The vasculoprotective effects of hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) correlate with cholesterol lowering. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors also disrupt cellular processes by the depletion of isoprenoids and dolichol. Insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling appear particularly prone to such disruption as intracellular receptor processing requires dolichol for correct N-glycosylation, whereas downstream signaling through Ras requires the appropriate prenylation (farnesol). We determined how HMG-CoA reductase inhibition affected the mitogenic effects of IGF-I and metabolic actions of insulin in 3T3-L1 cells and examined the respective roles of receptor glycosylation and Ras prenylation. IGF-I- and insulin-induced proliferation was significantly reduced by all statins tested, although cerivastatin (10 nm) had the greatest effect (p < 0.005). Although inhibitors of Ras prenylation induced similar results (10 μm FTI-277 89% ± 7.4%, p < 0.01), the effect of HMG-CoA reductase inhibition could only be partially reversed by farnesyl pyrophosphate refeeding. Treatment with statins resulted in decreased membrane expression of receptors and accumulation of proreceptors, suggesting disruption of glycosylation-dependent cleavage. Glycosylation inhibitors inhibited IGF-I-induced proliferation (tunicamycin p < 0.005, castanospermine p < 0.01, deoxymannojirimycin p < 0.01). High concentrations of statin were necessary to impair insulin-mediated glucose uptake (300 nm = 33% ± 12% p < 0.05), and this process was not effected by farnesyl transferase inhibition. Gycosylation inhibitors mimicked the effect of statin treatment (tunicamycin p < 0.001, castanospermine p < 0.05, deoxymannojirimycin p < 0.05), and there was insulin proreceptor accumulation. These data imply that HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors disrupt IGF-I signaling by combined effects on Ras prenylation and IGF receptor glycosylation, whereas insulin signaling is only affected by disrupted receptor glycosylation.


To cite: Obure CD, Guinness L, Sweeney S, et al. Sex Transm Infect Published Online First: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/sextrans2015-052039 ABSTRACT Objective Policy-makers have long argued about the potential efficiency gains and cost savings from integrating HIV and sexual reproductive health (SRH) services, particularly in resource-constrained settings with generalised HIV epidemics. However, until now, little empirical evidence exists on whether the hypothesised efficiency gains associated with such integration can be achieved in practice. Methods We estimated a quadratic cost function using data obtained from 40 health facilities, over a 2-yearperiod, in Kenya and Swaziland. The quadratic specification enables us to determine the existence of economies of scale and scope. Findings The empirical results reveal that at the current output levels, only HIV counselling and testing services are characterised by service-specific economies of scale. However, no overall economies of scale exist as all outputs are increased. The results also indicate cost complementarities between cervical cancer screening and HIV care; post-natal care and HIV care and family planning and sexually transmitted infection treatment combinations only. Conclusions The results from this analysis reveal that contrary to expectation, efficiency gains from the integration of HIV and SRH services, if any, are likely to be modest. Efficiency gains are likely to be most achievable in settings that are currently delivering HIV and SRH services at a low scale with high levels of fixed costs. The presence of cost complementarities for only three service combinations implies that careful consideration of setting-specific clinical practices and the extent to which they can be combined should be made when deciding which services to integrate. Trial registration number NCT01694862.


The explosive growth of spatial data and widespread use of spatial databases emphasize the need for the discovery of spatial knowledge. Nowadays, very rich databases of spatially referenced socio-economic data are available from local statistical offices and in the last few years the demand of spatially detailed statistical data is dramatically increased. Extracting interesting and useful patterns from spatial data sets is more difficult than extracting corresponding patterns from traditional numeric and categorical data due to the complexity of spa tial data types, spatial relationships, and spatial autocorrelation. The complexity of spatial data and intrinsic spatial relationships limits the useful ness of conventional techniques (i.e. data mining) for extracting spatial patterns. Moreover, the area definition and the assignment of the data to appropriate areas can pose problems in the estimation process. This paper presents statistical methods which face these problems and analyze the geographical pattern of the spatially referenced socio-economic data by incorporating the spatial location as an additional covariate.


The article suggests an interpretation of human understanding as a three-level process of aligning sensory material with intersubjectively fixed patterns of social games, whose repertoire and general characteristics (which shape tactical game goals, priorities, general norms, and values) are ordered by the ontological schemes of cultural ideas about existence as such. Ontological schemes are assimilated by each social individual as limiting notions of the order of the universe, of the possible and the impossible, and such schemes constitute the limiting background of understanding. The system of social games, which are included in the cultural repertoire, presupposes a certain configuration of the cultural field of its own realization and the type of subjectivity as well as a specific rationality as an invariant and mediator of social activity, and, therefore, this system constitutes the lifeworld of a specific culture. It is shown that stable empirical complexes (things) are functions of social games, which, in turn, cannot falsify cultural ontology. Due to that, the fundamental ideas of a cultural subject about the world, society, and a person remain stable for a long period. In the past, changes in ontological schematism could be associated with transitional breaks in cultural paradigms, for example, between ancient culture and Christianity. At the same time, purposeful actualization of various "regions" of the lifeworld, even in a short period, can change the beliefs of a particular social group or community as a whole. If the process of understanding in the form of translating empirical material into playing and ontological schematism can be identified as the construction of social reality, then, in the case of purposeful manipulation of the repertoire of social games (via media, social networks, political regulations, political technologies, etc.), one cannot but see an external interference in natural processes of reproduction of the semantic universe of culture.


Gallstones form when the ratio of bile cholesterol to bile acids and phospholipids is elevated, causing cholesterol to precipitate. Physical inactivity is hypothesized to increase gallstone development, but experimental evidence supporting this is lacking, and potential mechanisms for the antilithogenic effects of exercise have not been described. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of endurance exercise training on gallstone formation and the expression of genes involved in bile cholesterol metabolism in gallstone-sensitive (C57L/J) mice. At 10 wk, 50 male mice began a lithogenic diet and were randomly assigned to an exercise-training (EX) or sedentary (SED) group (n = 25 per group). Mice in the EX group ran on a treadmill at approximately 15 m/min for 45 min/day for 12 wk. At the time animals were euthanized, gallstones were collected, pooled by group, and weighed. The weight of the gallstones was 2.5-fold greater in the SED mice compared with EX mice (143 vs. 57 mg, respectively). In the EX mice, hepatic expression of the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr), scavenger receptor class B type 1 (SRB1), and sterol 27 hydroxylase (Cyp27) was increased by approximately 2-fold (P < 0.05 for each). The LDLr and SRB1 increase cholesterol clearance by low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein particles, respectively, while Cyp27 promotes the catabolism of cholesterol to bile acids. Taken together, these data indicate that exercise promotes changes in hepatic gene expression that increase cholesterol uptake by the liver but simultaneously increase the catabolism of cholesterol to bile acids, effectively reducing cholesterol saturation in the bile. This suggests a mechanism by which exercise improves cholesterol clearance from the circulation while simultaneously inhibiting gallstone formation.


Responding to a national study that found social science disciplines as the least likely among the disciplinary clusters studied to identify student learning outcomes and to assess, this study uses a content analysis of department websites to provide greater understanding of how political science departments describe their curricula. The authors evaluated programs for the clarity of student learning outcomes and the intentionality of the curriculum. Two institutional characteristic variables (public status and Carnegie classification) and accreditation region were tested using an ordered logistic regression to evaluate whether they were significantly related to the level of curricular planning and assessment. Results show that 27% of departments systematically identify the student learning outcomes they seek. Ten percent go further to connect the learning outcomes to the curricular structure used to guide achievement of them. The logistic regression supports the existence of relationships between both Carnegie classification and accreditation region and the dependent variable, "curricular planning and assessment."


This paper describes a study on the sensitivity of high explosive charges to fragment impact. Two different projectiles, an 18.6 g steel cylinder according to STANAG 4496 and a 250 g steel sphere (French Heavy Fragment), were launched against cylindrical Composition B charges with velocities up to 2500 m/s. These charges were covered with a 10 mm steel plate or uncovered. At first, the interaction of both projectiles with the steel cover plate at different impact velocities was investigated. Important measures were the projectile shape and velocity after penetration as well as the dimensions of the perforations in the cover plate. Afterwards both projectiles were launched against the high explosive targets. Strongly different values of the critical impact velocity and the width of the transition zone were observed. The experiments were analyzed following the v2d law.


A new control method for the precision robust position control of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor using the asymptotically stable adaptive load torque observer is presented. A precision position control is obtained for the BLDC motor system approximately linearised using the field-orientation method. DC motors have been gradually replaced by the BLDC motor, since the industry applications require more powerful actuators in small sizes. Many of these motor systems have BLDC motors to obtain high power rates. On the other hand, the disadvantages are the high cost and more complex controller caused by the complex driving principle of BLDC motors, and the load torque disturbance is directly affected to a motor shaft. The application of the load torque observer using fixed gain has been published (Ko et al, 1993). However, the flux linkage is not exactly known for a load torque observer. There is a problem of uncertainty of obtaining very high precision position control. Therefore, a model reference adaptive observer was considered to overcome the problem of the unknown parameter and torque disturbance (Ko et al, 1994), but this is a case of BIBO stability. A new model reference adaptive observer is considered and stability analysis is carried out using the Lyapunov stability theorem. As a result, asymptotically stable observer gain can be obtained without affecting the overall system response. The load disturbance detected by the asymptotically stable adaptive observer is compensated by feed-forwarding the equivalent current having the fast response.


In order to satisfy QoS demands of wireless multimedia application it is necessary to make an optimization on several ISO-OSI layers in the protocol stack. In this paper an optimization cross-layer algorithm has been applied based on Markov decision process (MDP). The wireless communication system with one user has been optimized by the transmitting policies in order to maximize the throughput along with the optimization of the average value of the engaged power, satisfying the demanded BER and the average value of rejected packets. Simulation results show that the application of cross-layer design based on MDP is justified. Ill. 2, bibl. 9 (in English; abstracts in English and Lithuanian). http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eee.108.2.141


What happens when you have a website that needs a facelift and you want to evolve the contents into a digital humanities project? What makes it different? This poster session explores a process we are attempting at the University of Texas @ Arlington Libraries. Taking an amazing collection of US-Mexico War materials in our Special Collections, harnessing high collaboration with our Center for Greater Southwestern Studies, and re-imagining a website has been a six month process that tapped into an academic partnership and internal re-organization. We invite you to examine our painful process that used a project with no documentation, a small web presence, and completely new personal in a brand new unit. Learn from our unpleasant experience so you never have to go through this yourself!


Effective diffusivities and adsorption equilibrium constants of methanol, ethanol and 2-methyl-2-butene (2M2B), in Amberlyst 15, were evaluated from batch adsorption experiments. Moment expressions derived for different models involving diffusion resistances in the macropores and within the gel-like micrograins were used for the evaluation of effective diffusion coefficients. Contribution of surface diffusion to diffusion flux within the macropores was found to be quite significant. Also, it was found that diffusion resistance in liquid filled macropores was much more significant than diffusion resistance within the gel-like micrograins of Amberlyst 15., for methanol, ethanol and 2M2B.


Memory and attention dysfunction is a common complaint among cancer survivors, named "chemobrain", which can be reported during and even several years after treatment. These disorders have a negative impact on patients' quality of life (1) and can disturb ability to work (2). Recent studies assessed self-reported cognitive function in cancer patient cohorts, mainly in breast cancer women, and showed that 46% to 60% of survivors had cognitive complaints (3-5). However, these studies did not use a validated questionnaire specifically constructed to assess cognitive complaints.


Game values often represent data that can be measured in more than one acceptable way (e.g., monetary amounts). We point out that in such a case a statement about cooperative n-person game model might be " meaningless " in the sense that its truth or falsity depends on the choice of an acceptable way to measure game values. In particular we analyze statements about solution concepts such as the core, stable sets, the nucleolus, the Shapley value (and its generalizations).


In Australian public discourse food multiculturalism has been celebrated as a sign of the country's openness to migrant cultures. Yet, as we show in this article, this apparent celebration of Australia's ethnically diverse foodscape has emerged alongside a virulent culinary xenophobia at the level of public discourse. In particular, we identify how fears about Asian immigration are often expressed in a distaste for foreign food in the Australian media and official discourse. First, we demonstrate how an advertising campaign jointly funded by government and Australian industry deployed a xenophobic fear of contamination to encourage consumers to avoid food imports and buy Australian foods instead. We then look at how newspaper and television coverage of food poisoning in restaurants and food courts suggests a link between ethnicity and contamination. This analysis of a range of public attitudes to "foreign" foodstuffs highlights that the mainstream enjoyment of ethnic cuisines is not a panacea for long-standing xenophobic discourses.


In this paper, samples of mosses and lichens collected from Bory Tucholskie National Park, Zaborski Landscape Park, and their surroundings (Pomerania Province, northern Poland) were studied for water bears (Tardigrada). In total, 38 tardigrade taxa were identified and six of them (Hypsibius cf. allisoni, Hyp. scabropygus, Macrobiotus sottilei, Milnesium beasleyi, Mil. dornensis, and Mil. granulatum) are new records for the Polish fauna. Eighteen taxa (only 14 identified to the species level) were found in Bory Tucholskie National Park, whereas in Zaborski Landscape Park this number was much larger, i.e. 28 taxa (including 22 identified to the species level), as well as in the areas surrounding the parks, i.e. 28 (including 23 identified to the species level). It should be also noted that the effect of substrate, habitat, and types of environmental protection on species richness was not statistical significant.


Attosecond and femtosecond spectroscopies present opportunities for the control of chemical reaction dynamics and products, as well as for quantum information processing; we address the somewhat unique situation of core-ionization spectroscopy which, for dimeric chromophores, leads to strong valence charge localization and hence tightly paired potential-energy surfaces of very similar shape. Application is made to the quantum dynamics of core-ionized Li2 +. This system is chosen as Li2 is the simplest stable molecule facilitating both core ionization and valence ionization. First, the quantum dynamics of some model surfaces are considered, with the surprising result that subtle differences in shape between core-ionization paired surfaces can lead to dramatic differences in the interplay between electronic charge migration and charge transfer induced by nuclear motion. Then, equation-of-motion coupled-cluster calculations are applied to determine potential-energy surfaces for 8 core-excited state pairs, calculations believed to be the first of their type for other than the lowest-energy core-ionized molecular pair. While known results for the lowest-energy pair suggest that Li2 + is unsuitable for studying charge migration, higher-energy pairs are predicted to yield results showing competition between charge migration and charge transfer. Central is a focus on the application of Hush's 1975 theory for core-ionized X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to understand the shapes of the potential-energy surfaces and hence predict key features of charge migration.


This paper describes a region-based attention approach on motion saliency, which is important for systems that perceive and interact with dynamic environments. Frames are collected to create volumes, which are sliced into stacks of spatiotemporal images. Color segmentation is applied to these images. The orientations of the resulting regions are used to calculate their prominence in a spatiotemporal context. Saliency is projected back into image space. Tests with different inputs produced results comparable with other state-of-the-art methods. We also demonstrate how top-down influence can affect the processing in order to attend objects that move in a particular direction. The model constitutes a framework for later integration of spatiotemporal and spatial saliency as independent streams, which respect different requirements in resolution and timing.


Tantalum-ruthenium diffusion barriers for contacts to SiC were investigated in this work. Stable specific contact resistances of (2 ± 1) x 10-5 Ω cm2 and (4 ± 2) x 10-5 Ω cm2 were measured on p-type 4H SiC for Al/Ni and Ni ohmic contacts, respectively, when they were beneath Ru-rich Ta-Ru barriers aged at 350 °C for 3000 h in air. Annealed Ni ohmic contacts on n-SiC aged at 350 °C in air for 1000 h (the longest time tested) are also very stable. Pull tests revealed greatly improved adhesion between layers in metallization stacks that contained Ta-Ru barriers in place of previously studied Ta-Ru-N barriers. A 5 nm Ta layer inserted between the Ru-rich Ta-Ru barriers and Au was found to further improve the adhesion of the metallization stacks.


In Tunisia, despite the activities of national programs of maternal and child health, low birth weight (LBW) remains common. The aim of this study is to draw up the epidemiological profile of the LBW in the region of Monastir and to study the chronological trends of the associated factors during a period of 14 years (1994-2007). We conducted a population study which interest 97.630 live births (from 26 to 43 weeks) in the public maternities of the region of Monastir. The mean's age of pregnant women was 28.7 +/- 5.5 years. Among them 14.2% were aged 35 and older and 40% were primipara. Newborns were in term in 94.7% of cases. Maternal age, prenatal care, twin pregnancies and fetal complications were the factors independently associated with the occurrence of LBW in term newborns. However, only prenatal care and twin pregnancies were independently associated to LBW in preterm newborns. During the fourteenth years of the study the parturient mean age and the frequency of preterm birth increased significantly (P < 0.001) while the frequency of multiparty decreased significantly (P < 0.001). We found that the risk factors of LBW (advanced age, multiparty, etc.) are still common in our country and require targeted interventions.


Activators generated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization (AGET ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) on silica nanoparticles were conducted to create controllable shell on silica surfaces. SiO2–Br, the macroinitiator, was prepared by the reaction of amido groups previously indroduced on silica with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide, followed by the ATRP of MMA using CuBras the catalyst and ascorbic acid (VC) as the reducing agent in the presence of a limited amount of air. The resulting particles were examined by SEM and TEM. The results indicated that the particles were composed of a silica core and a densely grafted outer poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layer.


Prophetic medicine or Medicine of the Prophet (peace be upon him) comprises the divinely inspired words of therapy of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Prophet (pbuh) made specific statements on 37 ailments and 61 medicinal plants, herbs and shrubs while making prescriptions for the sick people. Therefore, although the Prophet"s arrival was not as a physician or pharmacist he was inspired by Allah (God) to make nearly 1000 statements on healing for the benefits of humankind, because, man needs to remain well, free from sickness to fulfill his brief mission on earth. However, it is amazing that not a single statement of the Prophet (pbuh) is found to be contradictory to the basic principles of modern medical science. The Qur"an says, "He does not speak anything of his own desire. It is only a Revelation revealed" (An-Najm 53:3-4). So, traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) on healing are also true, and modern science has proved it through research. About Nigella sativa (black seed) Abu Hurayrah (ra) narrates that the Prophet (pbuh) said: "Hold on (use this seed regularly)! Because it is a remedy (cure) for every disease except death." (Sahih Al Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Ibn Mâjah and Aḥmad). This amazing statement generated tremendous interest among the world"s scientific community. Their question was, how an unlettered man of the desert without having any pen and paper, could make such a wonderful statement on medical science? The Prophet (pbuh) did not have to carry out any laboratory research to make this statement. Moreover, the Prophet (pbuh) made the statement at a time when there was no chemistry, no science, no pharmacy. The statement finally led the scientific community to carry out extensive phytochemical and biological investigations on Nigella sativa seed and its oil. However, the researchers after having carried out hundreds of scientific researches around the globe finally came to the conclusion that so far this tiny plant seed is reported to have effectively cured 129 different types of ailments including 17 types of cancer, AIDS, hypertension and diabetes. This large number of diseases curable by Nigella sativa demonstrates the authenticity of the Prophet"s statement. About honey Allah says in the Qur"an, "in honey there is healing for men." On the other hand, Abu Hurayrah (ra) narrates that the Prophet (pbuh) said: "If someone licks honey in the morning and evening for three days a month, he will not meet any incurable disease." (Ibn Mâjah) Abu Hurayrah (ra) further narrates another hadith where the Prophet (pbuh) said, "Allah (God) did not send down a disease without having sent down its cure." (Sahih Al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim). This Prophetic statement indicates that Allah (God) has already created remedies for every disease. He created the remedies first, then the disease. But all remedies are yet to be discovered by scientists. So, there is room for continued scientific research. No scientist or physician created any disease or ailment. Doctors only discover or identify an illness on the basis of symptoms and manifestations and prescribe medicines. The Prophetic tradition further indicates that since AIDS is a disease, although disastrous and fatal, it is not incurable. Recent scientific research shows that Prophetic medicines can effectively cure AIDS within six months without causing any harmful side effects. Therefore, in this paper the learned readers will be enlightened with findings of modern scientific researches followed by case studies about how a combined therapy of black seed and honey can effectively cure AIDS.


With this essay we intend to analyze "Tropicalism", cultural movement that apprehends certain aspects of a so-called "Third Worldism" of the Sixties, incorporating, however, other aesthetic strategies such as anarchy, carnavalization, and Oswald de Andrade's modernist style to elaborate an alternative image of Brazil. Our purpose here is to discuss this incorporation as a key element in the constitution of a peripheral cosmopolitanism in Brazilian culture.

Keywords: Brazil; cosmopolitanism; identity; Cultural Studies; culture industry.


Domestication of cereal crops has provided a stable source of food for thousands of years. The extent to which lignocellulosic crops will contribute to the world's renewable energy depends largely on how the new crops will be domesticated. Growing miscanthus as biofuel feedstocks on marginal and degraded land in northern and northwestern China offers an example for developing theoretical framework and practical strategies for energy crop domestication. The domestication should incorporate the highest possible genetic diversity from wild species, focus on the improvement of drought and cold tolerance especially in the stage of crop establishment, increase the efficiencies of water and nutrient uses and photosynthesis, adjust vegetative growing season according to local temperature and precipitation, and reduce or prevent seed production. Positive ecological effects on soil conservation, landscape restoration, carbon sequestration, and hydrological cycles should be maximized, while negative impact on biodiversity needs to be minimized. With the development of other sources of renewable energy, the role of lignocellulosic crops may evolve from primarily energy production to increasingly ecological restoration and biomaterial development. The integration of this new cropping system into the existing agriculture may open a new avenue to the long-term sustainability of our society.


Belinda Rukschcio, director Precise Poetry: Lina Bo Bardi's Architecture Bundesministerium fur Unterricht und Kunst, Austria, 2014, 53 min.

The opening shot of this documentary film shows a huge crowd at an outdoor concert. The crowd spills over the plaza onto Avenida Paulista, the busy urban thoroughfare in the center of the city of Sao Paulo. As this image fades to black, the sound of cheering goes on for a full twenty seconds. Our imagination animates the scene until it appears again with text overlaid: "Live concert by Olodum, MASP, 1992." It is the year Lina Bo Bardi died. The unmistakable red columns of Bo Bardi's iconic Museum of Art of Sao Paulo (1957–68) frame Olodum, a Brazilian black carnival band from the city of Salvador in northeast Bahia. Bo Bardi (1914–92) renovated the building in which the Olodum organization had been established just four years earlier. "The museum used to do shows at lunchtime," recalls Ivani di Grazia Costa, librarian at the museum, "such a big show in that space isn't allowed anymore. The structure of the museum couldn't bear it." In its first minute, Belinda Rukschcio's film lives up to the rigor and beauty of its title, Precise Poetry: Lina Bo Bardi's Architecture .

In another sequence, a close-up of an emblematic stone fragment, a dislodged paver, depicts the nearly empty quiet plaza. Immediately, I think of the first lines of Bo Bardi's self-published 1957 book Contribuicao propedeutica ao ensino da teoria da arquitetura (Propaedeutic contribution to the teaching of the theory of architecture): "There is not a single piece of stone laid down by man at the center of any of our cities, that does not express an idea, that does not represent a letter in the alphabet of our civilization."1 Bo Bardi quoted this statement from the Brazilian intellectual and education reformer Manuel Araujo Porto-Alegre for two reasons, she explains in her text: first, …


OBJECTIVES
The interaction between emerging physician practice models and the use of health information exchange (HIE) remains understudied. We examined associations between the use of emerging practice models and the use of HIE. We also examined barriers to HIE adoption among physicians who were not utilizing HIE.

STUDY DESIGN
Survey data came from a 2019-2021 statewide census of all physicians in Arizona collected at the time of license renewal (n = 3312, or 17.9% of all practicing physicians).

METHODS
Primary outcomes were physician-reported HIE use for patient care summaries and for laboratory results. Secondary outcomes were 5 common HIE barriers among non-HIE users. The primary predictor was physician practice model: accountable care organization (ACO), clinically integrated network (CIN), or integrated delivery network (IDN) vs traditional care delivery model. Covariates included physician specialty, age, gender, and county of practice.

RESULTS
Compared with physicians in traditional care delivery models, physicians in ACOs, CINs, or IDNs had significantly higher odds of using HIE to share both patient care summaries (P < .01) and laboratory results (P < .05 for ACOs), although associations varied across provider and practice characteristics. ACO providers not using HIE were more likely to cite a lack of connectivity and lack of information as HIE barriers.

CONCLUSIONS
Providers in an emerging practice model are more likely to use HIE than those in a traditional care delivery model. However, nuances in these associations suggest a persistence of previously identified HIE gaps, and the barriers cited provide guidance for increasing HIE use among different practice types.


At the STD clinic at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, a total of 1295 male patients with complaints of either urethral discharge and/or dysuria (urethritis), or genital ulcer disease (GUD) were enrolled in the study. Gonococcal urethritis was diagnosed in 415 (80.3%) and nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) in 59 (11.2%) of 517 males enrolled with urethritis. Haemophilus ducreyi cultures were positive for 204 (26.2%) of the 778 patients enrolled with GUD. The syphilis seropositivity rate (RPR and MHA-TP reactive) was 10.7% for the urethritis patients and 17.0% of 758 examined sera among the GUD patients. Reactive syphilis serology and/or positive DFA was found for 228 (33.5%) of 681 GUD patients. HIV seroprevalence was 44.2% among the urethritis patients and 58.9% among the GUD patients. For patients with urethritis, trimethoprim 320 mg/sulfamethoxazole 1600 mg PO for 2 days (TMPSMX), or the combination of amoxicillin 3 gm, probenecid 1 gm, and clavulanate 125 mg PO once (APC), failed to cure gonorrhoea effectively. Amoxicillin 3 gm, and clavulanate 125 mg, PO once with doxycycline 100 mg BID for 7 days (APC-D), gentamicin 240 mg 1M once (GENT), and ciprofloxacin 250 mg PO once (CIPRO) cured 92.9% to 95% of gonorrhoea. APC-D treatment did not generate less NGU at follow-up. For the patients with GUD, cotrimoxazole DS (960 mg) PO twice daily for seven days (TMPSMX) was ineffective for the treatment of chancroid-proven GUD. Erythromycin 250 mg three times daily for 7 days (ERY250), erythromycin 500 mg three times dally for seven days (ERY500), ciprofloxacin 250 mg once dally for 5 days (CIP1D) and ciprofloxacin 500 mg (CIP5D) stat dose appear to be equally effective for chancroid proven GUD. Although HIV serostatus did not effect cure of urethritis, HIV. infection clearly impaired healing of GUD. All patients presenting With urethritis or GUD complaints should be treated syndromically, using a simple algorithm, and screened for syphilis seroreactlvlty for appropriate treatment and counselling.


Cloud Storage has been commonly used by many users, deduplication is a one of the technique used in such cloud storages. Basic idea of deduplication is that there should be only single instance of a file stored in the servers even if it is used by millions of users. Although deduplication increases storage consumption, the technique itself is not very reliable. Likewise, when the user uploads some file security concern of confidentiality of that file also arises. With the above security concerns keeping in mind we put forward this paper with an idea of creating a reliable distributed deduplication system. With our system we target to improve reliability of files with them scattered across multiple serves. With our new covert sharing mechanism we also meet the security requirements of data confidentiality and consistency, all of this without using any cryptography mechanism of any sort. Our tests show that this system is secured as it fulfills our security threat model. As a proof of concept, we implement the system we put forward and show that the incurred operating cost is very limited in realistic environments.


This thesis summarises the author's lifelong work to improve outcomes for patients with musculoskeletal tumours. It starts with analysing diagnostic features and steps that could be taken to improve the time to diagnosis of these rare tumours. It continues with a number of basic science projects which the author has either carried out or collaborated with. Benign bone tumours are common in children and are discussed. The author has probably one of the largest personal experiences of treating primary malignant bone and soft tissue tumours and this is evidenced by the papers on osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma and soft tissue sarcoma. The indications for and outcomes of major ablative amputations are outlined followed by an extensive review of the outcomes of limb salvage surgery with endoprostheses and other techniques. The role of this type of surgery in metastatic disease is put in context. Finally the importance of follow up and guidelines is considered. The thesis represents an analysis of the huge improvements that have taken place in the past 25 years in musculoskeletal oncology but also reveals the many still unanswered questions in this evolving field.


Long term glucocorticoids administration induces oxidative stress which leads to alteration of bone structure and strength. Palm oil is rich in tocotrienol, an antioxidant. It can be used for the prevention of oxidative stress related diseases. The main objective of this study was to determine the mechanism of palm tocotrienol in maintaining the bone structure and strength in glucocorticoidinduced osteoporosis. Thirty two adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 3 months, weighing 300-320 g rats were used in this study. Sixteen rats undergone adrenalectomy and were administered with 120μg/kg/day intramuscular injection of dexamethasone. Eight rats were supplemented with oral palm tocotrienol 60 mg/kg/day (Adrx+Dex+PTT) and the other eight rats were given oral vehicle palm olein 0.1 ml/kg/day (Adrx+Dex). Eight rats underwent sham procedure and were given vehicle palm olein 0.05 ml/kg/day by intramuscularly and oral 0.1 ml/kg/day (Sham). The rats were euthanized after two months of treatments. Eight rats were euthanized after acclimatic action without receiving any treatment (Baseline). The right femurs were used for bone biomechanical strength and histomorphometry analysis while the left for gene expression and oxidative stress enzymes activities. The results indicated that long-term glucocorticoid treatment significantly increased bone resorption marker, CTX (6060.7 ± 410 pg/ml) and decreased bone structure and strength. Osteoblast and osteoclast related genes expressions indicated an increase in bone turnover. Supplementation of palm tocotrienol had maintained serum resorption (2619.4 + 209 pg/ml) marker level and preserved bone structure and strength. Gene expression analysis showed decrease in bone resorption. The findings suggested that palm tocotrienol has potential benefits against glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis by regulating osteoblast and osteoclast related gene expressions.


Identifying and addressing land uses on or near airports that attract wildlife hazardous to aviation, such as refuse and water management facilities, is an important component of an integrated approach to reduce wildlife-aircraft collisions. Similar to most airports, Snohomish County Airport (Paine Field) has recently been involved with construction of on-airfield stormwater management structures. In addition, Snohomish County built a new trash-transfer facility on airport property during 2002-2003. The airport, USDA Wildlife Services, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provided considerable input into the design and landscaping around the transfer facility and in the redesign of a stormwater detention pond/wetland to minimize their attractiveness to hazardous wildlife. The number of blackbirds, American crows, and songbirds using the transfer station and site after the facility opened (during 2004) was reduced by 96%, 7%, and 63%, respectively, compared to when the site was an undeveloped grass field (during 2001). The 5.1-ha on-airfield water detention structure was heavily utilized by waterfowl prior to modification. In fall 2001, the stormwater pond/wetland was re-graded, a manually controlled spill valve was added to the existing outflow channel, and approximately 32,500 woody plants (e.g., willow) were planted within pond. During 2004, red-winged blackbird use was 30% higher, whereas duck and Canada goose use was 96% and 84% lower, respectively, than during 2001 (prior to the habitat modifications). Management efforts to reduce the attractiveness of these two on-airfield attractants appeared to be effective at Paine Field.


Intramural duodenal haematoma is an uncommon lesion, usually a complication of blunt abdominal trauma in children and young adults. We present a case of intramural duodenal haematoma following endoscopic biopsy, which caused partial duodenal obstruction and pancreatitis and resolved with conservative management.


Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) patients frequently feel persistent pain, which is described as painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN), which begins in both feet and frequently spreads to the calves, fingers, and hands. PDPN not only causes pain, but also affects patients' sleep, emotions, mental state, and everyday activities, resulting in a low quality of life and a significant financial burden. The goal of this study was to monitor if there was a link between the prevalence, pattern, and related risk factors of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) levels. In this crosssectional study, 150 type-2 diabetic patients were screened for DPN with PDPN and their HbA1c level was measured in every three months. DPN, PDPN and non-painful DPN were confirmed in patients displaying both clinical manifestations of neuropathy and neurological abnormalities assessment. DPN was detected in 24% (n = 36), while PDPN was found at 15% (n = 23) of the total patients. The prevalence of PDPN is 63.88% (n = 23) and non-painful DPN is 36.11% (n = 13) of total DPN (n = 36). Out of total PDPN (n = 23), the prevalence of symmetrical pain is 65% (n = 15), asymmetrical 35% (n = 8), sensory 26% (n = 6), motor 13% (n = 3), mixed (sensorimotor) 61% (n = 14), lower limb involvement 48% (n = 11), upper limb13% (n = 3) and both limb 39% (n = 9). In comparison to patients without DPN, both PDPN and non-painful DPN, patients had greater HbA1c levels (p<0.05). Furthermore, advanced age and longer diabetes duration were considerable and significant (p<0.05) risk factors for DPN with PDPN and non-painful DPN respectively. Overall, the findings imply that elevated HbA1c levels are closely linked to DPN, PDPN and non-painful DPN in type-2 diabetic patients and that HbA1c might be used as a predictive marker for DPN with PDPN and non-painful DPN in the patients studied.
J. Bio-Sci. 29(2): 123-138, 2021 (December)


Most automated procedures used for the analysis of textual data do not apply natural language processing techniques. While these applications usually allow for an efficient data collection, most have difficulties to achieve sufficient accuracy because of the high complexity and interdependence of semantic concepts used in the social sciences. Manual content analysis approaches sometimes lack accuracy too, but, more virulently, human coding entails a heavy workload for the researcher. To address this high cost problem without running into the risk of oversimplification, we suggest a semi-automatic approach. Our application implements an innovative coding method based on computational linguistic techniques, i.e. mainly named entity recognition and concept identification. In order to show the potential of this new method, we apply it to an analysis of electoral campaigns. In the first stage of this contribution, we describe how relations between political parties and issues can be recognized by an automated system. In the second stage, we discuss facilities to manually attribute a positive or negative direction to these relations.


We study convolutional LDPC codes over the binary erasure channel for immutable distributed storage systems. These codes allow the archival of data objects in a sequential fashion on an increasing number of storage nodes as they arrive in the system, as well as fast repair using a simple message passing decoder. We further target systematic codes, high code rates and low locality, which are paramount in this setting. We describe a family of codes that split each archived data object in s blocks, entangle them with t = s + p blocks already archived, and generate p parity blocks per archived data object. We carefully choose the parity-check matrix and the blocks already archived to maximize the repair capability of the resulting codes, and describe the best constructions for 1 ≤ s ≤ 5 and p = 2. A Markov analysis shows that for the same storage overhead, our codes are orders of magnitude more reliable than state-of-the-art Reed-Solomon and locally repairable codes.


Using data from a 50-state survey of policies, state case study analyses, the 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), this study examines the ways in which teacher qualifications and other school inputs are related to student achievement across states. The findings of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that policy investments in the quality of teachers may be related to improvements in student performance. Quantitative analyses indicate that measures of teacher preparation and certification are by far the strongest correlates of student achievement in reading and mathematics, both before and after controlling for student poverty and language status. State policy surveys and case study data are used to evaluate policies that influence the overall level of teacher qualifications within and across states. This analysis suggests that policies adopted by states regarding teacher education, licensing, hiring, and professional development may make an important difference in the qualifications and capacities that teachers bring to their work. The


Repeated outbreaksof vector-borne diseases necessitateddetailed study on the diversity and abundance of mosquitoes associated withThalassery municipal area, of Kannur district, Kerala, India.Seasonal collection of mosquitoes both in adult and larval forms were carried outfrom heterogeneous habitats of the municipal area to determine the species composition, relative abundance and habitat characteristics. Mosquito larvae collected from temporary and permanent breeding sites were reared to adults in the laboratory for species level identification. Similarly adult mosquitoes, collected from random sites were also subjected to species level identification following standard manuals.Species diversity of adult mosquitoes was higher during post monsoon season (2 genera, 5 species) than pre monsoon season (1 genus,2 species). However a reversal in species diversity has been noticed with mosquito larvae, with higher species diversity during premonsoon season (4 genera,8 species) than post monsoon season (4 genera, 6 species).In both the seasons, Culexquinquefaciatus and Anopheles stephensi were the most predominant species in terms of relative abundance and distribution.The mosquito communities sampled were noted to have several important vectors of infectious diseases such as Dengue, Chikungunya, Filariasis and Malaria, which recalls the urgent need for instituting appropriate measures for controlling these mosquito-borne diseases.


To ensure reliable test data communication in a wireless test system, information can be encapsulated in packets equipped with error correction and retransmission capability. Systems employing such an approach require a complex test interface (test wrapper) to bridge communication and test modules. This article proposes a modular test wrapper design and an automation tool to create a wrapper for a target circuit under test and associated test program.


Dosimetry and other techniques provide depth-age profiles in materials as diverse as sediments and ice. A frequent characteristic feature of these plots is a non-linear curve with a foreshortened depth scale. Whilst the age analyses from the dosimetry do not present a problem, many authors have made subsequent assumptions on the basis of the curve shape with respect to climate and environmental changes. Such claims should be strongly questioned, as by using a model which includes the effects of compaction, most of the original curves transform into linear plots corresponding to constant depositional rates. The corrections and the implications for models of climate change are discussed.


Epistemology and ethics are fundamental disciplines to understanding the nature of the medical enterprise. Values of truth, goodness, faith and love dominate the knowledge and practise of medicine. Each epistemological model of truth (truth as useful, truth as correspondence to fact, and truth as coherence) has strengths and weaknesses in guiding us in the scientific method in medicine. Dialectic skills are also important epistemological tools in exploring truth in relationship to diagnosis and treatment. By dialectic and analogy we approach the good as we explore and debate available technique and desirable goal. All of the doctor's scientific discipline and technical skill must be brought to bear within a relationship. It is here that the medical enterprise becomes intensely concerned with ethics. Most ethicists describe the doctor-patient relationship as a fiduciary relationship in which the doctor commits himself to his patient in faithfulness. The doctor-patient relationship is a special form of the "I-Thou relationship" grounded not only in trust but also in love.


Stereotypes were introduced into the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to provide means of customizing this visual, general purpose, object-oriented modeling language, for its usage in specific application domains. The primary purpose of stereotypes is to brand an existing model element with a specific semantics. In addition, stereotypes can also be used as notational shorthand. The paper elaborates on this role of stereotypes from the perspective of UML, clarifies the role and describes a controlled experiment aimed at evaluation of the role - in the context of model understanding. The results of the experiment support the claim that stereotypes with graphical icons for their representation play a significant role in comprehension of models and show the size of the improvement.


Mutton has exceptional qualities such as smell, high consistency, and huge muscle fat, which makes mutton are restricted to consume. To expand mutton utilization, diversification with proper innovation is important. Salami is one of the proper mutton products that required starter such LAB that can deliver metabolites to change the texture, taste, and odor of meat. Other than LAB, yeasts additionally show up in meat processing, particularly in salami fermentation, which can build the meat taste and odor. The study aimed to identify the chemical, physical (water holding capacity, tenderness, and pH) and organoleptic (odor, color, texture, and taste) quality of mutton salami. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used as an experimental design with starters of Lactobacillus Plantarum as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts, i.e. Cryptococcus humicolous and Trichosporon beigelii. The treatments were divided into 5 levels, i.e. R1 (0.5% LAB: Yeast 0.5%), R2 (1% LAB: Yeast 1 %), R3 (1.5% LAB: Yeast 1.5%), R4 (2% LAB: Yeast 2%), and R5 (2.5% LAB: Yeast 2.5%), with four replications. Analysis of variance was used to find out the treatment effect, and the Duncan Multiple Range Test was used to find out the difference between any treatments. The results show that the addition of Lactobacillus Plantarum from 0.5% to 2.5% and yeast Cryptococcus humicolous, Trichosporon beigelii from 0.5% to 2.5%, did not significantly affect chemical and physical quality, while water holding capacity and organoleptic test, i.e., color, odor, and texture showed significant effects except taste.


"The WTO organs are somewhat addicted to Chairman's statements. It must be admitted that they often present a useful way out of the dilemma. The chairman pronounces them from the Chair, usually after painstaking consultations with many delegations, but in principle they are not fully negotiated. Nobody contradicts them, but nobody has accepted them either and everybody can live in the illusion that this statement is the Chair's responsibility alone, does not really represent a true consensus or decision but, as if by magic, will still be followed and respected by everyone."


OBJECTIVES
Crohn disease (CD) is a chronic inflammation in the digestive tract that affects millions of Americans. Bowel vascularity has important diagnostic information because inflammation is associated with blood flow changes. We recently developed an ultrasensitive ultrasound microvessel imaging (UMI) technique with high vessel sensitivity. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of UMI to assist CD detection and staging.

METHODS
Ultrasound microvessel imaging was performed on 76 bowel wall segments from 48 symptomatic patients with CD. Clinically indicated computed tomographic/magnetic resonance enterography was used as the reference standard. The vessel-length ratio (VLR, the number of vessel pixels in the bowel wall segment normalized to the segment length) was derived in both conventional color flow imaging (CFI) and UMI to quantitatively stage disease activity. Receiver operating characteristic curves were then analyzed between different disease groups.

RESULTS
The VLR-CFI and VLR-UMI detected similar correlations between vascularization and disease activity: severe inflammation had a higher VLR than normal/mildly inflamed bowels (P < .05). No significant difference was found between quiescent and mild CD due to the small sample size. The VLR-CFI had more difficulties in distinguishing quiescent versus mild CD compared to the VLR-UMI. After combining the VLR-UMI with thickness, in the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the areas under the curves (AUCs) improved to AUC1 = 0.996 for active versus quiescent CD, AUC2 = 0.978 for quiescent versus mild CD, and AUC3 = 0.931 for mild versus severe CD, respectively, compared to those using thickness alone (AUC1 = 0.968; P = .04; AUC2 = 0.919; P = .16; AUC3 = 0.857; P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS
Ultrasound microvessel imaging offers a safe and cost-effective tool for CD diagnosis and staging, which may potentially assist disease activity classification and therapy efficacy evaluation.


Rapid advances in Internet commerce technology have brought about the emergence of comparison-shopping Websites, which act as agents to consolidate vast amounts of product information. Researchers have traditionally focused on incorporating the latest database interrogation technology and investigating the economic implications of the existence of comparison-shopping Websites. Little attention has been paid to understanding whether the decision aids provided are capable of assisting a consumer in managing a large quantity of information or, more importantly, are compatible with the decision-making behavior of the consumer. This study surveys several successful comparison-shopping Websites, enumerates two comercially successful forms of decision aids (i.e., screening and sorting), and examines their effects on decision effectiveness under different information loads. Based on a 3×2×2 factorial controlled experiment, we had three major findings. First, more sophisticated screening aids that assist a consumer in filtering a large quantity of information do not necessarily improve decision effectiveness. Surprisingly, our results even suggest that in some circumstances the opposite could be true. Second, the results indicate that the effectiveness of decision aids, to a large extent, depends on the information load. Third, decision makers are adaptive. One may supplement the absence of more sophisticated screening aids with the sorting aid.


A total of 50 patients were enrolled for study purpose. The study conducted was a prospective, observational  study from July 2009 to October 2009. Patients were seen on five separate occasions (1) Baseline (week 0) At the beginning of initial treatment, patients were divided into two groups i.e; Topiramate gp; and Leve-tiracetam. Patients were given the respective drugs and then asked to follow up after fifteen days. First follow-up visit was after 15 days of treatment, second follow-up visit (30 days after first follow-up visit, third fol-low-up (after 45 days) and final visit (60 days after ini-tial treatment). Levetiracetam was administered at a dose of 250 – 500 mg b. i. d and Topiramate 50 mg b i d. During each phase concomitant anti-epileptic regimes remained constant. In addition Folic acid was prescribed to every patient. Statistical analysis was performed using software SPSS version v. 16.0 for Windows. In the primary analysis 95% confidence intervals for both upper and lower bound means, ANOVA and t-test were performed. Conclusion:   This study supports the effectiveness of Anti-Epileptic Drugs as add – on therapy. Topiramate did not prove superior, but it may be a good choice for patients allergic to other anti-epileptic drugs because of the lower risk for rash. Levetiracetam is a broad-spectrum AED and compares well with long – acting VPA and CBZ. Results may have been better with an Extended Release (ER) formulation of Levetiracetam. The retention rate for LEV is statistically significant as is TPM. LEV had a more favorable side effect profile than TPM with comparable efficacy. Patients on TPM discontinued treatment mainly because of neurocogni-tive side effects and allergic reactions. In the treatment with LEV, the effects on mood must not be underesti-mated. Keywords:   Epilepsy, seizures, antiepileptic drugs, levetiracetam, topiramate.


An unusual population of Meloidogyne hapla, earlier thought to be an undescribed species, was found causing large galls, without adventitious roots, and substantial damage to coffee in Maui, Hawaii. Only in Brazil had similar damage to coffee been reported by this species. Unlike M. exigua from South and Central America, this population reproduced well on coffee cv. Mokka and M. incognita-susceptible tomato but poorly on tomato with the Mi resistance gene. Characterization included SEM images, esterase isozymes, and five DNA sequences: i) the D3 segment of the large subunit (LSU-D3 or 28S) rDNA, ii) internal transcribed spacer (ITS-1) rDNA, iii) intergenic spacer (IGS) rDNA, iv) the mitochondrial interval from cytochrome oxidase (CO II) to 16S mtDNA, and v) the nuclear gene Hsp90. Sequences for ITS-1, IGS, and COII were similar to other M. hapla populations, but within species ITS-1 variability was not less than among species. One LSU-D3 haplotype was similar to a previously analyzed population with two minor haplotypes. Hsp90 exhibited some variation between Maryland and Hawaiian populations distinct from other species. Females were narrow with wide vulval slits, large interphasmidial distances, and more posterior excretory pores; 20% of perineal patterns had atypical perivulval lines. Males had a low b ratio (<12 μm). Juveniles had a short distance between stylet and dorsal gland orifice. Juvenile body length was short (<355 μm) and was different between summer and winter populations.


The increasing costs of conventional feedstuffs like corn, soybean meal and fish meal
for poultry diets is pushing the need to find less expensive alternatives. Bitter vetch
(Vicia ervilia) is an ancient grain legume crop that originated in the Mediterranean
region, but now can be found in many countries around the world. It has many
favourable characteristics, such as having high yields and being resistant to drought
and insects. Bitter vetch (BV) is a good source of metabolisable energy (13.57 MJ/
kg), protein (240 g/kg) and minerals especially Fe, Cu, K, P and Cl. It contains small
amounts of fat, but is high in non-structural carbohydrates (617.8 g/kg). Its amino
acid profile is very close to soybean meal, including being a good source of lysine.
Given all of these qualities, BV has good potential as a feed source for poultry.
However, raw BV contains anti-nutritional factors such as canavanine, protease
inhibitors, tannins and lectins that have been shown to have detrimental
performance effects as a feed source for broilers and laying hens. Attempts to
process and detoxify these substances through soaking in water, acidic and alkali
solutions, boiling and autoclaving have met with limited success. Hence, before
bitter vetch can be considered as a viable alternative feed source for poultry,
more work is necessary to establish suitable techniques for removing greater
amounts of these anti-nutritional compounds. This paper reviews the current
body of knowledge on bitter vetch as a potential feed source for poultry.


After Hurricane Andrew crossed southern Florida (U.S.A.) on 24 August 1992, native and exotic pioneer species in subtropical hardwood forests (hammocks) regenerated from seed banks. Regeneration occurred in hammocks of metropolitan Dade County and the Long Pine Key region of Everglades National Park. The density of the native pioneer Trema micrantha was significantly higher in hammocks of Long Pine Key than in those of metropolitan Dade County. In contrast, the basal area of the exotic pioneer Carica papaya was greater in Dade County hammocks than Long Pine Key hammocks. Although T. micrantha tended to be restricted to areas of soil disturbance (tip‐up pits) formed by trees uprooted during Hurricane Andrew, especially in Long Pine Key, C. papaya was located throughout hammocks. These results suggest differences in the regeneration niches in which the native T. micrantha required more specific disruptions (i.e., both canopy and soil) than C. papaya (only removal of canopy) for establishment. A broad regeneration niche could in part account for the capability of an exotic species with a dormant seed bank to invade native subtropical forests following natural large‐scale disturbances.


Are there generational differences in saving behavior? On the basis of new micro data for household saving in Norway I find that differences between birth cohorts are small and statistically insignificant. In particular, cohort effects are small compared to the strong positive effect of aging on saving. Furthermore, within the framework of a life-cycle model, a generation that is characterized as being particularly patient or prudent will save more while young and less while old, a result that goes against the intuition that the current old save much because they belong to a generation with preferences for high saving. To ensure that the empirical findings are robust, a variety of econometric specifications and techniques are employed.


Green's function treatment of phonon scattering in carbon nanotube transistors" (2008). Abstract—We present a detailed treatment of dissipative quantum transport in carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT-FETs) using the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. The effect of phonon scattering on the device characteristics of CNT-FETs is explored using extensive numerical simulation. Both intra-and intervalley scattering mediated by acoustic (AP), optical (OP), and radial-breathing-mode (RBM) phonons are treated. Realistic phonon dispersion calculations are performed using force-constant methods, and electron–phonon coupling is determined through microscopic theory. Specific simulation results are presented for (16,0), (19,0), and (22,0) zigzag CNTFETs, which are in the experimentally useful diameter range. We find that the effect of phonon scattering on device performance has a distinct bias dependence. Up to moderate gate biases, the influence of high-energy OP scattering is suppressed, and the device current is reduced due to elastic backscattering by AP and low-energy RBM phonons. At large gate biases, the current degradation is mainly due to high-energy OP scattering. The influence of both AP and high-energy OP scattering is reduced for larger diameter tubes. The effect of RBM mode, however, is nearly independent of the diameter for the tubes studied here.


Background: Previous research has assessed S-IgA reactivity in response to a variety of acute and chronic stressors. This paper discusses three experiments assessing the roles of personality and health status as moderators upon S-IgA reactivity to one stressor, the same stressor on consecutive days and cumulative acute stress.
Method: All volunteers were healthy undergraduates. Saliva samples were taken immediately before and after exposure to
the stressor (multi-tasking battery) of 5 minute duration. A minor health complaints questionnaire (MHCQ) was used to classify volunteers as being in either good or poor health.
Experiment One: (N = 60) MHCQ prior to acute stressor. Experiment Two: (N = 49) MHCQ, NEOFFI and PANAS prior to the same acute stressor 24 hours apart. Experiment Three: (N = 20) MHCQ and PANAS and prior to three acute stressors interspersed with 5 minutes of relaxation.
Results: In experiments 1 and 2, there was a trend for individuals in poor health to demonstrate reduced post-stress S-IgA reactivity. In experiment 3, poor health individuals demonstrated reduced or downregulation of S-IgA following the stressor (t (18) 2.46, p = 0.02). Individuals in poor health also reported significantly greater negative affectivity (t (47) –2.52, p = 0.03) and neuroticism (t (47)
–2.90, p < 0.01).
Discussion: Data are presented using the immuno-capacity model. A cyclical process is explained where levels of ill-health and NA moderate S-IgA reactivity to acute stress. Post-stress S-IgA levels moderate subsequent susceptibility to ill-health and NA and S-IgA reactivity to subsequent stressors.


This paper addresses the changing role of libraries as central knowledge hubs of an information society. It questions the relevance of the existing performance measures and asks what kind of public value we are expecting from the libraries. The paper illustrates its main arguments with the empirical context of the Finland and shortly introduces the case of 'Iso Omena' in Espoo, Finland where a novel approach for providing public value has been implemented. The paper develops two arguments to guide the future research in the area. First, new indicators and measurement practices are needed if we want to evaluate more comprehensively the public value of libraries. Second, performance management and evaluation taking place in libraries calls for active performance dialogue between the relevant interest groups in order to determine the public value of libraries and performance measures tracking how this value is produced.


Life in residential care can be challenging for residents and staff. Bringing humor into this setting may benefit residents, creating a more productive, enjoyable work environment for staff. The potential effect of exposure to humor therapy on staff, both as active and incidental participants, as part of a randomized controlled trial of the effect of humor therapy for aged care residents was investigated in the Sydney Multisite Intervention of LaughterBosses and ElderClowns (SMILE). The intervention involved a humor program with professional performers (ElderClowns) and trained facility staff (LaughterBosses) for a minimum of nine 2-hour sessions over 12 weeks. Methods included a staff survey at three time points, interviews with LaughterBosses, and a satisfaction rating by facility managers. There were significant positive findings for some staff subgroups, including assistants in nursing/personal care assistants and staff older than 45. LaughterBoss interviews and intervention group manager ratings of staff work enthusiasm were positive.


Our excess health care spending in the United States is driven largely by our high health care prices. Our prices are so high because they are undisciplined by market forces, in a health care system rife with market failures, which include information asymmetries, noncompetitive levels of provider market concentration, moral hazard created by health insurance, multiple principal-agent relationships with misaligned incentives, and externalities from unwarranted price variation and discrimination. These health care market failures invite a regulatory solution. An array of legal and policy solutions are typically advanced to control our health care prices and spending, including: (1) market solutions that focus on transparency and consumerism to discipline health care prices; (2) antitrust enforcement to promote competition in the provider market; (3) consumer protections that protect individual uninsured or underinsured patients from unfair prices; (4) health care payment and delivery reforms that alter financial incentives of health care providers to reduce overutilization and improve efficiency; and (5) direct regulation of provider payment rates. The literature on these health care policy approaches reflects the fragmentation of the U.S. health care system, typically considering each approach in isolation, and it is difficult to make sense of an a la carte menu of approaches. This article sets forth an analytic framework to simultaneously and comprehensively evaluate all the policy solutions to discipline health care prices by measuring each solution for its ability to address the health care market failures. Applying this policy-against-market failure analysis leads to the following conclusion: only one solution -- direct rate regulation -- is capable of addressing the widespread and growing provider monopoly problem. More politically popular market approaches such as price transparency and payment and delivery reforms can correct the market failures from information asymmetries and principal-agent problems, but because they do not address the market power of providers, they will be ineffective to control health care prices and spending without accompanying direct rate regulation. It is time to resurrect rate regulation and place it squarely in the center of any policy strategy to control health care prices and spending.


Sporotrichosis is commonly a chronic infection caused by Sporothrix schenckii, a saprophytic fungus and is usually limited to cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues. Disseminated systemic, osteoarticular or pulmonary sporotrichosis have been reported but nasal sinusitis by this fungus is extremely infrequent. Earlier report from southern India documented a case of maxillary sinusitis by Sporothrix schenckii. Here we report a similar case of bilateral maxillary sinusitis in a middle aged female from a village of Bihar, a state in eastern India. She underwent endoscopic maxillary sinus surgery for nasal symptoms and diagnosed to have sporotrichotic infection of maxillary sinuses. The diagnosis was done by mycological and histopathological examination and patient improved under antifungal chemotherapy.


College students read chapters from a novel written by Alan Lightman (Einstein's Dreams) and later provided verification judgments on the truth/falsity of test statements. Each chapter described a different fictional village that incorporated assumptions about time that deviate from our normal TIME schema, e.g., citizens knowing exactly when the world will end, time flowing backward instead of forward. These novel assumptions about time provided interesting insights about life and reality. In two experiments, we examined whether readers could accurately incorporate these novel assumptions about time in the fictional story worlds, as manifested in the verification judgments for statements after story comprehension. The test statements included verbatim typical, verbatim atypical, inference typical, and inference atypical information from the perspective of mundane reality that meshes with a normal TIME schema. Verification ratings were collected on a 6-point scale in Experiment 1, whereas Experiment 2 used a signal-response technique in which binary true/false decisions were extracted at-.5, 1.5, 3.5, 5.5, and 10.0 s. The college students were measured on literary expertise, reading skill, working memory span, and reading time. Readers with comparatively high literary expertise showed truth discrimination scores that were compatible with a schema copy plus tag model, which assumes that readers are good at detecting and remembering atypical verbatim information; this model predicts better (and faster) truth discrimination for verbatim atypical statements than for verbatim typical statements. In contrast, fast readers with comparatively low literary expertise were compatible with a filtering model; this model predicts that readers gloss over (or suppress) atypical verbatim information and show advantages for verbatim typical information. All groups of readers had trouble inferentially propagating the novel assumptions about time in a fictional story world, but the slower readers were more accurate in their verification of the atypical inferences. A construction-integration model could explain the interactions among literary expertise, reading time, and the typicality of test statements.


A powerful employer image is claimed to contribute to sustainable competitive advantage by attracting highly skilled employees. However, previous research considers employer image in a domestic context only, although international companies increasingly face the challenge of recruiting employees worldwide. In order to understand the impact of different cultural backgrounds and demographics on job seekers' perceptions of what constitutes an attractive employer, we conduct a multilevel analysis incorporating 90,944 students from 18 countries. Even though between-country differences result not as large as expected, we find significant influence of national culture and economic development on students' importance ratings regarding the key employer image facets promotion opportunities and professional development. Our findings provide managers and researchers with insights on the degree of standardization versus adaption of the employer brand in a pan-European context.


This article focuses on the early editorial and literary career of Charles Henri Ford (1908–2002). Spanning much of the twentieth century, Ford's multiform aesthetic sensibility incorporated poetry, visual art, filmmaking, photography, and magazine editing. Despite the breath and depth of his interests and achievements, little critical attention has been paid to Ford. My article addresses this imbalance. It recovers an unfairly marginalized poet and editor whose little magazine sought to renovate modernism along decidedly queer lines. The first section contextualizes Ford and his second-generation modernist little magazine. The subsequent sections chart the magazine's trajectory.


This article examines the effects of the negative income tax, in a matching model, on labor market participation. We show that the introduction of such instrument reduces unemployment and improves the situation of the poorest. But, amazingly, it provokes a fall on labor market participation principally because the agents are then less selective. We find another surprising result: despite the rise on participation, the increasing of unemployment benefits improves the situation of the firms at the expense of workers.


ABSTRACT Background: Men play an important role in maternal health. The postpartum period is a critical stage, yet there is a scarcity of research that explores men's involvement during this stage. Objective: The aim of the study was to explore male partners' perceptions of the cultural practices during postpartum care in rural Tanzania. Methods: Fourteen focus group discussions were conducted with 93 men, with an age range of 19–65 years, in August 2013. The study was conducted in the Kongwa District, located in the Dodoma region in central Tanzania. Qualitative data were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using content analysis. Results: Four categories emerged, namely: 'Men as providers and, occasionally, care takers', 'Men as decision makers', 'Diverse perceptions of sexual abstinence' and 'Barriers for men in using/accompanying partners to use reproductive and child healthcare services'. The cross-category theme 'Men during postpartum: remaining powerful but excluded' refers to how men are in a powerful position above women in different aspects of life. Elderly women played an important role in caring for postpartum mothers and their newborns, but men were the ones making the final decision about where to seek care. Traditional practices isolated men from their partners for a certain period, and enforced sexual abstinence for the women during the postpartum period. However, cultural norms permitted men to engage in extramarital relations. Reproductive and child healthcare services were perceived by men as not welcoming the male partners, and local gender norms discouraged men from accompanying their partners to seek services. Conclusions: In this study, we found that men perceived their role during the postpartum period as financial providers, decision makers and, occasionally, care givers. Men also held diverse perceptions with regard to sexual abstinence and felt excluded from participating in maternal healthcare services.


A magnetic MIL-101-SO3H was synthesized and successfully used as a highly active nanocatalyst for the synthesis of 1,3,5-triarylbenzenes and 2,4,6-triaryl pyridines. The prepared nanocatalyst was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray and X-ray powder diffraction. It is found that the catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture by an external magnetic field and recycled several times without a significant loss of activity.


The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of cross-lingual data on human perception and automatic classification of emotion from speech. We use four different databases from three languages (English, Chinese, and German) and two types (acted and improvised). For automatic classification, there is a significant degradation using cross-corpus than within-corpus setup. For human perception, we observe differences between native and non-native speakers when judging emotions for a language, and there is less performance loss in cross-language setup compared to automatic classification. In addition, we find that the automatic approaches work well in classifying the emotional activation category: positive and negative activated emotions, but are not good at classifying instances within the same activation category, which is different from the confusion patterns of the human perception experiment. This study provides insights to better understanding of cross-lingual human emotion perception and development of robust automatic emotion recognition systems.


Abstract The motivation for this paper is the following: In [4] I showed that it is inconsistent with ZFC that the Maximality Principle for directed closed forcings holds at unboundedly many regular cardinals κ (even only allowing κ itself as a parameter in the Maximality Principle for <κ-closed forcings each time). So the question is whether it is consistent to have this principle at unboundedly many regular cardinals or at every regular cardinal below some large cardinal κ (instead of ∞), and if so, how strong it is. It turns out that it is consistent in many cases, but the consistency strength is quite high.


Reverse engineering is a process of capturing the geometry by existing physical objects and used the data obtained as a foundation for re-designing or designing something new. Laser scanners are commonly used since they can be a sample of threedimensional range images fast and very accurately relative to other technologies. The complexity of the process to re-modelling the objects is very obvious since the re-shaping of the object is more to surface consideration and not solid modelling. This paper employs and compares two methods of reverse engineering. First, conventional method is used where the parts of a car side mirror are drawn from direct measurement. Second, the detail drawings of the same parts are generated through three-dimensional scanning software. For the conventional method, direct measurements are obtained using a vernier calliper, ruler and micrometer. For the later approach, three-dimensional scanning software is used, where the side mirror and its components are scanned to obtain the initial feature, which later on is refined to achieve an accurate computational model. Based on the final computational model, both methods are compared and analysed. This paper is aimed to exhibit a computer aided reverse engineering approach in modelling a product through both methods. A comprehensive methodology is presented through a case study approach.


The dimensional instability of temporary sealing materials based on zinc oxide-eugenol was studied in vitro by chemical reaction between an indicator solution (5% nickel sulfate) and a developing solution (1% alcohol dimethylglixime). Thermal cycling was performed (5, 37 and 60 degrees C). Zinc acetate was added to zinc oxide to test its action on dimensional instability. The materials were divided into two groups. 1) group with double sealing (gutta-percha + sealing material), and 2) group without double sealing. It was concluded that none of the temporary sealing materials tested, with or without double sealing, prevented marginal infiltration when submitted to thermal cycling. The addition of zinc acetate to zinc oxide was not effective in preventing marginal infiltration.


Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) or Strong AI aims to create machines with human-like or human-level intelligence, which is still a very ambitious goal when compared to the existing computing and AI systems. After many hype cycles and lessons from AI history, it is clear that a big conceptual leap is needed for crossing the starting line to kick-start mainstream AGI research. This position paper aims to make a small conceptual contribution toward reaching that starting line. After a broad analysis of the AGI problem from different perspectives, a system-theoretic and engineering-based research approach is introduced, which builds upon the existing mainstream AI and systems foundations. Several promising cross-fertilization opportunities between systems disciplines and AI research are identified. Specific potential research directions are discussed.


Porosity is one of fundamental rock properties which relates to amount of fluid contained in reservoirs. In uncored intervals and wells to heterogeneous formations, porosity estimation from conventional well logs will be a difficult and complex task by statistical approaches. Intelligent computing approaches have been successfully used for rock characterization. It has been proved that the combined approaches such as neuro-fuzzy lead to better results. We used an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) approach for estimating porosity. ANFIS is a neuro-fuzzy model that implements a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy inference system and has a five layered architecture. The first hidden layer is for fuzzification of the input variables while T-norm operators are deployed in the second hidden layer to compute the rule antecedent part. The third hidden layer normalizes the rule strengths and is followed by the fourth hidden layer where the consequent parameters of the rule are determined. The output layer computes the overall output as the summation of all incoming signals. ANFIS uses backpropagation learning to determine premise parameters, and least-mean square estimation to determine the consequent parameters. In the study, one well was used for training and checking and another well for testing.


This article reflects a qualitative exploratory inquiry into the lived experiences of faculty members working within a system of urban schools of education as they supported diverse teacher candidates in completing the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) during its first semesters of high-stakes implementation. Drawing upon questionnaire responses and semi-structured interviews, our findings demonstrate the disparity and variation in the level and kind of support offered to teacher candidates. We discuss the ways that the policy, stance, and the ethical, pedagogical, and logistical dilemmas teacher educators faced as they supported candidates intersected to shape the supports provided. Implications focus on utilization of such test scores for evaluating teacher preparation institutions, faculty relations, and the diversification of the teacher workforce.


Electrical power has become an important design constraint in high-performance computing (HPC) systems. On future HPC machines, power is likely to be a budgeted resource and thus managed dynamically. Power management software needs to reliably measure application performance at runtime in order to respond effectively to changes in application behavior. Execution time tells us little about how the science in the application is progressing toward an application-defined end goal. To the best of our knowledge, no study has defined or categorized online application progress in the context of power management. Based on semi-structured interviews with HPC application-specialists, we define an online notion of progress—an application-specific metric that can be monitored at runtime to provide a sense of the rate at which application science is being performed. Using instrumentation, we characterize and categorize the progress of various production scientific applications and benchmarks. We propose a model of the impact of dynamic power capping on application progress. By experimental evaluation, we show that our model accurately captures the general behavior of the progress of different classes of applications under a power cap. We believe that such a model is an important first step toward the design of more dynamic power management policies for HPC systems.


FIGURE 1.
Elif Rongen-Kaynakci, curator of silent film, EYE Film Institute, Amsterdam. Courtesy of Valerio Greco.

> victoria duckett:Thank you for agreeing to speak to me today, Elif. I thought I'd begin by asking you what your job is, what your role is as an archivist, and how you came to it.

> elif rongen-kaynakci:This will be a long answer, I am afraid! At the moment, I am the silent film curator at EYE, so I am in charge of the silent film collection. Our silent film collection is remarkable in many respects. It contains, for example, the [Jean] Desmet Collection, which is very big on its own, but also some other very important early films. What I do is take what comes in, because there is still a lot of material out there, and it is still coming in. I go through it and decide what to do with the films: what needs to be restored and what the thematic importance of things are.
>
> For example, we worked on the First World War project [on the European Film Gateway] that obviously required us to look again much more closely, maybe also from a different perspective, at the films of that period. What we are therefore doing at EYE is in accordance with what is happening outside [the EYE Film Institute].
>
> I also try to go through the collection and decide if there is anything that urgently requires attention. Perhaps a film needs to be restored; maybe a nitrate original is practically melting away. [I look at] these kinds of things. I am also in contact with a lot with programmers and writers-researchers from around the world. Sometimes their priorities may also shape our priorities. If I hear that an important, groundbreaking book is being written about somebody, for example, …


The paper presents the chemical composition, nutritional and usable value of sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) and the possibility of using it for animal nutrition in fresh and canned form. Tests show that sunchoke cut in mid-June contains about 9.43% of crude protein, 2.49% of crude fat, 19.93% of crude cellulose, 50.50% of NFE (nitrogen-free extractives) and 17.65% of ash in the dry matter. Although lucerne biomass had a more favorable chemical composition (18.13% crude protein, 6.72% crude fat, 25.24% crude cellulose, 39.35% BEM and 10.56% ash), the benefits of sunchoke are in the more successful growing in less favorable natural, primarily soil conditions, the more suitable it is for ensiling and the longer it stays on one planted plot. Since it is predominantly an energy (carbohydrate) nutrient, the possibility of ensiling the green biomass of sunchoke in a mixture with 25, 50 and 75% fresh lucerne (25% dry matter) was investigated. The obtained results show that with the increase of lucerne participation, the nutritional value of silage increases, but the quality decreases. In addition to its role in conventional feed production, sunchoke can be an important plant in the system of organic production, production for industrial processing and for extensive cultivation in hunting grounds.


Lung sound is a biological signal with the information of respiratory system health. Health lung sound can be differentiated from other pathological sounds by auscultation. This difference can be objectively analyzed by a number of digital signal processing techniques. One method in analyzing the lung sound is signal complexity analysis using fractal dimension. To improve the accuracy of lung sound classification, Fractal Dimension (FD) is calculated in the multiscale signal using the coarse-grained procedure. The combination of FD and multiscale process generates the more comprehensive information of lung sound. This study used seven types of FD and three types of the classifier. The result showed that Petrosian C in signal with the scale of 1-5 and SVM with fine Gaussian kernel had the highest accuracy of 99% for five classes of lung sound data. The proposed method can be used as an alternative method for computerized lung sound analysis to assist the doctors in the early diagnosis of lung disease.


Titanium oxide is known as a photocatalytic material that promotes the generation of hydrogen and oxygen from water by sunlight irradiation. In the present study, titanium oxide particles were treated by water jet cavitation generated using an ejector nozzle. Sub-stream suction occurs in small-sized high-pressure ejector nozzles because of the dynamic high pressure. The water containing titanium oxide powder or a mixed powder of titanium oxide and platinum enters the high-pressure water flow as a sub-stream. In the ejector nozzle, generation, growth, and collapse of cavitation are repeated with the particles of titanium oxide and platinum. Because the cavitation has an extremely high collapse pressure, the surface of the titanium oxide particles is processed by the microjets of cavitation in a so-called reactor comprising the ejector nozzle. The titanium oxide particles subjected to ejector cavitation (EC) processing were investigated for improvements to their photocatalytic properties under ultraviolet irradiation. It was found that noted that nano-level roughness is formed by EC processing. The TiO2 particles or TiO2 particles supported by Pt particles as a co- catalyst containing water were introduced into a vacuum chamber and the gases such as hydrogen and oxygen from the particle surfaces were measured by quadrupole mass spectrometry under ultraviolet irradiation. The EC processing was found to increase the amount of gases generated, including hydrogen and oxygen. Moreover, the amount of hydrogen in particular increases remarkably when both EC processing and support of platinum as a co-catalyst are used. It was also found that the titanium TiO2 particles were supporting minute platinum particles that detached from the original Pt particles during EC processing.


Workforce
One way to increase the engagement of U.S. students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) would be to understand their perceptions of opportunities available in STEM and try to correct misconceptions. Brown et al. investigated U.S. student perceptions of communal engagement opportunities in STEM and compared them with those of Asian students. U.S. students perceived STEM as providing fewer communal opportunities and reported fewer communal experiences in STEM. When the U.S. students then read about the communally oriented work of a scientist, their beliefs and attitudes about STEM were affected, suggesting that the communal aspect was new information to them. Correcting perceptions about communal opportunities in STEM may provide a simple method for improving U.S. student engagement.

Soc. Psychol. Personal. Sci. 10.1177/1948550617703173 (2017).


MEMS technology is fast becoming the new enabling technology for areas that require the performance and cost advantages it brings. In this paper, as one of its promising application areas, MEMS technology for a ultra small optical pickup module is presented. The optical flying head is constructed by integration of micromachined devices such as micro slider, micro coil, microactuator, and micro lens within 0.5 mm in height. The basic optical unit comprised of refractive and diffractive optical elements including LD, PD, polarizers, and collimating lens is built by wafer level stacking within its dimension of 3.0/spl times/3.0/spl times/5.5 mm/sup 3/. By assembling of the optical flying head and the basic optical unit onto a swing arm, it is possible to obtain an ultra small pickup system which can be applied in mobile environment.


The separation behaviors of four different groups of pharmaceuticals were investigated using cholesteryl-10-undecenoate and ODS phases. The cholesteryl phase, which has liquid crystal properties, showed different selectivity and retention behavior from those of ODS phase. The difference is on its apparent ability to recognize specific structures in the molecules, discriminate among derivatives, or subsequently recognize modifications done on these structures. However, on ODS phase the hydrophobicity effects seem to take precedent as the main factor in its retention mechanism. This enhanced selectivity of the cholesteryl phase is attributed to three contributing structures found in its structure; the long hydrocarbon chain that gives added mobility to the phase, the carbonyl group which can interact with a variety of substituent groups, and the cholesteric moiety which can invoke π-π interaction as well as steric effects. The use of the cholesteryl phase for these kinds of pharmaceutical analyses is theref...


An emerging corpus of clinical and neuroimaging data suggests that subsecond and suprasecond durations are represented via 2 distinct mechanisms in humans; however, surprisingly, behavioral data to this effect are lacking. In our first experiment, we perform the first systematic exploration of subsecond and suprasecond timing within the same session in nonhuman subjects. Rats were trained to judge the relative duration of 2 sequential stimuli, responding on one lever if the first stimulus was longer or on a second lever if the converse was true. Our data provide strong evidence of an abstract understanding of longer and shorter for durations in the suprasecond range, whereas responding was at chance levels for durations in the subsecond range. Data from a second experiment reveal that this pattern is not due to an inability to time subsecond signals, as rats respond systematically in subsecond and suprasecond bisection tasks. Together, our results provide the first clear behavioral evidence of a discontinuity in the mental time line. These data from rats are discussed in light of similar findings of a discontinuity in the mental number line in human infants.


ABSTRACT This article investigates the optimal exchange rate regime in a group of ASEAN countries, which minimizes the adverse effects of foreign demand shocks on real output, the real exchange rate, price level and between-country income gap. Using a panel structural vector autoregressive model for small open economies, we show that the extent by which foreign demand shocks influences the between-country income gap depends on the exchange rate regime and the transmission channels through output, the price level and the real exchange rate. Our results show that a fixed exchange rate is better in insulating output and real exchange rates against adverse foreign demand shocks. Nevertheless, a flexible exchange rate regime achieves lower inflation and narrows the income gap across countries. Further, foreign demand shocks explain a larger portion of the forecast error variance of macroeconomic variables under a fixed than under a flexible exchange rate regime.


Throughout the history human race depended on weather, so one of the priorities for its survival was to understand weather patterns and to be able to forecast weather. With the development of powerful computers, atmospheric numerical methods and precision instruments for atmospheric monitoring, it is possible to predict weather with greater accuracy and for a longer period of time ahead. At the same time, we are able to gain improved understanding of physical processes that occur in the atmosphere and represent one of most important features in our world. This diploma thesis focuses on the lowest part of the atmosphere - troposphere only, as all weather occurs in the troposphere. Weather is a complete collection of momentary thermodynamic states in the atmosphere and is defined with thermodynamic variables and relations between them.

The goal of this thesis is development and presentation of a new way to determine the direction and speed of air mass movement, based on the combination of passive and active remote sensing techniques. A lidar is being used to determine the range to an object, in our case a cloud, that can be used as a tracer in the air current. Simultaneously with lidar ranging of clouds that same clouds are being visually monitored in a series of optical photographs. Selecting and following the temporal evolution of distinct cloud features and their range allows us to calculate the speed of clouds.

The performance of this method was tested on four cases in Feb. and Mar. 2016. Measurements were performed in Ajdovscina in different weather conditions. Along with remote sensing (infra-red lidar and optical cameras), ground measurements of wind at Ajdovscina were performed. Wind speeds and directions obtained from remote sensing were compared to atmospheric sounding data from Ljubljana and Udine at similar heights and performed within as small as possible time window.

In all four cases remote sensing results for wind speeds and directions agree relatively well with atmospheric sounding. Deviations are expected to be primarily due to spatial and temporal mismatch between sounding and remote sensing measurements. Another source of uncertainties are the limitations of the present remote sensing method in the determination of the actual direction of the wind, however, theses limitations could be eliminated in the future by using an all-sky camera and vertical lidar configuration.