This paper explores the effect of a liquid lithium curtain on fusion reactor plasma, such curtain is utilized as the first wall for the engineering outline design of the Fusion Experimental Breeder (FEB-E). The relationships between the surface temperature of a liquid lithium curtain and the effective plasma charge, fuel dilution and fusion power production have been derived. Results indicate that under normal operation, the evaporation of liquid lithium does not seriously affect the effective plasma charge, but effects on fuel dilution and fusion power are more sensitive. As an example, it has investigated the relationships between the liquid lithium curtain flow velocity and the rise of surface temperature based on operation scenario II of the FEB-E design with reversed shear configuration and high power density. Results show that even if the liquid lithium curtain flow velocity is as low as 0.5 m/s, the effects of evaporation from the liquid lithium curtain on plasma are negligible. In the present design, the sputtering of liquid lithium curtain and the particle removal effects of the divertor are not yet considered in detail. Further studies are in progress, and in this work implication of lithium erosion and divertor physics on fusion reactor operation are discussed.


Background
Although Rapid Maxillary Expansion (RME) has been used for over a century, its effect on upper airways has not yet adequately been assessed in an evidence-based manner.

Objective
To investigate the volumetric changes in the upper airway spaces following RME in growing subjects by means of acoustic rhinometry, three-dimensional radiography and digital photogrammetry.

Search methods
Literature search of electronic databases and additional manual searches up to February 2016.

Selection criteria
Randomized clinical trials, prospective or retrospective controlled clinical trials and cohort clinical studies of at least eight patients, where the RME appliance was left in place for retention, and a maximum follow-up of 8 months post-expansion.

Data collection and analysis
After duplicate data extraction and assessment of the risk of bias, the mean differences and 95 per cent confidence intervals (CIs) of upper airway volume changes were calculated with random-effects meta-analyses, followed by subgroup analyses, meta-regressions, and sensitivity analyses.

Results
Twenty studies were eligible for qualitative synthesis, of which 17 (3 controlled clinical studies and 14 cohort studies) were used in quantitative analysis. As far as total airway volume is concerned patients treated with RME showed a significant increase post-expansion (5 studies; increase from baseline: 1218.3mm3; 95 per cent CI: 702.0 to 1734.6mm3), which did not seem to considerably diminish after the retention period (11 studies; increase from baseline: 1143.9mm3; 95 per cent CI: 696.9 to 1590.9mm3).

Limitations
However, the overall quality of evidence was judged as very low, due to methodological limitations of the included studies, absence of untreated control groups, and inconsistency among studies.

Conclusions
RME seems to be associated with an increase in the nasal cavity volume in the short and in the long term. However, additional well-conducted prospective controlled clinical studies are needed to confirm the present findings.

Registration
None.

Funding
Australian Society of Orthodontics Foundation for Research and Education Inc.


Traditionally, machine learning community has been focused on supervised learning where the source of learning is fully labeled examples including both input features and corresponding output labels. As one way to alleviate the costly effort of collecting fully labeled examples, semi-supervised learning usually concentrates on utilizing a large amount of unlabeled examples together with a relatively small number of fully labeled examples to build better classifiers. Even though many semi-supervised learning algorithms are able to take advantage of unlabeled examples, there is a significant amount of effort in designing good models, features, kernels, and similarity functions.
In this dissertation, we focus on semi-supervised learning with partially labeled examples. Partially labeled data can be viewed as a trade-off between fully labeled data and unlabeled data, which can provide additional discriminative information in comparison to unlabeled data and requires less human effort to collect than fully labeled data. In our setting of semi-supervised learning with partially labeled examples, the learning method is provided with a large amount of partially labeled examples and is usually augmented with a relatively small set of fully labeled examples. Our main goal is to integrate partially labeled examples into the conventional learning framework, i.e. to build a more accurate classifier. The dissertation addresses four different semi-supervised learning problems in presence of partially labeled examples. In addition, we summarize general principles for the semi-supervised learning with partially labeled examples.


Aim of this paper is to test weather or not the Network Analysis (NA) could possibly help to grasp Country level competitiveness in the International Trade Network (ITN) of a specific commodity. We focus over the positions that each Country occupies within the net of international trade exchanges assuming this could lead to competitive advantage. Starting from Ronald Burt's structural holes theory, we move forward analyzing the whole network evolution in the last years. We apply NA to the world network of valued exchange relationships of virgin olive oils building a 12 years time series of weighted directed networks (WDN).


Nursing Informatics for the Advanced Practice Nurse, Second Edition, delivers a practical array of tools and information to show how advanced practice nurses can maximize patient safety, quality of care, and cost savings through the use of technology. Since the first edition of this text, health information technology has only expanded. With increased capability and complexity, the current technology landscape presents new challenges and opportunities for interprofessional teams. Nurses, who are already trained to use the analytic process to assess, analyze, and intervene, are in a unique position to use this same process to lead teams in addressing healthcare delivery challenges with data. The only informatics text written specifically for advanced practice nurses, Nursing Informatics for the Advanced Practice Nurse, Second Edition, takes an expansive, open, and innovative approach to thinking about technology. Every chapter is highly practical, filled with case studies and exercises that demonstrate how the content presented relates to the contemporary healthcare environment. Where applicable, concepts are aligned with the six domains within the Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) approach and are tied to national goals and initiatives. Featuring chapters written by physicians, epidemiologists, engineers, dieticians, and health services researchers, the format of this text reflects its core principle that it takes a team to fully realize the benefit of technology for patients and healthcare consumers.


A multitude of cellular and subcellular processes depend critically on the mechanical deformability of the cytoplasm. We have recently introduced the method of particle-tracking microrheology, which measures the viscoelastic properties of the cytoplasm locally and with high spatiotemporal resolution. Here we establish the basic principles of particle-tracking microrheology, describing the advantages of this approach over more conventional approaches to cell mechanics. We present basic concepts of molecular mechanics and polymer physics relevant to the microrheological response of cells. Particle-tracking microrheology can probe the mechanical properties of live cells in experimentally difficult, yet more physiological, environments, including cells embedded inside a 3D matrix, adherent cells subjected to shear flows, and cells inside a developing embryo. Particle-tracking microrheology can readily reveal the lost ability of diseased cells to resist shear forces.


We studied the possible role of specific muscle regulatory factors (MRF) in the adaptive response to changes in contractile activity in mature skeletal muscle. The tibialis anterior muscle of anesthetized female rats was subjected to low-frequency stimulation, static stretch, or a combination of both. Message levels of MRF were observed after 2 h of activity, and the subsequent 20-h recovery period by slot blot and in situ hybridizations for MRF4, Myf-5, and myogenin. A combination of stimulation and stretch for 2 h increased MRF4 (11.6 +/- 5.3-fold) and Myf-5 (6.6 +/- 1.4-fold). In situ hybridization showed abundance in some regions of the muscle with positive staining near peripheral nuclei of both large and small fibers. Message levels remained high for 30 min and declined to near control levels by 20 h of recovery. Myogenin mRNA levels were unaffected by any manipulations. Neither stretch alone nor 10 Hz of electrical stimulation alone induced a significant increase in MRF. We conclude that myonuclei, and possibly activated myoblasts, increase expression of Myf-5 and MRF4 after a combination of both stimulation and stretch for 2 h.


A Holter type, microprocessor based, portable, in-shoe, plantar pressure data acquisition system has been developed. The system allows continuous recording of plantar pressures during normal daily activity from up to fourteen discrete sensor locations. The system was evaluated during multiple trials with adult male subjects. Results indicated that system performance was sufficiently acceptable for further clinical applications and long term study of daily living activities.<<ETX>>


This book brings together edited articles from the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam that are relevant to food culture, health, diet, and medicine in pre-Islamic Muslim societies.


Since ancient times, nature has been the source of various principles of science and technology and major invention. The features of plant structure bionics, history of application of plant structure bionics in building sector and its applications in high intensity composite material bionics, self-cleaning effect bionics, intelligent information and bionic control, stealth materials and biomimetic materials bionics and other building materials were demonstrated in this paper. Issues for further research were also discussed to provide more inspiration and reference for further innovation.


The first cognitive-theoretical model in genetics developed by Morgan and his disciples on the basis of physicochemical reductionism is reviewed. The pathway of the gene theory remains unfinished due to many reasons, nevertheless, Morgan left it open for further development and integration with other disciplines.


This paper examines a new method for coding high quality digital audio signals based on a combination of linear predictive coding (LPC) and the discrete wavelet transform (DWT). In this method, a linear predictor is first used to model each audio frame. Then, the prediction error is analyzed using the DWT. The LPC coefficients and DWT coefficients are quantized using a novel bit allocation scheme which minimizes the overall quantization error with respect to the masking threshold. The proposed coder is capable of delivering near-transparent audio signal quality at encoding bit rates of around 90-96 kb/s. Objective and subjective results suggest that the proposed coder operating at 90-96 kb/s has a performance comparable to that of the MPEG layer II codec operating at 128 kb/s.


Orthogonal eddy current sensors operating in differential mode was applied to evaluate fatigue cracks in clad pipelines circumferential weld. A dedicated electronic hardware was developed to drive the sensors and measure the electrical impedance. In the preliminary experiments, an automated inspection was performed with the goal to evaluate sensors detectability and different scanning speed was tested to reproduce in service situation. The results have shown that the presented eddy current transducer is a potential solution for a fatigue crack detection on a clad circumferential weld bead.


Introduction In 2008, the Dutch Ministry of Health introduced policy reforms to enable integrated care for chronic diseases in combination with an integrated payment system. Implementation of these integrated care programs for diabetes, vascular risk management and COPD, by so-called integrated care groups, has started throughout the country. Purpose The Dutch Health Care Inspectorate (DHI) is the regulator for integrate care. Supervision is carried out on the quality of care delivered by care groups, regarding the standard of diabetic care. Methods In 2011, 20 care groups are at random selected and each care group is visited by two health care inspectors. Quality of care is assessed on topics, such as: multidisciplinary patient files, personal care plans, education/prevention measures, self management and transparency of quality. Information is obtained by interviewing general practitioners, practice nurses and the management of the care group. Furthermore policy documents and patient files are studied. Results and conclusion Preliminary results show that care groups don't (want to) take full responsibility for the quality of integrated diabetic care they provide. Final results will be presented at the conference.


ABSTRACT Spectacular conical Early Devonian carbonate buildups up to 55 m high that crop out in the eastern Anti-Atlas of southern Morocco are microbially mediated carbonate mud mounds that were surfaced by soft-bottom communities dominated by small tabulate corals. They formed on the Hamar Laghdad elevation, which was created by a submarine volcanic eruption, and were associated with a network of synsedimentary radial and tangential faults that originated by uplift of the intrusive laccolithic body underlying the Kess-Kess Formation. These faults served as conduits for the migration of hydrothermal fluids to the sea floor. Most mounds developed over cross-points of radial and tangential faults. Vents were episodically active until the Famennian, but extensive vent carbonate production occurred only during the Emsian. Preliminary geochemical results document that mud-mound carbonates and calcite cements in neptunian dikes precipitated from brines comprising a mixture of hydrothermal fluids and seawater. In addition, carbon isotope compositions (13C as low as -18o/oo PDB) suggest a contribution from thermogenic methane derived presumably from underlying basaltic intrusives. Aerobic bacterial oxidation of methane is favored as the main process driving carbonate precipitation in, and rapid lithification of, the mounds.


This paper summarises the use of analytics and algorithms for policing within England and Wales, and explores different types of bias that can arise during the product lifecycle. The findings are based on in-depth consultation with police forces, civil society organisations, academics and legal experts. The primary purpose of the project is to inform the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation's ongoing review into algorithmic bias in the policing sector. RUSI's second and final report for this project will be published in early 2020, to include specific recommendations for the final Code of Practice, and incorporating the cumulative feedback received during the consultation process.


Agricultural and food systems are contributing over 25% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Demographic changes and increasing income are expected to further push the global diet towards more meat-oriented and emission-intensive food items, as a result, agricultural GHG emissions could significantly increase in the long-run, which would make it almost impossible to keep the global temperature increase well below 2 o C, as desired by the Paris Climate Agreement. Reducing the food-related GHG emissions is a crucial component in meeting the stringent climate change targets. The focus of this paper is to provide a global assessment of food-related GHG emissions taxation. In terms of methodology, our paper contributes to the existing literature on the disaggregation of agricultural sector and representation of food balances in the computable general equilibrium modelling. From the policy side, our analysis extends themulti-region existing literature on the quantitative assessment of the food-related GHG emissions pricing. We provide new insights into economy-wide, environmental and dietary implications of such policies, with a particular focus on the cost-benefit (welfare) analysis for advanced economies and developing countries – a link that most studies have been missing so far. In addition, as global GHG taxes on food products also change agricultural trade patterns, our paper provides assessment of such impacts, looking into the most affected countries and regions.


The underlying problem in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) has traditionally been recognized as accelerated platelet destruction. However, recent studies have provided evidence that the pathophysiology of ITP is more complex, and impaired platelet production has emerged as one of the mechanisms contributing to the thrombocytopenia. On these grounds, second-generation thrombopoietic agents have been used in clinical trials to stimulate platelet production in ITP patients who are not responsive to standard treatments. These new molecules bear no structural resemblance to thrombopoietin (TPO) but still bind and activate the TPO receptor. Studies have been completed for two TPO receptor agonists: romiplostim (formerly AMG 531) and eltrombopag (formerly SB497115). Romiplostim is a recombinant protein defined as a peptibody. Results of phase I-II trials published recently demonstrated that romiplostim given as a weekly subcutaneous injection for 1-6 weeks results in doubling of platelet counts and an increase to >50 x 10(9)/L in most treated patients with minimal adverse effects. Eltrombopag is an orally available, small organic compound. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial, ITP patients were given daily oral treatment with placebo or eltrombopag 50 mg. Platelet responses were observed in 59% of eltrombopag-treated patients and in 16% of patients in the placebo arm. No significant adverse events were seen. Other thrombopoietic agents in development, such as AKR-501 (formerly YM 477), appear promising in healthy volunteers. Ongoing phase III clinical trials will reveal the potential of these agents in the management of ITP prior to splenectomy and for long-term maintenance therapy, as well as their relative benefit compared with standard of care treatment.


Robust object manipulation is still a hard problem in robotics, even more so in high degree-of-freedom (DOF) humanoid robots. To improve performance a closer integration of visual and motor systems is needed. We herein present a novel method for a robot to learn robust detection of its own hands and fingers enabling sensorimotor coordination. It does so solely using its own camera images and does not require any external systems or markers. Our system based on Cartesian Genetic Programming (CGP) allows to evolve programs to perform this image segmentation task in real-time on the real hardware. We show results for a Nao and an iCub humanoid each detecting its own hands and fingers.


The Coq proof assistant is increasingly used for constructing verified software, including everything from verified microkernels to verified databases. Programmers typically write code in Gallina (the core functional language of Coq) and construct proofs about those Gallina programs. Then, through a process of "extraction", the Gallina code is translated to either OCaml, Haskell, or Scheme and compiled by a conventional compiler to produce machine code. Unfortunately, this translation often results in inefficient code, and it fails to take advantage of the dependent types and proofs. Furthermore, it's a bit embarrassing that the process is not formally verified. Working with Andrew Appel's group at Princeton, we are trying to formalize as much of the process of extraction and compilation as we can, all within Coq. I will talk about both the opportunities this presents, as well as some of the key challenges, including the inability to preserve types through compilation, and the difficulty that axioms present.


Designed core–shell structured titanium dioxide–poly(dopamine)-silver (TiO2–PDA-Ag) particles were prepared via self-polymerization of poly(dopamine) and electroless plating of nano-silver particles. The poly(dopamine) layer was used not only to improve the interfacial interaction between TiO2 and the nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) matrix but also as chemisorption sites for silver ions. Then the TiO2–PDA-Ag particles were introduced into the NBR matrix to prepare dielectric composites. The effect of the nano-Ag content on morphology, dielectric properties, and electrical properties of the composites was thoroughly investigated. It was found that the Coulomb-blockade effect of nano-Ag particles led to the composites with relatively low dielectric loss and relatively high electrical breakdown strength. This simple and effective approach provides a promising route to adjust the dielectric properties of dielectric composites via the Coulomb-blockade effect.


In radiative layers of rotating stars the luminosity carried by circulation currents through a surface of constant entropy (circulation luminosity) is shown to be positive. The corresponding decrease in the temperature gradient is important in the secondary of contact binaries. This result removes the deadlock in the theory of contact binaries. The resulting treatment of contact binaries is investigated, assuming thermal equilibrium. The sources of the circulation luminosity in the secondary can be written as the product of a circulation function (a normalized non-negative function of the fractional mass) and an amplitude. If the amplitude is adjusted to give a prescribed temperature difference ∆Te = Te1 − Te2, the choice of the circulation function is (in a broad range) unimportant. This invariance extends in a close approximation to all observable properties as well as to the internal structure. The temperature difference is bound to be positive. The fractional extent of radiative regions is larger in the secondary than in the primary. In the course of evolution the period increases and the mass ratio decreases. Comparing thermodynamic quantites on level surfaces, pressure and density are larger in the secondary than in the primary. The specific entropy is larger in the primary than in the secondary. The temperature difference is remarkably small and almost vanishing when averaged over the level surfaces occupied in both components. The only free parameter (apart from ∆Te) is the efficiency fE of the energy transfer from the primary to the secondary. Using standard values for the parameters, a survey of unevolved and evolved contact configurations is presented. Observational tests are passed. In stable systems the degree of contact is small. Stable systems in the period-colour diagram, unevolved and evolved, cover the strip (and only the strip) of observed systems in this diagram. Lower limits for period and effective temperature, compatible with the observed limits, are caused by the requirement of thermal stability. Stable systems with mass ratios very close to unity are possible, in accordance with recent observations. Since stability considerations are essential in these observational tests the results support the assumption of thermal equilibrium as well as the treatment of the stability problem. Models for individual observed systems with reliable data are well-determined (apart from some freedom in ∆Te) and can be used to calibrate the efficiency and to determine metallicity and age. All models obtained so far are stable. This again supports the assumption of thermal stability. The results show that evolutionary effects are important and that the efficiency is very small ( fE = 10−3 . . . 10−5). Arguments are presented that the velocity field in the common envelope has a reversing layer, with motions from the secondary to the primary in the layers just above the critical surface and from the primary to the secondary in the surface layers.


The Rome of classical antiquity had no copyright law to protect literary works. This study shows that literary works were not for as much unprotected. This protection came, however, in another form than the strictly legal. It was effected through a system of social conventions and codes that served to protect the literary work. So effectively, in fact, that no law needed supplement them. Plagiarized, corrupt, or unauthorized publications of literary works called forth immediate and lively opposition. The ancient Romans saw the author as having received inspiration for his or her work from the gods. It was this higher authority which determined the right to decide upon the conditions of the presentation of this work to the public. To violate this right was tantamount to violating the will of the inspiring gods. To do so might bring shame and even retribution with it. Once the author had given form to his or her inspiration and made his or her work public, the work was given over to the public domain. From this point onwards, independent reproductions of texts, as long as they were faithful ones, met with no opposition, or even resentment from the readers and writers of the day. As the author's goal was never the making of money - considered an unworthy aim for a writer - such reproductions served the true aim of the writer - achieving immortality in the memory of his generation, and of future ones.


The prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at the General Hospital, Port-of-Spain, between June 1995 and May 1996 was determined. The MRSA prevalence rate was 4.6% of all S aureus isolates, with all but one nosocomially acquired. 15 isolates were associated with infections, and three were colonizing strains. 17 of the 18 patients with MRSA had received antibiotics previously, including 13 who had received multiple antibiotics. Skin and soft tissue were the sites of infection and colonization in 12 cases; and surgical wards and the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) accounted for 16 MRSA isolates. All isolates were sensitive to vancomycin and all but one were resistant to gentamicin. MRSA occurred sporadically in a wide distribution of wards and physicians' services, although the isolation of three strains from the ICU and three strains from a surgical ward were temporally related. Only one of two deaths was attributable to MRSA. Control of the spread of MRSA in this hospital must include the reinforcement of the appropriate use of antibiotics, hand washing and appropriate isolation of patients in the surgical and intensive care wards.


Closed-loop feedback control system is an important component of a well-rounded engineering technology program. However, since feedback control systems tends to be a rather complex topic, students react positively to hands-on experiments that assist them visualize control systems in practical situations, and, in today's technology, utilizing and integrating computers within the control loop is essential. An innovative feedback control laboratory has been developed in the department of engineering technology at University of Central Florida to fill this need. The laboratory is equipped with some of the most frequently used control systems in engineering and industry. It is designed to bridge the gap between theory and real-life problems, and to give the students valuable hands-on experience to help them better prepared for their careers. A number of practical feedback control system experiments are being developed that will allow students an opportunity to develop appropriate transfer functions and control programs for closed-loop system with a computer in the loop.


In rarefied gases, mass and heat transport processes interfere with each other, leading to the mechano-caloric effect and thermo-osmotic effect, which are of interest to both theoretical study and practical applications. We employ the unified gas-kinetic scheme to investigate these cross coupling effects in gas flows in micro-channels. Our numerical simulations cover channels of planar surfaces and also channels of ratchet surfaces, with Onsager's reciprocal relation verified for both cases. For channels of planar surfaces, simulations are performed in a wide range of Knudsen number and our numerical results show good agreement with the literature results. For channels of ratchet surfaces, simulations are performed for both the slip and transition regimes and our numerical results not only confirm the theoretical prediction [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 164502 (2011)] for Knudsen number in the slip regime but also show that the off-diagonal kinetic coefficients for cross coupling effects are maximized at a Knudsen number in the transition regime. Finally, a preliminary optimization study is carried out for the geometry of Knudsen pump based on channels of ratchet surfaces.


According to many scholars of public opinion, most of the fast-growing divides between Democrats and Republicans over the last few decades have taken place on moral issues. We find that the process of issue partisanship—the sorting of political preferences along partisan lines—properly accounts for public opinion dynamics in the economic and civil rights domains. However, when it comes to moral issues, the prominent change is a partisan secular trend, in which both Democrats and Republicans are adopting more progressive views, although at a different rate. While Democrats are early adopters of progressive views, Republicans adopt the same views at a slower pace. This secular change can be easily (mis)interpreted as a sign of polarization since, at the onset of the process, the gap between party supporters broadens because of the faster pace at which Democrats adopt progressive views, and only toward the end, the gap between partisan supporters decreases.


Objective: alcohol availability is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent alcohol use, and subsequent harm. Alcohol outlets near schools are an important indicator of three types of availability related to adolescent alcohol use; physical (number), economic (price), and legal (compliance with age limits).

Method: two teams with trained students (16 and 17 years old) visited all 37 schools in a 200,000 inhabitant Romanian city (Pitesti). On the spot all alcohol outlets were visited and data was collected on outlet characteristics and visitors. Also, by conducting mystery shopping purchase attempts by the researchers, compliance on the age limits for alcohol sales was tested.

Results: a total of 40 outlets were found within a 250 meter distance around 23 schools. Alcohol turns out to be cheap, and commercial alcohol brand signs are dominantly visible. With respect to compliance with the 18-year-old Romanian age limit for alcohol sales, only eight (20%) outlets refused to sell alcohol to under aged decoy customers.

Conclusion: adolescent alcohol availability is high on the physical, economic and legal aspect. Pitesti is the first city in
Romania where an international alcohol prevention project has started to reduce alcohol related consequences. This project
involves all relevant stakeholders, and the first new legislation on this subject had been implemented.


The complexity of a manufacturing system is determined by the uncertainty in achieving the system's functional requirements and is caused by two factors: by a time-independent poor design that causes a system-inherent low efficiency (system design), and by a time-dependent reduction of system performance due to system deterioration or to market or technology changes (system dynamics). To maximize the productivity of a manufacturing system, its entire complexity must be reduced. Many valid methods have been developed so far addressing different single manufacturing and quality issues. But to continuously increase the productivity of a manufacturing system within a turbulent environment its entire complexity must be reduced. This requires a holistic understanding and knowledge about the system. To reduce a system's complexity, its subsystems should not overlap in their contribution to the overall system's functionality, they must be mutually exclusive. On the other hand, the interplay of system's components must be collectively exhaustive in order to include every issue relevant to the entire system's functionality. This paper introduces a concept for complexity reduction in manufacturing systems with the help of Nam P. Suh's Axiomatic Design principles. In a first step, time-dependent elements are separated from time-independent elements. To eliminate the real complexity of the time-independent elements (so called manufacturing modules), a set of alternative design parameters are defined that fit the system range of the manufacturing module's set of functional requirements. To reduce the time-dependent combinatorial complexity, a methodology is proposed to systematically define an entire manufacturing system's functional requirements within very short times in order to guarantee a fast reconfiguration of the system considering internal and external system dynamics. With the help of practical examples and the obtained results, the validity of the approach is illustrated.


Objectives: Critically ill patients with deranged conventional coagulation tests are often perceived to have an increased bleeding risk. Whether anticoagulant prophylaxis for these patients should be withheld is contentious. This study assessed the ability of using in vitro clot strength, as measured by thromboelastography, to predict thromboembolism in patients with abnormal coagulation profiles. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: A tertiary ICU. Patients: Two-hundred and fifteen critically ill coagulopathic patients with thrombocytopenia and/or a derangement in at least one conventional coagulation test (international normalized ratio or activated partial thromboplastin time) within 48 hours of ICU admission. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Thromboelastography was performed for all study patients, and plasma thrombotic biomarkers were measured in a nested cohort (n = 40). Of the 215 patients included, 34 patients (16%) developed subsequent thromboembolism—predominantly among those with a normal (maximum amplitude, 54–72 mm) or increased (maximum amplitude, > 72 mm) in vitro clot strength on thromboelastography (91%; area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.64–0.83). The ability of the maximum amplitude to predict thromboembolism was comparable to plasma P-selectin concentrations (thromboembolism, 78.3 ng/mL vs no thromboembolism, 59.5 ng/mL; p = 0.031; area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.52–0.95). In addition, patients with an increased maximum amplitude were also less likely to receive blood product transfusions within 24 hours of testing compared with those with a subnormal maximum amplitude (12.8% vs 69.2%, respectively; area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.67–0.80). Conclusions: In patients with abnormal coagulation profiles, an increased in vitro clot strength on thromboelastography was associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism, and a reduced risk of requiring transfusion compared with those with a normal or reduced in vitro clot strength.


70% of world population is expected to live in cities by 2050 and in order to address world
increasing energy consumption new solutions and effective strategies must be found. The
concept of smart cities serves as foundation to turn cities of today into the sustainable cities
of the future. Nowadays most of energy consumed in cities is produced outside urban areas
and, even if environmental and security of supplies concerns have increased, it is hard to
implement decentralized renewable energy systems in such context. One very important
reason is the physical lack of space.
The implementation of silicon photovoltaic is inspiringly contributing to increase the share of
renewable energy, year by year. Nonetheless, silicon solar cells are bulky and opaque, and
therefore particularly suited only for roof installation and not for other challenging building
integrated solutions, like building windows. Organic solar cells are a thin film technology that
uses photoactive layers with thicknesses in the range of 100 nm. This allows the active layer
to be intrinsically semitransparent. This type of solar cells normally look opaque to the
human eye because a metallic top contact is present, which efficiently collects the generated
current. In a semitransparent device the top opaque electrode is substituted with a suitable
transparent contact. Semi transparent organic solar cells have the potential for interesting
applications, such as integration into windows for buildings, cars and screens of electronic
devices.
The project was aimed to fabricate and characterize efficient semitransparent organic solar
cells.


High dimensional Poisson regression has become a standard framework for the analysis of massive counts datasets. In this work we estimate the intensity function of the Poisson regression model by using a dictionary approach, which generalizes the classical basis approach, combined with a Lasso or a group-Lasso procedure. Selection depends on penalty weights that need to be calibrated. Standard methodologies developed in the Gaussian framework can not be directly applied to Poisson models due to heteroscedasticity. Here we provide data-driven weights for the Lasso and the group-Lasso derived from concentration inequalities adapted to the Poisson case. We show that the associated Lasso and group-Lasso procedures are theoretically optimal in the oracle approach. Simulations are used to assess the empirical performance of our procedure, and an original application to the analysis of Next Generation Sequencing data is provided.


Fast-growing hybrids of Populus L. have an increasing importance as a source of renewable energy and as industrial wood. Nevertheless, the long-term sensitivity of Populus hybrids to weather conditions and hence to possible climatic hazards in Northern Europe have been insufficiently studied, likely due to the limited age of the trees (short rotation). In this study, the climatic sensitivity of ca. 65-year-old hybrid poplars (Populus balsamifera L. × P. laurifolia Ledeb.), growing at two sites in the western part of Latvia, and ca. 55-year-old hybrid aspens (Populus tremuloides Michx. × P. tremula L.), growing in the eastern part of Latvia, have been studied using classical dendrochronological techniques. The high-frequency variation of tree-ring width (TRW) of hybrid poplar from both sites was similar, but it differed from hybrid aspen due to the diverse parental species and geographic location of the stands. Nevertheless, some common tendencies in TRW were observed for both hybrids. Climatic factors influencing TRW were generally similar for both hybrids, but their composition differed. The strength of climate-TRW relationships was similar, but the hybrid poplar was affected by a higher number of climatic factors. Hybrid poplar was sensitive to factors related to water deficit in late summer in the previous and current years. Hybrid aspen was sensitive to conditions in the year of formation of tree-ring. Both hybrids also displayed a reaction to temperature during the dormant period. The observed climate-growth relationships suggest that increasing temperatures might burden the radial growth of the studied hybrids of Populus.


This paper builds a new theoretical connection between singular control of finite variation and optimal switching problems. This correspondence provides a novel method for solving high-dimensional singular control problems, and enables us to extend the theory of reversible investment: sufficient conditions are derived for the existence of optimal controls and for the regularity of value functions. Consequently, our regularity result links singular controls and Dynkin games through sequential optimal stopping problems.


CONTEXT
Animal studies indicate that glucocorticoids increase hepatic 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD-1) expression and activity.

OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to determine whether glucocorticoid excess increases cortisol production in the liver via 11β-HSD-1 enzyme pathway in humans.

DESIGN
A total of 1 mg each [4-(13)C] cortisone and [9,12,12-(2)H3] cortisol were ingested, and [1,2,6,7-(3)H] cortisol was infused to measure C13 cortisol (derived from ingested [4-(13)C] cortisone) turnover using the triple tracer technique, whereas glucose turnover was measured using isotope dilution technique following [6-6(2)H2] glucose infusion during a saline clamp.

SETTING
This study took place at the Mayo Clinic Clinical Research Unit.

PARTICIPANTS
Thirty nondiabetic healthy subjects participated.

INTERVENTION
Subjects were randomized to hydrocortisone (n = 15) or placebo 50 mg twice daily (n = 15) for 1 week.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Hepatic cortisol production and endogenous glucose production were measured.

RESULTS
Plasma cortisol concentrations were higher throughout the study period in hydrocortisone group. Rates of appearance of C13 cortisol and hepatic C13 cortisol production were higher in hydrocortisone vs placebo group, indicating increased hepatic 11β-HSD-1 activity. Higher plasma cortisol and presumably higher intrahepatic cortisol was associated with impaired suppression of endogenous glucose production in hydrocortisone vs placebo group.

CONCLUSION
Chronic glucocorticoid excess increases intrahepatic cortisone to cortisol conversion via the 11β-HSD-1 pathway. The extent to which this causes or exacerbates steroid induced hepatic insulin resistance remains to be determined.


This thesis examines the determinants of CEO compensation. It consists of two main studies. The first investigates the effect of compensation consultants on CEO pay levels and incentives, using a sample of large UK firms from the FTSE 350 index from 2003 to 2011. Its key focus is whether the effect of compensation consultants persists after controlling for endogeneity. Using OLS regressions and controlling for firm, CEO and corporate governance characteristics reveals that the presence of compensation consultants is positively associated with both CEOs' pay level and the percentage of equity-based pay. However, the presence of compensation consultants is endogenous. After controlling for selection bias using firm fixed effects, CEO fixed effects and propensity score matching, no significant correlation is found between compensation consultants and the level and composition of CEOs' pay. This study also investigates the effect of governance quality, and finds that the effects of compensation consultants are different in firms with good and bad governance. Again, there is no evidence that compensation consultants are used by entrenched CEOs to increase total pay, even in firms with bad governance. In general, these results support optimal contracting models rather than managerial power models. The second study investigates the relationship between foreign experience and CEO compensation using a sample of large UK firms from the FTSE 350 index from 2003 to 2011. It focuses on determining whether foreign experience is valuable to CEOs. The findings reveal that foreign CEOs and national CEOs with foreign working experience receive significantly higher levels of total compensation than those without, and that this foreign-CEO pay premium is stronger in firms that are more globalised. The results are robust to controlling for firm-specific economic and corporate governance characteristics, as well as endogenous CEO selection using propensity score matching. The results show that pay premiums are attributable to the specialist foreign expertise and foreign networks of CEOs, which stem from foreign experience rather than broader general managerial skills.


This paper examines the existence and adequacy of implemented Computerized Accounting Information Systems (CAIS) security controls to prevent, detect and correct security breaches in Saudi organizations. An empirical survey, using a self-administered questionnaire, was carried out to achieve this purpose. Five hundred questionnaires were distributed on a random sample of Saudi organizations. Two hundred and seventy five valid, usable questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The results of the study highlight a number of inadequately implemented CAIS security controls, and some suggestions and recommendations are introduced to strengthen the weak points and to close the loopholes in the present CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations. From a practical standpoint, managers, auditors, IT users and practitioners alike stand to gain from the findings of this study. The results could enable them to better understand and secure their CAIS and to champion IT development for the success of their businesses.


Aim: To consider how well the current legally recognized definitions of intellectual disability in the UK and US fulfil their role, in the light of the recent work that has shown that our ability to measure low IQ is severely limited (Whitaker 2010, 2013). Method: Based on a literature search current UK and US definitions of intellectual disability (including mental retardation) were found and examined to see to what extent they incorporated a specified IQ score. Results: A substantial number of the US definitions, notably the AAIDD, DMS-V and many of the definitions of individual states, require a measured IQ below a specified figure. In the UK the definition used in the Department of Health (2001) also implies that there should be an IQ less than 70. Conclusions: Many of the current legally recognised definitions are not fit for the purpose for which they were intended. It is suggested that the definitions be re drafted so that they take account of our lack of ability to measure low IQ and better reflect the needs of the stakeholders in the situations where that definition is required.


Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strains isolated from piglets and calves with diarrhea were tested for the presence of the enteroaggregative E. coli enterotoxin 1 (EAST1) gene sequences by PCR and colony hybridization. The EAST1 gene was found in most porcine ETEC strains with adherence factor K88, especially in those elaborating heat-labile enterotoxin. One porcine ETEC strain with adherence factor K99 was also positive for the EAST1 gene. In contrast, 987P-positive (987P+) ETEC strains from piglets, K99+ ETEC strains from calves, and K99+ F41+ or F41+ ETEC strains from piglets and calves were negative for the EAST1 gene. The K88ab+ or K88ac+ ETEC strains tested possessed the EAST1 gene on a plasmid that was distinct from a K88-encoding plasmid. The EAST1 gene sequences of the K88+ ETEC strains were identical to each other and 99.1 and 98.3% homologous to the previously reported sequences of ETEC strains colonizing humans and enteroaggregative E. coli strains, respectively. The data indicate that the EAST1 gene is distributed among porcine ETEC strains in association with the adherence factor type.


Two methods are recommended for the simultaneous determination of tthese colorants in foodstuff. The mixtures of food colorants, containing tartrazine, sunset yellow, allura red and caramel were simultaneously analyzed with spectrophotometry without previous chemical separation. The data aquired from experiments were processed by one of chemometric approaches with partial least squares (PLS) using the absorbance and potentiometric data. The linear relationship between the volumes of titrant and the concentrations of analytes was obtained by chemometric methods. The designed model was the used to predict the concentrations of components in unknown sample. In the next step, PLS method, commercial beverage sample caramel, allura red, tartrazine and sunset yellowquantity determinations were performed at the same time. PLS calculated from experimental data, calibration methods, a good fit between the observed and the results were compared statistically.


Learning with labels noise has gained significant traction recently due to the sensitivity of deep neural networks under label noise under common loss functions. Losses that are theoretically robust to label noise, however, often makes training difficult. Consequently, several recently proposed methods, such as Meta-Weight-Net (MW-Net), use a small number of unbiased, clean samples to learn a weighting function that downweights samples that are likely to have corrupted labels under the meta-learning framework. However, obtaining such a set of clean samples is not always feasible in practice. In this paper, we analytically show that one can easily train MW-Net without access to clean samples simply by using a loss function that is robust to label noise, such as mean absolute error, as the meta objective to train the weighting network. We experimentally show that our method beats all existing methods that do not use clean samples and performs on-par with methods that use gold samples on benchmark datasets across various noise types and noise rates.


Hypersensitivity to interference (HYSTI) is a situation in which a person has a severe difficulty in memorizing verbal items that are similar to each other. This may result in induced dyscalculia: HYSTI was shown to correlate with a difficulty in learning the multiplication table, presumably because the multiplication table, which is memorized verbally, has much similarity between the items ("six times seven equals forty two", "six times eight equals forty eight", etc.). Here, we show causal evidence that HYSTI disrupts the memorization of multiplication facts. We report DL, a woman with HYSTI who had extremely poor knowledge of the multiplication table. To examine whether her multiplication difficulty resulted from HYSTI, we tested whether she could learn multiplication facts when interference was reduced. In a series of merely 12 short sessions over a period of 4 weeks, DL rehearsed 16 multiplication facts – four facts per week. When the 4 facts in a given week were similar to each other, DL's learning was poor. Conversely, when the 4 facts in a given week were dissimilar from each other, DL learned them quickly and easily. The effect of similarity was observed during the training period and persisted at least two months after the end of training. These results provide the first causal evidence that HYSTI impairs the learning or retrieval of arithmetic facts. From a pedagogical perspective, our findings may call for re-considering how multiplication facts should be taught in elementary school.


Extracellular superoxide dismutase (ECSOD or SOD3) is highly expressed in lungs and functions as a scavenger of O2• ─. ECM fragmentation, which can be triggered by oxidative stress, participates in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) through attracting inflammatory cells into the lungs. The level of SOD3 is significantly decreased in lungs of patients with COPD. However, the role of endogenous SOD3 in the development/progression of emphysema is unknown. We hypothesized that SOD3 protects against emphysema by attenuating oxidative fragmentation of ECM in mice. To test this hypothesis, SOD3-deficient, SOD3-transgenic, and WT C57BL/6J mice were exposed to cigarette smoke (CS) for 3 d (300 mg total particulate matter/m3) to 6 mo (100 mg/m3 total particulate matter) or by intratracheal elastase injection. Airspace enlargement, lung inflammation, lung mechanical properties, and exercise tolerance were determined at different time points during CS exposure or after elastase administration. CS exposure and elastase administration caused airspace enlargement as well as impaired lung function and exercise capacity in SOD3-null mice, which were improved in mice overexpressing SOD3 and by pharmacological SOD mimetic. These phenomena were associated with SOD3-mediated protection against oxidative fragmentation of ECM, such as heparin sulfate and elastin, thereby attenuating lung inflammatory response. In conclusion, SOD3 attenuates emphysema and reduces oxidative fragmentation of ECM in mouse lung. Thus, pharmacological augmentation of SOD3 in the lung may have a therapeutic potential in the intervention of COPD/emphysema.


Assessment of genetic diversity among different varieties helps to improve desired characteristics of crops, including disease resistance, early maturity, high yield, and resistance to drought. Molecular markers are one of the most effective tools for discovering genetic diversity that can increase reproductive efficiency. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs), which are codominant markers, are preferred for the determination of genetic diversity because they are highly polymorphic, multi-allelic, highly reproducible, and have good genome coverage. This study aimed to determine the genetic diversity of 40 common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) landraces collected from the Ispir district located in the Northeast Anatolia region of Türkiye and five commercial varieties using SSR markers. The Twenty-seven SSR markers produced a total of 142 polymorphic bands, ranging from 2 (GATS91 and PVTT001) to 12 (BM153) alleles per marker, with an average number of 5.26 alleles. The gene diversity per marker varied between 0.37 and 0.87 for BM053 and BM153 markers, respectively. When heterozygous individuals are calculated proportional to the population, the heterozygosity ranged from 0.00 to 1.00, with an average of 0.30. The expected heterozygosity of the SSR locus ranged from 0.37 (BM053) to 0.88 (BM153), with an average of 0.69. Nei's gene diversity scored an average of 0.69. The polymorphic information content (PIC) values of SSR markers varied from 0.33 (BM053) to 0.86 (BM153), with an average of 0.63 per locus. The greatest genetic distance (0.83) was between lines 49, 50, 53, and cultivar Karacaşehir-90, while the shortest (0.08) was between lines 6 and 26. In cluster analysis using Nei's genetic distance, 45 common bean genotypes were divided into three groups and very little relationship was found between the genotypes and the geographical distances. In genetic structure analysis, three subgroups were formed, including local landraces and commercial varieties. The result confirmed that the rich diversity existing in Ispir bean landraces could be used as a genetic resource in designing breeding programs and may also contribute to Türkiye bean breeding programs.


The aim of this study was to characterize the antibiotic resistance profiles, the integron-associated resistance determinants, and the potential ability of transferring these determinants by conjugation in Salmonella enterica isolated from swine. Fifty-four strains of Salmonella spp. were isolated from healthy swine. The percentages of resistance, determined by the plate dilution method were as follows: oxytetracycline (41%), streptomycin (39%), sulphamethoxazol+trimethoprim (19%), enrofloxacin-ciprofloxacin (13%), and amoxicillin (0%). The most important resistance serovars were Salmonella Branderburg, Salmonella Derby, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Salmonella Heidelberg. The oxytetracycline-resistant strains amplified the genes tetA (36%), tetB (64%); and the strains resistant to streptomycin and trimethoprim amplified the genes aadA1 (100%) and dfrA1 (100%), respectively. None of the fluoroquinolone-resistant strains amplified the gene qnr. Ten strains amplified the class 1 integron harboring the cassette aadA1. Six strains amplified the class 2 integron harboring the cassettes dfrA1, sat1, and aadA1. The conjugation assays showed that 2 strains transferred the tetA and aadA1 genes and the class 1 integron to a recipient strain. Taken together, the results obtained in this study show a high percentage of resistance in and the presence of integrons in strains of S. enterica isolated from swine. This information should support the implementation of regulations for the prudent use of antimicrobial agents in food-producing animals.


Discussions of fundamental directions of communications policy are rare. More typically, incremental problems are addressed as they arise, although the accumulation of such small changes may have big consequences. The network neutrality debate is one of these rare opportunities to reflect on the bigger issues of information and communications policy. Because of its overarching nature, it touches a broad range of economic and non-economic policy concerns. It addresses a fundamental issue in advanced communications: how to structure the rights and obligations of different stakeholders in the ICT system, particularly among the operators of physical network platforms and providers of content and applications. However, in this context, it also addresses the rights of users and possibly vertical relations between providers of logical platforms (e.g., operating systems, development platforms, and search) and other stakeholders. From an economic vantage point, this raises questions related to the dynamics and performance of vertically related network markets, in which market power is present at least in some segments. Should the rules of interaction between players be allowed to evolve in repeated market interactions or is there a need for a collective agent to define boundaries or even mandatory rules? From a broader social policy perspective, additional issues become important, including the implications of different governance arrangements for the freedom of speech, democracy and civic participation, and possibly human rights in general. This diversity of objectives complicates the discussion greatly. Proponents and opponents of network neutrality often construct their arguments from different, even disconnected, normative frameworks. Some analyses are based on broad, and widely shared, aims of communications policy, such as the protection of free speech or support for democratic goals. Others focus narrowly on the economic efficiency implications of policy choices. Rarely are there any attempts to reconcile these different angles and to explore the relation between different goals and the instruments proposed to implement them. Analyses of the diversity of vantage points common to communications policy debates have been addressed before. Wildman and Entman 1992) analyzed the analytical and policy debates around the notion of a marketplace of ideas. They pointed to major inconsistencies and misunderstandings between experts sympathetic to a liberal economic perspective and those arguing from a broader social welfare position. We similarly posit that a lack of clarification of the various dimensions of a policy debate can muddy the water, confusing the design and implementation of policy principles and instruments. Our paper attempts to contribute to a clarification of political and economic goals and the potential instruments that can be used to pursue them. To this end, we review economic and political reasons that are used as rationales to argue for or against network neutrality. This discussion also helps differentiate alternative specifications of network neutrality and examine overlaps, tensions, and contradictions among stakeholders. We then proceed with an analysis of the relations between different instruments proposed to address the governance problem and how different policy options serve these aims. We are interested in the logical relations between instruments and objectives. Are certain instruments sufficient, necessary, or neither to achieve an outcome? Do different instruments have to be used in combination? Do trade-offs exist between goals or is it possible to achieve a balanced combination?


A 54-year-old woman was referred for a second opinion regarding a 3-month history of subacute onset progressive cognitive decline. She complained of memory difficulties particularly with short term recall. Decision-making and organizational skills were increasingly difficult. She also developed sudden brief jerking movements of her body and progressive gait imbalance and incoordination leading to falls. Three months after onset, she could not work, drive, cook, or perform activities of daily living. She had not had episodes suggestive of seizures. Her medical history was remarkable for celiac disease diagnosed 9 years previously, which resolved with a gluten-free diet, collagenous colitis, Raynaud syndrome, osteopenia, anxiety, and prior episodes of hyponatremia related to polydipsia. Current medications included amitriptyline, venlafaxine, and Pepto-Bismol. She worked as a financial analyst, had never consumed tobacco products, and drank 3–4 alcoholic beverages per week. Her father had myasthenia gravis but there was no family history of dementia. General examination revealed a restless woman with pseudobulbar affect who was unable to provide a meaningful history. Neurologic examination revealed multiple abnormalities. Mental status testing revealed a mild to moderate degree of encephalopathy including abnormalities in attention, frontal lobe function, and comprehension. Kokmen short test of mental status score was 23 out of 38 (29/38 or less consistent with dementia). There was multifocal myoclonus and postural tremor. Cerebellar examination revealed appendicular and gait ataxia. Muscle strength and reflexes were normal. Sensory examination was unreliable due to dementia.


This study was an attempt to identify the epistemological roots of knowledge when students carry out hands‐on experiments in physics. We found that, within the context of designing a solution to a stated problem, subjects constructed and ran thought experiments intertwined within the processes of conducting physical experiments. We show that the process of alternating between these two modes — empirically experimenting and experimenting in thought — leads towards a convergence on scientifically acceptable concepts. We call this process mutual projection. In the process of mutual projection, external representations were generated. Objects in the physical environment were represented in an imaginary world and these representations were associated with processes in the physical world. It is through this coupling that constituents of both the imaginary world and the physical world gain meaning. We further show that the external representations are rooted in sensory interaction and constitute a semi‐symbolic pictorial communication system, a sort of primitive 'language', which is developed as the practical work continues. The constituents of this pictorial communication system are used in the thought experiments taking place in association with the empirical experimentation. The results of this study provide a model of physics learning during hands‐on experimentation.


Background: Renal Replacement Therapies (RRTs) like haemodialysis only partially correct the symptoms experienced by a patient but provoke additional changes in his/her lifestyle. These changes can affect the Quality of life (QOL) of the patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure the quality of life of patients undergoing haemodialysis at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), The Gambia Method: A cross-sectional study design was used. The Kidney Disease Quality of Life –Short Form (KDQOL-SF) questionnaire was adapted and used to collect data from 44 participants undergoing haemodialysis at the time of data collection. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine the difference in the quality of life, among the patients in relation to their demographic variables. Results: The finding showed that the majority of the patients were female 30(68.2%) and the mean age was 43.3 years ranging from 20- 80 years. Hypertension was the major cause of renal failure (n=27; 61.4%) of the patients. The patients had a poor quality of life with a mean score of 34. 8%. Independent t-test shows that the Physical Composite Score (PCS), Mental Composite Score (MCS), and Kidney Disease Composite Score (KDCS) were all higher in males compared to females, with PCS being significant at a p-value of 0.007 and KDCS at a P-value of 0.01. The MCS was significantly higher among the unmarried patients at a p-value of 0.022 as well as for diabetes and hypertension compared to unknown causes of Kidney Conclusion: The low PCS, MCS, and KDCS among the patients receiving haemodialysis treatment in EFSTH indicate poor quality of life. Therefore, more efforts need to be done to improve the quality of life for these patients.


Increases in cyclic adenosine monophosphate and cyclic guanosine monophosphate content accompany relaxation of isolated strips of opossum and canine lower oesophageal sphincter muscle. The aim of this investigation was to characterise these responses in isolated muscle from the human lower oesophageal sphincter. Electrical stimulation of enteric neurons produced a frequency dependent relaxation of the human lower oesophageal sphincter that was sensitive to tetrodotoxin. Furthermore, as previously shown in the opossum and canine lower oesophageal sphincter, cyclic guanosine monophosphate content was significantly raised in muscle strips frozen during maximum electrical field stimulation whereas cyclic adenosine monophosphate content was unchanged. In addition, sodium nitroprusside (EC50 = 0.1 microM) produced a concentration dependent relaxation of human lower oesophageal sphincter, significantly increased cyclic guanosine monophosphate content, but did not alter cyclic adenosine monophosphate content. Zaprinast (M&B 22948) and SK&F 94120, selective inhibitors of cyclic guanosine monophosphate and cyclic adenosine monophosphate phosphodiesterases, respectively, both relaxed human lower oesophageal sphincter with a potency similar to that seen in the dog or opossum lower oesophageal sphincter. Finally, the 8-bromo analogues of both cyclic adenosine monophosphate (EC50 = 420 microM) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (EC50 = 100 microM) relaxed the human lower oesophageal sphincter. These studies suggest that in the human, as well as the canine and opossum lower oesophageal sphincter, increases in cyclic nucleotide content are associated with relaxation and increases in cyclic guanosine monophosphate are associated with the relaxation induced by stimulation of enteric neurons.


Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has recently been utilized to determine the absolute amounts of organic molecules with metrological traceability since signal intensity is directly proportional to the number of each nucleus in a molecule. The NMR methodology that uses hydrogen nucleus (1H) to quantify chemicals is called quantitative 1H NMR (1H qNMR). The quantitative method using 1H qNMR for determining the purity or content of chemicals has been adopted into some compendial guidelines and official standards. However, there are still few reports in the literature regarding validation of 1H qNMR methodology. Here, we coordinated an international collaborative study to validate a 1H qNMR based on the use of an internal calibration methodology. Thirteen laboratories participated in this study, and the purities of three samples were individually measured using 1H qNMR method. The three samples were all certified via conventional primary methods of measurement, such as butyl p-hydroxybenzoate Japanese Pharmacopeia (JP) reference standard certified by mass balance; benzoic acid certified reference material (CRM) certified by coulometric titration; fludioxonil CRM certified by a combination of freezing point depression method and 1H qNMR. For each sample, 1H qNMR experiments were optimized before quantitative analysis. The results showed that the measured values of each sample were equivalent to the corresponding reference labeled value. Furthermore, assessment of these 1H qNMR data using the normalized error, En-value, concluded that statistically 1H qNMR has the competence to obtain the same quantification performance and accuracy as the conventional primary methods of measurement.


Abstract A concise autohistoric view of the scientific psychological activity in the Slovak Academy of Sciences during the socialist totalitarian regime, and following the rebirth of democracy. Dominant experimental-laboratory psychology was then followed by empiric-life psychology. Some of the main results from both research approaches are presented, as well as theoretical-methodological syntheses. At present, the author focuses on "oral psychology" because it helps in interpreting the real development of psychology in Czecho-Slovakia. We propose to complement the international symposiums "Child in need" with similar events in the context of "Child in cultivation".


We present a modelling and simulation framework to synthesise body-worn inertial sensor data based on personalised human body surface and biomechanical models. Anthropometric data and reference images were used to create personalised body surface mesh models. The mesh armature was aligned using motion capture reference pose and afterwards mesh and armature were parented. In addition, skeletal models were created using an established musculoskeletal dynamic modelling framework. Four activities of daily living (ADL), including upper and lower limbs were simulated with surface and skeletal models using motion capture data as stimuli. Acceleration and angular velocity data were simulated for 12 body areas of surface models and 8 body areas of skeletal models. We compared simulated inertial sensor data of both models against physical IMU measurements that were obtained simultaneously with video motion capture. Results showed average errors of 27 °/s vs. 31 °/s and 1.7 m/s2 vs. 3.3 m/s2 for surface and skeletal models, respectively. Mean correlation coefficients of body surface models ranged between 0.2 – 0.9 for simulated angular velocity and between 0.1 – 0.8 for simulated acceleration when compared to physical IMU data. The proposed surface modelling consistently showed similar or lower error compared to established skeletal modelling across ADLs and study participants. Body surface models can offer a more realistic representation compared to skeletal models for simulation-based analysis and optimisation of wearable inertial sensor systems.


Renewed interest in methane hydrates as a potential, unconventional energy source has prompted investigation into their thermal properties, which are necessary to determine heat flow through the hydrate for resource production. In this investigation thermal property measurements have been made on unconsolidated pure methane hydrate samples formed in a high-pressure variable-volume viewcell (HVVC). Using a transient plane source (TPS) technique, a single measurement was used to simultaneously determine the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the methane hydrate inside the viewcell. A vessel was designed to contain the sample around the TPS for thermal property measurements while inside the HVVC. The vessel was successful in containing the sample during the hydrate formation experiments and its design made it possible to recover a methane hydrate sample, which was analyzed with Raman spectroscopy. The striking quality of methane hydrate is that its thermal conductivity is much lower than ice, despite its structural similarities to ice. The thermal conductivity of pure methane hydrate for a temperature range of 264 K to 277 K and pressure range of 11.6 MPa to 13.0 MPa, respectively, can be described by k = (-0.0034 T + 1.2324) W/mK, where T is in Kelvin. The average of the thermal conductivity values within this range of temperatures and pressures is k = 0.30 +/- 0.02 W/mK. The sample was recovered and analyzed with Raman spectroscopy, confirming that the sample was pure hydrate.The thermal diffusivity of methane hydrate has only been reported by one other investigator in preliminary experiments. The thermal diffusivity of methane hydrates determined in the work reported herein for a temperature range of 264 K to 277 K and pressure range of 11.6 MPa to 13.0 MPa, respectively, is diff. = (2.59 +/- 0.16) x 10^-7 m2/s. The thermal diffusivity can also be described by diff. x 10^7ƒn = (0.0005 T + 2.4424) m2/s where T is in Kelvin.


With the increasing amount of sensors in our environment, the desire to reuse existing sensors for different applications grows. However, most appliances do not provide access to their sensors in a cross-application manner, but rather use them for a specific purpose only. In this paper, we describe a framework which provides a way to access not only the data, but also the processing capabilities of a sensor system in a reusable way, without the need for a-priori knowledge about the availability of sensors in the environment. In particular, the presented framework is able to run on an embedded system platform, and is used for the recognition of human activities in a body sensor network. Notably, both the feature extraction and classification are performed within the network. Hence, we can use the processing power of sensor nodes, and do not have to revert to the processing capabilities of a client device which is using the sensor network. Two experiments have been conducted to show the feasibility and performance of our approach in typical activity recognition scenarios.


Dynamic covalent bonds endow polymer networks with advanced functions such as self-healability, recyclability, malleability and shape memory. Currently, the most attractive dynamic networks are vitrimers, which rely on thermo-activated exchange reactions such as the catalyzed transesterification of hydroxyl ester moieties. However, the introduction of dynamic covalent bonds into 3D printable photopolymers is challenging, as commonly used transesterification catalysts are poorly soluble and compromise on cure rate and pot life of photocurable resins. Herein, a mono-functional methacrylate phosphate is presented as new transesterification catalyst, which overcomes these limitations and unlocks a new toolbox of photocurable vitrimers. Applied in thiol–acrylate vitrimer systems, the fast photopolymerization together with a high storage stability enables the successful additive manufacturing of precise 3D objects with features of 500 μm using bottom-up digital light processing (DLP). Once photo-cured, the dynamic thiol-click networks are able to rapidly undergo thermo-activated rearrangements of their network topology as shown by stress relaxation experiments. The DLP printing of soft active structures with triple-shape memory and thermal mendability is demonstrated. Its versatility makes this unique class of material an ideal candidate for 3D printing of structural and fast acting functional devices in soft robotics, biomedicine and electronics.


Abstract. Due to the collisionless nature of space plasmas, plasma waves play an important role in the redistribution of energy between the various particle populations in many regions of geospace. In order to fully comprehend such mechanisms it is necessary to characterise the nature of the waves present. This involves the determination of properties such as wave vector k. There are a number of methods used to calculate k based on the multipoint measurements that are now available. These methods rely on the fact that the same wave packet is simultaneously observed at two or more locations whose separation is small in comparison to the correlation length of the wave packet. This limitation restricts the analysis to low frequency (MHD) waves. In this paper we propose an extension to the phase differencing method to enable the correlation of measurements that were not made simultaneously but differ temporally by a number of wave periods. The method is illustrated using measurements of magnetosonic waves from the Cluster STAFF search coil magnetometer. It is shown that it is possible to identify wave packets whose coherence length is much less than the separation between the measurement locations. The resulting dispersion is found to agree with theoretical results.


Background Female athletes who are not vigilant about their food choices and choose extraneous physical activities may head towards negative health effects. Purpose The purpose was to determine the prevalence of risk factors that may lead to the Female Athlete Triad among young elite athletes in Pakistan. Study Design & Methods A cross sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in 2018 at Pakistan Sports Board to investigate the risk factors of The Female Athlete Triad among young elite athletes based in national training camps of major metropolitan cities. Trained and professional female elite athletes of age 18 – 25 years, able to comprehend questionnaire in English were included. Athletes completed the questionnaire including demographics, educational qualifications, Body Mass Index, sports participation, and playing hours. The Eating Aptitude Test-26 (EAT-26) and questionnaires on risks of amenorrhea and risks of low bone mineral density were completed. Individual prevalence of the risk factors of three components was assessed. The data were analyzed using SPSS-20 and descriptive statistics applied. Results A sample of 60 elite athletes, (23.57 + 2.37 years, BMI 21.97 +1.90) who participated in various sports were included. EAT-26 results indicated that 50% of athletes were at risk of an eating disorder. Disordered Eating behaviors in need of referral were identified in 83.3%. Risks for amenorrhea were identified in 15%, and concerning low Bone Mineral Density, no risks were identified, except the intake of caffeinated beverages in 51.7%. Conclusion The prevalence of risk for disordered eating was found to be significant among female elite athletes of Pakistan, but risk of amenorrhea and low bone mineral density were not of major concern. Level of evidence 3b


Evaluation of Arsenic and Selenium Quantitation in Marcellus Shales and Flowback Saline Waters using Thiol Cotton Fibre-Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy and Diffusive Gradient in Thin Film Techniques Ronald S. Balaba Trace levels of arsenic and selenium can be toxic to living organisms yet their quantitation in high ionic strength or high salinity aqueous media is difficult due to the matrix interferences which can either suppress or enhance the analyte signal. The objective of this proposed study has been to apply and/or modify inexpensive, simple, and interference-free analytical methods for the sub-ppb to ppb quantification of both inorganic and bioavailable arsenic and selenium fractions in highly saline/salty waters such as flowback wastewater produced from natural gas well drilling sites in the Marcellus shale and/or simulated or artificial high-salinity prepared from deionized water and spikes of different ions, selenium and arsenic concentrations. A modified thiol cotton fiber (TCF) method employing lower flow rates and centrifugation has been developed and used to remove the analyte from complex aqueous media and minimize the matrix interferences. This method has been tested using a USGS (SGR-1b) certified reference shale. It has been used to analyze Marcellus shale samples following microwave digestion as well as spiked samples of high salinity water (HSW) and flowback wastewater (WRF6) obtained from an actual gas well drilling operation. Quantitation of arsenic and selenium was carried out by graphite furnace atomic spectroscopy (GFAAS). Extraction of arsenic and selenium from Marcellus shale exposed to HSW and WRF6 for varying lengths of time is also reported. In addition, the role of hydrofluoric acid in microwave-assisted digestion and in the elimination of spectral interferences from the aluminum matrix at 189 nm for arsenic quantitation by GFAAS with deuterium lamp back-ground correction has been investigated. When sufficient amounts of hydrofluoric acid are added to the sample for microwave-assisted digestion, the excess or residual hydrofluoric acid serves an additional role of matrix modification to inhibit the formation of aluminum oxide that has been reported to cause the spectral interference. The presence of sufficient fluoride in the sample enables formation of aluminum fluoride which volatilizes at 12910 C, and this significantly reduces the spectral interference. The use of 0.5 mL of concentrated hydrofluoric acid and 4 mL of concentrated trace metal grade nitric acid and 0.25 g of sample enabled accurate and precise determination of arsenic in saline matrices containing aluminum up to 0.053 M Al with LOD and LOQ varying with amount of hydrofluoric acid used. Furthermore, since mobility and toxicity of arsenic and selenium in natural waters are related to the aqueous species distribution, a Diffusive Gradients in Thin Film technique (DGT) employing a polyacrylamide diffusive gel or 3-mecarptopropyl-functionalized silica and highcapacity nanocrystalline titanium (IV) oxide adsorbent (Metsorb) has been modified and used to isolate the bioavailable analytes species and thereby minimize the matrix effects observed in quantitation by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GFAAS). The DGT-GFAAS procedure has been used to determine the bioavailable arsenic and selenium isolated from flowback water from an actual gas well drilling operation (WRF6), as well as spiked samples of WRF6 and flowback wastewater (FS1). In addition, Marcellus shale samples were exposed to WRF6 for varying lengths of time and DGT-GFAAS was used to determine the bioavailable arsenic and selenium in these solutions. Speciation analysis was also carried out. The elution efficiencies using 1 M sodium hydroxide for arsenic and selenium were between 8093% and the detection limit for arsenic and selenium for 3 day deployments based on the standard deviation of the blank were 0.064 and 0.10 μg/L, respectively.


Aim: To assess vision in children with delayed development or cerebral palsy attending OPD at tertiary care hospital, for early assessment and accurate detection of visual disorder, which in turn helps their rehabilitation, locomotor and cognitive functions. Materials and Methods: Total of 24 (18 males and 6 females) children with delayed development and 12 (6 males and 6 females) with cerebral palsy were examined. Central steady maintenance method (CSM) was used for visual assessment as children were not co-operative for Teller's acuity card. Thorough examination was done in children including dilated refraction & fundus examination. Clinical findings like nystagmus, squint, roving eye movements were noted and photographed. Selected children were given glasses and few were advised visual stimulation exercises. Results: Out of 36 children, about 24 were males and 12 were females. It was noted that about 16% in developmental delay children and about 17% in cerebral palsy children had abnormal birth history Among 24 children with developmental delay, 16% had squint,12.5% had horizontal nystagmus, among 12 children with cerebral palsy, 66% had fundus abnormalities, 50% had squint,16% had horizontal nystagmus, Central steady maintenance was good in 8% of developmental delayed children and 15% of cerebral palsy children. Conclusion: Above study showed that visual assessment in children with delayed development and cerebral Palsy provided relevant information for creating a rehabilitation program aimed at the individual as a whole. Visual impairment plays key role in locomotor and cognitive performance in CP and visual exploration seems to be crucial in rehabilitation of affected children, contributing to their motor improvement and to a better visual prognosis.


Purpose: Measurement of cross-sectional lean limb area using physical anthropometry is usually performed in the standing position, but sometimes this may be impractical. Our aim was to determine the effect of different positions on cross-sectional lean area of the upper arm, calf and thigh derived from girth and skin-fold measurements.
Methods: Twenty healthy volunteers participated. Girth and skin-fold thickness of the upper arm, calf and thigh were measured in the standing, sitting and supine positions. We derived lean cross-sectional area (cm2), and calculated the mean difference, its 95% confidence intervals (CI), and the 95% limits of agreement (LOA) between standing and the other two positions.
Results: For the upper arm, mean differences in lean cross-sectional area for the supine-standing and sitting-standing positions were 0.7cm2, (95% CI -0.6 to 2.0) and -0.6cm2, (95% CI -1.4 to 0.3) respectively. Mean differences for thigh were 3.9cm2 (95% CI -2.3 to 10.1) and -4.3cm2 (95% CI -8.6 to 0.0) for supine-standing and sitting-standing respectively. For the calf, mean difference for supine-standing was -3.1cm2 (95% CI -5.3 to -0.9), while for sitting-standing it was 0.3cm2 (95% CI -1.8 to 2.4). The range of values expected to cover agreement for 95% of subjects (LOA) was widest for the thigh and narrowest for the upper arm.
Conclusion: In young healthy subjects, lean cross-sectional area differs according to measurement position, particularly for the lower limb. The same measurement method should be used in any one individual when monitoring change.


Foundation Fieldbus is a known as the smart protocol that is a combination of
digital communication simultaneously superimposed on a conventional 4-20mA
signal [IJ. Back to the past of the fieldbus, there were a problem on lack of
interoperability occurred. There were so many different protocols in the market and
the product could only work with other product from the same vendor. PETRONAS
as the established company will apply this fieldbus technology in its plants. A
Foundation Fieldbus system is already been installed at level 1, building 23 in
University Technology PETRONAS. With collaboration from vendors from
Emerson, Honeywell, Yokogawa, and Foxboro, PETRONAS team and UTP students,
a Foundation Fieldbus Interoperability Testing will be conducted. The objectives of
the testing are to get a PETRONAS Technical Standard on the Foundation Fieldbus
system and come out with a report on the results from interoperability testing that will
be the reference for system in PETRONAS. In order to achieve the objectives above,
three different tests will be done through the Foundation Fieldbus Interoperability
Testing which is Basic Interoperability Test, Stress Test and Diagnostic Capability.
The results and data will be recorded. Due to the time constraint, the UTP team only
managed to complete the Basic Interoperability Test until February 2009. The other
two tests will be complete by the next group of UTP team. In the next chapter, there
will be a detail on the training and procedure of the different system conducted by
Emerson, Foxboro, Y okogawa and Honeywell, in order to proceed with the
interoperability test. But the author will only focus on the Honeywell system. At the
same time, there will be information on the Foundation Fieldbus architecture.


Two clinical types are recognized. The classical type, reported by Hoffmann and Zurhelle, consists of multiple flesh-colored or yellowish sessile lesions with a tendency to coalesce into plaques with a smooth or corrugated surface and zonal distribution and following natural cleavage lines of the skin. They have a predilection for the pelvic girdle and sacral and lumbar regions. The second type manifests as small solitary nodules mimicking skin tags and occurring over the arms, knees, axillae, ears and scalp. They appear at a later stage of life. Occurrence over atypical sites like the nose, calf and clitoris has also been reported. In our patient, both the plaques were of the classical type, the second one being a giant NLCS, 40 cm × 28 cm in size. The largest size reported so far has been a 20 cm × 30 cm-sized bilateral cerebriform plaque extending from the lower abdomen to the left leg in a 36-year-old Brazilian woman.[3]


Objectives: 1. To assesses the anxiety level in both the experimental and control group before and after play session.2. To compare the level of anxiety among hospitalized preschool children between the experimental and control group. 3. To find out the association of anxiety children with selected demographic variables. Methods: Quasi-experimental non-randomized control group research design was adopted for this study. A total of 50 pre-school children were selected by using purposive sampling technique in IMS & Sum hospital Bhubaneswar. The level of anxiety was assessed using a self-structured questionnaire. Results: This study showed in the experimental group, before play session about 20%, 64%, 16% pre-school children had mild, moderate anxiety, severe anxiety respectively & after a play session, on post-test results showed 76% preschool children had mild anxiety, 16% preschool children had moderate anxiety & no one had severe anxiety whereas in control group pre-test results showed 60%,28%,12% preschool children had mild, moderate, severe anxiety respectively & on post-test results showed 48%,36% &12% preschool children had mild anxiety, moderate & severe anxiety respectively. Before the play session, in the experimental & 7control group, the mean ±SD value of anxiety score was 29.6± 6.55 and 24.52±8.06 respectively. The obtained "t" =2.44 with p-value is 0.0091 which was statistically significant, whereas in post-intervention the mean ±SD value of anxiety score in experimental was 19.8±4.64 and in control group mean ±SD value was 25.04±8.12. The obtained "t" =2.80 with p-value was 0.0073 which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Organized Play session is an effectual session in reducing anxiety among hospitalized preschool children.


The adhesive composition of the present invention to contain a radical generator, a thermoplastic resin, and has two or more radically polymerizable groups in a molecule is 3000 to 30000 weight average molecular weight of urethane (meth) acrylate.


A common goal for science educators is to engage students in inquiry.  Policy makers present inquiry as a continuum and several researchers extrapolate that this continuum is represented by a figure that moves from more to less guidance.  Thus inquiry activities are labeled from more structure (low - level inquiry) to less structure (high - level inquiry). This study characterized the level of inquiry in the undergraduate science education laboratory in a State University in the Cordillera Administrative Region.  The implication of the result to the preparation of teachers in the K – 12 level was also discussed. Ten laboratory manuals in three fields of science were analyzed.  All of these manuals are utilized by science education majors.  From these ten laboratory manuals, 147 exercises or activities were evaluated.  Each of the laboratory activities were rated from level 1 – confirmatory, level 2 – structured inquiry, level 3 – guided inquiry, level 4 – open inquiry, and level 5 – authentic inquiry.  The ratings made were compared with those of two other evaluators and the inter-rater reliability index was determined. Results showed that majority of the exercises are confirmatory in nature.  Very few (less than 10%) of the exercises were higher than the guided inquiry level.  There were limited activities involving open inquiry and no exercise involved authentic inquiry. Results indicate that there is a need for professors handling science education majors to focus on less-structured forms of inquiry in their laboratory activities.    It is a part of the instructor's responsibility to plant the seeds of real inquiry to the minds of future science teachers in order to better prepare them to handle science in the K – 12 level.


India-Nepal relationship is wrought by the centuries old social-cultural, historical and geographic connections. India has over the years, consistently responded with a sense of urgency to the needs of the people and Government of Nepal in ensuring the success of the peace process and institutionalization of multi-party democracy through the framing of a new Constitution. It was India who first welcomes the restoration of democracy in Nepal. The book discusses various aspects of India Nepal Relationship as it exists and its future course.


The lipid A from Comamonas testosteroni has been isolated and its complete chemical structure determined [Iida, T., Haishima, Y., Tanaka, A., Nishijima, K., Saito, S. & Tanamoto, K. (1996). Eur J Biochem 237, 468-475]. In this work, the relationship between its chemical structure and biological activity was studied. The lipid A was highly homogeneous chemically and was characterized by the relatively short chain length (C(10)) of the 3-hydroxy fatty acid components directly bound to the glucosamine disaccharide backbone by either amide or ester linkages. The lipid A exhibited endotoxic activity in all of the assay systems tested (mitogenicity in mouse spleen cells; induction of tumour necrosis factor alpha release from both mouse peritoneal macrophages and mouse macrophage-like cell line J774-1, as well as from the human monocytic cell line THP-1; induction of nitric oxide release from J774-1 cells; Limulus gelation activity and lethal toxicity in galactosamine-sensitized mice) to the same extent as did 'Salmonella minnesota' lipid A or Escherichia coli LPS used as controls. The strong endotoxic activity of the C. testosteroni lipid A indicates that the composition of 3-hydroxydecanoic acid is not responsible for the low endotoxicity of the lipid A observed in members of the genus Rhodopseudomonas, as has previously been suggested. Furthermore, both the lack of a second acylation of the 3-hydroxy fatty acid attached at the 3' position, and the substitution of the hydroxyl group of the 3-hydroxy fatty acid attached at position 2, do not affect the manifestation of endotoxic activity or species specificity.


Abstract. In this paper, we propose a robust technique using genetic algorithm for detecting inliers and estimating accurate motion parameters from putative correspondences containing any percentage of outliers. The proposed technique aims to increase computational efficiency and modelling accuracy in comparison with the state-of-the-art via the following contributions: i) guided generation of initial populations for both avoiding degenerate solutions and increasing the rate of useful hypotheses, ii) replacing random search with evolutionary search, iii) possibility of evaluating the individuals of every population by parallel computation, iv) being performable on images with unknown internal orientation parameters, iv) estimating the motion model via detecting a minimum, however more than enough, set of inliers, v) ensuring the robustness of the motion model against outliers, degeneracy and poorperspective camera models, vi) making no assumptions about the probability distribution of inliers and/or outliers residuals from the estimated motion model, vii) detecting all the inliers by setting the threshold on their residuals adaptively with regard to the uncertainty of the estimated motion model and the position of the matches. The proposed method was evaluated both on synthetic data and real images. The results were compared with the most popular techniques from the state-of-the-art, including RANSAC, MSAC, MLESAC, Least Trimmed Squares and Least Median of Squares. Experimental results proved that the proposed approach perform better than others in terms of accuracy of motion estimation, accuracy of inlier detection and the computational efficiency.


In the wireless sensor network, the representative MapReduce computing model based on data center has been widely used in large-scale data processing. In the data transmission phase, the wireless sensor network system uses the hash method to distribute data for each Reduce task based on the number of Reduce tasks. This data partitioning method based on the hash function results in non-uniform distribution of the output data in the data transmission phase and further leads to skewing of the input data in the Reduce task. Data skew will result in load imbalance in the Reduce phase and causes the system performance to degrade. In order to eliminate the data skew problem in the Reduce phase, this paper presents a load balancing method, which consists of two parts: the virtual partitioning method based on the consistent hashing and the heterogeneity-aware loads balancing (HLB) algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed method can eliminate the data skew in the Reduce phase and distribute the load equitably for each Reduce task. In addition, the method produces less system overhead. Keywords—wireless sensor networks, MapReduce, hash function, data skew, heterogeneity-aware


Faultlines have the potential to significantly disrupt team performance due to the creation of intergroup bias. In geographically dispersed teams, given the combination of dispersed locations and other diversity characteristics, faultlines are potentially a major issue that needs to be more fully understood. This study examines the impact of faultlines on geographically dispersed teams and how problems caused by faultlines can be resolved. An experimental study of 40, four-person student teams finds that perceived faultlines heighten conflict and impair decision process quality. The findings also suggest that self-disclosure via weblogs and task elaboration can repair damage caused by faultlines. However, self-disclosure does not have a direct effect on reducing faultlines; the relationship is moderated by social attraction. That is, as team members disclose personal information to out-group members and out-group members are attracted to such disclosure, perceived faultlines are diminished. This study also finds that even in teams with strong perceived faultlines, team members are still able to exchange and integrate perspectives if they have a better understanding of their out-group members via self-disclosure. The negative consequence of faultlines therefore is eased when task elaboration occurs during task execution. Implications of these coping mechanisms for teams with faultlines in organizations are discussed.


The blood-brain barrier restricts the passage of molecules from the blood to the brain. The permeability of the barrier to iodine-125-labeled bovine serum albumin was examined in rats that had undergone adrenalectomy, adrenal demedullation, and corticosterone replacement. Adrenalectomy, but not adrenal demedullation, increased the permeability of brain tissue to the isotopically labeled macromolecule; corticosterone replacement reversed this effect. These results indicate that the blood-brain barrier may be hormonally regulated; that is, the pituitary-adrenal axis may physiologically modulate the permeability of the brain microvasculature to macromolecules.