotide (nt) sequences of RNAs 1-4 were determined. The cumulative length of the RGSV genome, including RNAs 5 and 6, was 25142 nt. All six RNA segments had an ambisense coding strategy and almost identical terminal sequences over 17 nt. The virus complementary (vc) sequence of the largest segment, RNA1, had an open reading frame encoding a protein of Mr 339133 (the 339.1K protein), while the virus sense (v) sequence encoded a protein of Mr 18910 in the 5'-proximal region. The predicted 339.1K protein contained the highly conserved motifs of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and a short but distinct Arg/Gly-rich stretch at the C terminus. The putative RNA polymerase showed strong similarity with that of rice stripe tenuivirus (RSV); they shared 37.9% amino acid identity over 2140 residues. The predicted proteins of Mr 23280 on vRNA2 and 93 879 on vcRNA2 were only slightly similar in sequence to the proteins encoded by vRNA2 and vcRNA2 of other tenuiviruses. The predicted proteins encoded by RNA3 and RNA4 did not show significant similarity to any database proteins. Only the putative RNA polymerase encoded on RNA1 was well-conserved between RGSV and RSV. The low sequence similarities in proteins encoded by RNAs 2, 5 and 6, together with the unique RNA segments 3 and 4, indicate that RGSV may be distinct from other tenuiviruses.


Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus L., infected with Vibrio anguillarum or not infected were fed balanced diets containing vegetal (solvent extracted soy bean meal (SBM)) or animal (meat and bone meal (MBM)) protein sources in order to demonstrate the apparent nutrient and energy digestibility. Regardless of protein sources in the diets, feed intake was lower in the infected group. Apparent nutrient (ADDM and ADCP) and energy digestibility (ADkJ) values of Nile tilapia fed the SBM diet were significantly better (P < 0.05) than those fed the CONT and MBM diets and changed little between the measurement days in both groups (non-infected and infected). Although no visible symptoms associated with vibriosis were evident on either the skin or internal organs, the significantly lower (P < 0.05) ADDM, ADCP, and ADkJ values obtained between day 1 and 10 (specifically on days 3 and 10) in the infected group fed the CONT and MBM diets might have implicated the pathogenicity of the bacteria. Further research concentrating on higher amounts of solvent extracted soy bean and meat and bone meal, different environmental conditions and doses of infection with V. anguillarum and immune response parameters including physiological and cellular stress responses is needed in order to identify the overall apparent nutrient digestibility of plant and animal protein sources in Nile tilapia infected with V. anguillarum.


There is a paucity of literature on the minimum number of cases necessary to become an expert surgeon in hip resurfacing arthroplasty (HRA). Thus, we aimed to describe (I) the learning curve of a primary hip replacement; (II) the learning curve of HRA using different end-points (complications, joint survival, component alignment and patient-reported outcome measures); and (III) what the minimum number of cases performed per year should be to maintain competency. A comprehensive literature search was performed reviewing joint arthroplasty registries, case-controlled studies, and case-series that have reported on the above. The reported learning curve necessary to decrease the overall complication rate in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) is 90 cases. Additionally, the literature suggests that at least 35 primary THA cases per year is the recommended number above which complications reduce significantly. There is no doubt that only surgeons trained in primary hip replacement should perform HRA of the hip. On average, a learning curve of 50 cases has been described. Following this threshold, less complications, better radiographic assessment and superior patient reported outcomes have been described. It is the authors' opinion that at least 25 cases should be performed annually, which is in line with other highly specialized surgical procedures.


Many applications and protocols in wireless sensor networks need to know the locations of sensor nodes. A low-cost method to localize sensor nodes is to use received signal strength indication (RSSI) ranging technique together with the least-squares trilateration. However, the average localization error of this method is large due to the large ranging error of RSSI ranging technique. To reduce the average localization error, we propose a localization algorithm based on maximum a posteriori. This algorithm uses the Baye's formula to deduce the probability density of each sensor node's distribution in the target region from RSSI values. Then, each sensor node takes the point with the maximum probability density as its estimated location. Through simulation studies, we show that this algorithm outperforms the least-squares trilateration with respect to the average localization error.


The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the ability of a specific growth factor combination, nerve growth factor (NGF) and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration. Eight groups of eight Sprague-Dawley rats underwent repair of a nerve gap defect: Group A (immediate repair), Group B (intact nerve bridge), Group C (nerve autograft), Group D (gap in situ), Group E (NGF + CNTF), Group F (NGF), Group G (CNTF), and Group H (saline). Twelve weeks after surgery, analysis included the measurement of the isometric force of muscle contraction for the tibialis anterior muscle and tissue harvesting for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. When evaluating muscle contraction force, there was no statistically significant difference among the experimental groups receiving a growth factor injection and the normal saline control group. The hypothesis of this study was that peripheral nerve regeneration could be enhanced by the combination of NGF and CNTF. The evidence does not support this hypothesis.


Nano-sized zinc oxide-reduced graphene oxide (ZnO-RGO) hybrid containing well-dispersed ZnO nanoparticles with an average diameter of 4.5 ± 0.5 nm has been successfully prepared via a one-step sol-gel method. FTIR characterization reveals that GO underwent deoxygenation during the preparation of ZnO nanoparticle. The introduction of RGO in the ZnO-RGO hybrid significantly improved the photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO in the degradation of Rhodamine B under visible light irradiation. The apparent reaction constant of ZnO-RGO is 8 times higher than that of pure ZnO, and the photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO-RGO remains high even after 4 consecutive reactions. Results from the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area measurements, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis suggest that the enhancement in the photocatalytic activity of the ZnO-RGO hybrid comes from (1) the enormous surface area provided by the nano-sized ZnO particles, (2) significant dye adsorption from RGO template, and (3) excellent electron reception and conduction of RGO. The attractive properties of ZnO-RGO make it a promising candidate material in addressing the environmental pollution issues we have to face today.


Background: Multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) is very intolerant to residual corneal astigmatism and patients with more than 1.0 D of residual corneal astigmatism are not suitable candidates for implantation of multifocal IOLs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a single clear corneal incision (CCI) or an opposite clear corneal incision (OCCI) made on a steep meridian for correction of low to moderate corneal astigmatism during implantation of multifocal IOLs.Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study. A total of 50 patients with pre-operative total corneal astigmatism, ranging between 0.5 and 2.0 diopters (D), who underwent cataract surgery and received multifocal IOLs were included. Correction of corneal astigmatism was done via single CCIs on steep meridians in patients with 0.5–1.2 D total corneal astigmatisms, and OCCIs in patients with 1.3–2.0 D total corneal astigmatisms. Visual acuity, corneal astigmatism, ocular aberrations, corneal aberrations, and subjective vision quality were evaluated after surgery.Results: At 12-weeks post-surgery, the mean uncorrected distance vision (UCDV) was 0.06±0.09 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) and 0.03±0.09 logMAR, and the mean uncorrected near vision (UCNV) was 0.08±0.11 logMAR and 0.09±0.09 logMAR in the CCI and OCCI groups, respectively. The change in corneal astigmatism was 0.52 ± 0.22D and 1.06 ± 0.23D in the CCI and OCCI groups, respectively (P<0.001). Total corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) and trefoil increased in both groups (P<0.05); however, there was no difference in the change in total corneal HOAs between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: CCI and OCCI made on a steep axis could be an option for correction of mild-to-moderate astigmatism during cataract surgery with multifocal IOL implantation.


The development of a novel architecture called Wireless Ad-hoc Control Networks (WACNets) is reported WACNet (Wireless Ad-hoc Control Network) is a novel concept developed by Intelligent Mechatronics Research Centre, University of Wollongong, towards providing a framework for highly distributed intelligent wireless control networks. A WACNet consists of intelligent nodes based on IEEE 1451 Smart Sensor with a wireless means of communication (BlueTooth). The focus in this paper is on designing a suitable wireless communication system for this network. In the earlier design, the wireless communications was developed based on Bluetooth and WiFi standards. While being successful, they showed some limitations for control networks applications. In the latest test-bed, ZigBee RF standard is deployed. This has opened new perspectives for wireless control networks. ZigBee modules can form a flexible ad-hoc network with no infrastructure. ZigBee is also self-configuring, offers interesting transmission ranges and is the most energy efficient compared to the previous options. The WACNet architecture is introduced. Different test-beds developed are described. The performance of the ZigBee based system is compared with the previous implementations in the context of latency and throughput. Results are presented, and some conclusions are drawn.


Drug manufacturing in a fridge-sized box Commodity chemicals tend to be manufactured in a continuous fashion. However, the preparation of pharmaceuticals still proceeds batch by batch, partly on account of the complexity of their molecular structures. Adamo et al. now present an apparatus roughly the size of a household refrigerator that can synthesize and purify pharmaceuticals under continuous-flow conditions (see the Perspective by Martin). The integrated set of modules can produce hundreds to thousands of accumulated doses in a day, delivered in aqueous solution. Science, this issue p. 61; see also p. 44 Preparation of four common pharmaceuticals shows the versatility of an integrated system the size of a household refrigerator. Pharmaceutical manufacturing typically uses batch processing at multiple locations. Disadvantages of this approach include long production times and the potential for supply chain disruptions. As a preliminary demonstration of an alternative approach, we report here the continuous-flow synthesis and formulation of active pharmaceutical ingredients in a compact, reconfigurable manufacturing platform. Continuous end-to-end synthesis in the refrigerator-sized [1.0 meter (width) × 0.7 meter (length) × 1.8 meter (height)] system produces sufficient quantities per day to supply hundreds to thousands of oral or topical liquid doses of diphenhydramine hydrochloride, lidocaine hydrochloride, diazepam, and fluoxetine hydrochloride that meet U.S. Pharmacopeia standards. Underlying this flexible plug-and-play approach are substantial enabling advances in continuous-flow synthesis, complex multistep sequence telescoping, reaction engineering equipment, and real-time formulation.


Design problems, processes, and methods are topics of longstanding interest in fields such as architecture and engineering. Design tasks are also common in domains addressed by systems and management scientists. However, much scientific work in these fields indicates little awareness of design theories and research. This paper introduces systems and management scientists to the extensive design theory literature. More importantly, it consolidates and extends that literature by developing a deep conceptual analysis of design problems and problem solving. The analysis is built around five elements of design problems: goals, constraints, alternatives, representations, and solutions. These elements define the basic tasks or functional demands posed by design problem solving. The paper also identifies special difficulties faced by designers in systems and management science domains. >


Background A growing body of literature suggests etiological overlap between Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS)/hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) and some cases of autism, although this relationship is poorly delineated. In addition, immune, autonomic, and endocrine dysregulation are reported in both conditions and may be relevant to their respective etiologies. Aims To study symptom overlap in these two comorbid spectrum conditions. Methods and Procedures We surveyed 702 adults aged 25+ years on a variety of EDS/HSD-related health topics, comparing individuals with EDS/HSD, autism, and unaffected controls. Outcomes and Results The autism group reported similar though less severe symptomology as the EDS/HSD group, especially in areas of immune/autonomic/endocrine dysregulation, connective tissue abnormalities (i.e., skin, bruising/bleeding), and chronic pain. EDS/HSD mothers with autistic children reported more immune symptoms than EDS/HSD mothers without, suggesting the maternal immune system could play a heritable role in these conditions (p = 0.0119). Conclusions and Implications These data suggest that EDS/HSD and autism share aspects of immune/autonomic/endocrine dysregulation, pain, and some tissue fragility, which is typically more severe in the former. This overlap, as well as documented comorbidity, suggests some forms of autism may be hereditary connective tissue disorders (HCTD).


In recent years, expectations about what can be learned from testing students have become increasingly unrealistic. This paper discusses a set of myths that surround standardized testing. It concludes that test score comparisons are highly misleading indicators of the quality of education and are irrelevant to decisions about the wisdom of any particular school reform.


Objective: The objective for this selective EMB review is to determine whether or not the reduction of caffeine intake is effective in reducing the symptoms of panic attack in panic disorder patients. Study Design: Review of three English language randomized control trials published in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Data Sources: The double-blind placebo-controlled randomized control trials were obtained via PubMed. Outcomes Measured: The prevalence of a clinical panic attack. Pre and post caffeine/placebo administration questionnaires were given to the participants. These surveys included the Subjective Units of Disturbance Scale (SUDS) and the Diagnostic Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ). These studies were modified for use with the DSM-IV definition of a panic attack. Results: None of the patients who ingested the placebo showed evidence of a clinical panic attack. This was a consistent finding in all three studies. A panic attack was not experienced by any of the control subjects in the 2008 and 2009 studies. Two of the control subjects experienced a panic attack in the 2007 study after ingestion of caffeine. Finally, the panic disorder patients experienced a panic attack at frequencies of 60.7%, 52.0%, and 58.6%, in each of the studies, after administration of 480mg of caffeine. Conclusions: All three studies showed sufficient association of ingestion of 480mg of caffeine with the induction of a clinical panic attack those afflicted with panic disorder. Although there is strong evidence showing that ingestion of caffeine in a patient with a panic induces a panic attack, there is no evidence showing that abstinence from this chemical reduces panic attack incidence. This is due to the fact that no credible scientific studies have yet been designed to show this information.


A lambda DNA supercoil system has been developed to study the effects of colicin E2 on DNA in vivo. Colicin E2, a protein antibiotic synthesized by strains of coliform bacteria that carry the Col E2 plasmid, had as its most conspicious effect damage to the DNA of sensitive strains. Colicine E2 attacks the supercoiled molecul formed by labeled lambda DNA in superinfected cells as well as it attacks the bacterial DNA. The rate and extent of acid solubilization of the lambda supercoils and of host bacterial DNA induced by E2 treatment are nearly identical. Treatment of superinfected cells with colicin E2 results in the progressive conversion of lambda DNA supercoils to open circles and/or linear full lenght molecules, and subsequently to fragments less than full lambda in size. The first endonucleolytic reactions are single-strand and or double-strand breaks. The rate of supercoil breakdown as well as the final percent supercoils remaining unconverted, the size of the final lambda fragments, and the extent of solubilization are dependent on the multiplicity of colicin used. Additions of trypsin to E2-treated superinfected cells results in a cessation of further breakdown of the lambda molecules, presumably as a result of digestion of accessible colicin molecules. Energy is essential for an early event in colicin E2 action. The host enzymes, endonuclease I and Rec BC, may be instrumental in the nucleolytic process caused by colicin E2: endonuclease I in reaction preceding cell killing and Rec BC in a secondary degradation of the bacterial DNA.


The home and family have always been mutually embedded, with the former central to the realization and reproduction of the latter. More recently, this mutuality has taken on a more critical salience as realignments in housing markets, employment and welfare states in many countries have worked together to undermine housing access for new households. In this context, families have become increasingly involved in smoothening the routes of young adults members up the 'housing ladder' into home ownership. Intergenerational support appears to have become much more widespread and not just confi ned to familialistic welfare regimes. The role of intergenerational support for housing remains, however, highly diff erentiated across countries, cities and regions, as well as uneven between social and income classes. This introduction to the Special Issue explores how the role of housing wealth transfers has impacted the renegotiation of the generational contract. In doing so, it sets the scene for the articles that follow, each of which contribute signifi cantly to advancing understanding of housing as a key driver of contemporary social relations and inequalities.


Objectives: The calcium sensitizer levosimendan is used in treatment of decompensated heart failure and may also exhibit anti-inflammatory properties. We examined whether treatment with levosimendan is substantially beneficial in mice with cecal ligation and puncture–induced polymicrobial sepsis, and its arbitration mechanism was explored in the mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7. Design: Laboratory and animal/cell research. Setting: University research laboratory. Subjects: BALB/c mice (8–10 wk old) and mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cells. Interventions: Levosimendan (0.5 &mgr;g/kg/min) was administered to mice through an osmotic pump that was implanted into the peritoneal cavity immediately following surgery. In RAW264.7 cells, levosimendan was added to the culture medium 30 minutes before lipopolysaccharide. Measurements and Main Results: When levosimendan was continuously administered to cecal ligation and puncture–induced septic mice, a significant improvement of left ventricular function was found without any change in heart rate, and hypotension was significantly mitigated. Furthermore, levosimendan conferred substantial protection against sepsis-associated inflammation in mice, as indicated by reduced lung injury and decreased blood proinflammatory and chemotactic cytokine levels. These beneficial effects of levosimendan led to a significant improvement of survival in mice after cecal ligation and puncture. In endotoxin-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages, treatment with levosimendan and pimobendan suppressed overproduction of proinflammatory and chemotactic cytokines. Levosimendan and pimobendan were without effect on activation of the nuclear factor-&kgr;B, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and Akt pathways. Instead, levosimendan and pimobendan prevented high mobility group box 1 release from the nucleus to the extracellular space in macrophages. This was associated with inhibition of the Rho kinase signaling pathway. The elevated serum high mobility group box 1 levels in cecal ligation and puncture–induced septic mice were also inhibited by continued administration of levosimendan and pimobendan. Conclusions: We define a novel mechanism for the anti-inflammatory action of levosimendan and suggest that the pharmacological profiles of levosimendan as both an inotrope and an anti-inflammatory agent could contribute to its clinical benefit in patients with sepsis with heart problems.


The 25(OH)D3/1,25(OH)2D3 24‐hydroxylase (24‐hydroxylase) displays an induction profile responsive to vitamin D (D) abundance and is hence only observed in normal extracellular Ca2+ concentrations. However, the participation of Ca2+ in the expression of the 24‐hydroxylase gene in vivo is not known. The present studies investigate the role played by the circulating Ca2+ and the D3 and/or 1,25(OH)2D3 status on the 1,25(OH)2D3‐mediated inducibility of the 24‐hydroxylase gene in rat duodenum. Hypocalcemic D‐depleted rats were supplemented with calcium alone to normalize serum Ca2+ without normalizing the D3 status or were acutely or chronically supplemented with D3 or 1,25(OH)2D3. Messenger RNA for the 24‐hydroxylase was undetectable in the intestine of hypocalcemic D‐depleted rats, and short‐ or long‐term calcium supplementation was completely unsuccessful in inducing its expression. By contrast, acute 1,25(OH)2D3 administration led to significant increases in the levels of expression of the gene which was independent of the calcium intake, the prevailing circulating Ca2+, and the D3 or 1,25(OH)2D3 status. Moreover, 24‐hydroxylase gene expression was only found to respond to acutely administered 1,25(OH)2D3, the mRNA levels being unaltered following continuous exposure to physiological or pharmacological doses of the hormone for 7 days. Time‐course studies revealed, however, that induction of the gene was clearly apparent early in the 1,25(OH)2D3 supplementation course but gradually faded by 3 days to return to basal uninduced levels by 7 days, suggesting the presence of intestinal adaptation mechanism(s) which down‐regulated the responsiveness in the continuous presence of 1,25(OH)2D3. Our data show the lack of effect of calcium alone or in combination with 1,25(OH)2D3 on the in vivo induction of the 24‐hydroxylase gene expression in rat intestine. By rapidly reacting to surges in 1,25(OH)2D3 concentrations, the 24‐hydroxylase efficiently controls the amount of 1,25(OH)2D3 in intestine as the first step in the biotransformation pathway aimed at the irreversible clearance of the secosteroid hormone. (J Bone Miner Res 1995;10:1148–1157)


In this paper, we introduce a mathematical framework for computing the Average Symbol Error Probability (ASEP) of Spatial Modulation (SM) Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless systems in the presence of multiple-access interference, Rayleigh fading, and additive noise. The interferers are assumed to be randomly distributed in the bi-dimensional plane according to a homogenous Poisson Point Process (PPP). By leveraging recent application of stochastic geometry to the analysis of random wireless networks, we provide a closed-form mathematical expression of the ASEP averaged over both the channel fading and the spatial locations of the interferers, which accounts for an arbitrary number of antennas at the transmitter (Nt) and at the receiver (Nr), as well as for an arbitrary modulation order (M) and amplitude path-loss exponent (b > 1). The proposed mathematical framework unveils the following performance trends: i) by relying on the Nearest Neighbor (NN) approximation, we show that the ASEP is (almost) independent of Nt if M > 4; ii) the diversity order is independent of Nr, but the coding gain increases with Nr; and iii) if the transmit-power of the interferers is independent of the transmit-power of the useful user, the diversity order is equal to 1/b. On the other hand, if the transmit-power of the interferers scales linearly with the transmit-power of the useful user, an error-floor emerges. The mathematical framework is substantiated through extensive Monte Carlo simulations and design guidelines from the performance trends are discussed.


Weltanschauung (OTS, 30; Leiden: Brill, 1993), pp. x11 + 401. Cloth, F1 160.00 ($91.50). ISBN 90-04-09690-6. The biblical ('Israehte', if you like) view of the sky (not 'heaven', please) is treated first in the characteristic Dutch manner of lexical analysis: '§amayim is considered with 'earth', smce the two terms are complementary, then associated with Yhwh. H. then studies sky + earth as observers of human events, m their relationship to humans and Yhwh (using Psalms), then sky as dominating earth, and finally sky as the abode and domain of Yhwh. Basically, Israelites had no agreed theory of how the world came about (Weltbild), but they agreed that their god did it (Weltanschauung). Yhwh also lived there, though the OT does not actually say this very often. Thorough and useful work, but how much of this would distinguish Israelites from anyone else m the ANE, if mdeed, what the OT says is what they thought (as H. himself doubts, p. 362!)


Antiplatelet therapy has been documented to reduce risks of cardiovascular disease after acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, and in chronic atrial fibrillation patients, amongst other risk factors. Conventional management of thrombosis-based disorders includes the use of heparin, oral anticoagulants, and the preferred antiplatelet agent aspirin. Interestingly, aspirin was not intended to be used as an antiplatelet agent; rather, after being repurposed, it has become one of the most widely prescribed antithrombotic drugs. To this end, there have been several milestones in the development of antiplatelet agents in the last few decades, such as adenosine diphosphate receptor inhibitors, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, and GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors. However, given some of the limitations of these therapies, aspirin continues to play a major role in the management of thrombotic and cardiovascular disorders and is expected to do so for years to come.


Two‐photon fluorescence imaging is used to detect UV‐induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in ex vivo human skin in this study. ROS (potentially H2O2, singlet oxygen or peroxynitrite [or all]) are detected after reaction with nonfluorescent dihydrorhodamine‐123 (DHR) and the consequent formation of fluorescent rhodamine‐123 (R123). The cellular regions at each epidermal stratum that generate ROS are identified. R‐123 fluorescence is detected predominately in the lipid matrix of the stratum corneum. In contrast, the strongest R123 fluorescence signal is detected in the intracellular cytoplasm of the viable epidermal keratinocytes. A simple bimolecular one‐step kinetic model is used for estimating the upper bound of the number of ROS that are generated in the skin and that react with DHR. After ultraviolet‐B radiation (280–320 nm) (UVB) equivalent to 2 h of noonday summer North American solar exposure (1600 J m−2 UVB), the model finds that 14.70 × 10−3 mol of ROS that react with DHR are generated in the stratum corneum of an average adult‐size face (258 cm−2). Approximately 10−4 mol are potentially generated in the lower epidermal strata. The data show that two‐photon fluorescence imaging can be used to detect ROS in UV‐irradiated skin.


A noncontact, nonmechanical scanning, wide-field spectral interference microscope is developed for simultaneous measurement of three-dimensional step-height of discontinuous objects and tomographic imaging. A superluminescent diode (SLD) is used as a broadband light source and a liquid-crystal Fabry-Perot interferometer (LC-FPI) as a frequency-scanning device. By means of changing the injection current to the SLD, the spectral profile of the SLD is equalized, and a constant light input to the interferometer is achieved over the entire frequency-scan range. The Fourier-transform technique is used to determine both the amplitude and the phase of spectral fringe signals. Three-dimensional height distribution of a discontinuous object is obtained from the phase information, whereas optically sectioned images of the object are obtained either from the amplitude information alone or from the combination of both the amplitude and phase information. Experimental results with submicrometer resolution are presented for both step-height measurement and tomographic sectioning.


Background. Many office-based assessment tools are used by occupational therapists to predict fitness to drive. Purpose. To appraise psychometric properties of such tools, specifically predictive validity for on-road performance. Methods. A literature search was conducted to identify assessment tools and studies involving on-road outcomes (behind-the-wheel evaluation, crashes, traffic violations). Using a standardized appraisal process, reviewers rated each tool's psychometrric properties, including its predictive validity with on-road performance. Findings. Seventeen measures met the inclusion criteria. Evidence suggests many tools do not have cut-off scores linked with on-road outcomes, although some had stronger evidence than others. Implications. When making a determination regarding driver fitness, clinicians should consider the psychometric properties of the tool as well as existing evidence concerning its utility in predicting on-road performance. Caution is warranted in using any one office-based tool to predict driving fitness; rather, a multifactorial-based assessment approach that includes physical, cognitive, and visual-perceptual components, is recommended.


Enteric fever remains the most common febrile illness in urban Nepal. Some individuals may have recurrent infection and some may even progress to become long term chronic carriers. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the rate and factors leading to relapse with typhoid fever in patients who were enrolled in clinical treatment trials for acute enteric fever. The results show that relapses in enteric fever is a common complication and is more likely to be associated with the treatment antimicrobial, cefixime. Gallbladder carriage of invasive Salmonella is considered fundamental in sustaining enteric fever transmission as humans are the only known natural host. This thesis, therefore, also aimed to investigate the prevalence, characteristics, immunological responses, and mechanism of carriage of invasive Salmonella in the gallbladder by examining bile and tissue obtained from individuals who underwent cholecystectomy in Kathmandu. Data presented here demonstrate that S. Paratyphi A is almost as prevalent as S. Typhi in the gallbladder and that carriage may not be driven by antimicrobial resistance. Gallbladders that contained Salmonella were more likely to show evidence of acute inflammation with extensive neutrophil infiltrate. Chronic carriers were found to have dramatically elevated levels of IgG to O:2 and Vi antigens with high bactericidal activity yet low pro-inflammatory cytokine levels suggesting that Salmonella are stimulating a constant immunological response, in the form of antibody. S. Typhi may be controlling the inflammatory process through the expression of the Vi capsule in the gallbladder. Genome sequencing of S. Typhi isolated from chronic carriers were different from those S. Typhi causing acute disease. These data question the current dogmas surrounding the carriage of S. Typhi in gallbladder and predict a pivotal role of Vi capsule and gallstones in maintaining carriage. Therefore, prospectively identifying these individuals is paramount for rapid local and regional elimination. Furthermore, combining cytokine profiles and antibody levels may be a method of prospectively detecting carriers in the general population.


Ultraviolet spectra of α Tau (K5 III) obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) show many emission lines affected by broad absorption from the strong wind of this red giant star. For the Mg II h and k lines there is also a narrow absorption feature in the midst of the wind absorption that has been interpreted as being from α Tau's wind-interstellar medium (ISM) interaction region (i.e., its "astrosphere"). We try to reproduce this absorption using hydrodynamic models of the α Tau astrosphere, which show that stellar wind material heated, compressed, and decelerated at the wind's termination shock (TS) can produce significant absorption at about the right velocity. By experimenting with different model input parameters, we find that the parameter that the absorption is most sensitive to is the ISM pressure, which determines the location of and therefore the density at the TS. However, the models underestimate both the amount of deceleration at the TS and the amount of absorption for realistic input parameters. We demonstrate that these problems can in principle be resolved by modeling the TS as a radiative shock. However, a cooling timescale short enough to affect the postshock flow is only attainable if α Tau's wind speed is increased from the 27-30 km s-1 values derived from fits to wind absorption to at least 35 km s-1. The models also seem to require a very high ISM pressure of P/k ≈ 30,000 cm-3 K to induce densities at the TS high enough to yield sufficient radiative cooling. This pressure is at least a factor of 2 higher than other estimates of ISM thermal pressure within the Local Bubble.


Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, is thriving as an effective and robust method in fabricating architected piezoelectric structures, yet most of the commonly adopted printing techniques often face the inherent speed-accuracy trade-off, limiting their speed in manufacturing sophisticated parts containing micro-/nanoscale features. Herein, stabilized, photo-curable resins comprising chemically functionalized piezoelectric nanoparticles (PiezoNPs) were formulated, from which microscale architected 3D piezoelectric structures were printed continuously via micro continuous liquid interface production (μCLIP) at speeds of up to ~60 μm s−1, which are more than 10 times faster than the previously reported stereolithography-based works. The 3D-printed functionalized barium titanate (f-BTO) composites reveal a bulk piezoelectric charge constant d33 of 27.70 pC N−1 with the 30 wt% f-BTO. Moreover, rationally designed lattice structures that manifested enhanced, tailorable piezoelectric sensing performance as well as mechanical flexibility were tested and explored in diverse flexible and wearable self-powered sensing applications, e.g., motion recognition and respiratory monitoring.


This monograph examines the legal dimension of European defence integration from the Second World War to the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. It covers the evolution of European defence and security law in its legal,historical, and political context. The notion of defence law describes the entire field of rules created to regulate the defence of a nation or alliance. The analysis leads from the earliest mutual defence treaties to the failure of the European Defence Community and the eventual separation of defence from the mainstream of European integration in the 1950s, further to the re-vitalisation of a European security policy in the Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam, and Nice. In the context of this evolutionary process, the book examines the function of Community Law as an instrument of European defence integration. Community law affects the economic and social aspects of the defence within the limits of the security exemptions of the EC Treaty. It has an impact on the composition of the armed forces, the procurement of armaments, or the regulation of the defence industries. The book concludes with an analysis of the Common Security and Defence Policy of the Constitutional Treaty agreed by the European Council in 2004. The discussion shows that European defence integration is characterised by fragmentation in an area where coherence is particularly important. First, defence and security are addressed in several organisations: the EU, the Western European Union, NATO, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Organisation for Joint Armaments Cooperation. Second, defence and security are addressed in both the supranational Community Pillar and the intergovernmental Second Pillar of the Treaty on European Union. The new Constitutional Treaty aims to overcome the three-Pillar structure of the Union. Nevertheless, it leaves the intergovernmental character of the security and defence policy intact and introduces flexible frameworks for its mutual defence, crisis management, and armaments components. However, the Union needs a coherent defence policy to ensure her security and to speak with one voice on the international scene.


: Low-molecular modification of proteolytic enzymes with aldehydes and anhydrides of carboxylic acids as well as with 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid was studied. Specific activities of the enzymes were found to be dependent on the modification degree of their amino groups. The retaining of high activities in the region of low extents of enzyme modification enabled biocatalysts with activities similar to those of the native enzymes to be prepared.


This paper studies the daily stock price reaction to new information of portfolios grouped by size quintiles. To that end, cross-correlations, autocorrelations and Dimson beta regressions are analyzed. Based on a sample of shares traded in the Santiago de Chile Stock Exchange for the 1991–1998 period, results show that larger company stock prices—as measured by market capitalization—react to both good and bad news sooner than the smaller ones do. Thus a crossed effect appears, although not as a cascade: only the prices of large firms react earlier than the rest. These effects do not seem to be caused by non-trading. There also are significant asymmetric lagged and cross-effects. Good news has a more pronounced lagged effect than bad news does.


Objectives : The purpose of this study is to report a case of Brown-Sequard syndrome caused by traumatic cervical fracture, presenting pain in the right upper extremity and back of the left hand, motor weakness in the right side and diminished pain and temperature in the left side. Methods : A patient received Korean medical treatment(acupuncture, electroacupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping, moxibustion, Silver Spike point electrotherapy(SSP)) and rehabilitation treatment. We evaluated pain with the Numeric Rating Scale(NRS), motor grade with a Medical Research Council(MRC) scale, sensory function and Modified Barthel Index(MBI). Results : After treatment, the patient showed considerable improvement in NRS, motor & sensory function, and MBI. Conclusions : Korean medical and rehabilitation treatments could be effective for Brown-Sequard syndrome patients. More extensive studies should be carried out.


Information is increasing in volumes; companies are overloaded with information that they may lose track in getting the intended information. It is a time consuming task to scan through each of the lengthy document. A shorter version of the document which contains only the gist information is more favourable for most information seekers. Therefore, in this paper, we implement a text summarization system to produce a summary that contains gist information of oil and gas news articles. The summarization is intended to provide important information for oil and gas companies to monitor their competitor's behaviour in enhancing them in formulating business strategies. The system integrated statistical approach with three underlying concepts: keyword occurrences, title of the news article and location of the sentence. The generated summaries were compared with human generated summaries from an oil and gas company. Precision and recall ratio are used to evaluate the accuracy of the generated summary. Based on the experimental results, the system is able to produce an effective summary with the average recall value of 83% at the compression rate of 25%. Keywords—Information retrieval, text summarization, statistical approach.


Amoebic encephalitis is an infrequently encountered, fatal infection of the central nervous system (CNS) seen mostly in immunocompromised individuals and rarely in immunocompetent. The mechanisms associated with the pathogenesis of GAE remains undefined, however various hypothesis have been suggested. Diagnosis is based on neuroimaging, microscopy, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture, serology, and histopathology and recently by Molecular methods. Combination drug therapy along with immunotherapy has been tried in most cases despite poor outcome. Vaccine against Acanthamoeba infections is still in infancy. Research should be focused to convert these 'Trojan horses' of infections into 'Caravans' of disease prevention.


This note discusses a pitfall of using the generalized impulse response function (GIRF) in vector autoregressive (VAR) models (Pesaran and Shin, 1998). The GIRF is general because it is invariant to the ordering of the variables in the VAR. The GIRF, in fact, is extreme because it yields a set of response functions that are based on extreme identifying assumptions that contradict each other, unless the covariance matrix is diagonal. With a help of empirical examples, the present note demonstrates that the GIRF may yield quite misleading economic inferences.


In the event of a bioterrorist event or a pandemic flu outbreak, it might be necessary to ration vaccine or other treatments. In this article, researchers examine how medical and public health decision makers negotiated the unanticipated 2004-05 influenza vaccine shortage, using the regional hospital system headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the focal study site. This account of that case study describes the circumstances that contributed to the national and local vaccine shortage; the improvisation by health policymakers, hospital administrators, physicians, and nurses to prevent influenza cases despite the shortfall; and some of the legal, fiscal, logistical, social, and political pressures that local health professionals faced in deciding who should receive the limited supply of influenza vaccine. This instance of an acute vaccine shortage provided an opportunity to examine the practical and ethical dilemmas of managing medical resources during a public health emergency.


SIn 2008, the UN designated Saint-Louis "the city most threatened by rising sea levels in the whole of Africa". The people of Guet Ndar, a densely populated fishing quarter, are coping with environmental challenges on two fronts: 1) coastal erosion and intensifying storms have destroyed sea-front homes, and, 2) overfishing and climate change's maritime impacts are making local fishing less feasible as a livelihood strategy. Based on a local fieldwork, this paper examines Guet Ndarian migration as an adaptive response to environmental risks and more specifically climate change: 1) through the intensification of fishing migration to Mauritania, and 2) through home construction on the mainland away from the encroaching sea. Although these population movements respond to different environmental challenges, this paper identifies their enmeshment as the former facilitates the latter. Furthermore, it embeds these migratory dynamics in their socio-economic context and applies mobility and transnational paradigms to environmentally vulnerable areas.


A methodology is presented to identify parameters of non-linear models of excitation systems (ESs). Based on the use of genetic algorithms (GAs), the proposed methodology carries out simultaneous parameter identification of linear and non-linear model components. The computational algorithm allows to adequately identify model parameters and it is not affected by the noise present in the measurements. The application of this methodology was developed to identify and validate ES models of different technologies that are used in stability studies through dynamic simulations. First, model parameters of DC1A and ST1A type ES were determined in a simulation environment. The performance of two identifiers based on a GA paradigm is analysed: GA with arithmetic and intermediate recombination operators (GA-BASE) and GA based on differential evolution (GA-DE) mutation. Then the GA-DE identifier is applied to estimate parameters of a static ES (EXE) model of a Brazilian hydro power plant utilising measurements corrupted by noise and registered during field tests. The results obtained are satisfactory and the responses of the identified models are close to real system measurements.


International audience

 We present a new definition of non-ambiguous trees (NATs) as labelled binary trees. We thus get a differ- ential equation whose solution can be described combinatorially. This yield a new formula for the number of NATs. We also obtain q-versions of our formula. And we generalize NATs to higher dimension.


Abstract This article describes emergent Chinese regimes of knowledge about "minority nationality medicines." We adopt Weberian terms of rational and charismatic authority to better understand ethnic healing as it is developing among minorities in southwestern China. In the course of uneven development among diverse ethnic groups over recent decades, modern information regimes and institutional models have started to transform the many forms of healing and heritage that can be found "on the ground" in minority areas. We delineate a shifting border between official (or rational) and wild (or charismatic) forms of medicine, and argue that every healing situation results from a dynamic and sometimes destructive relation between these forms of authority. We draw from research conducted among seven minority nationalities scattered in five provinces in China's south and southwest. After an overview of relevant scholarly work that circulates nationally, we discuss views and practices of three healers belonging to Zhuang, Tujia, and Yao groups, respectively. Ultimately we suggest that all healing, including that taking place in biomedical clinics, relies on some contact with "the wild," and forges a relationship between rationality and charisma.


The appeal of cost savings and faster results has fish and wildlife management agencies considering the use of Internet surveys instead of traditional mail surveys to collect information from their constituents. Internet surveys, however, may suffer from differential age-related response rates, potentially producing biased results if certain age groups respond to Internet surveys differently than they do to mail surveys. We examined this concern using data from a mixed-mode angler survey conducted in South Dakota following the 2011 fishing season. Results indicated that young anglers (16–18) had the lowest return rates and senior anglers (65+) had the highest, regardless of survey mode. Despite this consistency in response rates, we note two concerns: (a) lower Internet response rates and (b) different age groups represented by the Internet and mail survey samples differed dramatically. Findings indicate that constituent groups may be represented differently with the use of various survey modes.


: Basic criteria are established for the phenomenon of travel grouping, both for the possibility of it to occur as well as for the associated characteristic time. These criteria are suggested to be incorporated in the rate of spray evaporation, thus enabling for the estimation of the effect of grouping due to periodic oscillation on the overall vapor production of a multi-size spray. It is shown that the relatively small droplets tend to form groups and thus decrease their evaporation rate. On the other hand, the lager droplets tend not to group, thus maximizing their rate of evaporation. Hence, such travel grouping brings closer the evaporation rates of different droplet size ranges. With respect to the opposite effect, that is, the influence of evaporation on grouping, it is shown that once a grouping or a non-grouping mode of behavior has been established, evaporation does not change this behavior as time passes or, in other words, droplet's history determines a single mode of time-behavior.


Crustaceans have successfully colonized the subterranean habitat, and many have become obligate inhabitants, occurring virtually everywhere there are interconnected voids underground. With the exception of most oniscidean isopods and a few talitrid amphipods, subterranean crustaceans inhabit water (stygobionts), where they dominate the stygofauna both in biomass and diversity of species. Four major taxonomic groups predominate: amphipods, isopods, copepods, and ostracods. Although most higher crustacean taxa have representatives in both epigean and subterranean habitats, some groups such as remipedes, thermosbaenaceans, spelaeogriphaceans, bathynellaceans, mystacocarids, and gelyelloid copepods are known only from the subterranean environment. Subterranean habitats vary physically and range from organically rich shallow habitats around seeps to cave systems more than a kilometer deep. Water quality, which can range from fresh to marine to hypersaline, static to flowing, and oxic to suboxic, impacts species distribution. Dispersal patterns in subterranean crustaceans are also diverse. Freshwater stygobiont crustaceans have narrow endemic ranges, and their dispersal is limited by saltwater. The distribution of several freshwater taxa might reflect the movement of tectonic plates. The extraordinarily diverse anchialine fauna, initially distributed along the Tethyan coast, was likely spread by vicariance due to movement of tectonic plates. Originating from epigean ancestors, many stygobionts have a marine origin. While the existence of preadaptations does not necessarily guarantee successful colonization of the subterranean habitat, a suite of characteristics is frequently observed in subterranean crustaceans, with most being weakly chitinized, lacking or with reduced eyes and pigments, and enhanced non-optic sense organs. Metabolic rates tend to be lower than in epigean crustaceans. Limited evidence indicates subterranean crustaceans are longer lived with lower reproductive potential. These adaptations make subterranean crustacean populations particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts. The morphological, physiological, and life history adaptations to a subterranean existence are most likely common responses to the physical environment of each subterranean ecosystem. Extensive biodiversity and phylogeography studies are still required, and there is a pressing need to comprehend the functional role of stygofauna in subterranean waters.


A 19.5 dBm power amplifier (PA) with a fine power step-size of 0.5 dB for an output power from 5 dBm to 19.5 dBm is designed and implemented in an advanced CMOS technology. This accurate power controlling is achieved by using an 8-bit digitally controlled current source and this ensures also a stable power controlling over the temperature and supply range with a 29 dB dynamic range. The implemented three-stage PA with a device stacking technique has a maximum small signal gain of 43 dB and delivers a maximum saturated output power of 19.5 dBm at 25 °C and 18.5 dBm at 125 °C. The PA core has an area of 0.053 mm2 and consumes 290 mA including all on-chip biasing circuits from a single 2.1 V power supply. To the best of authors' knowledge, the achieved maximum output power and also the power step-size are record values in advanced bulk CMOS technologies without power combining.


Selection of relevant features for classification from a high dimensional data set by keeping their class discriminatory information intact is a classical problem in Machine Learning. The classification power of the features can be measured from the point of view of redundant information and correlations among them. Choosing minimal set of features optimizes time, space complexity related cost and simplifies the classifier design, resulting in better classification accuracy. In this paper, tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L) leaves and fruiting habits were chosen with a futuristic goal to build a prototype model of leaf & fruit classification. By applying digital image processing techniques, tomato leaf and fruit images were pre-processed and morphological shape based features were computed. Next, supervised filter and wrapper based feature selection techniques were adopted to choose the optimal feature set leading to small within-class variance and large among-class distance which may be of utter importance in building the model for recognition system of the tomato leaf and fruiting habit genre.


ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE Analyze the spatial distribution of classical dengue and severe dengue cases in the city of Rio de Janeiro. METHODS Exploratory study, considering cases of classical dengue and severe dengue with laboratory confirmation of the infection in the city of Rio de Janeiro during the years 2011/2012. The georeferencing technique was applied for the cases notified in the Notification Increase Information System in the period of 2011 and 2012. For this process, the fields "street" and "number" were used. The ArcGis10 program's Geocoding tool's automatic process was performed. The spatial analysis was done through the kernel density estimator. RESULTS Kernel density pointed out hotspots for classic dengue that did not coincide geographically with severe dengue and were in or near favelas. The kernel ratio did not show a notable change in the spatial distribution pattern observed in the kernel density analysis. The georeferencing process showed a loss of 41% of classic dengue registries and 17% of severe dengue registries due to the address in the Notification Increase Information System form. CONCLUSIONS The hotspots near the favelas suggest that the social vulnerability of these localities can be an influencing factor for the occurrence of this aggravation since there is a deficiency of the supply and access to essential goods and services for the population. To reduce this vulnerability, interventions must be related to macroeconomic policies.


According to the data available in Soviet and foreign literature and the author's personal experience, the issues of combined pharmacological treatment of different types of epileptic seizures are discussed. General knowledge of the pharmacokinetics of antiepileptic drugs in the patient's body is taken into account as well as EEG data. Possible interchangeability of the drugs is reviewed.


One of the main challenges of histological image analysis is the high dimensionality of the images. This can be addressed via summarizing techniques or feature engineering. However, such approaches can limit the performance of subsequent machine learning models, particularly when dealing with highly heterogeneous tissue samples. One possible alternative is to employ unsupervised learning to determine the most relevant features automatically. In this paper, we propose a method of generating representative image signatures that are robust to tissue heterogeneity. At the core of our approach lies a novel deep-learning based mechanism to simultaneously produce representative image features as well as perform dictionary learning to further reduce dimensionality. By integrating this mechanism in a broader framework for disease grading, we show significant improvement in terms of grading accuracy compared to alternative local feature extraction methods.


In the time of industry 4.0 and big data, methods which are based on the collection and the processing of a large amount of data in order to support managerial decisions have outstanding significance. The learning curve theory pertains to these methods. The purpose of this paper is to explore some application possibilities of the classical learning curve in manufacturing and service operations. The learning effect assumes that as the quantity of units manufactured increases, the time needed to produce an individual unit decreases. The function describing this phenomenon is the learning curve. Various learning curves have been developed and applied in the area of production economics and much research studies the significance of the learning effect in management decisions. This study summarizes the main learning curve models and demonstrates how learning can be considered in three classical areas of operations management. First, the calculation of economic manufacturing quantity in the presence of learning is studied. Next, the effect of learning in break-even analysis and assembly line balancing is explored. The results show that with the consideration of the learning effect, calculations become more complex and require greater efforts, but the application of the learning curve concept can provide valuable insight both at operational and strategic levels.


At present, the cultivation of college students in colleges and universities mostly focuses on general education while emphasis is not given to the cultivation of the core competence of college students. Also, there are few innovation researches in the core competence training system. In order to solve this problem, this paper starts from the emphasis on the cultivation of core competence and innovatively proposes a outcome-based curriculum teaching system for the construction of college students' core competence cultivation system. The outcomebased curriculum teaching system adopts the method of teacher-student interview and quantitative analysis to promote the cultivation of college students' core competence and analyzes and discusses the influence of innovative curriculum teaching system on the improvement of college students' core competence. The practice results show that the outcome-based curriculum teaching system can comprehensively enhance students' core competence, especially in terms of their global vision, critical thinking, innovation ability, social and state responsibility, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship and leadership coordination.


In contrast to a strong tendency in recent studies of Melanesian religious and political movements that want to discard the term 'cargo cult' for reasons of analytical—and ethical—inadequacy, this article argues that the term remains useful to delineate an empirical field for comparative purposes. Further, it suggests that the central moral and existential crisis that underlies cargo cults has to do with pressure on the traditional exchange system and concomitant notions of personhood and fairness. Finally, it argues that the study of cargo cults provides a vantage point for a culture-critical approach to Western society, as it challenges the sharp distinction between religious and economic values that makes it difficult to understand contemporary moral paradoxes.


Helicobacter pylori has been directly linked with active chronic gastritis, peptic ulceration, and gastric adenocarcinoma in humans. Although a substantial portion of the human population is colonized with H. pylori, the patterns of transmission of the organism remain in doubt, and reservoir hosts have not been identified. This study documents the isolation of H. pylori from domestic cats obtained from a commercial vendor. The isolation of H. pylori from these cats was confirmed by morphologic and biochemical evaluations, fatty acid analysis, and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. H. pylori was cultured from 6 cats and organisms compatible in appearance with H. pylori were observed in 15 additional cats by histologic examination. In most animals, H. pylori was present in close proximity to mucosal epithelial cells or in mucus layers of the glandular or surface epithelium. Microscopically, H. pylori-infected cat stomachs contained a mild to severe diffuse lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate with small numbers of neutrophils and eosinophils in the subglandular and gastric mucosae. Lymphoid follicles were also noted, particularly in the antrum, and often displaced glandular mucosal tissue. Thus, the domestic cat may be a potential model for H. pylori disease in humans. Also, the isolation of H. pylori from domestic cats raises the possibility that the organism may be a zoonotic pathogen, with transmission occurring from cats to humans.


Qualitative models are predictive models that describe how changes in values of input variables affect the output variable in qualitative terms, e.g. increasing or decreasing. We describe Pade, a new method for qualitative learning which estimates partial derivatives of the target function from training data and uses them to induce qualitative models of the target function. We formulated three methods for computation of derivatives, all based on using linear regression on local neighbourhoods. The methods were empirically tested on artificial and real-world data. We also provide a case study which shows how the developed methods can be used in practice.


Molecular and Vibrational structure of 2A5CB were analyzed with the aid of density functional theory at B3LYP/6- 31G(d, p) and 6-311G(d, p) level basis sets. Optimized geometrical structures, harmonic vibrational frequencies, intensities, reduced mass, force constants and depolarization ratio have been computed by the B3 based (B3LYP) density functional methods The calculation results also show that the synthesized molecule have microscopic nonlinear optical (NLO) behaviour with non zero values. The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic studies were performed for identifying different functional groups present in the compound and compared with the calculated vibrational frequencies. The important thermodynamical parameters were also reported. The simulated infrared spectrum of the title compound shows good agreement with observed spectra.