Translating one natural language (text or speech) to another natural language automatically is known as machine translation. Machine translation is one of the major, oldest and the most active areas in natural language processing. The last decade and a half have seen the rise of the use of statistical approaches to the problem of machine translation. Statistical approaches learn translation parameters automatically from alignment text instead of relying on writing rules which is labor intensive. Although there has been quite extensive work in this area for some language pairs, there has not been research for the Turkish - English language pair. In this thesis, we present the results of our investigation and development of a state-of-theart statistical machine translation prototype from English to Turkish. Developing an English to Turkish statistical machine translation prototype is an interesting problem from a number of perspectives. The most important challenge is that English and Turkish are typologically rather distant languages. While English has very limited morphology and rather fixed Subject-Verb-Object constituent order, Turkish is an agglutinative language with very flexible (but Subject-Object-Verb dominant) constituent order and a very rich and productive derivational and inflectional morphology with word structures that can correspond to complete phrases of several words in English when translated. Our research is focused on making scientific contributions to the state-of-the-art by taking into account certain morphological properties of Turkish (and possibly similar languages) that have not been addressed sufficiently in previous research for other languages. In this thesis; we investigate how different morpheme-level representations of morphology on both the English and the Turkish sides impact statistical translation results. We experiment with local word ordering on the English side to bring the word order of specific English prepositional phrases and auxiliary verb complexes, in line with the corresponding case marked noun forms and complex verb forms, on the Turkish side to help with word alignment. We augment the training data with sentences just with content words (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) obtained from the original training data and with highly-reliable phrase-pairs obtained iteratively from an earlier phrase alignment to alleviate the dearth of the parallel data available. We use word-based language model in the reranking of the n-best lists in addition to the morpheme-based language model used for decoding, so that we can incorporate both the local morphotactic constraints and local word ordering constraints. Lastly, we present a procedure for repairing the decoder output by correcting words with incorrect morphological structure and out-of-vocabulary with respect to the training data and language model to further improve the translations. We also include fine-grained evaluation results and some oracle scores with the BLEU+ tool which is an extension of the evaluation metric BLEU. After all research and development, we improve from 19.77 BLEU points for our word-based baseline model to 27.60 BLEU points for an improvement of 7.83 points or about 40% relative improvement.


ABSTRACT Stock–recruitment relationships (SRR) are used by many resource managers as a metric to evaluate stock reproductive potential and rebuilding capacity when harvested. This relationship is more evident in traditional finfish stock assessment models where larvae are frequently limited by the abundance of spawning adults, whereas invertebrate resources are much more confounding and often do not express a clear spawning SRR. Oysters in particular appear to be limited more strongly by post-settlement mortality as larvae are regularly demonstrated to be present in high abundance in response to timely shell plants; yet unexpectedly, a brood SRR appears to be present. Because of the unique life history of oysters which provide their own habitat through reef accretion, a posit is that the quantity and quality of such habitat are crucial determinants of recruitment to the stock, and habitat quality acts as a surrogate for brood stock in the stock–recruit relationship. An extensive dataset from Delaware Bay with a 65-y time series was analyzed to assess the relationship between available Crassostrea virginica natural reef materials and subsequent spat (<20 mm) settlement. Live oyster, box (dead and articulated valves), and cultch (disarticulated whole valves and shell fragments) surface areas were calculated for oyster reefs found in each of four regions oriented up-bay to down-bay within the survey area. Surface areas were standardized using RMA regressions which compared available surface area per shell type (live, box, and cultch) and the number of spat recruiting to each shell type. Standardized shell surface areas (i.e., effective surface areas) supported previous accounts that recruitment occurs with higher frequency on live oysters and boxes than cultch, and that excessive cultch availability does not always lead to successively high recruitment. Recruit density was found to not only vary by substrate type but also along a salinity gradient. In high salinity reefs, boxes function as high-quality recruitment substrate and cultch as low-quality substrate, whereas in low-salinity regions cultch is only slightly inferior to live and outcompetes box surfaces as a dominant recruitment substrate. Beverton–Holt and Ricker models were used to express the relationship between total effective surface area and recruitment; these models revealed that medium- and high-salinity regions produced higher recruitment rates than low-salinity reefs. Model steepness also increased at higher salinity, indicating that down-bay reefs responded more rapidly to a change in effective surface area than did up-bay reefs. Steepness was highest at the confluence of the medium-salinity and high-salinity reaches where larval supply provided by the down-bay drift of larvae from up-bay reefs was high, but salinity remained low enough to reduce biofouling and predation compared with the high-salinity region. Unlike the low-salinity region, the relationship between effective surface area and recruitment for the three down-bay regions exhibited compensation; recruitment did not rise linearly with effective surface area. In all four regions, however, recruitment was initiated on a reef at a nonzero effective surface area, an analogy to an Allee effect which existed in each case. By inference, reefs can die before effective surface area disappears.


Abstract : MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) has proposed a set of concepts for improving VHF communications for air traffic control applications. One idea, called CTAG for Cellular Trunked Air Ground (CTAG) communications is to extend land-mobile cellular-trunked digital communications technology to air-ground communication between pilots and controllers. This study was aimed at addressing the technical feasibility of this approach. Detailed results show that significant benefits can indeed be obtained in not only automating routine communications functions but also in reducing the number of frequency channels required compared with existing analog voice-only procedures. Further work is required to quantify potential system costs, particularly those associated with the ground portions of the CTAG network.


A musical scale can be viewed as a subsequence of notes taken from a chromatic sequence. Given integers (N,K) N > K we use particular integer partitions of N into K parts to construct distinguished scales. We show that a natural geometric realization of these scales results in maximal polygons.


This thesis examines the effects of the centrality of competition on the British brass band movement from 1913-2013. Competition has been an important activity for British brass bands since the 1860s, when the concept of an all brass band was still in its infancy. The brass band contest maintained a recognisable form from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day. The consistent contest structure based around sections allows for the identification of changes to levels of musicality and technicality in players, the idiom of brass band contest performances and stylistic influences on test piece composition. This is possible in a more detailed and accurate way than is possible for other competitive arts movements. Since the commissioning of the first original test piece in 1913, the composition of test pieces has dominated serious and long form composition for brass band. The constraints placed on test pieces that made them suitable for their use in contests, the requirements for length and technical difficulty that vary by section, helped to create a repertoire of music that is unique. However, the brass band movement has not been examined through the lens of its contesting activities despite being the subject of both social history and musicological studies. My primary sources are records of test piece use and results for individual sections of the National Finals and British Open contest series in The British Bandsman archive, supplemented by other primary sources from the brass band media. I have used this evidence to construct a database of test piece use and contest results that I was able to analyse statistically. This has enabled me to track the standards and styles of playing demonstrated by the selection of test pieces for different contest sections at different times. These patterns of test piece use were presented to leading figures in the brass band movement and their thoughts and reactions captured in seven interviews with players, conductors, composers, adjudicators and journalists. These interviews provide contextual evidence to identify the reasons behind the changes demonstrated in the test piece database and are supported by additional sources from the comments sections and contest reviews in The British Bandsman and brass band news website 4barsrest for the latter period of my research. This combination of new material from archival and oral sources provides new insight into the brass band movement and its role as the premier form of amateur music making in Britain during the twentieth century. The thesis analyses the test pieces used in contests, selecting the twenty-nine most frequently used and dividing them into groups based on patterns of use. The next section includes analysis of these groups and patterns alongside the individual pieces. This is not a musicological thesis, but where relevant there is musical analysis of selected pieces. The final section examines changes in the brass band idiom and compositional styles of test piece to place changes in musicality and technique in their historical and musical contexts.


Pilot forward genetic screens in Xenopus tropicalis have isolated over 60 recessive mutations. Here we present a simple method for mapping mutations to chromosomes using gynogenesis and centromeric markers. When coupled with available genomic resources, gross mapping facilitates evaluation of candidate genes as well as higher resolution linkage studies. Using gynogenesis, we have mapped the genetic locations of the 10 X. tropicalis centromeres, and performed fluorescence in situ hybridization to validate these locations cytologically. We demonstrate the use of this very small set of centromeric markers to map mutations efficiently to specific chromosomes. Developmental Dynamics 238:1398–1406, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this work, we present a unique crystal growth synthesis of χ-Al2O3 accompanied with α-Cr:Al2O3 at room temperature. Raman spectroscopy and additions of Cr2O3 are key to identifying α-Cr:Al2O3 in trace amounts by the room temperature synthesis of ruby (α-Cr:Al2O3). The presence of this phase is further confirmed with HRTEM. The raw materials are pseudoboehmite and Cr2O3 that are treated mechano-chemically for the successful synthesis of ruby and χ-Al2O3. A thermal analysis approach is provided to explain the significant temperature reduction for the complete transformation to α-Cr:Al2O3 during annealing. The α-Cr:Al2O3 synthesized at room temperature acts as the seed or hetero site for nucleation and is responsible for a temperature drop of approximately 200 °C (up to 867 °C). This material is ideal for optics, photonics, defense, energy storage and harvesting, among other strategic applications.


Abstract In this study a physiological closed-loop system for arterial CO2 partial pressure control was designed and comprehensively tested using a set of models of the respiratory CO2 gas exchange. The underlying preclinical data were collected from 12 pigs in presence of severe changes in hemodynamic and pulmonary condition. A minimally complex nonlinear state space model of CO2 gas exchange was identified post hoc in different lung conditions. The control variable was measured noninvasively using the endtidal CO2 partial pressure. For the simulation study the output signal of the controller was defined as the alveolar minute volume set value of an underlying adaptive lung protective ventilation mode. A linearisation of the two-compartment CO2 gas exchange model was used for the design of a model predictive controller (MPC). It was augmented by a tube based controller suppressing prediction errors due to model uncertainties. The controller was subject to comparative testing in interaction with each of the CO2 gas exchange models previously identified on the preclinical study data. The performance was evaluated for the system response towards the following five tests in comparison to a PID controller: recruitment maneuver, PEEP titration maneuver, stepwise change in the CO2 production, breath-hold maneuver and a step in the reference signal. A root mean square error of 2.69 mmHg between arterial CO2 partial pressure and the reference signal was achieved throughout the trial. The reference-variable response of the model predictive controller was superior regarding overshoot and settling time.


Introductory Remarks. More than half a century has passed since the rich and varied faunas of the later Paleozoic rocks of the continental interior first began to attract attention. From the beginning an exceedingly active and ever-growing interest was taken in the various forms of ancient life represented, and, as a matter of consequence, the geological history of the region was approached from the biological rather than the stratigraphical side. Especially was this the case along the line of the Mississippi river, where the most important exposures of the strata in question occur. The relations of the most important horizons of the lower Carboniferous in the upper Mississippi valley were early made out by Owen and others, and although Owen's views underwent considerable change during the dozen years that he was engaged in studying these rocks, his subdivisions have been practically the basis of all subsequent classifications. In the main . . .


The present paper reports the experience of the CAP (Centre of lifelong learning of the University of Bari Aldo Moro) and its activities in the field of validation and certification of competences acquired in formal, and informal contexts of learning of young student refugees who have chosen to continue their studies which were interrupted in their own countries. This CAP's experience highlights how informal education is crucial within the processes of academic integration. Moreover, this experience represents an attempt of internationalization aimed to institutionalize the "finalized recognition" procedure, through the comparability of qualifications and the certification of competences. In particular, the paper focuses on the most relevant words of a Focus Group Discussion held with the refugee students at the University of Bari "A. Moro". The event was realized during the UNHCR World Refugee Day celebration. How did the students face the restrictions due to anti-Covid-19 security rules? How did they respond to the stop of face-to-face classroom teaching and to the solely digital learning arrangement and on-line administrative services of the host University? The paper presents the key words of the most relevant answers to these questions and starts from the testimony from a Dept. of Economy University freshman and from a Dept. of Education graduate student, different in the concern of integration levels but very similar on the aspect of motivations and resilience capabilities.


SUMMARY. Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a gamma coronavirus that causes a highly contagious disease in chickens. The virus can affect the upper respiratory tract and the reproductive tract, and some strains can cause a nephritis. Different serotypes and genetic types of the virus have been identified worldwide and for the most part do not cross-protect. In addition, new types of the virus continue to arise due to mutations and recombination events in the viral genome, making this virus difficult to identify and extremely difficult to control. Surveillance and identification of IBV types is extremely important for control of the disease and the advancement of molecular methods have aided in this pursuit. Genetic typing of IBV, which involves reverse transcription–PCR amplification and sequence analysis of the S1 glycoprotein gene, has revolutionized diagnosis and identification of this virus by making it possible to type and compare the relatedness of a large number of virus isolates in a short period of time. The purpose of this review is to give an update on the strains of IBV currently circulating in commercial chickens worldwide and hopefully to present a clear picture of the relationship between many of these viruses. The information on IBV types presented herein is from published manuscripts, submissions to GenBank, our own unpublished data, and personal communications with scientists and diagnosticians working with IBV worldwide.


OBJECTIVES
The present study was carried out to evaluate the current prevalence of the clonal group O25b:H4-B2-ST131 among extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli (ESBLEC) collected in the Hospital Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona (Spain) with regard to other clonal groups and to characterize their genetic background.

METHODS
Ninety-four consecutive non-duplicate ESBLEC isolates collected from May to December 2008 were studied. ESBL enzymes, phylogenetic groups, serotypes, virulence genes, sequence types (STs) and PFGE profiles were determined. Results The most prevalent ESBLs were CTX-M-14 (47%), CTX-M-15 (26%) and SHV-12 (19%). Thirty (32%) of the 94 ESBLEC isolates belonged to the clonal group O25b:H4-B2-ST131 of which 19 (63%) carried the bla(CTX-M-15) gene and eight (27%) the bla(SHV-12) gene. Moreover, five additional clonal groups (O15/O25a:H1/HNM-D-ST393, O78:HNM-A-ST369, ONT:H21,42/HNM-B1-ST101, O9:H4-A-ST410 and O8:H19-B1-ST162) were detected among 16 isolates producing CTX-M-14 and SHV-12. The 30 ST131 isolates exhibited a significantly higher virulence score (mean number of virulence genes 9.60 versus 5.84) compared with the 64 non-ST131 isolates. In particular, the SHV-12-producing ST131 isolates showed the highest virulence score (range 8-13, mean score 11.75).

RESULTS
also revealed that the 30 ST131 isolates were distributed in five different groups according to their virulence, XbaI macrorestriction and resistance patterns.

CONCLUSIONS
We report for the first time the clonal spread of SHV-12-producing O25b:H4-B2-ST131 isolates characterized by high virulence gene content. Moreover, we describe the distribution of the ST131 isolates within different virulence groups.


Although prior empirical research has established an association between science and the widespread diffusion of knowledge, the exact mechanism(s) through which science catalyses information flow remains somewhat ambiguous. This paper investigates whether the knowledge diffusion associated with science‐based innovation stems from the norm of openness and incentives for publication, or whether scientists maintain more extensive and dispersed social networks that facilitate the dissemination of tacit knowledge. Our analysis supports the first mechanism: we track the movement of knowledge with patent citations, and find that science‐based innovations diffuse more rapidly and widely, even after controlling for the underlying social networks of researchers as measured using information on prior collaborations. We also find that publication and social networks act as substitutes in the diffusion of knowledge.


Objective: In the brain, angiotensin III (AngIII) generated from angiotensin II (AngII) by aminopeptidase A (APA) exerts a tonic stimulatory action on the control of blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive rats. Inhibition of brain APA by RB150 (also known as QGC001), an orally active prodrug of the specific and selective APA inhibitor EC33, blocks brain AngIII formation and normalizes BP in hypertensive rats. Thus, RB150 has emerged as the prototype of a new class of centrally-acting antihypertensive agents and is currently evaluated in a phase II clinical trial in hypertensive patients. Since following blockade of brain AngIII formation by RB150, no AngII accumulation was observed, we aimed to delineate if this treatment induces the activation of another metabolic pathway of brain AngII, in particular angiotensin converting enzyme type 2 (ACE2) which converts AngII into angiotensin 1–7 (Ang1-7). Design and method: For this purpose, RB150 and MLN4760, an ACE2 inhibitor, were administered by intracerebroventricular (ICV) route after insertion of an intracerebral cannula to alert DOCA-salt rats, a model of salt-dependent hypertension. Mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) was recorded via an arterial femoral catheter. Maximal MABP decrease and area under the curve (AUC) of the variations in MABP were calculated. Results: ICV administration of RB150 (100 &mgr;g) significantly decreased MABP compared to vehicle (−23 ± 3 mmHg vs −6 ± 2 mmHg; AUC: 17.6 ± 2 vs 2.1 ± 3). Administration of MLN4760 (10 &mgr;g) didn't induce any significant change of MABP compared to vehicle (−10 ± 3 mmHg; AUC: 1.4 ± 2). Experiments in progress show that a co-administration of MLN4760 (10 &mgr;g) with RB150 (100 &mgr;g) partially inhibits the RB150-induced BP decrease. Conclusions: In conclusion, ICV administration of the ACE2 inhibitor alone has no effect on BP indicating that in DOCA-salt rats, brain Ang1-7 does not exert a tonic stimulatory effect on the control of BP. However, when conversion of brain AngII into AngIII is blocked by RB150, there is an activation of the conversion by ACE2 of brain AngII into Ang1-7, which by acting on the Mas receptor, may participate to the RB150-induced BP decrease in hypertensive rats.


Abstract: Postcolonial India is a complex and paradoxical mix of traditional practices and ultra modernity. This tension is especially apparent, and holds particular significance, with respect to women's changing status and role. Driving this research is a concern to examine the impact that structural reforms and neoliberalism are having on women's everyday experience of autonomy at home, in their careers and family life, and in the journeys they make from home to work through public spaces. This thesis focuses on the specific case of Assam, located in the northeastern region of India and, within it, a sub-population of young, middle class, Assamese women. The research draws on in-depth interviews and focus groups, in triangulation with a standardised questionnaire, conducted with a sample of students pursuing higher education in five different state-funded co-educational institutions of Assam namely Cotton College, Gauhati Medical College, Assam Engineering College, Gauhati University and Bajali College which have long histories of privilege and prestige. This research is designed to look for evidence of improved status in an extreme context where the liberating benefits of education and career salience are most likely to be found. A key contribution of this thesis flows from the contradictions and complexities of the everyday practices that underpin the changing status and role of young, middle class Assamese women. The narrative analysis reveals contradictory processes underpinning women's changing status in Assam; on one hand it shows higher education to be liberating for those who can afford access, in as much as it offers increased autonomy and exposure to international media and 'cosmopolitan' egalitarian ideals; on the other hand, women who seek fulfilling jobs and careers outside the home find their freedom of movement severely restricted in public by sexual harassment and at home they face continuing pressure to maintain labourintensive standards of cooking and childcare. This coincides with tensions arising from 'new femininities' whereby, for many within Assamese society, the participation of women in higher education and their increased visibility in paid employment is symbolic of the advancing threat of globalisation as is the proliferation of 'immodest' (western) modes of dress; loss of extended family welfare; and an erosion of cultural practices and religious beliefs. The research, which is an empirical contribution to existing knowledge, examines the ways that incomplete gender transformations are embedded in Assamese society. Generally it is perceived that Indian women's subordination is explained with reference to a biological 'naturalisation' of sex roles or dominant patriarchal structures in state, market and family relations. This thesis challenges these perceived notions of traditional explanations by pointing to a trend of 'Third Wave' feminism circumscribed by plural 'new femininities' and 'girl power'. At the same time the research engages with the critique of tradition identified by Hobsbawm (1983) as a variable rather than a fixed or static concept. It demonstrates that Assamese women are effectively experiencing a (re)traditionalising of their domestic roles with increased 'Indianness' in the social (re)production of daily life. Thus, the research also contributes to the theoretical literature on postcolonial feminism by following Mohanty's (1987, 1988; 1991b) critique of the universality of ethnocentricism in AngloAmerican scholarship and its presumptions that women of the so called Third World accept traditions passively. Evidence of the (re)production of a mix of ultra modern and perceived notion of traditional practices is presented with respect to competing spheres of daily life; including relationships with parents/in-laws and spouse, childcare, norms of domestic labour and personal goals associated with education and career. The manifestation of this process is locally specific and highly uneven and contradictory.


Facial expressions provide a nonverbal mechanism for social communication, a core challenge for autistic people. Little is known regarding the association between arousal, self-report of anxiety, and facial expressions among autistic adolescents. Therefore, this study investigated session-by-session facial expressions, self-report of anxiety, and physiological arousal via Electrodermal Activity (EDA), of 12 autistic male adolescents in a didactic social skills intervention setting. The goals of this study were threefold: 1) identify physiological arousal levels ("have-it"), 2) examine if autistic adolescents' facial expressions indicated arousal ("show-it"), and 3) determine whether autistic adolescents were self-aware of their anxiety ("know-it"). Our results showed that autistic adolescents' self-rated anxiety was significantly associated with peaks in EDA. Both machine learning algorithms and human participant-based methods, however, had low accuracy in predicting autistic adolescents' arousal state from facial expressions, suggesting that autistic adolescent's facial expressions did not coincide with their arousal. Implications for understanding social communication difficulties among autistic adolescents, as well as future targets for intervention, are discussed. This project is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT02680015.


A wide range of definitions of supply chain management (SCM) have been developed over the last three decades. The philosophy of SCM is based firmly on a recognition that it is only by working in a more integrated manner that competitive advantage can be maximised. However, for this to become a reality the development of common definitions and understandings between supply chain partners is a critical success factor. The corollary of this is that a lack of definitional consistency and a common understanding is an inhibitor to the successful adoption of SCM thinking in practice. This paper reviews a number of definitions of SCM, as well as discussions and analyses of such definitions. This leads to the central point posited in the paper – the need for a 'unified definition'. Such a definitional construct, labelled the Four Fundamentals of SCM, is proposed with the core of the paper providing a narrative description of this construct based on a wide range of literature. the practical effectiveness of its application. Nonetheless, SCM has risen to prominence in recent years in both academic and commercial circles. However, there is still no universally accepted definition of what SCM is (and, indeed, is not). As pointed out in a widely cited article by Mentzer et al. (2001): Despite the popularity of the term Supply Chain Management, both in academia and practice, there remains considerable confusion as to its meaning. Some authors describe SCM in operations terms involving flow of products and materials, some view it as a management philosophy, and some view it as a management process (p. 2). DOI: 10.4018/jal.2011070103 International Journal of Applied Logistics, 2(3), 30-48, July-September 2011 31 Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Given that the notion of intra-firm and inter-firm integration and alignment is central to SCM, there is increasing recognition among scholars and practitioners of the need for common definitions. For example, Mentzer et al. (2001) made the point that without a clear understanding of SCM, wide application of SCM in practice cannot be expected. From a research perspective, there are clear potential benefits associated with viewing the large body extant SCM literature, as well as emerging research findings, through the prism of a unified definitional construct. Following this introduction, the next section reviews a number of widely cited definitions of SCM. This leads to the central point posited by the author in this paper – the need for a 'unified definition'. Such a definitional construct, labelled the Four Fundamentals of SCM, is proposed by the author with the core of the paper providing a narrative description of this construct based on a wide range of literature. Finally, some suggestions for further work are identified and some conclusions drawn.


This extensive study investigates the relationship between microtopography, prevailing micro-environmental factors and vegetation, with particular reference to succession, on six glacier forelands at successively higher altitudes. The study is successful in answering the three main aims of the thesis: by analysing the specific environmental parameters comprising the microtopographic gradients; by describing the distribution of individual species and plant assemblages across microtopographic gradients of similar type (i.e. moraine slopes) but different ages and altitudes; and by interrelating the vegetational and environmental variation and hence providing an explanation of the vegetation in terms of both successional stage and environmental factors. The principal research contributions are under three headings: findings; presentation techniques; and literature review.

The most important findings refer to the major influences on subalpine and alpine vegetation patterns and include the following conclusions:

a) Microtopographical effects are more complex than previously acknowledged. b) Exposure, snow-lie and fluvial activity are confounded and the relative importance of these parameters changes with altitude so that exposure is more important on the low-alpine forelands and snow-lie is more important on the mid-alpine forelands.
c) Pioneer assemblages are distinct and are more influenced by terrain-age than altitude.
d) Most assemblages are not distinct but lichen heath, subalpine mature birch woodland and heath, and snow-bed assemblages show recurrent similarities in constituent species.
e) The influence of terrain-age appears to decrease with altitude while microtopographical effects increase.
f) Altitudinal effects appear to increase with age.
g) Succession is simpler and more predictable with altitude and all types of successional pathway (i.e. divergent, convergent and parallel) are possible.

The presentation techniques are considered an improvement on previous display techniques because they allow deeper interpretation of the results at all levels of division. By using these techniques, the complex relationships between assemblages, sites and environmental parameters, at both the assemblage and population levels, are elucidated.

The literature review targets the effects of microtopography on vegetation patterns in cold climates (e.g. subalpine, alpine, arctic) and comparison with previous literature suggests that this thesis could be used to explain universal patterns.
The present study augments and improves on much of the previous work by using an objective methodology to describe vegetation patterns in a heterogeneous landscape and relate a multitude of environmental parameters to those patterns. This study has provided some interesting and original results and conclusions and the wide-ranging nature of the thesis opens up many avenues for further investigation.


Expression of chicken MHC class (B-F) antigens during ontogeny was determined by binding of anticlass antibody and appearance of B-F transcripts by Northern blotting in chicken organs during embryogenesis until 2 weeks after hatching. MHC class transcripts first become detectable in day 6.5 of embryogenesis. B-F cell-surface expression first becomes detectable in hemopoietic organs by day 10‑12 of embryogenesis and somewhat later in nonhemopoietic organs. Flow cytometry analysis of hemopoietic cells throughout embryogenesis revealed B-Fhi and B-F1 cell populations. The percentage of B-F cells in spleen and bone marrow decreased around hatching, which could reflect either cell flows in these organs during this period or the sensitivity of hemopoietic cells to hatching stress.


Driver drowsiness is among the leading causal factors in traffic accidents occurring worldwide. This paper describes a method to monitor driver safety by analyzing information related to fatigue using two distinct methods: eye movement monitoring and bio-signal processing. A monitoring system is designed in Android-based smartphone where it receives sensory data via wireless sensor network and further processes the data to indicate the current driving aptitude of the driver. It is critical that several sensors are integrated and synchronized for a more realistic evaluation of the driver behavior. The sensors applied include a video sensor to capture the driver image and a bio-signal sensor to gather the driver photoplethysmograph signal. A dynamic Bayesian network framework is used for the driver fatigue evaluation. A warning alarm is sounded if driver fatigue is believed to reach a defined threshold. The manifold testing of the system demonstrates the practical use of multiple features, particularly with discrete methods, and their fusion enables a more authentic and ample fatigue detection.


Context. Broad absorption lines (BALs) are present in the spectra of ∼20% of quasars (QSOs); this indicates fast outflows (up to 0.2c) that intercept the observer's line of sight. These QSOs can be distinguished again into radio-loud (RL) BAL QSOs and radio-quiet (RQ) BAL QSOs. The first are very rare, even four times less common than RQ BAL QSOs. The reason for this is still unclear and leaves open questions about the nature of the BAL-producing outflows and their connection with the radio jet. Aims. We explored the spectroscopic characteristics of RL and RQ BAL QSOs with the aim to find a possible explanation for the rarity of RL BAL QSOs. Methods. We identified two samples of genuine BAL QSOs from SDSS optical spectra, one RL and one RQ, in a suitable redshift interval (2.5 < z < 3.5) that allowed us to observe the Mg ii and Hβ emission lines in the adjacent near-infrared (NIR) band. We collected NIR spectra of the two samples using the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG, Canary Islands). By using relations known in the literature, we estimated the black-hole mass, the broad-line region radius, and the Eddington ratio of our objects and compared the two samples. Results. We found no statistically significant differences from comparing the distributions of the cited physical quantities. This indicates that they have similar geometries, accretion rates, and central black-hole masses, regardless of whether the radio-emitting jet is present or not. Conclusions. These results show that the central engine of BAL QSOs has the same physical properties with and without a radio jet. The reasons for the rarity of RL BAL QSOs must reside in different environmental or evolutionary variables.


The article is devoted to the issues of modern legislative regulation regarding the grounds and requirements for the execution of a conclusion by a specialist in criminal proceedings. The scientific works of outstanding domestic and foreign scientists are analyzed and their great contribution to the study of this topic is indicated.
Since they conduct a fundamental analysis of the domestic and foreign heritage on
this issue, they help to determine the further debatable direction and carry out the
subsequent scientific search.
Articles of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the requirements for drawing up a written conclusion of a specialist, as well as articles on the responsibility of an expert and a specialist for introducing false information into the conclusion of the study prepared by them, have been carefully researched and analyzed, and the boundaries of the emergence of a certain responsibility are indicated. It is indicated that the expert's conclusion as one of the sources of evidence in the case allows, at the appropriate scientific level, to objectively and fully solve the designated tasks that require the use of special knowledge.
The norms of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine in connection with the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Simplification of Pre-trial Investigation of Certain Categories of Criminal Offenses" are analyzed. It is indicated that a written conclusion of a specialist can be obtained to clarify the circumstances of the commission of a criminal offense before entering information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations. It is also indicated that the conclusion of a specialist is recognized as a procedural source of evidence in criminal proceedings on criminal offenses with the proviso that such a procedural source of evidence cannot be used in criminal proceedings for a crime, except on the basis of a ruling by an investigating judge, which is issued at the request of the prosecutor. A comparative analysis was carried out regarding the content of the conclusions of the expert with the conclusions of the specialist. The general and distinctive positions in the written content of the conclusions of a specialist and an expert are indicated.

Key words: specialist, expert, the conclusion of a specialist, the conclusion of an expert, criminal offense.


TUBERCULOUS dactylitis in the adult is generally uncommon and its appearance rather rare. Although the practicing orthopedist and the busy pathologist can recall having seen a case or two of the condition in the adult, the literature, especially in North America, contains only scattered reports of cases. Furthermore, our conception of this lesion as described in the textbooks and more important works on tuberculosis is that of tuberculous dactylitis in childhood. Tuberculous dactylitis or spina yentosa is usually a disease of infancy and childhood. Herzfeld and Tod 1 found 97 cases of the condition in 1,403 tuberculous children, thus representing 6 per cent of all cases of surgical tuberculosis. Sorrel and Sorrel-Dejerine, 2 in a larger sampling, reported an incidence of 14 per cent. In both series the disease became increasingly uncommon after 5 and scarce after 10 years of age. No statistics on the incidence of adult spina ventosa


Fourteen Indian research funding agencies have been studied to know their impact on research in India. Natural Language Processing (NLP) was used to segregate and identify the funding acknowledgment from data available in Scopus. SciVal, an analytical tool was used to analyze the data. Tableau software was used to visualize the analyzed data. The impact of 10 years of funding by the 14 funding agencies reveals the consistency of publication output. The number of funded publications addressing the 16 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is very few. The study result indicates the need for a policy change among funding sponsors while considering the high priority areas. It highlights the necessity of considering 16 SDG while funding. The outcome of this study can be used for policy discussions in the promotion of Industry-Institutional collaborative funding and research and policy changes in funding the high priority areas of 16 SDGs in promoting collaborative research and infrastructure.


Background: The premise of this study was that after the correction of hallux-metatarsophalangeal pronation, the intraoperative interphalangeal angle (HIA) increases significantly, and that an additional Akin osteotomy (AO) is often needed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether HIAs in hallux valgus (HV) feet were underestimated, and to assess the need for AO during HV correction. Method: This study was conducted on 54 feet with moderate to severe HV treated from June 2007 to December 2008. HIAs and medial sesamoid subluxations (MSS) were measured initially and intraoperatively after a distal soft tissue procedure (DSTP) and proximal chevron metatarsal osteotomy (PCMO). An intraoperative technique was used to evaluate the incongruency of the metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) to determine the need for additional Akin osteotomy. Results: After performing DSTP and PCMO, HIAs significantly increased from an average of 9 to 13.3 degrees and MSS reduced from average grade 2.5 to 0.5 (p < 0.05). Akin ostetomy was added in 44 (81%) feet. After an average followup of 13.2 months in Akin group, average VAS pain score decreased from 5.7 to 1.2 and average AOFAS score increased from 57.8 to 90.2 (p < 0.05). Final hallux MTPJ dorsiflexion in the Akin group was significantly larger than in the without-Akin group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Average HIA significantly increased after DSTP and PCMO for moderate to severe HV necessitating additional Akin osteotomy, to achieve ideal HV correction and, to preserve MTPJ motion. Level of Evidence: IV, Case Series


A pressure gradient increase from normal pressure in oil zones to overpressure in dry gas zones indicates a lateral disequilibrium of pore pressure in many shale reservoirs. In this work, conditions for the preservation of the lateral pressure disequilibrium during uplift and erosion are investigated. Numerical simulations were conducted by coupling pressure–volume–temperature (PVT) and fluid dynamic calculations. Results show that temperature decrease and pore volume expansion during erosion tends to increase the pressure gradient in the gas or condensate zone and tends to decrease the pressure gradient in the black oil zone; therefore, the PVT effect tends to enhance lateral pressure disequilibrium during erosion. Low permeability is crucial for the preservation of the lateral pressure disequilibrium. The persistence of disequilibrium over geological time (tens of millions of years) requires extremely small vertical permeability (sub-picodarcy range) and horizontal permeability (10 nd or even lower). The horizontal permeability is 10–100 times smaller than laboratory measurements on shale plugs, indicating a discontinuity of laminations and fractures within a shale formation.


I have reviewed, and made criticisms of, Sarah Conly's book elsewhere.1 ,2 In this comment, I am a constructive critic who wants to discuss an argument against paternalism that is different from the three which Conly emphasises in her precis. It is an argument that she attacks in her book, and I want to support her objection to it.i

The argument raises a quite particular objection to paternalism, that is, that it does not treat the object of paternalistic interference with proper respect. For paternalism always rests on a premise that the agent is making a mistake in her decision making , that she is not fully capable of making a rational decision and that she is in some way impaired in her cognitive or affective dispositions. And since all paternalistic interventions assume this premise, they all are expressing a judgement about the agent that is an insult. They fail to treat the agent as a rational and capable agent.3

Two things should be noted about this argument. First, it only establishes that paternalism is pro tanto wrong. There may be occasions where an insult is less important, morally speaking, than some other consideration. Second, it is interesting to note that this objection can apply to 'nudges' as well as coercive interventions. For all nudges involve the premise that without the nudge the agent is more likely to make a mistake in his decisions. He will eat …


The design and test results of a crowbar switch developed for the formation of long-lifetime field-reversed configurations are presented. These research efforts are being pursued at the FRX-L facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory using the "Colt" capacitor bank (a 36 /spl mu/F Shiva Star bank module capable of storing up to 250 kJ) and at the Air Force Research Laboratory using the "Formation" capacitor bank (consisting of three parallel banks identical to Colt). The crowbar switch design includes four Maxwell rail-gap switches mounted on a cable header that transitions from the capacitor bank bus plates to 48 RG 17/14 coaxial cables. For the testing performed at AFRL, a dummy load was set up to simulate the magnetic field coils of the actual experiment. Tests thus far have demonstrated the crowbarring of peak currents up to 1.25 MA. Breakdown within the cable header due to the initial high voltage applied from the bank has been successfully suppressed by the cable feed-through design, proper placement of Mylar sheets around the switch for insulation, and replacement of air in the header with SF/sub 6/. Timing for the triggering of the crowbar is somewhat critical, as inductance in the switch increases when the switch is triggered with lower voltages across the switch rails. At the higher bank charge voltages, the charge-flow ratings on the rail-gap switches are exceeded; however, other than requiring that the rail electrodes in the switches be cleaned more frequently, no detrimental effects have been observed from the excessive charge flow.


Summary Increasing attention has been focused on the role of peroxisome proliferator%activated receptors (PPARs) in the past decade. Compelling data have begun to unite work from various arenas, such as epidemiology and vascular biology. Clinical trials with synthetic PPAR agonists have exhibited therapeutic benefits in treating various chronic diseases like atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. The PPARs, a family of nuclear receptors (NRs), are a set of three receptor sub%types encoded by distinct genes. They function as lipid sensors to regulate a broad range of genes in many metabolically active tissues. The discovery of PPAR%specific ligands has led to a significant advancement in our understanding of the structure of these receptor proteins and molecular mechanisms of their ligand dependent activation. Herein, we have tried to delineate the role of PPARs as molecular targets for the development of new drugs to treat human metabolic diseases.


The freshwater habitats (mires, streams, lakes, pools and wallows) on sub-Antarctic Marion Island were examined for invertebrates. Sixty-eight species were found, including 45 new records for the Island. Of these 56 were bona fide aquatic invertebrates, the rest being terrestrial or brackish interlopers that had fallen or been blown into the water. The aquatic species include five platyhelminthes, a gastrotrich, three tardigrades, 28 rotifers, six nematodes, two annelids and 11 arthropods. Most are familiar species that have been recorded on other sub-Antarctic islands. The invertebrate faunas of the various freshwater habitats were basically similar in species composition, with the abundances of particular species dependent upon the water body's size, distance from the sea and degree of eutrophication resulting from seal and seabird manuring.


CD4+ T cells are involved in several immune response pathways used to control viral infections. In this study, a group of genetically defined goats was immunized with a synthetic peptide known to encompass an immunodominant helper T-cell epitope of caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV). Fifty-five days after challenge with the molecularly cloned CAEV strain CO, the vaccinated animals had a higher proviral load than the controls. The measurement of gamma interferon and interleukin-4 gene expression showed that these cytokines were reliable markers of an ongoing immune response but their balance did not account for more or less efficient control of CAEV replication. In contrast, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor appeared to be a key cytokine that might support virus replication in the early phase of infection. The observation of a potential T-cell-mediated enhancement of virus replication supports other recent findings showing that lentivirus-specific T cells can be detrimental to the host, suggesting caution in designing vaccine candidates.


The epileptic brain is distinguished by spontaneous seizures and interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). Basic patterns of mesoscale brain activity outside of seizures and IEDs are also frequently disrupted in the epileptic brain and likely influence disease symptoms, but are poorly understood. We aimed to quantify how interictal brain activity differs from that in healthy individuals, and identify what features of interictal activity influence seizure occurrence in a genetic mouse model of childhood epilepsy. Neural activity across the majority of the dorsal cortex was monitored with widefield Ca2+ imaging in mice of both sexes expressing a human Kcnt1 variant (Kcnt1m/m) and wild-type controls (WT). Ca2+ signals during seizures and interictal periods were classified according to their spatiotemporal features. We identified 52 spontaneous seizures, which emerged and propagated within a consistent set of susceptible cortical areas, and were predicted by a concentration of total cortical activity within the emergence zone. Outside of seizures and IEDs, similar events were detected in Kcnt1m/m and WT mice, suggesting that the spatial structure of interictal activity is similar. However, the rate of events whose spatial profile overlapped with where seizures and IEDs emerged was increased, and the characteristic global intensity of cortical activity in individual Kcnt1m/m mice predicted their epileptic activity burden. This suggests that cortical areas with excessive interictal activity are vulnerable to seizures, but epilepsy is not an inevitable outcome. Global scaling of the intensity of cortical activity below levels found in the healthy brain may provide a natural mechanism of seizure protection. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Defining the scope and structure of an epilepsy-causing gene variant's effects on mesoscale brain activity constitutes a major contribution to our understanding of how epileptic brains differ from healthy brains, and informs the development of precision epilepsy therapies. We provide a clear roadmap for measuring how severely brain activity deviates from normal, not only in pathologically active areas, but across large portions of the brain and outside of epileptic activity. This will indicate where and how activity needs to be modulated to holistically restore normal function. It also has the potential to reveal unintended off-target treatment effects and facilitate therapy optimization to deliver maximal benefit with minimal side-effect potential.


This paper reviews briefly the authors' experience with a short (30 s) maximal isokinetic cycling test in which peak and average power, the decline in power during the test (fatigue index, FI), and the total work accomplished are measured by a computer assisted technique. In an untrained population, the power variables and total work were linearly related to height and lean thigh volume and decline with age; the FI was less in subjects who took part in regular leisure activity. A close linear relationship was found between the total work in 30 s and maximal oxygen intake (VO2 max). The method was applied to studies of the effects of endurance exercise in sedentary young and old men and in patients with coronary artery disease. In the young and old men training increased VO2 max by 28% and 38% respectively, with no change in isokinetic power measurements in the young, but increases of 12% in total work in 30 s in the old. In cardiac patients, reductions in initial VO2 max were greater than in the isokinetic test variables. Control subjects showed reductions in maximal 30 s performance after the study period (12 wk) with no change in VO2 max. Exercised subjects increased VO2 max by 18.5% with variable changes in 30 s performance. There is a close link between maximal short-term muscle capacity and VO2 max in healthy subjects. VO2 max may be increased by training, but this may or may not be accompanied by increases in maximal short-term capacity, presumably depending on the mechanisms that are limiting in any given case.


In this paper the deformation of membranes containing rigid inclusions is analyzed. These rigid inclusions can significantly change the entire stress distribution in the membrane and therefore create major difficulties for the design. The initially flat membrane, which may be prestretched by boundary in-plane tractions or displacements, is subjected to externally applied loads and to the weight of the rigid inclusions. The composite system is examined in cases where it's deformation reaches a state for which the undeformed and deformed shapes are substantially different. In such cases large deflections of membranes are considered, which result from nonlinear kinematic relations. The three coupled nonlinear equations in terms of the displacements governing the response of the membrane are solved using the Analog Equation Method (AEM), which reduces the problem to the solution of three uncoupled Poisson's equations with fictitious domain source densities. The problem is strongly nonlinear. In addition to the geometrical nonlinearity, the problem is itself nonlinear, because the membrane's reactions on the boundary of the rigid inclusions are not a priori known as they depend on the produced deflection surface. Iterative schemes are developed for the calculation of deformed membrane's configuration which converges to the final equilibrium state of the membrane with the given external applied loads. Several example problems are presented, which illustrate the method and demonstrate its accuracy and efficiency. The method has all the advantages of the pure BEM.


Background According to the National Center for Health Statistics, Kentucky had the third highest drug overdose fatality rate in the nation in 2015 at 29.9 drug overdose fatalities per 100 000 population. Objective The elevated drug overdose fatality rate necessitated the development and implementation of a comprehensive multisource drug overdose fatality surveillance system (DOFSS). Methods DOFSS stakeholder work group members and data sources were identified, and memorandums of understanding were established. The following data sources were used to establish DOFSS: (1) death certificates; (2) autopsy reports; (3) toxicology result reports; (4) coroner reports; and (5) Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) (prescription drug monitoring programme) data. Drug overdose poisonings were defined using Injury Surveillance Workgroup 7 definitions. Analyses were performed to investigate possible drug overdose-related health disparities for disabled drug overdose decedents and to characterise gabapentin in drug overdose deaths. Results DOFSS identified 2106 drug overdose poisoning fatalities in Kentucky for 2013–2014. Identification of specific drugs involved in drug overdose deaths increased from 75.8% using a single data source to 97.5% using multiple data sources. Disabled drug overdose decedents were significantly more likely to have an active prescription for drugs identified in their system compared with the non-disabled drug overdose decedents. Toxicology data showed increased gabapentin involvement in drug overdose deaths from 2.9% in 2013 to 17% in 2014. Alprazolam was found most often in combination with gabapentin (41%), along with various other benzodiazepines and prescription opioids. Conclusions A comprehensive multisource DOFSS improved drug overdose fatality surveillance by increasing completeness of data and data quality. DOFSS is a model that can be considered by other states to enhance their efforts in tracking drug overdose fatalities, identifying new and emerging trends, and informing policies and best practices, to address and reduce drug overdoses.


It was published earlier that during gastric ulceration an elevation in the antral and fundic mucosal cAMP/cGMP ratios can be encountered in rats. This phenomenon was interpreted as a probable sign of the reparative, antiulcerogenic processes. This assumption received further evidence when the experimental animals were treated with prostacyclin. According to the present investigations the H2-receptor blocker cimetidine, in such small dose which does not interfere with the gastric acid secretion, evoked the same cAMP/cGMP ratio elevating effect. On the basis of the performed investigations the questions raised, namely: Does the cytoprotective (anti-ulcerogenic) effect of different drugs have a common molecular basis in the (rat) gastric mucosa? If so, what is the possible role of the mucosal cyclic nucleotides in this process? Further studies are being needed in this field to clarify all details.


Histone modifications have been associated with particular states of transcriptional activity and are thought to serve as an "information code". However, this principle does not apply to histone phosphorylation, which can be detected in two, seemingly contrasting situations, i.e., in a transcriptionally hyperactive state following growth factor stimulation and in transcriptionally paused mitotic chromosomes. There are several indications that mitotic phosphorylation of histone H3 at serine-10 by the Aurora B kinase and trimethylation at lysine-9 by the methyl transferase Suvar3,9 operate as a "binary switch", which determines recruitment or eviction of heterochromatin-specific proteins from pericentromeric repeats. Moreover, threonine-3 phosphorylation of histone H3 by the newly identified haspin kinase seems to promote chromatid cohesion during mitosis. We discuss here emerging information and new ideas suggesting that these modifications, in combination to upstream and downstream marks, constitute a system of intrinsic folding determinants that facilitate chromatin condensation and confer topological specificity to mitotic chromosomes.


The degree of irregularity apparent in the discharge patterns of electrically stimulated auditorynerve fibers depends upon the stimulation rate. Whereas fibers fire regularly at low stimulation rates, the same fibers fire irregularly at high rates. The irregularity observed at high stimulation rates has been attributed to noise caused by the random open and closing of voltage-gated ion channels. This explanation however is incomplete: an additional mechanism must be operating to account for the different effects of noise at the two stimulation rates. We have identified such an additional rate-dependent mechanism. Specifically, we show in the Fitzhugh-Nagumo (FN) model that the stability to perturbations such as noise depends upon the stimulation rate. At sufficiently high rates a dynamical instability arises that accounts for the main statistical features of the irregular discharge pattern, even in the absence of ongoing physiological noise. In addition, we show that this instability accounts for both the statistical independence exhibited by different fibers in the stimulated population and their sensitivity to amplitude modulations applied to an ongoing stimulus. In cochlear implants, amplitude modulations are used to encode acoustic information such as speech. Psychophysically, sensitivity to small modulations correlates strongly with speech perception, suggesting a critical role for dynamical stability/instability in speech perception. We show that rate-dependent stability/instability occurs in the classical Hodgkin-Huxley model, as well as in biophysical models of the mammalian node of Ranvier Thesis Supervisor: Christopher Shera Harvard Medical School Title: Associate Professor of Otology and Laryngology Thesis Supervisor: John White Boston University Title: Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering


Purpose The present study summarizes the first experience with 177Lu-PSMA-617 (177Lu-PSMA) treatment in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (PCa) in our institution. Methods This was an analysis of the first 30 consecutive patients who underwent 177Lu-PSMA therapy. Biochemical response was defined as prostate-specific antigen decrease of 50% or greater. Clinical toxicity was based on standardized physician's report, and biochemical and hematological toxicity was graded according to the Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) criteria. Clinical response was objectified in terms of severity of pain and usage of analgesics after separate treatment cycles. Results Thirty patients with advanced PCa received therapy cycles with 6 GBq 177Lu-PSMA (median, 4; range, 1–6). After the first cycle, usage of analgesics decreased in 45% of the patients. During treatment, maximum prostate-specific antigen decrease was 50% or greater and 90% or greater in 57% and 24% of the patients, respectively. Despite CTCAE grades III and IV anemia occurring in 2 patients (7%), all other newly originated biochemical toxicity was limited to maximum CTCAE grades I and II. Grade II xerostomia occurred in 17% of the patients. During a median follow-up length of 13.7 months (range, 9.8–32.3 months), median overall survival from start of the first therapy cycle was 11.3 months (range, 1.4–32.3 months). Conclusions These results confirm the favorable safety and efficacy profile of 177Lu-PSMA, even up to 6 treatment cycles. Therefore, 177Lu-PSMA seems a promising therapeutic strategy for metastatic castration-resistant PCa patients. However, randomized controlled trials are warranted to obtain robust data.


Abstract The formation of phenolic compounds during pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse was investigated. Bagasse was pretreated by wet oxidation (WO) at 195°C during 15 min under either alkaline or acidic conditions and by steam explosion (STEX) at 205°C during 10 min. The total content of phenolic compounds in the prehydrolysates was determined spectrophotometrically. Under acidic and alkaline WO conditions, 3.8% (w/w) and 3% phenols were found, respectively. STEX gave rise to 1.9% phenols. Individual phenols were identified by GC-MS. Phenylpropanoid derivatives, such as p-coumaric and ferulic acids, accounted for more than 50% of the phenols identified in STEX prehydrolysates. In WO prehydrolysates, on the other hand, phenols lacking the propanoid side chain were predominant. Of the latter, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde was the most abundant phenol, with concentrations of 0.27% (acidic conditions) and 0.15% (alkaline conditions). As expected, high concentrations of oxidised compounds were generally observed in WO prehydrolysates, such as carboxylic acids, aldehydes and ketones. This is a true reflection of the oxidative conditions during WO pretreatment.


The emergence of high resolution digital cameras for recording of still images and video streams
 has had a significant impact on how communication and entertainment have developed during the
 recent years. At the same time Moore's law has made tremendous computing power readily
 available that only some 20 years ago was reserved for high profile research establishments and
 intelligence services. These two tendencies have respectively called for and fostered the advent of
 unprecedented computationally heavy image processing algorithms. Algorithms that in turn have
 allowed for new processing of existing image based material.
 Parallel to this technological development the measures deployed in the protection against attacks
 from the enemies of modernity calls for more surveillance of the public space. As a result of this
 regrettable circumstance more video cameras are installed in airports, on stations and even on open
 streets in major cities.
 Whether or not the purpose is entertainment or dead serious surveillance, tasks like detection and
 recognition of faces are solved using the same methods. Due to the varying and generally adverse
 conditions under which images are recorded there is a call for algorithms capable of working in an
 unconstrained environment.
 In 2004 an article by Paul Viola and Michael J. Jones titled "Robust Real-Time Face Detection"
 was publish in the International Journal of Computer Vision. The algorithm presented in this article
 has been so successful that today it is very close to being the de facto standard for solving face
 detection tasks. This success is mainly attributed to the relative simplicity, the fast execution and
 the remarkable performance of the algorithm.
 This report documents all relevant aspects of the implementation of the Viola-Jones face detection
 algorithm. The intended input for the face detection algorithm is any conceivable image containing
 faces and the output is a list of face positions.


Abstract Objective To review the evidence on the effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Biosis, Joanna Briggs, Global Health, and World Health Organization COVID-19 database (preprints). Eligibility criteria for study selection Observational and interventional studies that assessed the effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality. Main outcome measures The main outcome measure was incidence of covid-19. Secondary outcomes included SARS-CoV-2 transmission and covid-19 mortality. Data synthesis DerSimonian Laird random effects meta-analysis was performed to investigate the effect of mask wearing, handwashing, and physical distancing measures on incidence of covid-19. Pooled effect estimates with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were computed, and heterogeneity among studies was assessed using Cochran's Q test and the I2 metrics, with two tailed P values. Results 72 studies met the inclusion criteria, of which 35 evaluated individual public health measures and 37 assessed multiple public health measures as a "package of interventions." Eight of 35 studies were included in the meta-analysis, which indicated a reduction in incidence of covid-19 associated with handwashing (relative risk 0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.19 to 1.12, I2=12%), mask wearing (0.47, 0.29 to 0.75, I2=84%), and physical distancing (0.75, 0.59 to 0.95, I2=87%). Owing to heterogeneity of the studies, meta-analysis was not possible for the outcomes of quarantine and isolation, universal lockdowns, and closures of borders, schools, and workplaces. The effects of these interventions were synthesised descriptively. Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence covid-19. Public health efforts to implement public health measures should consider community health and sociocultural needs, and future research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of public health measures in the context of covid-19 vaccination. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42020178692.


This paper presents a technique for formant estimation using cepstral envelope analysis. The presumed method which computes cepstrum has been implemented with Matlab and was applied to the problem of accurate measurement of formant frequencies. The conceived algorithm picks formant frequencies from the smoothed spectrum. The approach relies on decomposing the speech signal into two components: the first component presents the excitation, while the second component is intended to present vocal tract resonances. Such procedure was then achieved by applying the homomorphic deconvolution to the treated speech signal. The obtained result, i.e the cepstrum, was then used to estimate the smoothed spectrum. Formant picking is achieved by localizing the spectral maxima from the smoothed envelope. Results showed that there is a wide range in the estimated values of formant frequencies for male and female speakers. Such cepstral method evaluation confirms the limitation of the use of this technique in the estimation of formant frequencies.


La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ/Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.9 composite cathodes were nano-engineered via "dual" inkjet printing infiltration of nitrate salt solutions in a single step procedure. After calcination in air at 700 °C the cathodes were decorated with Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.9 and CoxOy nanoparticles (∼20 nm in size). The effects of the as-created nano-decoration on the electrochemical activity and the performance stability in the intermediate temperature range (500–700 °C) were investigated. The nano-engineered microstructure was found to extend the active three-phase boundary and to promote adsorption–dissociation–surface exchange reactions. Electrochemical impedance tests conducted on symmetric cells showed a reduction in the polarisation resistance of between 1.5 and 7.0 times depending on temperature (500–700 °C). High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and in situ high temperature Raman spectroscopy were used to study aging and thermal cycling effects on the cathodes' surface chemistry. Aging tests of the infiltrated electrodes up to 100 hours in air revealed an enhanced stability of the decorated electrodes ascribed to the suppression of SrO surface segregation. This work demonstrated that the sequence of infiltration of both inks introduces noticeable differences in the oxygen reduction reaction.


Abstract Diamond is seeing increasing use in surface engineering applications because it can offer extremely desirable properties, such as high strength, high hardness, and good thermal properties. However, in terms of practical use, pure diamond has limitations due to brittleness, difficulty in processing and importantly, cost. The incorporation of diamond into the metal matrix of a thermal spray coating to produce a composite hard facing coating is investigated in this work. In this preliminary study the feasibility of spraying a diamond - metal composite, the ability to retain the diamond without excessive degradation and the associated properties of the coating in terms of hardness are reported. Synthetic and natural diamond grits were used in conjunction with nickel based hard facing powders as the matrix, to produce the composite coatings. Spraying was carried out using a standard oxy-acetylene spraying torch. The coating microstructures were then investigated using light and scanning electron microscopy and their elemental composition was probed using energy dispersive X-ray analysis. X-ray diffraction was used to identify whether diamond was retained without phase transformation to graphite and to characterise the other phases in the coatings. Macrohardness testing was also used as a preliminary measure of the quality of the coating. Preliminary results show that it is possible to produce a hard facing diamond composite coating and that there is scope to optimise the coating for the ultimate application, which, in this case, is for an oilfield drilling tool, where the coating would be subjected to extreme conditions of wear and wear corrosion.


In the article some statements ofIn the article the participation of the National Science Center «Hon. Prof. M. S. Bokarius Forensic Science Institute» in the bilateral research project was elucidated. It had been emphasized that the participation in the projects of the international cooperation is a new form of interaction of institutions of forensic activity that promote a development of the sphere of expert ensuring of justice. The regulatory and legal enactments of Ukraine and the Republic of Latvian, which regulate the participation' question of scientists in fundamental and applied international research projects were analyzed. It is noticed that, Riga Stradins University and the National Science Center «Hon. Prof. M. S. Bokarius Forensic Science Institute» are participants of Joint Scientific Research Project. The content of the Ukrainian-Latvian project on the topic «Open Educational Resource: Forensic Science» is revealed that was devoted to the complex research of modern scientific approaches, the formation of theoretical regulations and practical summaries, related to the improvement of implementation of educational and scientific activity's mechanisms of modern scientific approaches in the field of expert ensuring of justice Within the framework of the scientific project particular topical issues in forensic science are proposed to resolved. As a result of work on the project it is planned to publish scientific works, an open web-resource containing scientific, research and other materials, and also educational video presentations of work of the forensic expert with a possibility of their remote use is created. It was proved that the participation of domestic institutions within international projects assists the integration to European Higher Education Area and European Forensic Science Area.


Environmental changes such as urbanization and climate change have led to fluctuations in the geographic ranges of birds over the last century.  For many species, population-level changes are poorly understood if catalogued at all.  The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is the nation's longest-running citizen science project.  By using CBC data, it is possible to harness large amounts of information dating back as far as the early twentieth century to answer questions about how avian communities are changing over time. In this study, we examined long-term CBC data (number of birds counted per party hour) from 1955-2014 for a suite of bird species from different feeding guilds native to North America. For each species , we compared the geographic center of abundance between the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways from 1955 - 2014.  We downloaded CBC data for each species, and separated the data by latitude for what we determined to be the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways. This allowed us to calculate the geographic center of abundance for each species for each year.  The data was then plotted using regression analyses showing varying trends between flyways for species. Our results yielded seven distinct trends within the 14 species tested: A) Species shifting northward predominantly in the Atlantic flyway (n=5) B) Shifting northwards equally in both flyways (n=2); C) Species that are shifting northward predominantly in the Mississippi flyway (n=1) D) Species shifting north in the Atlantic flyway, and shifting south in the Mississippi flyway (n=1)  E) Species shifting north in the Mississippi flyway, but shifting south in the Atlantic flyway (n=1) F) Species shifting south in both flyways (n=2)  G) Species that do not appear to be shifting their range latitudinally (n=2).  Further, we found that feeding guild was a good predictor of range shift patterns for many species.


Interleukin-10 (IL-10) can downregulate expression of several proinflammatory cytokines including chemokines. This study investigated the role of IL-10 in the acute response of the rat lung to quartz particles. Intratracheal instillation of rats with 1 mg of quartz produced an inflammatory and cytotoxic response demonstrated by increased bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid neutrophils, lactate dehydrogenase, and protein. IL-10 was detected in rat lung, but IL-10 levels were not altered by quartz. In contrast, quartz increased lung levels of the chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2). Treatment with recombinant murine IL-10 (rmIL-10) attenuated quartz-induced pulmonary inflammation and injury. Pretreatment with anti-IL-10 antiserum enhanced inflammatory responses to quartz. Consistent with effects on quartz-induced inflammation, rmIL-10 and anti-IL-10 serum decreased and increased, respectively, lung MIP-2 mRNA and protein in response to quartz. Additionally, rmIL-10 reduced production of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion, and nitric oxide by BAL cells from quartz-exposed and control rats. These results demonstrate that IL-10 is expressed in rat lung and downregulates quartz-induced inflammation and cell activation. The mechanism of the anti-inflammatory action of IL-10 after quartz administration involves, at least in part, attenuation of MIP-2 expression.


Summary Reciprocal intergeneric hybrid crosses were made between two species of centrarchids (Perciformes, Teleostei), the largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides ) (LMB) and the green sunfish ( Lepomis cyanellus ) (GSF). The LMB ♀ × GSF ♂ hybrid embryos underwent apparently normal morphological development. However, the hybrid embryos derived from the reciprocal GSF ♀ × LMB ♂ cross were morphologically abnormal, and all died near the time of hatching. Starch gel electrophoresis and specific histochemical staining techniques were utilized to investigate the ontogeny of enzymes encoded at each of 13 loci during the development of embryos of both parental species and both types of hybrids. Enzymes encoded in eight loci were present throughout the embryogenesis of one or both parental species. Enzymes encoded in these eight loci were also expressed throughout the development of both types of hybrid embryos. The electrophoretic mobilities of isozymes encoded in five of these eight loci were different for the two parental species. Although the maternal alleles at each of these five loci were expressed continuously during the development of both types of hybrid embryos, the parental alleles were not expressed until later in development. The five remaining loci were not expressed in the unfertilized eggs of either parental species, but were first expressed after fertilization. The onset of the expression of homologous loci was similar in embryos of the two parental species. During the development of the LMB ♀ × GSF ♂ hybrid embryos, the onset of gene expression for these five loci was delayed compared to that in the embryos of the two parental species. However, during the development of the GSF ♀ × LMB ♂ hybrid embryos, the onset of gene expression for most of these loci was earlier than that in the embryos of the two parental species. This precocious gene expression may reflect an aberrant pattern of gene regulation responsible for the abnormal development and lethality at hatching of the GSF ♀ × LMB ♂ hybrid embryos. A model is proposed to explain the various patterns of gene expression observed during embryogenesis of these reciprocal hybrids.


Employment and income from non-farm activities are of increasing importance in the rural economy of developing countries. Small forest-based enterprise activities constitute one of the largest sources of such income. They also account for a large part of the total harvest from forests in many areas. Many agriculturalists supplement their income through gathering and trading products such as forest foods, medicinal plants, and fuel wood. Small-scale manufacturing of items such as furniture, baskets, mats, and craft goods constitute substantial informal sector industries. Income from these activities tends to be particularly important during seasonal shortfalls in food and cash crop income and in periods of drought or other emergencies. Ease of access to forest raw materials means that forest-based activities are particularly important for the poor and for women. However, some of the simpler activities provide very low returns to labor, and may thus provide only minimal and short-lived livelihood contributions. Some of the most important saleable forest products face uncertain markets because of growing competition from industrial or synthetic alternatives or domesticated sources of the materials. As demand grows, some activities are also threatened by depletion of, or reduced access to, forest resources. In developing policies in support of sustainable activities, it is therefore important to be able to distinguish between those that have a potential to grow and those that do not. Policy issues include regulations that discriminate against the informal sector, policies that result in the shift from managed to uncontrolled open access use of forest resources, and restrictions on private production and sale of forest products that impede the development of farm-based sources of these products.


In ship manoeuvrability, the crabbing test is critical to evaluate the hydrodynamic quantities for the guidance of an efficient and safe berthing or unberthing manoeuvres. In the present study, the crabbing performance of a cruise ship is investigated by an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) method considering the instantaneous relative motion between the ship and the quay. In the numerical simulations, the cruise ship is approaching the quay wall at a constant lateral speed. The crabbing motion with five degrees of freedom is modeled by the dynamic overset mesh technique, while the free surface elevation is simulated by the Volume of Fluid method. For reliable predictions of the crabbing performances, the timestep dependency study is conducted and a suitable time step is determined. From the computations, the hydrodynamic performances of the cruise ship, including forces and moments, as well as the surge, sinkage, roll, trim and yaw motions are predicted. The numerical results indicate variations of the hydrodynamic quantities under the impacts of ship speed and blockage effects by the quay wall. The present results can be used to evaluate the crabbing ability of the cruise ship and to provide guidance for estimating and designing the crabbing model test in further investigations.


Brettanomyces/Dekkera is considered as one of the main causes of microbial spoilage and sensory deviations of red wines. This work compares the sensitivity and effectiveness of conventional microbiological culture and real-time polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) methods for Brettanomyces/Dekkera detection and quantification and demonstrates a positive correlation between both methods. Moreover, an improved DNA extraction protocol enabled quantification of Brettanomyces/Dekkera cells by Q-PCR down to 20 cells/mL in turbid wines in a total of 324 red wine samples. The conventional culture analysis is time-consuming but has lower cost than Q-PCR, and it is simple and efficient in quantifying viable Brettanomyces/Dekkera cells.


The purpose was to examine the acute skeletal muscle response to high load exercise and low‐load exercise with and without different levels of applied pressure (BFR). A total of 22 participants completed the following four conditions: elbow flexion exercise to failure using a traditional high load [70% 1RM, (7000)], low load [15% 1RM,(1500)], low load with moderate BFR [15%1RM+40%BFR(1540)] or low load with greater BFR [15% 1RM+80%BFR(1580)]. Torque and muscle thickness were measured prior to, immediately post, and 15 min postexercise. Muscle electromyography (EMG) amplitude was measured throughout. Immediately following exercise, the 7000 condition had lower muscle thickness [4·2(1·0)cm] compared to the 1500 [4·4 (1·1)cm], 1540 [4·4(1·1)cm] and 1580 [4·5(1·0)cm] conditions. This continued 15 min post. Immediately following exercise, torque was lower in the 1500 [31·8 (20) Nm], 1540 [28·3(16·9) Nm, P<0·001] and 1580 [29·5 (17) Nm] conditions compared to the 7000 condition [40 (19) Nm]. Fifteen minutes post, 1500 and 1540 conditions demonstrated lower torque compared to the 7000 condition. For the last three repetitions percentage EMG was greater in the 7000 compared to the 1580 condition. Very low‐load exercise (with or without BFR) appears to result in greater acute muscle swelling and greater muscular fatigue compared to high load exercise.


We report here a direct one-pot preparation of a magnetic mesoporous carbon containing Fe–Pd alloys from biosourced tannin as a carbon precursor, the Pluronic F127 surfactant as a pore structuring agent, PdCl2 and Fe(NO3)3. The starting materials are cheap and easily accessible making the synthesis environmentally benign. This catalyst was successfully used for Suzuki–Miyaura reactions in the presence of extremely low amounts of supported Pd (150 μequiv.) in a non-toxic solvent (propane-1,2-diol). The catalyst can be recovered quantitatively by simple application of an external magnetic field and biaryls containing <1.5 μequiv. of Pd (i.e. <1 ppm) are obtained without any additional purification steps.


A boron-lined proportional counter (BLPC) with a count rate limit close to the multi-wire proportional counter was manufactured to measure the mixed field around reactors. After measurement with a standard Am-Be neutron source (activity: 100 mCi), the results show that the operating voltage of the BLPC is 800 V, the plateau length is 100 V and the slope is 13.2%/100 V. The width and rise time of the output pulse of the BLPC are 1.26 μs and 370 ns, respectively. When the BLPC works at a count rate of 1.0×105 count/s, the pulse pile-up probability of the BLPC is 3.6%. A clear peak can be seen in the pulse height spectrum of the BLPC. and the performances illustrate that a BLPC working in pulse mode can serve as a source range detector of reactors.


Studies on the influence of video content on student outcomes in online courses generally reveal two consistent and contradictory themes: students perceive value in the content, but there is no measurable difference in student outcomes in courses that use video content. This study examined the influence of instructor-generated video content on student satisfaction (measured by satisfaction surveys), student engagement (measured by number of and length of discussion postings), and performance (grades and persistence). Findings included a high degree of perceived value from students through course surveys, which was consistent with the literature. Grades increased by 3.2% and student persistence rates were unaffected. Number and length of student discussion postings both increased in groups that used instructor-generated video content.


1. A monolayer cell culture was established from a hypernephroma removed from a patient with the diagnosis of ectopic parathyroid hormone (PTH) production. 2. Culture media contained immunoreactive peptides of a similar size to PTH and several of smaller size. 3. [14C]Leucine and 75Se-labelled methionine added to the media were incorporated into those peptides in the cells and medium which behaved as PTH immunologically and physicochemically. 4. A basic peptide resembling proPTH (the biosynthetic precursor of PTH) was synthesized. 5. Labelled immunoreactive fragments of PTH were found in cells after incubation with radioactive amino acids.


When the size of a particle decreases around 100 nm or less, there is a change in properties from those shown in the bulk material. In this work approximately 3 nm nanoparticles of Ni, Ti and TiNi bimetallic are produced using physical vapor deposition (PVD). Nanoparticles are characterized by High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF), Electron Diffraction (ED). The results show that all nanoparticles maintain the same crystal structure of bulk material but a change in their lattice parameter is produced.


Abstract Objective: Automated electronic queries of structured data fields in electronic medical records (EMR) found no barriers to warfarin in 42% of patients with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (AF) with moderate or high risk of stroke and no warfarin. A thorough manual review of records (including text reports) from the same EMR may better identify physicians' reasons for not using warfarin. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, retrospective, manual EMR review. Patients identified in a previous automated EMR study with a CHADS2 (Chronic heart failure, Hypertension, Age >75 years, Diabetes mellitus, Stroke) score ≥2, no record of warfarin, no barrier to warfarin use, and (in the present study) confirmation of AF diagnosis were included in the manual EMR review. A structured chart abstraction form was used to extract data visible in the clinicians' EMR user interface. Reasons why warfarin had not been prescribed were reported using descriptive statistics. Results: Among 408 patients with 'no barriers' to warfarin in the automated EMR review, AF diagnosis was confirmed in 319 patients (mean age 74.8; 65% female). Forty-one percent (n = 132) did not have chart records explaining why they were not on warfarin. Among the 59% (187) with a rationale against warfarin found in the records, the most common category (52%) was indicative of the risk of bleeding, either risk of fall or history of recent bleeding. The second most common category (16%) reflected that the patient was back in sinus rhythm. These findings are subject to inherent limitations of retrospective chart reviews. Conclusions: Many patients with AF and moderate-to-high risk of stroke are not treated with warfarin, and reasons for not using warfarin could not always be identified in patient records. Among patients with documented reasons, risk of bleeding (risk of fall or recent bleeding) was the most common category.


This work is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of topological data analysis fortime series classification. Previous works have significant shortcomings, such aslack of large-scale benchmarking or missing state-of-the-art methods. In this work,we propose TOTOPO for extracting topological descriptors from different types ofpersistence diagrams. The results suggest that TOTOPO significantly outperformsexisting baselines in terms of accuracy. TOTOPO is also competitive with thestate-of-the-art, being the best on 20% of univariate and 40% of multivariate timeseries datasets. This work validates the hypothesis that TDA-based approaches arerobust to small perturbations in data and are useful for cases where periodicity andshape help discriminate between classes.


This paper describes a laboratory developed to accompany a course in communications theory. The laboratory program is based on the use of building block modules, corresponding to the standard elements found in communication systems. The use of such modules enables the students to model complete systems without becoming involved in detailed problems of circuit design. The module system is described and its use in typical experiments is discussed.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of factors associated with child mortality in Uganda. The Demographic and Health Survey data set (2006) is used to investigate these factors. A random effects regression model and logistic regression model were fitted to establish the significant factors affecting child mortality. The paper considers two types of factors which are maternal Factors (Education level, age of mother, wealth of household) and child factors (birth order, weight of child, Sex of a child, and duration of breastfeeding). Sex, birth weight, Education level, age of mother and household wealth were found to be important predictors of child mortality. However, controlling for mother level factors in model II, the within childhood characteristics were highly correlated. From an explicit multilevel analytic framework, the study therefore demonstrates that individual (child) and mother level characteristics are independent predictors of child mortality; and that there is significant variation in odds of reporting child mortality, even after controlling for effects of both child and mother-level characteristics. The p - values in the random effects model were small compared to the p – values of a standard logistic model. The results of random effects model are more statistically significant than those of a standard logistic regression model. Therefore, the random effects regression model is recommended as an appropriate alternative to standard logistic regression in order to account for variations due to a hierarchical structure. Keywords : Hierarchical structure, Child Mortality, Random Effects Modal, Odds ratio, Uganda


This article analyses China's progress in creating a national old-age insurance system, providing a detailed description of the system and an assessment of the degree to which it has so far realised its primary goal of social security for more people. Since 1997, there have been many reforms, but despite progress, the scope of the system is limited, with the coverage rate among urban employees being below 50 per cent. The rural population largely remains outside the system, and it seems likely that the majority of the population will be dependent on family support for many years to come. There is a demographic window until around 2015 to address these shortcomings. Extending coverage through improved compliance by employees and companies as well as the continuing financial commitment towards the National Social Security Fund are crucial to create the financial and institutional basis that can cushion the effects of a much older population in the years ahead.


This paper explores the application of space-time diversity techniques to enhance the performance of 5 GHz WLAN. The analysis is based on systems conforming to either the IEEE 802.11a or ETSI HIPERLAN/2 standard. Two antennas are assumed at the access point (AP) with a single antenna at the mobile terminal (MT). Downlink (DL) improvements are offered via the application of one of two fully compliant diversity schemes. The first technique can be applied to time division duplex (TDD) OFDM systems (ie, HIPERLAN/2) and is based on adaptive sub-band phase compensation. The second technique can be applied to non-TDD systems (ie, 802.11a) and makes use of spatial transmit delay diversity. Uplink (UL) improvement is offered via the use of spatial receive diversity with maximal ratio sub-band combining. Software simulated physical (PHY) layer packet error rate (PER) results are presented for the various methods and compared with those of an unaided transceiver. Combining the enhanced link level results with an analysis of the 802.11a and HIPERLAN/2 protocols, the expected throughput and range enhancements for both standards are computed.


A fuzzy weighted attitude estimation algorithm is proposed to settle the problem of attitude determination for Optronics Mast Systems (OMS) by combining gyros and inclinometers. Firstly, Euler representation is employed to descript attitude kinematics, and then nonlinear continuum state space model is derived, based on analysis of mathematic model of gyros and inclinometer. Secondly, EKF is used to linear and discrete the models, and a weighted measurement update equation of attitude and gyro drifts is developed under kalman Filter framework. Lastly, according to the relations between the weighted value and body motion, a weighted value determination method is proposed based on fuzzy reasoning system. The experience results show that the accuracy of attitude estimation algorithm is 0.0380. The algorithm also solves the problem of vibration disturber of inclinometer and measure error of gyros in long term.


This prospective study was designed to investigate the role of musical training on musical perception and hearing acuity and to determine probable hearing loss. Thirty students, aged 17 to 23 years, were evaluated for hearing sensitivity within conventional and high-frequency audiometric ranges. The hearing thresholds of the controls were compared with those of the students. To evaluate the effect of musical training on musical perception, students were given an examination consisting of single-note, harmonic hearing; multiple sounds (chords with two, three, and four sounds), horizontal hearing; melody, and rhythm. Musical perception and the average hearing level of the students on admission to the faculty were compared with the data from students after a 2-year musical education program. The hearing sensitivity of the students at the initial and final evaluations was not similar. The average hearing acuity increased for the whole conventional audiometric range (p < .05). There was worsening for 12, 14, and 16 kHz for the high-frequency audiometric range (p < .05). The decrease in average hearing acuity at these frequencies was statistically significant, as indicated by Student's t-test (p < .05). Although the average musical hearing sensitivity increased for horizontal hearing (p < .05), it did not change for harmonic hearing (p > .05). Musical training might increase the spontaneous attention to the sound heard and the ability to discriminate. Hearing reduction at the high frequencies might be attributed to continuous noise exposure.