OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to assess whether individuals who visit clinics to ask medical help for obesity treatment depict comparable levels of depression, body dissatisfaction, eating psychopathology and lower quality of life.

METHODS
This is a cross sectional study with 534 females who sought treatment for their obesity or overweight being recruited in seven clinical units in Seoul, Korea. The patients group was divided into two groups. The group 1 consisted of the patients with BMI >25 kg/m(2). The women who showed BMI < or =25 kg/m(2) among patients recruited for this study were classified as the group 2. The control group (group 3) was composed of 398 healthy females who have never tried to lose weight.

RESULTS
We found that group 1 had higher frequency of more than moderate level of depression than group 2 and group 3 did. Both patients groups showed greater eating disordered attitudes and behaviors regardless of obese condition than the control group. Group 1 showed relatively lower level of quality of life than group 2 and group 3 in terms of the quality of life related to physical well-being. In addition, the control group reported higher quality of life in psychological health than both patients groups did.

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, it is necessary for clinicians to make a careful evaluation of depressive tendency and eating disorders when obese women seek for medical help. The combination of medical treatment and psychological approach for obese women would result in higher quality of life.


Aerially distributed baits containing sodium fluoroacetate (1080) are used in New Zealand for smallmammal pest control over an average of about 600 000 ha each year. This can also kill non-target species, including deer. This incidental mortality of deer generates antipathy to 1080 amongst many hunters, adding to the broader opposition to aerial 1080. Hunter opposition to 1080 baiting has also prompted the development of deer-repellent 1080 bait formulations. Historical estimates of deer mortality varied widely but were sometimes high. However, a recent study showed no adverse impact of 1080 on red deer sighting rates in one area and suggested that modern baiting protocols and frequency may have reduced the risk to deer. Here we provide a broader review of deer mortality observed in 26 aerial 1080 operations (or part operations) conducted since 1999. The estimated mortality of deer ranged from 0% to 100%. Overall, 42%, 38% and 20% of operations were classed as having low (0 to 33%), moderate (34 to 66%) or high (67 to 100%) impacts on deer populations, respectively. Adult males were found dead less often than adult females and all other age/sex classes, suggesting that by-kill risk might sometimes be inversely related to body size. Lower sowing rates (0.25–1.5 kg ha−1) more often resulted in low deer by-kill than higher sowing rates (2.0–3.1 kg ha−1), but there was no indication that using larger (12 g) rather than smaller (6 g) baits increased deer mortality. There was some indication that mortality may be lower where 1080 operation had been repeated within 5 years, possibly because of learned bait aversion in survivors of previous operations. The determinants of incidental mortality of deer are complex and somewhat unpredictable, and some deer are likely to be killed in most if not all operations, irrespective of the baiting strategy. We recommend formally planned experiments (rather than gathering often informal observations as summarised here) to assess whether deer mortality is significantly reduced when low sowing rates and/or short-interval repeat baiting is used, and (if so) whether this jeopardises efficacy in possum and rat control.


Abstract This essays looks at the diversity of approaches used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its politicization of religions. It first provides an overview of continuity with past practices by the Chinese state in the imperial and republican eras to stress the undetermined nature of ideological change in China. Then, it looks at the mechanisms by which the CCP makes religion a political issue and a matter of public concern within broader agendas. It stresses that this politicization of religions has unfolded in two different ways since 1949: besides the negative and coercive approach of the authorities, positive and cooperative strategy are also implemented. The regime hopes religions will be active politically to promote its objectives, such as projecting abroad an image of China's soft power, raising funds for philanthropic activities within China, or supporting the state 'patriotic' agenda. The actions by the CCP suggest that it does not look at all religions as equally valuable to serve its political objectives, as it still maintains a distinction between official and banned religions. The article documents that the state's encouragement to the revival of some religious activities is selective but on the other hand that CCP views are more nuanced than outsiders assume.


Background: Compared to the general population, people with severe mental illness (SMI) have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Authors of clinical guidelines advise annual screening for CVD risk factors with appropriate lifestyle counselling. There are seven recommended elements of this health check: blood pressure, body mass index (or waist circumference), blood glucose, serum cholesterol, diet advice, exercise recommendations and smoking cessation guidance. Aim: To establish whether training practice nurses increases the proportion of patients with SMI who are screened for CVD risk factors and given lifestyle advice in primary care. Method: A before-and-after audit of 400 patients on the SMI registers in five primary care centres in Northampton, England. Results: Following the training, the proportion of patients with SMI who received all elements of the health check significantly increased (pre-training: n = 33, 8%, 95% CI = 6–11; post-training: n = 60, 15%, 95% CI = 12–19; RR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.22–2.72, p = .01). Conclusion: Training practice nurses about CVD prevention in people with SMI may be effective in increasing the proportion of patients in this group who receive a comprehensive health check.


Previous literature acknowledges a lack of insurance as a deterrent in seeking healthcare, thus impacting the overall health status of Somali immigrant women (Francis, Griffith, and Leser 2014). This paper builds on the previous literature and addresses the following: a) understand the link between the social determinants of health framework and the Affordable Care Act; b) explore Somali women's attitudes about the feasibility of access and knowledge of the Affordable Care Act, specifically the Medicaid expansion and health insurance marketplace; c) address Somali women's encounters with doctors and practitioners post-enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Using interview data from twenty Somali women, common themes elicited were the following: miscommunication among Somali immigrant women and their healthcare providers, feelings of social anxiety and other mental health issues, as well as poor patient and doctor relationships. The project is a community-engaged research study that collects data on individuals' knowledge with the Affordable Care Act by working with members of several Somali led organizations to identify additional key issues within the community. Furthermore, this project challenges the complexity of adapting and integrating into an unfamiliar culture due to language barriers and approach to medical practices, i.e. views about medical practices may be due to cultural values and beliefs about health. In conclusion, this paper provides demographic data about the impact of health disparities on Somali refugees and immigrants by including how they view access to healthcare, identify barriers to information and care provided by health practitioners, and examine their needs in terms of preventive care.


The pathways between a receptor and transcriptional activation mediated by NF-κB are complex. The study of human gene mutations that result in dysregulation of these pathways has provided insight into the functions of individual components of the pathway, their interrelations, and the significance of these systems to the organism .


The government is unique among speakers because of its coercive power, its substantial resources, its privileged access to national security and intelligence information, and its wide variety of expressive roles as commander-in-chief, policymaker, educator, employer, property owner, and more. Precisely because of this power, variety, and ubiquity, the government's speech can both provide great value and inflict great harm to the public. In wartime, more specifically, the government can affirmatively choose to use its voice to inform, inspire, heal, and unite -- or instead to deceive, divide, bully, and silence.
In this essay, I examine the U.S. government's role as speaker (rather than as regulator of speech) in its war on terror, drawing from historical and contemporary examples to illuminate the great power of government's wartime expression. As we shall see, the government's expressive choices in wartime can be enormously valuable. On the other hand, the government has also engaged in wartime fearmongering and lies, with at times devastating effects to its targets specifically and to the American public collectively. Many of the challenges involving the government's speech in today's war on terror are familiar (often painfully so), while some seem different in degree and perhaps in kind.
Although courts and commentators have discussed at some length the First Amendment issues raised by the government's restriction of others' speech as part of its war on terror, relatively little attention has yet been devoted to the implications of the government's own expression in this setting. Except for the Court's interpretation of the Establishment Clause to limit government's religious speech in certain contexts, for example, the Court's government speech doctrine remains incomplete in that it has yet to address the ways in which the government's own speech might affirmatively threaten other constitutional values.
Part I of this essay considers the government's fearmongering speech in wartime -- i.e., its deliberate expressive effort to instill or exacerbate public fear of certain individuals or communities through stereotyping and scapegoating. Part II considers the government's war-related lies -- i.e., its deliberately or recklessly false assertions of fact about its wartime conduct made with the intent that the listener understand them to be true. Part III outlines a range of constitutional, statutory, structural, and political responses to the government's wartime speech that threatens key constitutional values.


The knowledge surrounding the bovine vaginal microbiome and its implications on fertility and reproductive traits remains incomplete. The objective of the current study was to characterize the bovine vaginal microbiome and estradiol concentrations at time of artificial insemination (AI). Brangus heifers (n = 78) underwent a 7-day Co-Synch + CIDR estrus synchronization protocol. At AI, a double guarded uterine culture swab was used to sample the anterior vaginal tract. Blood samples were collected by coccygeal venipuncture to determine concentrations of estradiol. Heifers were retrospectively classified as pregnant (n = 29) versus nonpregnant (n = 49) on day 35. Lastly, heifers were classified into low (1.1 - 2.5 pg/ml; n = 21), medium (2.6 - 6.7 pg/ml; n = 30), and high (7.2 - 17.6 pg/ml; n = 27) concentrations of estradiol. The vaginal bacterial community composition was determined through sequencing of the V4-V5 region from the 16S rRNA gene using the Illumina Miseq platform. ANOVA was used to compare the diversity metrics between treatment groups. PERMANOVA was utilized to determine variation in community structure. There were no statistical differences in the Shannon diversity index (alpha diversity; P = 0.336) or principal component analysis (beta diversity; P = 0.744) of pregnant versus nonpregnant animals. The vaginal microbiome of pregnant and nonpregnant animals was similar with the four most abundant phyla being Tenericutes, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteria, and Firmicutes. Overall bacterial community composition in animals with high, medium, or low concentrations of estradiol did not differ (P = 0.512). These results indicate that concentration of estradiol does not impact vaginal microbiome composition. In conclusion, the composition of the bovine vaginal microbiome, although dynamic, may not be directly linked to an animal's reproductive ability.


This paper presents an energy-aware approach to moving object detection that requires very low computation and memory while ensuring robust performance under noisy environments. The proposed approach is integrated into a wireless image sensor platform with a block-based processing unit and the motion JPEG encoder. The sensor platform is designed as an ASIC in 130nm CMOS for energy/area analysis, as well as prototyped into Virtex-5 FPGA for functional validation. The sensor platform designed with the proposed approach consumes less energy and area than the platforms with the existing methods such as Gaussian Mixture Model, while maintaining a reliable delivery of region-of-interest.


We report the first 17O NMR studies of a triangular-lattice superconductor Na(1/3)CoO2 x 4/3H(2)O and the host material Na(x)CoO2 (x=0.35 and 0.72). Knight shift measurements reveal that p-d hybridization induces sizable spin polarization in the O triangular-lattice layers. Water intercalation makes CoO2 planes homogeneous and enhances low frequency spin fluctuations near T(c)=4.5 K at some finite wave vectors different from both the ferromagnetic and "120 degree" modes.


Abitract: Evaluation of Cerebral Vascular Disease with Radionuclide Angiography • Experience with radionuclide angiography (RA) utilizing radiosodium pertechnetate and the scintillation camera as a practical means of evaluating cerebral vascular disease (CVD) is presented. The normal RA patterns were established in more than 500 patients without clinical evidence of CVD. Detailed study of the arterial and venous perfusion patterns in cases of CVD showed that certain discrete changes can be classified. The RA patterns were evaluated in 143 patients with strokes and in 120 patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIA) and correlated with symptomatology, clinical hospital course and cerebral angiograms. Although static brain scanning in patients with strokes is reportedly positive in approximately 42%, such scans are rarely positive (3%) in patients with TIA. However, by using the RA in combination with static camera imaging, in those patients wth documented stroke, positive studies were obtained in more than 80%, a twofold increase compared to previous experience. In patients with TIA, a tenfold (33%) increase in positive studies was found related to CVD and, in addition, another 7% were positive as mass lesions. The data presented stress the importance of establishing specific criteria for analysis of RA as well as the greatly enhanced sensitivity of this combined approach in detecting CVD.


Nutritional status has been associated with clinical outcome in chronic airflow limitation (CAL), but epidemiological studies are scarce. We aimed to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and CAL, taking into account confounding factors. 18,606 participants (49% male, 21% smokers, mean age: 55.8 ± 11.2 years, mean BMI: 26.7 ± 5.5 kg/m2) of the BOLD initiative from 26 sites in 23 countries were included. CAL was defined as post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in the first second/forced vital capacity < lower limit of normal. Low and obese BMI were defined as <21 kg/m2 and ≥30 kg/m2, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis controlled for confounders age, sex and smoking, and meta-analysis of between-site heterogeneity and clustering. Prevalence of low and obese BMI, smoking history and prevalence of CAL were highly variable between sites. After adjustment for confounders, the meta-analysis of all sites showed that compared to subjects without CAL, low BMI was more frequent, (adjusted odds ratio (OR): 2.23 (95% confidence interval: 1.75, 2.85)) and conversely, obesity was less frequent in subjects with CAL (adjusted OR: 0.78 (0.65, 0.94)). In a worldwide population sample, CAL was associated with lower BMI, even after adjusting for confounding factors age, gender, smoking and between-site heterogeneity. These results indicate a CAL-specific association with body composition.


With the continuous development of the social economy, the urban residential structure is also changing, and people have higher and higher requirements for the living environment. Moreover, the landscape construction of public spaces in cities is an important part of the city. It is easy to neglect the comprehensive consideration of historical development and regional culture in architectural projects. The overall lack of individuality in urban design, the lack of characteristics of adapting measures to local conditions, and the blind emphasis on architectural landscaping have led to a serious lack of regional cultural characteristics and spiritual culture in public places. Therefore, in terms of the problems of insufficient landscape construction quality and green concepts being insufficient in the construction environment of cities, an evaluation method system is established in the paper to further study the shortcomings of the scenic area architecture. What is more, relying on the personal experience of the users in the scenic spot and understanding the real needs of the public space landscape environment around the scenic spot, scientific methods and a complete system are applied to make an overall assessment of the public space in the built residential area. Besides, according to the data analysis of the simulation experiment, the advantages and disadvantages of the public space in the residential area are extracted. Combined with the current research status, the green concept design strategy of the public space landscape environment in the scenic spot is summarized. Lastly, according to the data analysis of the simulation experiment, the evaluation satisfaction of the activity atmosphere, plant configuration, and overall layout is improved by 4.2%, 3.7%, and 3.1% compared with other methods, which proves that this study has a more reasonable planning program to meet the various needs of public open space. The development of urban landscape design provides a valuable reference.


The reliance of organizations on consultants generally is increasing. Although the efficacy of the use of consultants in implementing change programs has been questioned, there have been limited attempts to systematically analyze the contribution of consultants. This article reports observations on the use of consultants in health-care organizations implementing total quality management (TQM). The relationship between the use of external management consultants and successful TQM implementation is not simple. There appears to be a difference in the way consultants are used by the public and private sectors, with the private organizations forming long-term relationships with their consultants. The perceived value of consultants to the private organizations was higher. Consultants are not a substitute for leadership, and the success of outside consultants probably depends on the commitment of senior management. External management consultants appeared to be linked to the successful implementation of TQM. Further, despite the conventional wisdom to the contrary, some prepackaged programs may be beneficial for the introduction of TQM into an organization.


Air traffic has seen tremendous growth over the past decade pushing the need for enhanced air traffic management schemes. The  $L$ -band digital aeronautical communication system (LDACS) is gaining traction as a scheme of choice, and aims to exploit the capabilities of modern digital communication techniques and computing architectures. Cognitive radio-based approaches have also been proposed for LDACS to improve spectrum efficiency and communication capacity; however, these require intelligent compute capability in aircrafts that enforce limited space and power budgets. This paper proposes the use of multiplierless correlation to enable spectrum sensing in LDACS air-to-ground links, and its integration into the on-board LDACS system. The proposed architecture offers improved performance over traditional energy detection (ED) even at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with lower energy consumption than a multiplier-based correlator, while also assisting in receiver synchronization. We evaluate the proposed architecture on a Xilinx Zynq field-programmable gate array and show that our approach results in 28.3% reduction in energy consumption over the multiplier-based approach. Our results also show that the proposed architecture offers 100% accuracy in detection even at −12-dB SNR without requiring additional circuitry for noise estimation, which are an integral part of ED-based approaches.


On many current and emerging computing architectures, single-precision calculations are at least twice as fast as double-precision calculations. In addition, the use of single precision may reduce pressure on memory bandwidth. The penalty for using single precision for the solution of linear systems is a potential loss of accuracy in the computed solutions. For sparse linear systems, the use of mixed precision in which double-precision iterative methods are preconditioned by a single-precision factorization can enable the recovery of high-precision solutions more quickly and use less memory than a sparse direct solver run using double-precision arithmetic.
 In this article, we consider the use of single precision within direct solvers for sparse symmetric linear systems, exploiting both the reduction in memory requirements and the performance gains. We develop a practical algorithm to apply a mixed-precision approach and suggest parameters and techniques to minimize the number of solves required by the iterative recovery process. These experiments provide the basis for our new code HSL_MA79—a fast, robust, mixed-precision sparse symmetric solver that is included in the mathematical software library HSL.
 Numerical results for a wide range of problems from practical applications are presented.


In recent years, because of increasing interest to integrate energy storage devices as one of the main goals into the power system smart grid, penetration of battery energy storage and distribution generation in distribution networks is increased. The integration of battery energy storages and distribution generations are improve the reliability and satisfactory operation of power system. The deployment of distributed generations and battery energy storages has led to a revolution in the use of distribution systems to improve many concepts of smart grid. This paper prepared to optimal palacement and optimal operation of distributed generations and battery energy storages to improved net present value reduction related to power losses as one of the main factors in smart grids. This placement is evaluated based on genetic algorithm in order to achieve the best operation during faced different percentage of load levels with specific electricity price for each level. In this paper in spite of most of researches which are proposed in literatures in this fields, the placement problem is done simultaneously for distribution generation and battery energy storages, in addition, the load characteristic is considered multi-level to approach realty in optimal scheduling. In this paper to show the superiority of using distribution generation and battery energy storages, cost benefit of energy storage installation respected to the energy losses cost is calculated toward optimal costs. This is a while, in this paper, arbitrage benefits of this installation did not considered. By considering this, yet the results show that, the total benefit in presented scheduling is higher than homogeneous works. During this scheduling, a comprehensive investigation is done to describe of combination structure of distribution generation and battery energy storage systems. To evaluate this optimization challenge, IEEE 33 bus standard distribution network test is chosen to implement presented scheme. To validation of efficiency of presented scheme, results are compared with previous similar works.


Context: Vitiligo surgeries have come a long way from tissue grafts to cultured and non cultured cell transplantation. Extracted hair follicle outer root sheath cell transplantation (EHF ORS) suspension is more enriched with melanocyte. In a hair bulb, there is one melanocyte for every five keratinocytes which is much higher than the epidermal melanin unit. Aims: To analyse the effectiveness of cultured EHF ORS and to perform objective evaluation based on clinical improvement & photographic evidence. To observe any untoward events or side effects. Settings and Design: The study was open and uncontrolled. All the patients were screened at preliminary visit. Reviews were done every two weeks. The endpoint selected was six months post procedure. Materials and Methods: Twenty five patients of stable Vitiligo were included in the study and follicular unit were harvested by Follicular Unit Extraction method. Outer root sheath cells were extracted by trypsinization. The solution was transplanted over dermabraded recipient site. Pressure dressing was given. Patients were followed up regularly. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive Statistics, Chi-Square. Results: Mean ± SD repigmentation was 80.15% ± 22.9% with excellent repigmentation (90-100%) in 60% of patients. Conclusions: This method is safe, effective, and simpler than the other methods involving cell culturing and requiring a laboratory set-up but selection of patients is crucial for the success of the outcome.


Bootstrapping is a set of techniques used by entrepreneurs to minimise the need for cash by securing resources at little or no cost, and by applying strategies to acquire resources without using external finance. To date the link between bootstrapping practices and working capital management has received scant attention. This study addresses this knowledge gap by analysing the role of bootstrapping in micro, small
and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), based on survey evidence from 167 owners in Ireland.The study is the first to show a direct link between the practice of bootstrapping and the cash conversion cycle. Prior research on bootstrapping has focused on accessing finance through resourceful means such as private funding and cost reduction to limit
the need for outside finance. It identifies two bootstrapping methods using factor analysis: (1) delaying payments and owner-related bootstrapping, and (2) customer related bootstrapping. Both of these factors relate to the cash conversion cycle and working capital management. Secondly, the analysis of bootstrapping motivations
finds that if risk management is the owners' main motive for using bootstrapping, then they will use owner-related and delaying payments bootstrapping. The use of these methods signifies self-reliance and a strong desire to manage operations internally, reinforced by the financial preferences of MSME owner/managers who show a reluctance to borrow externally or cede control to access finance. Thirdly, this is the first study to examine the differences in the usage of bootstrapping across different business size classes. It finds that micro businesses are constrained and more dependent on delaying payments and owner-related bootstrapping in place of external finance. This research confirms that bootstrapping
should be included on the curriculum for small-business training programmes.


Protected by a shaman's incantation, the young Hupd'äh travelers pick up the forest trails, embarking on a trek to visit sacred sites in their ancestral territory. Under the mentorship of their elders, these young people engage with the ecological and topographic details of their lands in historical and cosmological context, underscored by discussions of history, mythology, dreams, and shamanic incantations that are interspersed throughout their journey. In this article, we consider the parallels between the two types of travel that are evident in these events – treks through the forest to visit sacred ancestral locations (mountains and caves), and the metaphysical travels of ritual specialists, as detailed in the exegetic texts of the incantations performed to protect the travelers. The features of movement, dislocation between sacred places, and engagement with the flora, fauna, and landscape that are shared by these two travel experiences highlight the close articulation between ritual and more mundane experience for the Hupd'äh, as well as their mutual role in shaping young people's understanding of their world. Our discussion locates the Hupd'äh and their forest orientation within the broader 'multiethnic system of shamanic geographies' (Cayón and Chacon 2014) of the Upper Rio Negro Region.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of nonreceipt of specialty psychiatric treatment among those who experienced suicidal thoughts or who attempted suicide.

METHODS
Data were from the 2008-2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and included responses from adults 18 years and older who answered mental health and suicide-related questions (N=75,690).

RESULTS
Overall, 3.7% of the respondents experienced suicidal thoughts and .5% attempted suicide. Lack of psychiatric treatment was common among these individuals. Men, 18- to 25-year-olds, persons without insurance, and racial-ethnic groups other than white non-Hispanics were least likely to receive treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Prevention and treatment efforts have targeted seekers of specialty treatment at high risk of suicide, but fewer interventions have focused on individuals with suicidal thoughts or attempters who do not seek treatment. More targeted prevention strategies are needed to mitigate suicide in the United States.


Our research focused on the adhesion properties of mirror coating on silica float glass due to applying different quantity of tin-chloride sensitizing agent. Investigation was carried out to detect the distribution and quantity of tin containing clusters deposited on the glass surface working as crystallization centre. The adhesion properties of coatings were tested by scratch test where critical peeling forces were evaluated. The morphology of the formed scratch track was measured with scanning electron microscope. The surface topography was scanned by AFM technique.


Malignant lipomatous tumours of the hands are extremely rare. A 62-year-old man complained of an enlarging, soft, painless mass in his left hand. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a fatty tumour with irregular septa, and an incisional biopsy showed it to be a well-differentiated liposarcoma. The tumour was resected en bloc and he had a course of external beam radiotherapy. Apart from a slight reduction in grip strength he was well 15 months later with no sign of recurrence.


The oil and gas industry has experienced multiple market surges and declines over the past decades. The latest downturn further assures the industry's nature of 'change.' Technology plays a key role in the management of change, allowing operators to maximize Return on Investment (ROI) through Cost per Foot (CPF) minimization. The adaptive drill bit was introduced to meet a major drilling operator's increasing demand for enhanced drilling efficiency and Non Productive Time (NPT) reduction.
 The 'adaptive drill bit' embodies a hydro-mechanical apparatus and is entirely autonomous, requiring no input from surface as the system takes action to adapt downhole. Prior to the introduction of this exclusive technology, drill bits have been static devices, incapable of altering their characteristics in response to changes in formation or downhole loading conditions. The smart feature mitigates drilling vibration and hence improves drilling efficiency.
 In the subject application, the 12.25-in. intermediate curved section is formed of challenging interbedded lithology [20-30K UCS], known to induce high drilling vibration levels. The high drilling vibrations typically jeopardize tools/rig components reliability and reduce drilling energy efficiency, leading to delayed section delivery and NPT. A diverse international team was appointed to develop an optimized solution for this market opportunity. The team introduced the adaptive drill bit and a premium technology Rotary Steerable System (RSS) combined solution to overcome the high torsional vibrations challenge and improve drilling energy efficiency.
 In Kuwait, the first field deployment of the optimized solution reduced vibration levels by 33% and raised Rate of Penetration (ROP) by 42% from average field performance. The adaptive drill bit and RSS drilled at an average ROP of 44.3 ft/hr through approximately 2,500 feet building from 0 to 35 degrees at minimal steer force, offering 14% ROP leverage from competitor's best. The section was safely delivered one day earlier than offsets with zero NPT. Furthermore, the operator has requested for the technology utilization in three new drilling applications.


In this study, effect of evaporative cooling on performance of regenerative gas turbine cycle is investigated considering simple regenerative cycle and regenerative cycle with intercooling and reheating. Evaporative cooling is applied to inlet air in simple regenerative cycle while it is applied to compressor inlet air and air between the compressor stages in reheat regenerative cycle. The first and second law performances of the cycles incorporating evaporative cooling are compared to the corresponding conventional cycles. Effects of the temperature and relative humidity of the ambient air, the turbine inlet temperature, and the pressure ratio on the net work, the thermal efficiency, and the second-law efficiency of the cycles are investigated. It appears that evaporative cooling increases thermal efficiency, net work, and optimum pressure ratio. With respect to simple regenerative cycle at a turbine inlet temperature of 1400 K and at a pressure ratio of 20, the thermal efficiency and the net work increase by 1.5 percent and 4 percent, respectively by inlet cooling in simple regenerative cycle while they increase by 18.3 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively by inlet cooling and intercooling in reheat regenerative cycle. With respect to conventional regenerative cycle with intercooling and reheating, evaporative cooling applied to inlet air and for intercooling provides essentially no increase in thermal and second-law efficiencies while it increases the net work 8.2 percent to 17.8 percent depending on the ambient conditions. Increasing turbine inlet temperature gives a linear increase in the optimum pressure ratio. As the ambient temperature increases and the relative humidity decreases, evaporative cooling becomes more effective in improving cycle performance.


Abstract: What makes a good father? Ideals and practices in late socialist RussiaThis article investigates fatherhood ideals and practices in late Soviet Russia, 1960–1989. For the theoretical basis, dominant ideals on masculinity and fatherhood have been derived from the rich but predominantly Western research literature of the past three decades. These are used as guiding tools in examining the research material for this study: the monthly magazine Semia i shkola. Zhurnal dlia roditelei (Family and School; Journal for Parents) and eleven in-depth interviews with men in Russia on their memories of fatherhood in the 1960s–1980s. The research questions are: What did the ideal image of fatherhood look like in this period? What remembered practices do respondents communicate in interviews, and how do these relate to dominant public/official ideals of the time? Are there differences in the emphasis on various aspects of fatherhood ideals/practices between public discourses and the accounts given by these men? The interview narratives yield a multifaceted picture, with both coinciding and contradictory representations of the respondents' ideal images, on the one hand, and remembered practices, on the other. Possible explanations are then discussed. In conclusion, Soviet Russian fatherhood is tentatively contextualized within the framework of research results on Western fatherhood.


Most migration flows include observable jumps, a phenomenon that is in line with migration irreversibility. We present a real option model where the migration choice depends on both the wage differential between the host country and the country of origin, and on the probability of full integration into the host country. The optimal migration decision of an individual consists of waiting to migrate in a (coordinated) mass of individuals. The size of the migration flow depends on the behavioural characteristics of the ethnic groups: the more "sociable" they are, the larger the wave and the lower the wage differential required. The second part of the paper is devoted to calibrating the model and simulating migration flows into Italy over the last decade. Our calibration can replicate the migration jumps in the short term. In particular, the calibrated model is able to project the induced labour demand elasticity level of the host country and the behavioural rationale of the migrants.


A major research program was carried out to analyze the mechanism of FRP debonding from concrete beams using global-energy-balance approach (GEBA). The key findings are that the fracture process zone is small so there is no R-curve to consider, failure is dominated by Mode I behavior, and the theory agrees well with tests. The analyses developed in the study provide an essential tool that will enable fracture mechanics to be used to determine the load at which FRP plates will debond from concrete beams. This obviates the need for finite element (FE) analyses in situations where reliable details of the interface geometry and crack-tip stress fields are not attainable for an accurate analysis. This paper presents an overview of the GEBA analyses that is described in detail elsewhere, and explains the slightly unconventional assumptions made in the analyses, such as the revised moment-curvature model, the location of an effective centroid, the separate consideration of the FRP and the RC beam for the purposes of the analysis, the use of Mode I fracture energies and the absence of an R-curve in the fracture mechanics analysis.


The use of natural fibers as reinforcement in composites is emerging. Several studies are underway to improve the mechanical characteristics of these fibers and its matrix interface properties for better load transfer. However, the treatments generally used are relatively expensive and complicated to apply. This work deals with the effect of new Fibroline process on tensile and interfacial properties of hemp fiber reinforced in polypropylene. Fibroline is a dry powder impregnation method which consists of submitting fibers and polymer powder under strong alternating electric field. Morphology and tensile properties of hemp fibers after different surface treatments (raw, dried, raw and Fibroline-treated, dried and Fibroline-treated) are evaluated. Interface properties of treated hemp fibers on polypropylene matrix are then characterized by fragmentation test of monofilament composites. Results showed the Fibroline treatment reduces the fiber mechanical properties but improves the load transfer efficiency due to random generation of surface cracks and better fiber/matrix adherence, respectively. For the case of dried and Fibroline-treated hemp fibers, large decrease in mechanical and interfacial properties was observed.


Media from murine pre-B and B lymphoma cell cultures, but not from myeloma cell cultures, was cytotoxic to WEHI 164 cells, causing these TNF-sensitive targets to release 51Cr. The cytotoxic activity in the culture medium reached maximum levels approximately 4 days after the cell culture was initiated. The constitutive production of the factors was not influenced by depletion of serum from the medium or by the addition of either phorbol ester or bacterial endotoxin. The factor has a Mr greater than 10 kDa, and its cytotoxicity was abolished by anti-serum against murine TNF. Northern blot analysis with the use of cDNA probes to murine tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and lymphotoxin (LT, TNF-beta) showed high levels of TNF-mRNA in the pre-B cell lines, lower levels in the mature B cell lines and no TNF-mRNA in the myeloma cell lines. LT mRNA was present in pre-B cell lines, at a much lower concentration in only one of the B cell lines, and was not present in three other B lymphomas or in the myelomas tested. The results show a positive correlation between the presence of TNF and/or LT mRNA and the 51Cr-releasing activity present in the cell culture medium. Our data indicate that TNF and LT can be produced by murine B cells and that the synthesis of these cytokines may be restricted to certain differentiation stages of the B cell lineage.


Not all value strategies are created equal; that is, correlations among different value strategies and among similar value strategies across markets are, in general, low. Thus, to preserve market neutrality and reduce exposure to volatility, investors need to augment value strategies and adopt a multi-strategy approach. Some exposures, however, are common to value strategies and are not diversified away. Among these exposures are value premiums and volatility jumps. The authors present their findings of value-based strategies in several markets, including top-down country allocation in equities, bonds, and currencies, and bottom up stock selection in the U.S., Japan, and Germany. The focus of the authors' research is on the correlations among these strategies and their exposures to select market factors.


Sociological models (e.g., social network analysis, small-group dynamic and gang models) have historically been used to predict the behavior of terrorist groups. However, they may not be the most appropriate method for understanding the behavior of terrorist organizations because the models were not initially intended to incorporate violent behavior of its subjects. Rather, models that incorporate life and death competition between subjects, i.e., models utilized by scientists to examine the behavior of wildlife populations, may provide a more accurate analysis. This paper suggests the use of biological models to attain a more robust method for understanding the behavior of terrorist organizations as compared to traditional methods. This study also describes how a biological population model incorporating predator-prey behavior factors can predict terrorist organizational recruitment behavior for the purpose of understanding the factors that govern the growth and decline of terrorist organizations. The Lotka-Volterra, a biological model that is based on a predator-prey relationship, is applied to a highly suggestive case study, that of the Irish Republican Army. This case study illuminates how a biological model can be utilized to understand the actions of a terrorist organization.


The Holocene coastal sand deposits of the central South Carolina coastline were investigated to estimate volumes of reservoir-quality (RQ) sediments. These sand bodies, which vary considerably in size, thickness, shape, and continuity, were deposited in a variety of depositional settings including barrier islands, ebb-tidal deltas, exposed sand flats, tidal sand ridges, and tidal point bars. To identify the RQ sediment for each sand-body type, a conservative mud cutoff value of 15% was chosen. Average thickness values ranged from 6 m for barrier island deposits to 15 m for ebb-tidal deltas. Of the six most significant RQ sand depositional environments on the central portion of the South Carolina coast, ebb-tidal delta complexes accounted for 77% of all RQ sediments. This dominance of the ebb-tidal delta deposits is attributed to the relatively large tidal range in the area (up to 3 m) and to the presence of a number of large, incised alluvial valleys, which are host to estuarine complexes with large tidal prisms. If the Holocene sand deposits along the central 115 km of the South Carolina coast were preserved in the rock record, a total of 1.3 × 106 ac-ft of RQ sands would be present, a significant amount considering the short time interval of approximately 5000 yr.


An entire microsystem for high accuracy magnetic field measurement based on vertical Hall devices has been simulated. In accordance with existing knowledge about semiconductor physics and experimental results, a functional SPICE- model for a vertical Hall device has been developed. This model was then applied to simulate an existing high accuracy magnetometer, including temperature and non-linearity compensation. The comparison of simulated and measured results shows that the real physical effects as well as the behaviour of the signal treatment electronics have been correctly implemented.


Assess the prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies (APL) and their association with disease phenotype and activity in patients with Crohn disease (CD).

 This is a prospective study involving 30 patients with CD over a period of 2016 to 2020. Family and personal history of thromboembolic disease and fetal loss as well as their delay in relation to the date of the sample were taken from from the interrogation. Disease-related data such as age at the time of diagnosis, location and phenotype of the disease as well as treatment medical received were identified from the medical records. Disease activity was evaluated according to the CDAI (Crohn Disease Activity Index) score calculated time of inclusion. The serum of the patients was tested on anti-β2-glycoprotein-I (anti-β2-GPI Ig M / G), anti-cardiolipin (ACA Ig M / G) by method enzyme immunoassay (ELISA). This test was considered positive if the rate of anti-cardiolipin antibody was> 12U / mL and the level of anti-β2- glycoprotein-1> 8U / mL. The occurrence of thromboembolic events was noted during follow-up.

 The average age was 47.3 ± 10.8 years (29 men and 21 women). A family history of thromboembolic disease has been noted in 2 patients. A patient developed a pulmonary embolism 37 months before his inclusion in postoperative context. A history of fetal loss was reported in 7 women (16%) with a delay ranging from 5 to 432 months (in mean 181.6 ± 146) before their inclusion in the study. The average age at time of diagnosis was 37.9 ± 11.7 years. Colonic localization of the disease was noted in 12 patients (41.4%) and the inflammatory phenotype was the more common (62.1%). The disease was active in 13 patients (44.8%) with a mean CDAI score of 149.2 ± 111.7 (23–469). A patient has presented a mesenteric infarction during his follow-up 35 months after his inclusion. Positive anti-β2-glycoprotein-1 antibody levels IgG type with levels negative anti-cardiolipin antibodies were found in 2 patients (6%). No patient had positive anti-cardiolipin antibodies. No difference was found for the prevalence of anti-β2-GPI in patients patients in remission compared to those with active disease (p = 0.22) and in patients with severe acute colitis compared to the rest of the patients (p = 0.2). The frequency of β2-GP1 was not higher in patients with CRP greater than 6 mg / L compared to those with a normal CRP (p = 0.4). Anti-TNF treatment was started in 5 patients and no association was found between anti-TNF treatment and the prevalence of anti-β2-GP1 (p = 0.7). APL status was not associated with phenotype and localization of disease or thrombotic events.

 The present study did not demonstrate an association between APL antibodies and disease phenotype or activity.


In this work, an innovative perspective was applied to study the effect that atmospheric depositions have on material corrosion. The influence of different atmospheric conditions on corrosion process was investigated using weathering steel (WS) both in natural exposures and laboratory tests.
Specifically, the influence that different start time of material exposure and consequently different atmospheric conditions could have on the early stage of corrosion was evaluated by means of WS field exposures in terms of colour measurements, surfaces characterization, ions amount contained in the patina and corrosion rates. To achieve the maximum information and highlight possible correlations, all the significant variables were processed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA).
Additionally, by means of the application of Design of Experiment as chemometric tool, laboratory tests (alternate immersion accelerated ageing tests) were performed on WS to evaluate the interaction among particulate matter inorganic anions and to investigate in more realistic conditions the influence of different amounts and proportions of chlorides, sulphates and nitrates on corrosion rate and metal release, underlining also competitive and synergic interactions between them. As well, through this approach it was possible to directly relate and predict the trend of the measured response factors within an experimental domain that represents different atmospheric compositions and build models that take into account also possible changes in the concentration of pollutants of growing interest.
Lastly, in order to further investigate the action of particulate matter on different kind of materials and on differently oriented surfaces, a new developed device (called "Deposition Box") to sample dry deposition was tested and validated through SEM/EDS analysis combined with the freeware software ImageJ. "Deposition Box" allows achieving reproducible samples of particulate matter (PM) dry deposits and to sample also fine particles (0.4 – 5 μm2) making the study of dry deposits less tricky.


Abstract The Lower Rhine Graben (LRG) straddling the border zone of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, is an active tectonic structure in continental northwest Europe. It is characterized by northwest–southeast oriented normal faults, and moderate but rather continuous seismic activity. Many faults have been mapped in the LRG, but so far a model of fault hierarchy or fault segmentation has been lacking. In the frame of a European database of seismogenic sources, we have devised a seismic‐source model for the LRG consisting of so‐called composite seismic sources. Each composite seismic source may encompass one or more segments, but it is unlikely that a segment would extend across more than one source. We distinguish 15 seismic sources based on major stepovers, bifurcations, gaps, and important changes in strike, dip direction, or slip rate. The sources are partitioned into one or more informal fault sections, each with an associated surface trace. For each source, we describe the limits and the composing fault sections, and present the geological arguments for their existence. We have compiled all relevant data concerning the seismic‐source parameters required for the database, putting lower and upper bounds on strike, dip, rake, slip rate, and depth, and an upper bound on earthquake magnitude. This source model should provide a new basis for modeling seismic hazard, as well as for guiding further paleoseismic studies in the LRG. Online Material: Detailed maps of the composite sources in the Lower Rhine Graben, 3D views of the fault model, and a table with parameters of earthquake focal mechanisms and detailed information sheets for each composite seismic source.


The present study investigates the interplay between language, material and embodied resources in one specific type of service encounters: interactions at theatre box offices. The data consist of video recorded interactions in Swedish at three box offices, two in Sweden and one in Finland. Cases representative of the interactions are selected for a multimodal micro-analysis of the customer--seller interactions involving artefacts from the institutional and personal domain. The study specifically aims at advancing our understanding of the role of artefacts for structuring and facilitating communicative events in (institutional) interaction. In this way, it contributes to the growing research interest in the interactional importance of the material world. Our results show that mutual interactional focus is reached through mutual gaze in strategic moments, such as formulation of the reason for the visit. Artefacts are central in enhancing intersubjectivity and mutual focus in that they effectively invite the participants for negotiation, for example, about a seating plan which can be made visually accessible in different ways. Verbal language can be sparse and deictic in these moments while gaze and pointing to an artefact does more specific referential work. Artefacts are also a resource for signalling interactional inaccessibility, the seller orienting to the computer in order to progress a request and the customer orienting to a personal belonging (like a bag) to mirror and accept such a temporary non-accessibility. We also observe that speech can be paced to match the deployment of an artefact so that a focal verbal item is produced without competing, simultaneous physical activity. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).


One theory of normal cognitive aging asserts that decreases in simple processing speed mediate the age-related decline of fluid intelligence. Another possibility is that age-related atrophic changes in frontal brain structures undermine the functioning of executive abilities, thereby producing the same decline. In this study, we used principal components analysis to derive a measure of fluid–spatial intelligence in 197 normal adults between 20 and 92 years of age. Measures of perceptual comparison speed, working memory, and executive ability, as well as regional brain volumes based on high resolution magnetic resonance imaging were obtained from a subsample of 112 participants. We then conducted a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses to test whether (1) the processing speed theory, (2) frontal–executive theory, or (3) some combination of these best accounted for age-related variation in fluid intelligence. The results showed that perceptual comparison speed, executive ability, and frontal lobe volume each made significant contributions to a regression equation that explained 57% of the variance in fluid intelligence. These findings suggest that both the processing speed and frontal–executive theory of cognitive aging are partially correct and complement one another. (JINS, 2000, 6, 52–61.)


The liver has a complex vascular supply, which involves the inflow of oxygenated blood through the hepatic artery (systemic circulation) and deoxygenated blood through the portal vein (portal circulation), as well as the outflow of deoxygenated blood through the hepatic veins to the inferior vena cava. A spectrum of vascular variants can involve the liver. Some of these variants may result in areas of enhancement that can mimic more serious pathologic conditions. In this article, the authors discuss a spectrum of variants and pathologic conditions that may involve the liver vasculature. These include variants, anomalies, and diseases involving the portal vein, such as rudimentary portal vein, thrombosis, cavernous transformation, thrombotic angiitis, thrombophlebitis, transient hepatic attenuation difference or transient hepatic intensity difference, portal venous aneurysm, and portal vein gas. The hepatic artery can be involved by various diseases, including thrombosis, stenosis, and aneurysm or pseudoaneurysm. Unusual "third inflow" sources of venous inflow are also discussed, including aberrant right gastric vein, aberrant left gastric vein, epigastric-paraumbilical veins, and cholecystic vein. A spectrum of variants and diseases involving the inferior vena cava and hepatic veins, including thrombosis, Budd-Chiari syndrome, veno-occlusive disease, stenosis, torsion, congestive hepatopathy, and peliosis hepatis, are discussed. Vascular shunts are illustrated, including portosystemic shunts (intra- and extrahepatic), arterioportal shunt, shunts of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, and acquired arteriovenous fistula. Familiarity with the pathogenesis and imaging features of these vascular entities can aid radiologic diagnoses and guide appropriate patient management. ©RSNA, 2017.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To construct and evaluate an intervention tool for increasing the person-centredness of care in residential aged care services.

BACKGROUND
Providing care that is person-centred and evidence-based is increasingly being regarded as synonymous with best quality aged care. However, consensus about how person-centred care should be defined, operationalised and implemented has not yet been reached.

DESIGN
Literature reviews, expert consultation (n = 22) and stakeholder interviews (n = 67) were undertaken to develop the Tool for Understanding Residents' Needs as Individual Persons (TURNIP).

METHODS
Statistical estimates of validity and reliability were employed to evaluate the tool in an Australian convenience sample of aged care staff (n = 220).

RESULTS
The 39 item TURNIP conceptualised person-centred care into five dimensions: (1) the care environment, (2) staff members' attitudes towards dementia, (3) staff members' knowledge about dementia, (4) the care organisation and (5) the content of care provided. Psychometric testing indicated satisfactory validity and reliability, as shown for example in a total Cronbach's alpha of 0·89.

CONCLUSIONS
The TURNIP adds to current literature on person-centred care by presenting a rigorously developed intervention tool based on an explicit conceptual structure that can inform the design, employment and communication of clinical interventions aiming to promote person-centred care.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
The TURNIP contains clinically relevant items that are ready to be applied in clinical aged care. The tool can be used as a base for clinical interventions applying discussions in aged care organisations about the quality of current care and how to increase person-centredness of the care provided.


We consider nearest neighbour spatial random permutations on Z d . In this case, the energy of the system is proportional to the sum of all cycle lengths, and the system can be interpreted as an ensemble of edge-weighted, mutually self-avoiding loops. The constant of proportionality, α , is the order parameter of the model. Our first result is that in a parameter regime of edge weights where it is known that a single self-avoiding loop is weakly space filling, long cycles of spatial random permutations are still exponentially unlikely. For our second result, we embed a self-avoiding walk into a background of spatial random permutations, and condition it to cover a macroscopic distance. For large values of α (where long cycles are very unlikely) we show that this walk collapses to a straight line in the scaling limit, and give bounds on the fluctuations that are almost sufficient for diffusive scaling. For proving our results, we develop the concepts of spatial strong Markov property and iterative sampling for spatial random permutations, which may be of independent interest. Among other things, we use them to show exponential decay of correlations for large values of α in great generality.


To hear more natural synthetic speech generated by a Korean TTS (Text-To-Speech) system, we have to know all the possible prosodic rules in Korean language. We can extract these rules from linguistic, phonetic knowledge or by analyzing real speech. In general, all of these rules are integrated into a prosody-generation algorithm in TTS. But this algorithm cannot cover all the possible prosodic rules in one language and it is not perfect, so the quality of synthesized speech cannot be as good as we expect. So we propose artificial neural networks(ANNs) that can learn the prosodic rules in Korean language. Multi-Layer Perceptron(MLP) using an error Back Propagation(BP) algorithm had been selected as ANNs for this study. To train and test these ANNs, we made a corpus that consists of some meaningful sentences that were made from a corpus of phonetically balanced(PB) isolated words. These sentences were read by one male speaker, recorded, and collected as a speech database. We had analyzed recorded speech to extract prosodic information of each phoneme, and made target and test patterns for artificial neural networks. We found out that ANNs could learn the prosody from real speech and generate the prosody of a sentence when it was given to ANNs.


The virtualization of Radio Access Networks (RANs) has been proposed as one of the important use cases of Network Function Virtualization (NFV). In VRAN!s (VRAN!s), some functions from a Base Station (BS), such as those which make up the Base Band Unit (BBU), may be implemented in a shared infrastructure located at either a data center or distributed in network nodes. For the latter option, one challenge is in deciding which subset of the available network nodes can be used to host the physical BBU servers (the placement problem), and then to which of the available physical BBUs each Remote Radio Head (RRH) should be assigned (the assignment problem). These two problems constitute what we refer to as the VRANPAP! (VRAN-PAP!). In this paper, we start by formally defining the VRAN-PAP! before formulating it as a Binary Integer Linear Program (BILP) whose objective is to minimize the server and front haul link setup costs as well as the latency between each RRH and its assigned BBU. Since the BILP could become computationally intractable, we also propose a greedy approximation for larger instances of the VRAN-PAP!. We perform simulations to compare both algorithms in terms of solution quality as well as computation time under varying network sizes and setup budgets.


ABSTRACT Vertical and lateral changes in composition occur within 13 individual limestone beds of the Waynesville (Upper Dillsboro) Formation (Upper Ordovician) near Brookville, Indiana. Fossil allochems formed approximately 40%. and carbonate ooze 60% of the original carbonate sediment, with later conversion of most of the ooze to microspar and pseudospar. The relative abundances of individual constituents, however, vary between the top, center, bottom, and margins of each limestone bed. The centers of the beds are distinguished from the tops, bottoms, and margins of beds using certain variables and discriminant function analysis. Variables important in separation include neomorphic sparry calcite and echinoderms within the bed centers, and micrite, bryozoans, and brachiopods within the tops, bottoms, and margins of beds. An increase in faunal diversity from the bottoms to the centers of beds indicates rapid community succession. A decrease in faunal diversity from the centers to the tops of the limestone beds indicates community degradation. The writers propose that a subtidal, terrigenous mud substrate was colonized by thin, flat, brachiopods (Onniella). The accumulation of these valves provided a pavement upon which erect bryozoans could grow. Further stabilization of the substrate allowed crinoids to become established. A wave-current baffle was produced in the denser parts of the community by the abundant growth of bryozoans and crinoids creating low energy conditions favorable for the simultaneous accumulation of unsorted allochems and ooze. The community spread laterally as skeletal debris swept from atop the growing centers stabilized the peripheral muds. Carbonate accumulation terminated when mobilized, muddy, bottom sediment, thrown into suspension under storm conditions, settled and smothered the community. The model proposed for the accumulation of the carbonate sediments is independent of bottom topography and conditions of accumulation of terrigenous mud.


The serotonergic system is one of the most important neurotransmitter systems that take part in the regulation of vital CNS functions. The understanding of its mechanisms will help scientists create new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of mental and neurodegenerative diseases and find out how this neurotransmitter system interacts with other parts of the brain and regulates their activity. Since the serotonergic system anatomy and functionality are heterogeneous and complex, the best tools for studying them are based on manipulation of individual types of neurons without affecting neurons of other neurotransmitter systems. The selective cell control is possible due to the genetic determinism of their functions. Proteins that determine the uniqueness of the cell type are expressed under the regulation of cell-specific promoters. By using promoters that are specific for genes of the serotonin system, one can control the expression of a gene of interest in serotonergic neurons. Here we review approaches based on such promoters. The genetic models to be discussed in the article have already shed the light on the role of the serotonergic system in modulating behavior and processing sensory information. In particular, genetic knockouts of serotonin genes sert, pet1, and tph2 promoted the determination of their contribution to the development and functioning of the brain. In addition, the review describes inducible models that allow gene expression to be controlled at various developmental stages. Finally, the application of these genetic approaches in optogenetics and chemogenetics provided a new resource for studying the functions, discharge activity, and signal transduction of serotonergic neurons. Nevertheless, the advantages and limitations of the discussed genetic approaches should be taken into consideration in the course of creating models of pathological conditions and developing pharmacological treatments for their correction.


The article examines theory-practice relationships in the field of Animation Studies via three conceptual frameworks: legitimate peripheral participation, critical practice and recontextualization. The overarching argument is that Animation Studies must be understood in an 'interdisciplinary' way, and that means evaluating how different communities of practice work with similar or related terms. The article draws upon email discussion group data as a way of beginning to map the discourses used by people working within the field of Animation Studies. The perceived role of technology is given specific attention, particularly the ways it can be seen to be straitjacketing the development of a truly critical Animation Studies community - one that attends to theory and practice in equal measure.


This paper describes a system developed for the GENEA (Generation and Evaluation of Non-verbal Behaviour for Embodied Agents) Challenge 2023. Our solution builds on an existing diffusion-based motion synthesis model. We propose a contrastive speech and motion pretraining (CSMP) module, which learns a joint embedding for speech and gesture with the aim to learn a semantic coupling between these modalities. The output of the CSMP module is used as a conditioning signal in the diffusion-based gesture synthesis model in order to achieve semantically-aware co-speech gesture generation. Our entry achieved highest human-likeness and highest speech appropriateness rating among the submitted entries. This indicates that our system is a promising approach to achieve human-like co-speech gestures in agents that carry semantic meaning.


In accordance with its mandate to ensure the production and trade of better and competitively priced goods and services around the world, the World Trade Organization has to enforce several multilateral agreements, one of which is that on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Geared towards protecting the intellectual property rights (IPR) of inventors and authors on goods traded worldwide, TRIPS sets minimum standards of IPR protection, which member countries can legislate. Due to the difficulty in estimating the impact of TRIPS on agriculture, it has spawned spirited debates among its proponents and critics since its implementation in 1995. Unfortunately, the bases of arguments from both sides about the impact of TRIPS on global goods trade in general, and on agricultural trade in particular, have been anecdotal. Although some economists have tried to develop models to analyze the impact of TRIPS on trade, their findings have been inconclusive. The same holds true as well with respect to the expected impact of TRIPS on agricultural trade and development. This paper examines the legal provisions of TRIPS and their implications on Asian agricultural trade and development. It also discusses other issues—not addressed by TRIPS but attributed to it, such as agriculture R&D, "bio-piracy", traditional knowledge and folklore, and plant breeder's rights—whose links to TRIPS have not been established by evidence, or are, at best, anecdotal. Documenting a specific application of TRIPS, the paper highlights the experience of the Philippines in the testing and commercialization of Bt corn, an agricultural biotechnology product developed and commercialized after TRIPS had gone into effect. The Philippine Bt corn experience provides some evidence that TRIPS and agricultural biotechnology—given the conducive environment of TRIPS-compliant domestic IPR laws, bio-safety policy regulations, information and education campaigns, and research and development—can have a positive impact on agricultural trade and development, even in a developing and agricultural country like the Philippines. Based on the analysis of the current impact of TRIPS on Asian agricultural trade and development, and the Bt corn experience of the Philippines, the paper proposes an Asian agenda for member countries, by which they can effectively deal with, and benefit from TRIPS.


Analysis and control of flow structure in U-bends are crucial since U-bends are used in many different engineering applications. As a flow parameter in U-bends, the ratio of inertial and centrifugal forces to viscous forces is called as Dean number. The increase of Dean number destabilizes the flow and leads to a three-dimensional flow consisting of stream wise parallel counter-rotating vortices (Dean vortices) stacked along the curved wall. Due to the curvature in U-bends, the flow development involves complex flow structures including Dean vortices and high levels of turbulence that are not seen in straight duct flows. These are quite critical in considering noise problems and structural failure of the ducts. In this work, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models are developed using ANSYS FLUENT to simulate these complex flows patterns in square sectioned U-bend with a radius of curvature Rc/D=0.65. The predictions of mean velocity profiles on different angular positions of the U-bend are compared against the experimental results available in the literature and previous numerical studies. Performance of six different turbulence models are evaluated, namely: the standard k-e, the k-e Realizable, the k-e RNG, the k-ω SST, the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) and the Scale-Adaptive Simulation Model (SAS), to propose the best numerical approach with increasing the accuracy of the solutions while reducing the computation time. Numerical results show remarkable improvements with respect to previous numerical studies and good agreement with the available experimental data. The best turbulence model for this application is proposed considering both the computation time and the result accuracy. In addition, different flow control techniques are still under investigation to eliminate Dean vortices and to reduce turbulence levels in U-bends.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


A mixed-mode geometry has been chosen to investigate a crack propagation using the multi-parameter fracture mechanics concept. The so-called Williams' series expansion is used for the crack-tip stress field approximation. It has been shown that application of the generalized fracture mechanics concept can be crucial for materials with specific fracture behaviour, such as elastic-plastic or quasi-brittle one, when fracture occurs not only in the very vicinity of the crack tip, but also in a more distant surrounding. Then, considering the higher-order terms of the Williams' expansion in fracture criteria (describing the crack stability and/or crack propagation direction) can bring more precise results. The coefficients of the Williams' expansion must be calculated numerically (for instance by means of the over-deterministic method in this work) for each cracked configuration, which is very time-consuming, and the analysis is very extensive even for a few basic cracked specimen configurations. On the other hand, a suitable choice of the geometrical configuration of the cracked disc enables performing experiments only on the specimens that could prove the theory about the importance of using the higher-order terms.


In Smart Homes set up for demonstration purposes (hereafter: model Smart Homes), innovative Smart Homes and assistive technologies are presented that can enhance the quality of life of older people who continue to live in their own home until a high age. New assistive technologies spread through a network of people - if the innovation can be observed and experienced. In the Netherlands, the 'House of the Present' is such a model Smart Home. The aim of the present case study is to share experiences with the House of the Present and the views of visitors regarding the diffusion of Smart Home and assistive technologies: How do visitors assess their experience of a model Smart Home and the presented assistive technology solutions for the care of older people? Based on the Diffusion of Innovation theory, common sense and a systematic review of factors influencing the acceptance of technology among older people observed on site, a questionnaire was developed and presented to visitors to the House of the Present. A total of 131 visitors completed the questionnaire. Visitors recommend to others a visit to the House of the Present Smart Home (M=4.32) to observe on-site assistive technologies for care and wellbeing (M=4.21). Innovators (3.8% vs 2.5% of the overall population) and Early Adopters (38.9% vs 13.5% of the overall population) are over-represented. Visitors comment on the different types of exhibited products, and for 22 product groups, a list ranging from the most to the least valued groups of Smart-Home and assistive technologies was drawn up. This research shows that model Smart Homes demonstrating assistive technology are positively received by visitors. What we do not know yet is how effective model Smart Homes are in diffusing innovations in assistive technologies.


Mechanosensation – by which mechanical stimuli are converted into a neuronal signal – is the basis for the sensory systems of hearing, balance, and touch. Mechanosensation is unmatched in speed and its diverse range of sensitivities, reaching its highest temporal limits with the sense of hearing; however, hair cells (HCs) and the auditory nerve (AN) serve as obligatory bottlenecks for sounds to engage the brain. Like other sensory neurons, auditory neurons use the canonical pathway for neurotransmission and millisecond-duration action potentials (APs). How the auditory system utilizes the relatively slow transmission mechanisms to achieve ultrafast speed, and high audio-frequency hearing remains an enigma. Here, we address this paradox and report that the mouse, and chinchilla, AN are mechanically sensitive, and minute mechanical displacement profoundly affects its response properties. Sound-mimicking sinusoidal mechanical and electrical current stimuli affect phase-locked responses. In a phase-dependent manner, the two stimuli can also evoke suppressive responses. We propose that mechanical sensitivity interacts with synaptic responses to shape responses in the AN, including frequency tuning and temporal phase locking. Combining neurotransmission and mechanical sensation to control spike patterns gives the mammalian AN a secondary receptor role, an emerging theme in primary neuronal functions.


The usefulness of a translated text for gisting purposes strongly depends on the overall translation quality of the text, but especially on the translation quality of the most informative portions of the text. In this paper we address the problems of ranking translated sentences within a document and ranking translated documents within a set of documents on the same topic according to their informativeness and translation quality. An approach combining quality estimation and sentence ranking methods is used. Experiments with French-English translation using four sets of news commentary documents show promising results for both sentence and document ranking. We believe that this approach can be useful in several practical scenarios where translation is aimed at gisting, such as multilingual media monitoring and news analysis applications.


This study presents an application to simulate the internal temperature and relative humidity of a greenhouse, which provides a simple way to predict crop environmental requirements. Programming was developed in a worksheet with subroutines based on a steady model of energy and mass transfer and as well as psychometric relationships. It contains a user friendly interface that helps increase the analysis and design capabilities on greenhouse environments in countries with low-tech possibilities. This tool can help professionals involved in the greenhouse industry to better understand the complexity and behavior of a greenhouse environment. It can be used as a support aid to evaluate the crop´s specific sustainability in a greenhouse given climate conditions and it can also help design the mechanical systems in order to improve crop productivity. Additionally, in existing projects, this tool can be used to evaluate mechanical systems and a variety of devices that could provide optimal conditions for a crop improving investment efficiency. Implementing this method demonstrated in several validation studies carried out in Costa Rica, that it is possible to achieve suitable precision in the simulation and design of greenhouse environments using basic computational resources.


The plant parasitic nematodes Helicotylenchus multicinctus, Meloidogyne javanica, Tylenchulus semipenetrans, and Xiphinema index, differing in their host specificity and parasitic habits, were analyzed as to their cuticle surface sialyl, galaclosyl, and/or N-acetylgalactosaminyl residues. The procedure involved the selective oxidation of sialic acid and galactose/N-acetylgal-actosamine residues using periodate and galactose oxidase, respectively, to form reactive aldehyde groups. These functional groups were coupled directly with a new hydrazide-containing compound, the fluorescent reagent lissamine rhodamine-beta-alanine hydrazide, or they were utilized to introduce DPN-groups to the nematode cuticle. The distribution of the DNP-tagged glycoconjugates was visualized by treating the nematodes with rabbit anti-DNP antibody and staining with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled goat antirabbit IgG. Sialo residues were observed along the entire outer body wall of the first three aforementioned nematodes, but there were some differences in reaction among the various life stages within the species. In X. index, sialo residues were sited in the tail and head areas, mainly on the lips, oral opening, amphid apertures and stylet. Galactose oxidase treatments revealed galactose on N-acytylgalactosamine residues on T. sentipenetrans and X. index, but there were no indications that their presence was dependent on the developmental stage. Trypsin, pronase, and neuraminidase pretreatment completely abolished the fluorescence in T. semipenetrans but did not alter the sialo residue binding reaction in H. multicinctus or M. javanica, indicating possible differences in the outer body wall saccharide structure and composition between these nematodes. The existence and nature of sugar residues on the cuticle surface of nematodes could contribute to an understanding of the specific recognition by phytophagous nematodes of their host, and perhaps also of the virus transmission mechanism in those nematodes which serve as vectors.


Three-dimensional angle between the QRS complex and T wave vectors is a known powerful cardiovascular risk predictor. Nevertheless, several physiological properties of the angle are unknown or poorly understood. These include, among others, intra-subject profiles and stability of the angle relationship to heart rate, characteristics of angle/heart-rate hysteresis, and the changes of these characteristics with different modes of QRS-T angle calculation. These characteristics were investigated in long-term 12-lead Holter recordings of 523 healthy volunteers (259 females). Three different algorithmic methods for the angle computation were based on maximal vector magnitude of QRS and T wave loops, areas under the QRS complex and T wave curvatures in orthogonal leads, and weighted integration of all QRS and T wave vectors moving around the respective 3-dimensional loops. These methods were applied to orthogonal leads derived either by a uniform conversion matrix or by singular value decomposition (SVD) of the original 12-lead ECG, giving 6 possible ways of expressing the angle. Heart rate hysteresis was assessed using the exponential decay models. All these methods were used to measure the angle in 659,313 representative waveforms of individual 10-s ECG samples and in 7,350,733 individual beats contained in the same 10-s samples. With all measurement methods, the measured angles fitted second-degree polynomial regressions to the underlying heart rate. Independent of the measurement method, the angles were found significantly narrower in females (p < 0.00001) with the differences to males between 10o and 20o, suggesting that in future risk-assessment studies, different angle dichotomies are needed for both sexes. The integrative method combined with SVD leads showed the highest intra-subject reproducibility (p < 0.00001). No reproducible delay between heart rate changes and QRS-T angle changes was found. This was interpreted as a suggestion that the measurement of QRS-T angle might offer direct assessment of cardiac autonomic responsiveness at the ventricular level.


The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the EU adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and reform of financial market regulatory infrastructure promote or inhibit investors' herding practice in the equity markets. Utilizing a modified non-linear model of cross-sectional absolute deviation (CSAD), the empirical findings of this study corroborate the notion that effective financial regulations encourage fundamental-based trading and reduce irrational investment behavior. In particular, with regards to herding bias, at face value, this study finds that the phenomenon is significantly practiced in the EU equity markets following the EU financial regulatory changes. However, taking a closer look at this evidence, it is found that the observed herding phenomenon around the new regulatory regime is largely driven by fundamental information. Hence, suggesting that improvement in information environment emanating from the EU financial regulatory changes induces investors to trade in a contemporaneous manner without necessarily imitating the actions of others but due to identical reaction to common fundamental information. Similarly, the study finds that the new regulatory changes seem not to be the only instigator of the observed fundamental based herding, instead, national economic culture; particularly, the degree of individualism and masculinity is found to be another contributing factor. The findings of this study are expected to be of interest to academics, regulators, and policymakers in performing a cost-benefit analysis of the financial regulations. They are also expected to be useful to market participants who make portfolio decisions based on firms' fundamental variables, treating them as principal indicators of future market movement.


The polymerization kinetics of furfuryl alcohol in wood veneer were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and were compared with weight gains of treated wood veneers. Maleic anhydride was used as the reaction initiator. DSC data were obtained for samples of the veneers that had been impregnated with neat furfuryl alcohol or with furfuryl alcohol diluted with ethanol, and using two ratios of maleic anhydride to furfuryl alcohol. The high ratio of maleic anhydride to furfuryl alcohol (1:9) favoured rapid polymerization at a lower temperature, whereas the lower ratio (1:19) resulted in a relatively slower rate of polymerization, which required higher temperatures to affect the reaction. A higher temperature also led to an increase in furfuryl alcohol evaporation from the prepared veneers. The DSC data was compared with data obtained from furfuryl alcohol impregnated wood veneers but without the addition of maleic anhydride. DSC data is in good agreement with weight percentage gains (WPGs) obtained for samples impregnated with differently composed solutions. While higher maleic anhydride contents led to higher WPGs, ethanol dilution inhibits polymer formation, resulting in lower WPG.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the influence of referral bias on complication rates after vaginal hysterectomy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Community-based (local) and referral patients had benign indications and underwent vaginal hysterectomy from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2005. We retrospectively evaluated patient characteristics, surgical procedures, and complications that occurred within 9 weeks after the index surgery. Complications were defined as admission to the intensive care unit, reoperation, hospital readmission, or medical intervention.

RESULTS
Of 736 patients, 361 (49.0%) were referred from outside the immediate 7-county area. Compared with local patients, referral patients were older (mean age, 54.5 vs 49.3 years; P<.001) and had lower body mass index (mean, 27.6 vs 28.7 kg/m2; P=.02). More referral patients had cardiovascular disease (4.2% vs 0.5%; P=.001) and prior myocardial infarctions (1.9% vs 0%; P=.007). Referral patients also had higher American Society of Anesthesiologists scores (score of 3 or 4, 12.6% vs 7.0%; P=.01) and longer length of hospitalization (mean, 2.6 vs 2.2 days; P<.001), and more underwent pelvic reconstruction (52.1% vs 41.3%; P=.004). Fewer referral patients had private insurance (74.5% vs 89.6%; P<.001). Despite these differences, overall complication rates were similar for referral and local patients (33.4% vs 29.7%; P=.28).

CONCLUSION
Although referral patients had more comorbid conditions than local patients, the groups had similar complication rates after vaginal hysterectomy.


Late-onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency has been reported with increasing frequency, but only a few adult women have been found to have this disorder in Japan. We report a 26-year-old Japanese hirsute woman with partial 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency. The diagnosis was based on significantly increased ratios of 17-hydroxypregnenolone to 17-hydroxyprogesterone and of dehydroepiandrosterone to androstenedione after administration of ACTH. Hirsutism improved with the administration of dexamethasone (0.5 mg) every evening. Since routine assay of delta 5-steroid metabolites has become available, the incidence of this disorder will increase. Diagnostic effort should be attempted since the disorder is treatable with low-dose dexamethasone.


In this article, we investigate the circumstances that have produced the current municipal regulatory approach to homelessness in the City of Melbourne, Victoria, and the ways in which visibly homeless people are policed through a micro-aesthetics of their presence in public space, which involves the monitoring of their bodily demeanour and their physical possessions. Our study contributes to and draws from a range of debates, including studies of the governmental conjunction of poverty and crime, analysis of the co-implication of law and spatiality, research on the criminalisation of homelessness and homeless people, and the burgeoning criminological interest in the significance of the visual field for our understandings of crime and criminality. This article recounts how homelessness, public space and questions of aesthetics have recently coalesced in debates about the regulation of homelessness in the public space of Melbourne's city centre. It approaches the issues through comparative consideration of genres of municipal management frameworks in other jurisdictions, detailed textual consideration of the Protocol on Homelessness in the City of Melbourne and an empirical study of visible homelessness in the public places of central Melbourne.


The clinical success of 85 Screw Vent and 107 Brånemark implants, consecutively installed in a private periodontal clinic under the same conditions and by the same operator, is compared. Mobile implants were removed and considered as failures. Intra-oral radiographs were assessed for the presence of peri-implant radiolucencies and for analysis of bone loss after functional loading. 85 Screw Vent implants were installed in 31 patients. Of 23 implants installed in 9 mandibles, none failed after 16.8 (range 12-25) months of function. Of 62 Screw Vent implants installed in 23 maxillae, 6 failed at abutment connection, 1 failed after 2 months and 2 after 13 months of function. The absolute failure rate after 13.2 (range 6-24) months was 9/62. Mean loss of bone was 1.47 mm (-1.0- +4) after 12 months of functional loading. 107 Brånemark fixtures were installed in 25 patients. Of 51 fixtures inserted in 12 mandibles, none failed; of 56 fixtures installed in 13 maxillae 1 failed before and 2 failed during abutment connection. The absolute failure is 3/56. All remaining fixtures were immobile after loading. 13 fixtures were more than 6 months in function. Only short-term comparison between both systems is possible because the observation time is longer for the Screw Vent implants. In the 1st year, only 1 implant system was available to the periodontist. Short-term comparison reveals 11.3% versus 5.3% of cumulative failure after 6 months for the Screw Vent and Brånemark implants, respectively. The results indicate that clinical efficacy is as effectively obtained with Screw Vent as with Brånemark implants in the mandible. The outcome of treatment with Screw Vent implants in the maxilla seems less predictable.


Digital technology generates changes in educational practices. In places where the problem of access for all has been resolved, their teachers do not use these resources. What digital competencies are needed to exchange educational practices and resources between teachers? The focus of the research was that of Basic Education teachers in Brazil. The survey analyzed 59 schools interviewing 339 teachers. The investigation took place with learning workshops in which teachers identified competencies developed or not. The most relevant data show that the competences in Information, Communication and Technological are partially developed and the pedagogical competence still needs to be developed in the teachers. They show skills to share ideas, experiences and attitudes to communicate; However, there is a lack of leadership in the networks, skills to create digital content, to know how to seek and share educational practices through educational resources.


It is a good practice, nowadays, to infiltrate local anesthetics along the incision to prevent postoperative pain. This can reduce the use of opioids and the side effects they cause. It is known clearly that the surgical trauma causes inflammatory reaction, and this can be the beginning of a bad cicatrization or even a scar. The use of local anesthetics preventing the acute pain is a very simple technique and has proved to be useful. Nevertheless, the reaction that various anesthetics have over the tissues and the cicatrization process is yet controversial and deserves to be investigated deeply. The use of different formulations of these drugs has been stimulated. The duration and secureness have been the goals of many researches. Levobupivacaine, ropivacaine, and bupivacaine for their long action; lidocaine for less toxicity; and liposomal formulation for the longest duration ever seen, all of them have been indicated in the postoperative pain management. The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the role of long duration local anesthetics on the inflammatory reaction and consequently the collagen production and resistance of the tissue to traction.


We provide an interim report on the Indian lockdown provoked by the covid-19 pandemic. The main topics — ranging from the philosophy of lockdown to the provision of relief measures — transcend the Indian case. A recurrent theme is the enormous visibility of covid-19 deaths worldwide, with Governments everywhere propelled to respect this visibility, developing countries perhaps even more so. In advanced economies, the cost of achieving this reduction in visible deaths is "merely" a dramatic reduction in overall economic activity, coupled with far-reaching measures to compensate those who bear such losses. But for India, a developing country with great sectoral and occupational vulnerabilities, this dramatic reduction is more than economic: it means lives lost. These lost lives, through violence, starvation, indebtedness and extreme stress (both psychological and physiological) are invisible. It is this conjunction of visibility and invisibility that drives the Indian response. The lockdown meets all international standards so far; the relief package none.


In recent years, Archaea have, with increasing frequency, been found to colonize both agricultural and forest soils in temperate and boreal regions. The as yet uncultured group I.1c of the Thaumarchaeota has been of special interest. These Archaea are widely distributed in mature vegetated acidic soils, but little has been revealed of their physiological and biological characteristics. The I.1c Thaumarchaeota have been recognized as a microbial group influenced by plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi, but appear to have distinct features from their more common soil dwelling counterparts, such as the Nitrosotalea or Nitrososphaera. They appear to be highly dependent on soil pH, thriving in undisturbed vegetated soils with a pH of 5 or below. Research indicate that these Archaea require organic carbon and nitrogen sources for growth and that they may live both aerobically and anaerobically. Nevertheless, pure cultures of these microorganisms have not yet been obtained. This review will focus on what is known to date about the uncultured group I.1c Thaumarchaeota formerly known as the "Finnish Forest Soil" (FFS) Archaea.


This paper reviews the main challenges facing countries in attempting to improve labor market outcomes among youth, focusing on the issues that became starkly visible during the recent financial crisis. In order to better identify and set up human development interventions, the paper proposes an agenda that focuses on three areas: (1) improving the understanding of the causes and consequences of poor labor market outcomes for youth; (2) continuing to learn from the evaluation of pilots and programs that aim to promote productive employment among young people; and (3) addressing implementation issues which frequently overwhelm the best designs. The paper utilizes research on youth employment to take stock of youth labor market outcomes across regions, focusing on inactivity, unemployment, and employment indicators. A review of what is known about current interventions, including those that appear in the youth employment Inventory database of programs, provides the basis for determining the efficacy of five categories of intervention: (i) skills training (including vocational training, on-the-job-training programs, literacy and numeracy programs, second-chance and equivalency programs, and soft-skills programs); (ii) entrepreneurship promotion (financial assistance, technical assistance, and entrepreneurship training); (iii) subsidized employment (including wage subsidy programs, public works, and public/community service programs); (iv) employment services (including search assistance and access to labor market information, job counseling and placement services, and financial assistance for job search); and (v) reforms to labor market regulation (including anti-discrimination legislation) training programs, wage subsidies. Finally, the paper proposes an agenda for research and policy analysis in the area of human development that is expected to help both deepen the understanding of youth employment issues and improve the selection, design, and implementation of youth employment programs.


Voice assistants are deployed widely and provide useful functionality. However, recent work has shown that commercial systems like Amazon Alexa and Google Home are vulnerable to voice-based confusion attacks that exploit design issues. We propose a systems-oriented defense against this class of attacks and demonstrate its functionality for Amazon Alexa. We ensure that only the skills a user intends execute in response to voice commands. Our key insight is that we can interpret a user's intentions by analyzing their activity on counterpart systems of the web and smartphones. For example, the Lyft ride-sharing Alexa skill has an Android app and a website. Our work shows how information from counterpart apps can help reduce dis-ambiguities in the skill invocation process. We build SkilIFence, a browser extension that existing voice assistant users can install to ensure that only legitimate skills run in response to their commands. Using real user data from MTurk (N = 116) and experimental trials involving synthetic and organic speech, we show that SkillFence provides a balance between usability and security by securing 90.83% of skills that a user will need with a False acceptance rate of 19.83%.