Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), we investigated the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) from high bromide waters (2 mg/L) treated with chlorine or chlorine dioxide used in combination with chlorine and chloramines. This study represents the first comprehensive investigation of DBPs formed by chlorine dioxide under high bromide conditions. Drinking water from full-scale treatment plants in Israel was studied, along with source water (Sea of Galilee) treated under carefully controlled laboratory conditions. Select DBPs (trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, aldehydes, chlorite, chlorate, and bromate) were quantified. Many of the DBPs identified have not been previously reported, and several of the identifications were confirmed through the analysis of authentic standards. Elevated bromide levels in the source water caused a significant shift in speciation to bromine-containing DBPs; bromoform and dibromoacetic acid were the dominant DBPs observed, with very few chlorine-containing compounds found. Iodo-trihalomethanes were also identified, as well as a number of new brominated carboxylic acids and 2,3,5-tribromopyrrole, which represents the first time a halogenated pyrrole has been reported as a DBP. Most of the bromine-containing DBPs were formed during pre-chlorination at the initial reservoir, and were not formed by chlorine dioxide itself. An exception wasthe iodo-THMs, which appeared to be formed by a combination of chlorine dioxide with chloramines or chlorine (either added deliberately or as an impurity in the chlorine dioxide). A separate laboratory study was also conducted to quantitatively determine the contribution of fulvic acids and humic acids (from isolated natural organic matter in the Sea of Galilee) as precursor material to several of the DBPs identified. Results showed that fulvic acid plays a greater role in the formation of THMs, haloacetic acids, and aldehydes, but 2,3,5-tribromopyrrole was produced primarily from humic acid. Because this was the first time a halopyrrole has been identified as a DBP, 2,3,5-tribromopyrrole was tested for mammalian cell cytotoxicity and genotoxicity. In comparison to other DBPs, 2,3,5-tribromopyrrole was 8x, 4.5x, and 16x more cytotoxic than dibromoacetic acid, 3-chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-2-[5H]-furanone [MX], and potassium bromate, respectively. 2,3,5-Tribromopyrrole also induced acute genomic damage, with a genotoxic potency (299 microM) similar to that of MX.


Phasor measurement unit (PMU) has the ability to identify and track the phasor values of voltage and current synchronously on a power system in real time, which is crucial to the detection of disturbances and characterization of transient swings. This paper provides an introduction to the framework of a new-type PMU, including the hardware architecture and the software structure. Then, an improved phasor computation algorithm is proposed to correct the errors occurred by the recursive DFT in the presence of frequency offset. Digital simulations and lab tests were accomplished with the new phasor-tracking algorithm. Results validated the performance of the improved phasor-tracking algorithm and its advantages over the traditional DFT algorithm.


The constitutional debates surrounding the First and Second Banks of the United States generated the first major precedents regarding the scope of federal legislative powers, and their importance continues to resonate today. Eric Lomazoff's important new book, Reconstructing the National Bank Controversy, is the first scholarly study that views the National Bank controversy as a continuous 55-year sequence of events, whose highlights include the adoption of Alexander Hamilton's proposed Bank of the United States in 1791, John Marshall's decision in McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819, and Andrew Jackson's veto of the Second Bank recharter in 1832. Lomazoff persuasively establishes that a Madisonian consensus supporting the creation of the Second Bank in 1816 " largely overlooked by constitutional scholars " was framed in a way that tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to downplay the Necessary and Proper Clause and the idea of implied powers by emphasizing the existence of a federal power to regulate the national currency, linked to the Coinage Clause. The book review goes on to argue that the National Bank controversy demonstrates that many antebellum partisans of limited enumerated powers -- mainstream Jeffersonian Republicans, Jacksonian Democrats, and even James Madison himself -- were quite happy to work around enumerated powers in order to meet the political demands and objectives of the moment. This lends support to the suggestion that enumerationism (the ideology of limited enumerated powers) was never, in practice, the "true" original meaning of the Constitution.


Based on the investigation and detection of Juye Bridge, the major diseases of Juye bridge was identified. After that, a comprehensive analysis of the diseases was done .By the results of the analysis, attention was focused on the bridge reinforcement, and then the bridge of reinforced was calculated based on finite element method. By the comparative results from finite element analysis and actual tests, the strengthening technical level and corresponding norms were evaluated. The results show that the use of the finite element technology to detect and reinforce the bridge is effective and feasible, and finite element can be an effective tool of bridge reinforcement technology.


Students typically use small calculators or personal computer applications such as MATLAB or MATHCAD to perform basic electrical engineering calculations. From the experience of teaching several power engineering courses, the author noted that when using computer software to solve problems, students tend to lose the meaning of the equations, concentrating solely on typing variables and numbers. Some programs are especially inviting for making this error. MATLAB, for instance, does not use any built-in units of measurement, leaving the management of such units to the user. The user's attention shifts from the problem to the units. Although not as powerful and fast as MATLAB, MATHCAD, on the other hand, has a great potential to help students better understand introductory courses. There are two most important features. First, the screen appearance of the equations matches as closely as possible to the traditional form of the equations and helps the students to become familiar with the concepts. Although a bit difficult to type, the equations written in their natural form help avoid errors. A second feature, the use of built-in measurement units, is particularly helpful because the students can concentrate on the meaning of what they learn and know the transformation will be done properly. A technique for representing magnetization curves in MATHCAD (and the corresponding calculations) is also presented. The technique allows for a computer simulation of "graphical calculations" traditionally used in electrical machine design. The class-related experience has shown that even the simple examples presented in This work could prove to be difficult for students, especially when choosing a programming language to help with the calculations.


Due to the poor operational lifetime of blue phosphorescent dopants and blue thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) materials, hybrid white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) with conventional blue fluorescent emitters are still preferred for commercial applications in general lighting. However, the improvement in the overall efficiency of hybrid WOLEDs has been limited due to energy losses during the energy transfer process and exciton quenching after the spatial separation of the singlet and triplet excitons. Here we demonstrate the development of a Spatial Exciton Allocation Strategy (SEAS) to achieve close to 100% internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in blue-yellow complementary color hybrid WOLEDs. The employed blue fluorophore not only has a resonant triplet level with the yellow phosphor to reduce energy loss during energy transfer processes and triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA), but also has a resonant singlet level with the electron transport layer to extend singlet exciton distribution and enhance both singlet and triplet exciton utilization. The resulting hybrid WOLEDs exhibited 104 lm W−1 efficacy at 100 cd m−2 and 74 lm W−1 at 1000 cd m−2 with CIE coordinates of (0.42, 0.44) which is warm white and suitable for indoor lighting.


Every day, trillions upon trillions of chemical reactions occur in our body to make essential metabolic processes occur. Enzymes are proteins that act upon substrate molecules and decrease the activation energy necessary for a chemical reaction to occur by stabilizing the transition state. This stabilization speeds up reaction rates and makes them happen at physiologically significant rates. Enzymes bind substrates at key locations in their structure called active sites. They are typically highly specific and only bind certain substrates for certain reactions. Without enzymes, most metabolic reactions would take much longer and would not be fast enough to sustain life.


We were interested to read the studies of variability of urinary albumin excretion in adults published recently in Diabetic Medicine''2 as we had attempted to study the phenomenon in diabetic children earlier.3 There is general agreement in all studies that the degree of variability is ~onsiderablel-~ but we agree with Chachati et that variability is greater in diabetic patients than in normal individuals. We found that the variability of albuminicreatinine ratios (both during the day and night) was greater in patients than in normal subjects in contrast to the findings of Cohen eta/.' We find it curious that Cohen eta/.' calculate and compare coefficients of variation of raw data known not to be normally distributed (as acknowledged in their expression of a geometric mean in an accompanying table). For want of a better method we advocated the use of a comparison of variances around a common mean.3 Furthermore from a paediatric viewpoint we are amused that adult physicians seem to consider all adults to be of the same size in that no correction is made to albumin excretion rates. Presumably failure to correct for body size has obscured the higher albumin excretion rate in females compared to males, a clear finding in children and adolescents.6


To better understand cell behaviors on substrates, the precise control of density and orientation of cellspecific ligands remains a great challenge. In this study, we established an easy-to-use approach to manipulate the adhesion and patterning of mammalian cells on gold substrates. We prepared DNA selfassembled monolayers (DNA-SAMs) on gold substrates and found that the sequence-specific orientation of DNA-SAMs played an important role in modulating cell adhesion. We also found that the DNA-SAMs on gold substrates could be used as a potentially universal cell culture substrate, which showed properties similar to cationic polymers (e.g. poly-L lysine, PLL) substrates. Furthermore, we could manipulate cell adhesion by tuning the length of poly adenine (polyA) in the DNA sequence. We also prepared a DNA aptamer-based SAM to regulate cell adhesion by exploiting stimuli-responsive conformational change of the aptamer. By using the well-established DNA spotting technology, we patterned cells on DNA-SAMs to form a spot matrix and four English letters "CELL". Our findings suggest that DNA-SAMs on gold substrates are potentially useful for making smart surfaces for cell studies, thus introducing a new platform for cell/tissue engineering research.


Abstract The field of sexual offender treatment has drawn inspiration from two major social movements: The women's movement, which defined sexual victimisation as a serious social problem, and correctional rehabilitation, which provided the vision and methods to reintegrate offenders as law-abiding citizens. In this retrospective, I argue that we should also be guided by a third social force: The movement for evidence-based practice. In order to realise the potential of evidence-based practice, we need to support more and better research on sexual offender treatment.


This thesis describes the study of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based techniques for the classification of aerial images for various types of land-use. In this study both gray-scale and multispectral aerial images were used in land-use classification. Three approaches were used for the preparation of the data as inputs to the ANN, including histograms of the pixel intensities, textural parameters extracted from the image, and matrices of pixels for spatial information. The approach using textural parameters was found to be the best for both gray-scale and multispectral image classification. A probabilistic neural network was employed. A high level of accuracy was achieved with both gray-scale (92%) and multispectral images (89%). INDEX WORDS: Aerial remote sensing, artificial neural networks, image classification, image processing. LAND-USE CLASSIFICATION OF AERIAL IMAGES USING ARTIFICIAL


Many primarily loaded aircraft structure such as skin panels, have the form factor of plates or shells. The Variational Asymptotic Method (VAM) is used to systematically reduce the dimensionality of such structures by taking advantage of the smallness of their thickness vis-a-vis their other dimensions. VAM systematically reduces the 3D elasticity problem into a linear 1-D through-the-thickness analysis and a geometrically nonlinear 2-D plate analysis. The reduced order 2-D model, which is transformed into Reissner-like model, is used to predict 3-D displacement, 3-D stress and 3-D strain. The significant feature of VAM is that it does not use any ad-hoc assumptions on the displacement and stress fields in order to derive the reduced model. Present paper deals with analysis of a composite plate under bending and shear using VAM. The 3-D results recovered from VAM (1-D+2-D) are compared with that obtained from commercial 3-D finite element analysis. A comparative study is carried out to validate the plate results. Acceptable engineering accuracy of the present approach amidst major savings in computational resources is demonstrated with supporting data for both accuracy and efficiency.


Introduction: Tumours of Bones & joints are rare. The histogenesis of some of these is still uncertain. Unpredictable behaviour of undifferentiated tumours and some of the differentiated tumours, are a challenge. Aims and Objectives: Cases of tumours of bones & joints were studied for their varied Histopathology. Tumour like conditions were not included. Materials and Methods: Biopsies of 74 Patients with tumours of Bones & joints, admitted to J.S.S. Medical College Hospital and Dental College Hospital, from April 2015 to April 2018 were studied. Cases were clinically & radiologically examined & studied by routine Haematoxilin & Eosin stains after decalcification by 10% formic acid. Special stains & I.H.C were done when required. Results: In this study, benign tumours of bone were 56.25% & Malignant were 43.75 %. Joints infiltrated by synovial sarcoma was 8.10%. Benign odontogenic tumours were 5.4% & malignant tumours were 6.75%. Male to female ratio in benign tumours was 2.65:1 & in malignancy, 1.35:1. Sex incidence of the commonest malignant tumour osteosarcoma was to 1: 1. Next commoner malignancy was synovial sarcoma infiltrating the joints with a sex ratio of 1:5. Giant cell tumours showed a sex ratio of 3:2. Conclusion: Tumours of bones & joints are a real challenge to the pathologist, Radiologist & orthopedic surgeons because of their varied presentation, uncertain histogenesis in some & their behavior to treatment. A sincere effort is done to classify, study their varied histopathological features & rarities which definitely deepens our knowledge on this.


Nutmeg as Indonesia main exported commodity frequently contaminated by aflatoxin and often rejected by European Union. To improve safety of nutmeg, Ministry of Agricultural (MA) issued a regu- lation number 53 in 2012 regarding good practices on nutmeg. The objectives of this research were to (1) evaluate implementation of the MA regulation at nutmeg supply chain in Siau Barat District (2) identify critical points for mold growth and/or aflatoxin formation along the nutmeg supply chain. This research conducted through (1) surveys to 60 farmers, 10 middlemen, 2 exporters and 3 government officials as respondents; (2) identification of critical steps using HACCP decision trees. The evaluation of MA regu- lation showed that at farmer level was poor for postharvest handling (54.4%) caused by lack of facilities and infrastructure (57.2%), although for harvest was moderate (70.4%). At the middleman level, handling practices at postharvest was moderate (62.5%), although not supported with facilities and infrastructure (36.7%). Handling practices at exporter level was generally good, however supervision at government official level was poor (56.3%). Critical control points determined at farmer level were harvesting and drying, at middlemen level were receiving, drying and storage, while at exporter level were receiving and shipment.


Objective Dietary changes which improve health are also likely to be beneficial for the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). However, previous analyses have not accounted for the potential acceptability of low GHG diets to the general public. This study attempted to quantify the health effects associated with adopting low GHG emission diets in the UK. Design Epidemiological modelling study. Setting UK. Participants UK population. Intervention Adoption of diets optimised to achieve the WHO nutritional recommendations and reduce GHG emissions while remaining as close as possible to existing dietary patterns. Main outcome Changes in years of life lost due to coronary heart disease, stroke, several cancers and type II diabetes, quantified using life tables. Results If the average UK dietary intake were optimised to comply with the WHO recommendations, we estimate an incidental reduction of 17% in GHG emissions. Such a dietary pattern would be broadly similar to the current UK average. Our model suggests that it would save almost 7 million years of life lost prematurely in the UK over the next 30 years and increase average life expectancy by over 8 months. Diets that result in additional GHG emission reductions could achieve further net health benefits. For emission reductions greater than 40%, improvements in some health outcomes may decrease and acceptability will diminish. Conclusions There are large potential benefits to health from adopting diets with lower associated GHG emissions in the UK. Most of these benefits can be achieved without drastic changes to existing dietary patterns. However, to reduce emissions by more than 40%, major dietary changes that limit both acceptability and the benefits to health are required.


Many bivalve species are cultured widely around the world due to their commercial importance. As a result of the increases in areas and production associated with intensive culture, mass mortalities of bivalves caused by a wide variety of agents have become a serious problem. Various infectious diseases represented by protozoan and bacterial diseases have been threatening shellfish culture industries, and hence, many investigations have been made on the defense mechanisms, as well as diseases, in bivalves. The molluscan defense mechanism is comprised of the only innate immunity, which is also dependent on cellular components such as hemocytes possessing phagocytic and bactericidal activities and on humoral defense molecules such as lectin and lysozyme. In this review, we summarize cellular defense mechanisms in bivalve molluscs focusing on hemocytes: 1) morphology and classification, 2) functional profiles (phagocytosis, encapsulation, wound repair), 3) reactive oxygen species, 4) effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental factors, and 5) stress and signaling pathways.


User emotion analysis toward videos is to automatically recognize the general emotional status of viewers from the multimedia content embedded in the online video stream. Existing works fall into two categories: 1) visual-based methods, which focus on visual content and extract a specific set of features of videos. However, it is generally hard to learn a mapping function from low-level video pixels to high-level emotion space due to great intra-class variance. 2) textual-based methods, which focus on the investigation of user-generated comments associated with videos. The learned word representations by traditional linguistic approaches typically lack emotion information and the global comments usually reflect viewers' high-level understandings rather than instantaneous emotions. To address these limitations, in this paper, we propose to jointly utilize video content and user-generated texts simultaneously for emotion analysis. In particular, we introduce exploiting a new type of user-generated texts, i.e., "danmu," which are real-time comments floating on the video and contain rich information to convey viewers' emotional opinions. To enhance the emotion discriminativeness of words in textual feature extraction, we propose Emotional Word Embedding (EWE) to learn text representations by jointly considering their semantics and emotions. Afterward, we propose a novel visual-textual emotion analysis model with Deep Coupled Video and Danmu Neural networks (DCVDN), in which visual and textual features are synchronously extracted and fused to form a comprehensive representation by deep-canonically-correlated-autoencoder-based multi-view learning. Through extensive experiments on a self-crawled real-world video-danmu dataset, we prove that DCVDN significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art baselines.


From the time of first characterization of PI3K as a heterodimer made up of a p110 catalytic subunit and a regulatory subunit, a wealth of evidence have placed the class IA PI3Ks at the forefront of drug development for the treatment of various diseases including cancer. The p110α isoform was quickly brought at the centre of attention in the field of cancer research by the discovery of cancer-specific gain-of-function mutations in PIK3CA gene in a range of human solid tumours. In contrast, p110δ PI3K was placed into the spotlight of immunity, inflammation and haematologic malignancies because of the preferential expression of this isoform in leucocytes and the rare mutations in PIK3CD gene. The last decade, however, several studies have provided evidence showing that the correlation between the PIK3CA mutations and the response to PI3K inhibition is less clear than originally considered, whereas concurrently an unexpected role of p110δ PI3K in solid tumours has being emerging. While PIK3CD is mostly non-mutated in cancer, the expression levels of p110δ protein seem to act as an intrinsic cancer-causing driver in various solid tumours including breast, prostate, colorectal and liver cancer, Merkel-Cell carcinoma, glioblastoma and neurobalstoma. Furthermore, p110δ selective inhibitors are being studied as potential single agent treatments or as combination partners in attempt to improve cancer immunotherapy, with both strategies to shown great promise for the treatment of several solid tumours. In this review, we discuss the evidence implicating the p110δ PI3K in human solid tumours, their impact on the current state of the field and the potential of using p110δ-selective inhibitors as monotherapy or combined therapy in different cancer contexts.


This study compared the ventilation response to an incremental ergometer exercise at two altitudes: 633 mmHg (resident altitude = 1,600 m) and following acute decompression to 455 mmHg (≈4,350 m altitude) in eight male cyclists and runners. At 455 mmHg, the VESTPD at RER <1.0 was significantly lower and the VEBTPS was higher because of higher breathing frequency; at VO2max, both VESTPD and VEBTPS were not significantly different. As percent of VO2max, the VEBTPS was nearly identical and VESTPD was 30% lower throughout the exercise at 455 mmHg. The lower VESTPD at lower pressure differs from two classical studies of acclimatized subjects (Silver Hut and OEII), where VESTPD at submaximal workloads was maintained or increased above that at sea level. The lower VESTPD at 455 mmHg in unacclimatized subjects at submaximal workloads results from acute respiratory alkalosis due to the initial fall in HbO2 (≈0.17 pHa units), reduction in PACO2 (≈5 mmHg) and higher PAO2 throughout the exercise, which are partially pre-established during acclimatization. Regression equations from these studies predict VESTPD from VO2 and PB in unacclimatized and acclimatized subjects. The attainment of ventilatory acclimatization to altitude can be estimated from the measured vs. predicted difference in VESTPD at low workloads after arrival at altitude.


Abstract In vitro antifungal potential of Trichoderma isolates, selective botanical extracts and fungicides against A. solani was evaluated. Trichoderma isolates, i.e. T. harzianum, T. viride and T. hamatum, were tested for their antifungal effect by dual culture technique at 48, 96, 144 and 172 hrs. T. hamatum produced the highest inhibition of A. solani in vitro, followed by T. hazianum and T. viride after 172 hrs. Methanolic leaf extracts of Elettaria cardamomum, Syzygium aromaticum, Curcuma longa and root extract of Parthenium hysterophorus showed up to 100% inhibition of A. solani, compared to control, while methanolic stem and leaf extracts of P. hysterophorus produced up to 90% inhibition of the pathogen. In vitro, six different systemic fungicides Triger 25% EC (Tebuconazole), Solex (Carbendazim 40% + Triadimefon 10%), Dew (Difenoconazole), Amistor Top SC (Azoxystrobin + Difenoconazole), Corel 25% EC (Difenoconazole), Reflex (Difenoconazole + Propiconazole) were tested against A. solani at 5, 10 and 15 ppm concentrations after 48, 96, 144 and 172 hrs. Corel and reflex at all concentrations produced best growth inhibition of A. solani. The inhibition was maximum by all fungicides at 15 ppm after 172 hrs. All fungicides had a promising inhibitory effect on A. solani, except Solex. It can be concluded from the present investigation that a combination of these strategies can be used in integrated disease management of A. solani on potato.


In recent years, in order to ensure the effectiveness of justice, the process of reform of the Brazilian Judiciary began. If, on the one hand, the changes have been significant and positive, on the other, little is known about the impact of the changes on the worker. In order to give visibility to the effects of these changes, based on the theory of the ergonomics of the activity, the scope of this research was to evaluate the Work Context and the Human Cost of Work in a Brazilian Judiciary Organ. The Assessment Scale of Work Context (ASWC) and the Scale of Human Cost of Work (SHCW) were used, as they are both components of the Inventory on Work and Risk - IWR. The study included 383 staff in different locations: 58% female, 62.7% with postgraduate qualifications, 59.3% married and 53% between 21 and 40 years of age. The results in ASWC reveal critical factors in work organization and socio-professional relations. In the case of SHCW, Affective Cost and Cognitive Cost factor assessments were moderate to critical. The ANOVA revealed differences in perceptions related to some socio-demographic variables.


The Venice lagoon is one of the most important areas in Italy because of its history and its particular structure and form. In order to defend Venice and other towns within the lagoon from severe floods, the Italian Government promotes a project that includes, among other measures, the construction of the Experimental Electromechanical Module (MoSE). The MoSE is a system of mobile gates installed at the lagoon inlets that are able to temporarily isolate the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea during severe storm surge events, thus ensuring acceptable safeguarding water levels. To prevent interference between the barriers and the normal port activities, locks have been constructed at each lagoon inlet. However, the use of such locks causes a slowdown in maritime traffic. In order to evaluate a means of reducing such interference during the flooding events characterized by high but not extreme water levels, the present paper demonstrates, by means of a numerical approach, that one of the three inlets can be left open so as to ensure the transit of the vessels. The present paper also points out the meteorological conditions for which the safeguarding water levels of the lagoon are not exceeded when closing only two inlets.


Mobile wireless networks with intermittent connectivity, often called delay/disruption tolerant networks (DTNs), have recently received a lot of attention because of their applicability in various applications, including multicasting. To overcome intermittent connectivity, DTN routing protocols utilize mobility-assist routing by letting the nodes carry and forward the data. In this paper, we study the scalability of DTN multicast routing. As Gupta and Kumar showed that unicast routing is not scalable, recent reports on multicast routing also showed that the use of a multicast tree results in a poor scaling behavior. However, Grossglauser and Tse showed that in delay tolerant applications, the unicast routing overhead can be relaxed using the two-hop relay routing where a source forwards packets to relay nodes and the relay nodes in turn deliver packets to the destination via ldquomobility,rdquo thus achieving a perfect scaling behavior of Theta(1). Inspired by this result, we seek to improve the throughput bound of wireless multicast in a delay tolerant setting using mobility-assist routing. To this end, we propose RelayCast, a routing scheme that extends the two-hop relay algorithm in the multicast scenario. Given that there are ns sources each of which is associated with nd random destinations, our results show that RelayCast can achieve the throughput upper bound of Theta(min(1, n/nsnd)). We also analyze the impact of various network parameters and routing strategies (such as buffer size, multi-user diversity among multicast receivers, and delay constraints) on the throughput and delay scaling properties of RelayCast. Finally, we validate our analytical results with a simulation study.


Objective In 2012, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and a consensus of 25 organizations endorsed concurrent cytology and human papillomavirus (HPV) testing ("cotesting") for cervical cancer screening. Past screening and management guidelines were implicitly based on risks defined by Pap-alone, without consideration of HPV test results. To promote management that is consistent with accepted practice, new guidelines incorporating cotesting should aim to achieve equal management of women at equal risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 and cancer (CIN 3+). Methods We estimated cumulative 5-year risks of CIN 3+ for 965,360 women aged 30 to 64 years undergoing cotesting at Kaiser Permanente Northern California over 2003 to 2010. We calculated the implicit risk thresholds for Pap-alone and applied them for new management guidance on HPV and Pap cotesting, citing 2 examples: HPV-positive/atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and HPV-negative/Pap-negative. We call this guidance process "benchmarking." Results A low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion result, for which immediate colposcopy is prescribed, carries a 5-year CIN 3+ risk of 5.2%, suggesting that test results with similar risks should be managed with colposcopy. Similarly, ASC-US (2.6% risk) is managed with a 6- to 12-month follow-up visit and Pap-negative (0.26% risk) is managed with a 3-year follow-up visit. The 5-year CIN 3+ risk among women with HPV-positive/ASC-US was 6.8% (95% confidence interval = 6.2%–7.6%). This is greater than the 5.2% risk implicitly leading to referral for colposcopy, consistent with current management recommendations that women with HPV-positive/ASC-US be referred for immediate colposcopy. The 5-year CIN 3+ risk among women with HPV-negative/Pap-negative results was 0.08% (95% confidence interval = 0.07%–0.09%), far below the 0.26% implicitly required for a 3-year return and justifying a longer (e.g., 5-year) return. Conclusions Using the principle of "equal management of equal risks," benchmarking to implicit risk thresholds based on Pap-alone can be used to achieve safe and consistent incorporation of cotesting.


Article abstractThe Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews summarizes all the existing randomized evidence of all treatments for all diseases, so that doctors can quickly access the most up-to-date information. The trials for the Cochrane systematic review of thrombolytic therapy in acute ischemic stroke were identified from extensive searching of the literature and contact with trial investigators. Data on several prespecified outcomes (death and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhages within the first 7 to 10 days after treatment, and death and poor functional outcome at long-term follow-up) were sought in each identified randomized, controlled trial. There have thus far been 17 completed randomized, controlled trials of thrombolytic therapy versus control in 5,216 patients (including the provisional data from the Alteplase Thrombolysis for Acute Noninterventional Therapy in Ischemic Stroke [ATLANTIS] A and B and Recombinant Prourokinase in Acute Cerebral Thromboembolism [PROACT] II trials). Of these, eight trials tested recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) in 2,889 patients (56% of all data). Overall, there was an increase in the odds of death within the first 10 days (odds ratio [OR] 1.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48 to 2.32) and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (OR 3.53, 95% CI 2.79 to 4.45) with thrombolysis (slightly less with rt-PA). The odds of death at the end of follow-up were also slightly increased with thrombolysis (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.52), although this increase was not significant in patients receiving rt-PA. Despite this, overall there was a significant reduction in the number of patients with a poor functional outcome (combined death or dependency) at the end of follow-up (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.94), which was slightly better in patients receiving rt-PA. Most of the data came from trials testing thrombolysis up to 6 hours after stroke, but the subgroup of patients treated within 3 hours showed a greater reduction in poor functional outcome with thrombolysis (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.74) with a less adverse effect on death. The available data do not allow much further subgroup analysis, although there is reasonable evidence to indicate that aspirin or heparin given within 24 hours of thrombolytic therapy causes a significant increase in intracranial hemorrhage and death. It is hoped that a meta-analysis using individual patient data may be able to address the effect of thrombolysis in further specific subgroups and examine the interaction between the severity of stroke and the effect of thrombolysis.


This study evaluates the effect of pre-existing relational governance mechanisms on environmental collaboration. Specifically, our study distinguishes between structural and process dimensions of relational governance mechanisms so as to facilitate a more nuanced investigation into the inherent complementarities and performance implications. Using data collected from 145 US firms and a combination of methodologies – three-stage least squares and structural equation modelling, a number of direct, complementary and mediation effects are hypothesised and tested. The three-stage least squares methodology was adopted to overcome endogeneity and simultaneity issues inherent in the hypotheses covering complementarity. Contrary to conventional wisdom, structural and process governance mechanisms were not found to act as complements for environmental collaboration. Instead, the effect of structural mechanisms was found to be completely mediated by the process mechanisms. Thus, process mechanisms of relational governance were found to be much more important in promoting advanced practices such as environmental collaboration. Our results also document the significant mediating role of environmental collaboration. Implications for future research and practice are offered.


By use of in situ hybridization experiments, the mouse homeobox genes Hox-3.1 and Hox-1.5 are compared in the temporal and spatial patterns of their embryonic transcripts. Transcripts of both genes are first detected at about 7 1/2 days, although the appearance of Hox-3.1 transcripts apparently follows Hox-1.5 after a small delay. Hox-3.1 and Hox-1.5 transcripts occupy domains which are different, although overlapping, along the anteroposterior axis of the embryo. The domains are first established within the ectoderm and mesoderm germ layers at 7 1/2-8 days, but subsequently they persist within the nervous system, the prevertebral column and within at least some of the organs (the thyroid, lung, stomach, mesonephric and metanephric kidneys) at 12 1/2 days. In discussion, two different mechanisms are considered by which positional information might first be generated within the germ layers.


Introduction: Corrosion at the taper junction and wear at the bearing surface are both thought to contribute to the high revision rates reported for metal-onmetal total hip replacement (MoM THR). However the relative contribution of the taper junction and bearing surface to overall material loss in MoM THR remains undetermined.
Methods: Taper corrosion was qualitatively assessed using a peer-reviewed grading system for 111 failed MoM THR components from five different
manufacturers. Components with obvious taper damage were sectioned and examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Then 48 consecutive
retrieval cases underwent volumetric wear analysis: the taper interface by using a roundness measuring machine and the bearing surfaces with the use of a coordinate measuring machine.
Results: 86% of the components showed evidence of taper corrosion, with at least moderate severity observed in 60%. There was no difference in corrosion seen across manufacturers (p = 0.28). Microscopic analysis showed that the machined thread on the trunnion (of the stem) had been 'imprinted' onto the head taper surface, causing considerable material loss. The mean volumetric
wear of the taper interface was shown to be 4.9mm3 (range = 0.3-25.2) but greater material loss occurred at the bearing surface (p < 0.01) where the mean volumetric wear was 26.4mm3 (range = 0.6-254.0).
Conclusions: Taper corrosion is common in MoM THR and affects all manufacturers equally. Nevertheless, although the taper junction is a clinically important source of material loss and is likely to contribute to the reported high failure rates, the bearing surface is the greater source of material loss.
Take-home message: Taper corrosion is common and is likely to contribute to the high revision rates reported in metal-on-metal total hip replacement.
However this retrieval analysis indicates that the bearing surface is a larger contributor to the overall volumetric material loss


Introduction to the papers presented as part of a panel session called, "The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Energy Sovereignty and the Future of Atomic Energy Ambitions in East Asia" held at the Second East Asian Law and Society Conference at Yonsei University College of Law in Seoul on October 1, 2011.


We are investigating parametrized memory templates for use with high level synthesis compilers. Each template would have parameters that reflect important trade-offs made during system design, and can be interfaced with external block random access memory (BRAM). The templates would incorporated in our high level synthesis (HLS) compiler, where the template's parameters are adjusted to the application and hardware. Each template would be designed to suite a different type of application. For example we have already made one template for use with a parallel 'for' loops with no loop dependencies and sequential bodies. In the future, we will develop more templates for other types of 'for' loops. We will enhance the compiler so that it can identify the type of application it is compiling and recommend the template best suited for it. The candidate templates will be selected by first matching them against the application's data access pattern with the final decision made using design space exploration of each candidate to find the one with the best performance characteristics.


The 5-year survival rate of 78 patients with carcinoma of the ovary showed that the prognosis was significantly better when the tumour modal DNA value was in the diploid region than when it was near-triploid or above. Similar data on 140 patients with carcinoma of the breast and 52 with carcinoma of the bladder also suggested a better prognosis for the near-diploid tumours. Among 105 carcinomas of the large bowel, however, there were more survivors in the high-ploidy than in the near-diploid group, although the difference was not statistically significant. The varying relationship between ploidy and prognosis, depending on the site or histological type of the tumour, is briefly discussed on the basis of the 1171 cases included in the present and a previous paper.


In 1997, Merrill Lynch executive Peter Whish-Wilson stood at the window of his office in the South Tower of New York's World Trade Center and decided to give up his career in banking. When four years later a Boeing 767 flew into the tower, Whish-Wilson was back in Australia planning his life as a vintner in northern Tasmania. The return to his roots coincided with a proposal by Gunns Ltd to build one of the world's largest paper mills in the Tamar Valley, a project that threatened not only the Whish-Wilson vineyard but the viability of agribusiness in one of the nation's most fertile regions. It made an activist of the ex-banker. After playing a prominent role in the successful public campaign to halt the mill, Whish-Wilson replaced Bob Brown as Tasmania's second federal Greens senator in June 2012, alongside party leader Christine Milne. The decision to endorse Whish-Wilson over other contenders was taken as a signal that the party was serious about rural issues and engaging with business.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) and Zirconium (Zr) doped ZnO nano films have been successfully fabricated by radio frequency (RF) magnetic sputtering. The crystal structure and morphology were investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). As the doped Zr content increases, ZnO nano films show various morphologies. The optical band gap of pure ZnO films increases from 3.27 eV to 3.53 eV with Zr concentration increasing to 9.66 at.%. After annealing, the polycrystalline structure of ZnO changes a little and the energy gap decreases. In addition, the clean and lower doped ZnO films show much lower transmittance.


Non-metallic inclusions in molten steel have received worldwide attention due to their serious influence on both the steel product quality and the steel production process. These inclusions may come from the de-oxidation process, the re-oxidation by air and/or slag due to an entrainment during steel transfer, and so on. The presence of some inclusion types can cause a termination of a casting process by clogging a nozzle. Thus, a good knowledge of the inclusion behavior and deposition rate in steel flows is really important to understand phenomena such as nozzle clogging. In this thesis, inclusion behaviors and deposition rates in steel flows were investigated by using mathematical simulations and validation by experiments.A ladle teeming process was simulated and Ce2O3 inclusion behavior during a teeming stage was studied. A Lagrangian method was used to track the inclusions in a steel flow and to compare the behaviors of inclusions of different sizes. In addition, a statistical analysis was conducted by the use of a stochastic turbulence model to investigate the behaviors of different-sized inclusions in different nozzle regions. The results show that inclusions with a diameter smaller than 20 μm were found to have similar trajectories and velocity distributions in the nozzle. The inertia force and buoyancy force were found to play an important role for the behavior of large-size inclusions or clusters. The statistical analysis results indicate that the region close to the connection region of the straight pipe and the expanding part of the nozzle seems to be very sensitive for an inclusion deposition.In order to know the deposition rate of non-metallic inclusions, an improved Eulerian particle deposition model was developed and subsequently used to predict the deposition rate of inclusions. It accounts for the differences in properties between air and liquid metals and considers Brownian and turbulent diffusion, turbophoresis and thermophoresis as transport mechanisms. A CFD model was firstly built up to obtain the friction velocity caused by a fluid flow. Then, the friction velocity was put into the deposition model to calculate the deposition rate.For the case of inclusion/particle deposition in vertical steel flows, effects on the deposition rate of parameters such as steel flow rate, particle diameter, particle density, wall roughness and temperature gradient near a wall were investigated. The results show that the steel flow rate/friction velocity has a very important influence on the rate of the deposition of large particles, for which turbophoresis is the main deposition mechanism. For small particles, both the wall roughness and thermophoresis have a significant influence on the particle deposition rate. The extended Eulerian model was thereafter used to predict the inclusion deposition rate in a submerged entry nozzle (SEN). Deposition rates of different-size inclusions in the SEN were obtained. The result shows that the steel flow is non-uniform in the SEN of the tundish. This leads to an uneven distribution of the inclusion deposition rates at different locations of the inner wall of the SEN. A large deposition rate was found to occur at the regions near the SEN inlet, the SEN bottom and the upper region of two SEN ports.For the case of an inclusion/particle deposition in horizontal straight channel flows, the deposition rates of particles at different locations of a horizontal straight pipe cross- section were found to be different due to the influence of gravity and buoyancy. For small particles with a small particle relaxation time, the gravity separation is important for their deposition behaviors at high and low parts of the horizontal pipe compared to the turbophoresis. For large particles with a large particle relaxation time, turbophoresis is the dominating deposition mechanism.


Background: Pediatric emergency department is a high risk area, and a wide range of imaging errors is probable. Objective: The aim of this study was to proactive risk assessment of the MRI process in the pediatric emergency department of Ghaem teaching hospital in Mashhad. Methods: This descriptive study was performed in Ghaem hospital, Mashhad during 2013. Failure modes and their effects were identified with Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) using a mixed method (quantitative qualitative). The UK community practice model and an approved model by the UK National Health System were used to classify failure modes and failure mode causes, respectively. The theory of inventive problem solving was used to determine solutions for improvement. Findings: 43 failure modes were identified for 13 sub-processes of the six-step MRI process. Four failure modes were considered as high risk (hazard score≥8) and were transferred to the decision tree. The frequency of failure modes were as follow: 40.42% communication errors, 23.40% clinical errors, 17.02% prescription errors, 6.38% patients and their relatives errors, 10.63% equipment errors and 2.12% other errors. Of 68 failure mode causes, the most common causes were related to the communication factors (23.5%), and the least common causes were related to the organization factors (2.9%). Conclusion: The HFMEA method was efficient in identifying failure modes, determining failure mode causes and proposing improvement strategies for the MRI process. Training and auditing were considered as two main tools for optimizing the MRI process in the pediatric emergency department of Ghaem hospital.


Despite the renewed interest in ephemera, there is limited research available on film ephemera. A survey of current literature shows there is a clear lack of work being done to study and preserve this material in public institutions. This thesis looked at the management and care of ephemera collections, specifically poster collections. The Toronto International Film Festival's Film Reference Library (FRL) has developed a large reference collection as well as numerous special collections from various directors, artists, and donors. The Guy McKone Collection has over 900 posters in various formats. The goal of this project included: organizing, cataloguing, describing, and partial digitization of the material. By creating a comprehensive catalogue, I have identified and discussed issues that arise while processing a poster collection. Policies, procedures, storage space, and management systems affect how these collections are ultimately handled. My goal is to start a conversation on the importance of film ephemera and to show how vital ephemera is for collections and historical narratives. I also identify issues that arise when managing collections of this type, and provide initial suggestions for the management and preservation of poster collections.


: Ordered mesoporous carbon materials (OMCs) have potentially broad applications in many fields, such as adsorption, separation, catalysis, and energy storage/conversion. Compared with the elaborate hard-template strategy, the soft-template approach, which is based on the self-assembly between amphiphilic block copolymers and polymerizable precursors (e.g., phenolic resins), is a more effective and efficient method for the synthesis of OMCs. In this review, the mechanism and characteristics for three main soft-template methods, i.e., solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly synthesis, aqueous cooperative self-assembly synthesis and solvent-free synthesis, are discussed and compared. In addition, a few highlights of recent progress, including application of novel carbon precursors, structural modification and functionalization of OMCs, are outlined. Finally, we summarize the crucial issues to be addressed in developing the synthesis methodology of OMCs.


Understanding how and why animals are distributed through time and space has always been a fundamental component of ecology and is an essential prerequisite for effective conservation/management. However, for highly-mobile k-selected species, behavioural predictability is rarely considered over appropriate scales relative to life-history. To address this point, a multidisciplinary approach combining telemetry, external tagging, physical assessment, environmental monitoring and genetic analysis was adopted to determine a spatial framework for the movements of adult lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris, at multiple spatial and temporal scales from 2007 to 2011. Lemon sharks (n=83) were tracked with passive acoustic telemetry revealing a winter residency in the southeast Florida region. Detections from individuals recorded within the core winter habitat for > 20 days (n = 56) were incorporated into a generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM) to investigate the influence of water temperature, photoperiod, moon phase, month and year on presence. The findings of this study suggest a temperature driven "migration-residency" model for mature lemon shark distribution across the U.S. eastern seaboard. Lemon sharks are distributed across a wide geographical area in the summer months and migrate south concentrating off southeast Florida in the winter, with this pattern repeated each year. From comparative genetic analysis and the absence of any evidence of mating behaviour during the winter residency period, mating and parturition are most probably occur in May/June between northern Florida and the Carolinas. This study highlights the importance of determining the specific dynamics and proximate causes of animal movement and distribution over appropriate spatial and temporal scales relative to life-history.


A mathematical model which describes the production and diffusion of vasoactive chemical factors involved in oxygen-dependent cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation in the rat is presented. Partial differential equations describing the relations between input and output variables have been replaced with simpler ordinary differential equations by using mathematical approximations of the hyperbolic functions in the Laplace transform domain. The model is composed of two submodels. In the first, oxygen transport from capillary blood to cerebral tissue is analyzed to link changes in mean tissue oxygen pressure with CBF and arterial oxygen concentration changes. The second submodel contains equations describing the production of vasoactive metabolites by cerebral parenchyma, due to a lack of oxygen and their diffusion towards pial perivascular space. The equations have been used to simulate the time dynamics of mean tissue P/sub O2/, perivascular adenosine concentration, and perivascular pH following changes in CBF. The simulation shows that the time delay introduced by diffusion processes is negligible compared with the other time constants of the system under study.<<ETX>>


Abstract Purpose To report initial psychometric evidence on the Measure of Early Vision Use. Method Data on performance of the Measure of Early Vision Use scale were collected from 100 parents of children with cerebral palsy aged 0–12 years via online survey. Psychometric evaluation included assessment of scale dimensionality using Classical Test Theory and hypothesis testing for evidence of construct validity. Results Principal components analysis of the 14-item parent-rated Measure of Early Vision Use revealed one component with an eigenvalue of 9.343, explaining 66.7% of variance; internal consistency was high (Cronbach's α = 0.96). Total scores ranged from 15–56 (Mean 42.8, standard deviation = 10.6). The results support seven pre-defined hypotheses including statistically significant differences in MEVU-total scores between children with and without parent-reported cerebral visual impairment. Conclusions Measure of Early Vision Use is the first assessment tool to describe 'how vision is used' in children with cerebral palsy. Results provide preliminary evidence that the measure comprises a unidimensional construct, sufficient construct validity, and feasibility as a parent-completed online assessment. Findings on internal structure provide foundational evidence and require further testing with Confirmatory Factor Analysis or Rasch Analysis. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The Measure of Early Vision Use is a new instrument to describe the use of basic visual abilities and is feasible to use as a parent-completed online questionnaire. The Measure of Early Vision Use is a unidimensional scale with sufficient construct validity to supports its use as a measure of 'how vision is used' without confounding visual ability with the reason why it might be impaired (e.g., cerebral vision impairment, motor limitations, or cognition). There is potential for the Measure of Early Vision Use to support early intervention planning for children with (or at high risk of) cerebral palsy.


People have studied the sky from time immemorial: the recurrence of celestial events has been demarcated by signs in the landscape, from simple megaliths to elaborate monuments at architectural scale. The author introduces her project Sunset Farm, establishes links with historical precedents and explores the potential of an art expression where the celebration of cosmological events coincides with sustainable design and production of alternative energy. Furthermore, this art form could promote different layers of awareness in the viewer's perception of land and sky.


In this paper I talk about my personal parasitic involvement in the GamerGate controversy. GamerGate is the name given to a misogynist campaign directed towards women involved in video game culture. The phenomenon escalated between Summer 2014 and throughout 2015, leading to personal attacks against some of the most popular commentators who were defending their right to speak. My intervention takes as starting point a comment left on Reddit in March 2015. The thread collected accusations against academia, seen as an institution that spoils and disrespects gaming culture. The Reddit user contributed to the thread with the following comment:
Academia is like a parasite to gaming at the moment. They produce nothing, they just try to make money and papers (prestige) off other people's work. Usually by trying to shred it through a biased perspective that has no real application IRL
(koyima 2015)
In this paper I draw inspiration from the polysemy and polyvalence of the term 'parasite' and illustrate the ethical imperative that underlies the parasitic figure (Serres 1982). The figure of the parasite allows us to deconstruct identity affiliations and overcome the concept of representation as a false myth of the discourses on gender (Shaw 2014). I argue that the problem raised by GamerGate does not consist in establishing who is included in or excluded from videogame culture. Such perspective leads to think of players as existing within categories (often similar to those of market surveys), whose supposed introduction to videogame culture is presented as an event (Alexander 2014; Golding 2014). Instead, looking at the many forms of parasitism, or the numerous ways of writing and rewriting the present, past and future of video game media, allows us to consider the multiple dynamics of legitimacy and exclusion of groups, people, and forms of life (Chess and Shaw 2015).
In this presentation I describe the ways in which my work has been influenced by the comments of pro-GamerGate users on Reddit, and how they have been acting as parasites of my own interventions since 2015. I also look at beneficial parasitic practices by game authors such as Anna Anthropy and Robert Yang, who critically question the contradictions of game culture post-GamerGate.
References
Alexander, Leigh. 2014. 'Gamers Don't Have to Be Your Audience: Gamers Are Over'.
Gamasutra.com, 28 August. Accessed 27 April 2018. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/224400/Gamers_dont_have_to_be_your_audience_Gamers_are_over.php.

Chess, Shira, and Adrienne Shaw. 2015. 'A Conspiracy of Fishes, or, How We Learned
to Stop Worrying About #GamerGate and Embrace Hegemonic Masculinity'. Journal of
Broadcasting and Electronic Media 59 (1): 208–20.
Golding, Dan. 2014. 'The End of Gamers'. Dan Golding blog, 28 August. Accessed 27 April 2018. http://dangolding.tumblr.com/post/95985875943/the-end-of-gamers.

koyima. 2015. 'Post on People Are Now Claiming That GamerGate Is Killing Gaming
Archiving'. Reddit, 10 March. Accessed 27 April 2018. www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2ygk0q/people_ are_ now_ claiming_ that_ gamergate_ is_ killing/ cpa6sjh.

Serres, Michel. 1982. The Parasite. Baltimore (MD): The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Shaw, Adrienne. 2014. Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture. Minneapolis (MN) and London: University of Minnesota Press


Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have an increased expression of type I interferon (IFN) regulated genes because of a continuous production of IFN-α. The cellular and molecular background to this IFN-α production has started to be elucidated during the last years, as well as the consequences for the innate and adaptive immune systems. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) activated by immune complexes containing nucleic acids secrete type I IFN in SLE. Type I IFN causes differentiation of monocytes to myeloid-derived dendritic cell (mDC) and activation of autoreactive T and B cells. A new therapeutic option in patients with SLE is, therefore, inhibition of IFN-α, and recent data from a phase I clinical trial suggests that administration of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against anti-IFN-α can ameliorate disease activity.


Supernova (SN) remnants are a well motivated candidate for the acceleration sites of cosmic rays with energies up to the knee (1015 eV). It has been suggested that also young SNe (. 1 year after the explosion) may be able to accelerate cosmic rays to even higher energies. A smoking gun for cosmic-ray acceleration in young SNe would be the production of very-high-energy (VHE, > 100 GeV) gamma-ray radiation. The H.E.S.S. imaging air Cherenkov telescope array is an instrument sensitive to such radiation. In this contribution, the pointing directions of the H.E.S.S. telescopes are compared to a recently published, extragalactic SN catalogue to identify coincidental observations. The results of the data analysis are discussed.


The application of concepts of sequence stratigraphy to seismic and well data has led to a new understanding of the subsurface Devonian reef complex of the Canning Basin. It demonstrates marked reciprocal sedimentation with lowstand terrigenous sediments largely restricted to the basin and transgressive and highstand carbonate sediments on the platform. Preliminary outcrop studies indicate the potential of these concepts to modify significantly the existing lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic interpretations of this classic exhumed reef complex, including the stratigraphic context of the Frasnian-Famennian boundary in the Canning Basin.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Chronic constipation (CC) is a common gastrointestinal disorder with limited treatment options. Linaclotide is a potent peptide agonist of the guanylate cyclase-C receptor. This action activates intracellular conversion of guanosine 5-triphosphate to cyclic guanosine monophosphate resulting in the stimulation of intestinal fluid secretion. Linaclotide is a promising new agent for refractory constipation. Areas covered: All published articles regarding the development, clinical efficacy, and safety of linaclotide in treating CC were reviewed. Pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and metabolism of this secretagogue agent were examined. Clinical studies showed that linaclotide increases the number of spontaneous bowel movements and stool consistency scores. Overall, patients reported relief from abdominal discomfort and severity of constipation. Finally, linaclotide has a good safety profile, with diarrhea being the main side effect. Expert opinion: Linaclotide appears to be a well-tolerated and effective agent for patients with CC, and could be effectively combined with other drugs in patients with refractory constipation. However, data on the efficacy and safety of linaclotide in pediatric patients and in opioid-induced constipation are currently limited and more studies need to be undertaken.


The basis of this paper is a study of the occurrence of allergic manifestations in the E. Family, including the direct descendants of W. G. E. (1) and A. A. E. (2). The study includes observations on eighty-seven persons and five generations. Certain introductory statements should be made. The genealogical chart shows that W. G. E. (1) was the son of first cousins and that he married the first cousin of both his parents; hence, a considerable reinforcement of inherited characters must have occurred in the f-1 generation. W. G. E. (1), his wife, A. A. E. (2), and his sister, C. E. L. (0), were all hypersensitive. Information cannot be obtained concerning allergic manifestations in their parents. A. A. E. (2) and W. G. E. (1) had fourteen children, of whom nine died in early life. It has not been possible to obtain histories of these nine children other


Significance This paper shows that background extinction definitely preceded mass extinctions; introduces a mathematical method for estimating the amount of this background extinction and, by subtracting it from total extinction, correcting estimates of losses in mass extinctions; presents a method for estimating the amount of erroneous backward smearing of extinctions from mass extinction intervals; and introduces a method for calculating species losses in a mass extinction that takes into account clustering of losses. It concludes that the great terminal Permian crisis eliminated only about 81% of marine species, not the frequently quoted 90–96%. Life did not almost disappear at the end of the Permian, as has often been asserted. Procedures introduced here make it possible, first, to show that background (piecemeal) extinction is recorded throughout geologic stages and substages (not all extinction has occurred suddenly at the ends of such intervals); second, to separate out background extinction from mass extinction for a major crisis in earth history; and third, to correct for clustering of extinctions when using the rarefaction method to estimate the percentage of species lost in a mass extinction. Also presented here is a method for estimating the magnitude of the Signor–Lipps effect, which is the incorrect assignment of extinctions that occurred during a crisis to an interval preceding the crisis because of the incompleteness of the fossil record. Estimates for the magnitudes of mass extinctions presented here are in most cases lower than those previously published. They indicate that only ∼81% of marine species died out in the great terminal Permian crisis, whereas levels of 90–96% have frequently been quoted in the literature. Calculations of the latter numbers were incorrectly based on combined data for the Middle and Late Permian mass extinctions. About 90 orders and more than 220 families of marine animals survived the terminal Permian crisis, and they embodied an enormous amount of morphological, physiological, and ecological diversity. Life did not nearly disappear at the end of the Permian, as has often been claimed.


This paper presents a novel self-supervised on-line learning method to discover driving behaviors from data acquired with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a camera. Both sensors where mounted in a car that was driven by a human through a typical city environment with intersections, pedestrian crossings and traffic lights. The presented system extracts motion segments from the IMU data and relates them to visual cues obtained from camera data. It employs a Bayesian on-line estimation method to discover the motion segments based on change-point detection and uses a Dirichlet Compound Multinomial (DCM) model to represent the visual features extracted from the camera images. By incorporating these visual cues into the on-line estimation process, labels are computed that are equal for similar motion segments. As a result, typical traffic situations such as braking maneuvers in front of a red light can be identified automatically. Furthermore, appropriate actions in form of observed motion changes are associated to the discovered traffic situations. The approach is evaluated on a real data set acquired in the center of Zurich.


HMI (Human-machine Interface) is the media of communication between human and the computer system; designers should not only consider the completeness of its functions in the design of software products, but also human factors. It is necessary for the software products to meet the functional requirements of users, besides; a friendly interface is also needed to improve customers' satisfaction while improving users' productivity. This paper discusses the principles and specific method of designing a user-centered human-machine interface and then applies the method in the design of the mounter's interface so as to test the method put forward in the paper.


In pithed rats or rabbits the pressor effects of catecholamines or sympathetic nerve stimulation can be reduced by "selective" antagonists of alpha 1- (prazosin) or alpha 2 (rauwolscine) adrenoceptors. In rabbits the pressor response to low and high doses of intravenous noradrenaline were due predominantly to alpha 2- and alpha 1-adrenoceptors, respectively. With low frequencies of vasopressor nerve stimulation, the response could be blocked by each antagonist, suggesting either that both receptors were involved or that the receptors were unlike those activated by circulating noradrenaline. With higher frequencies, prazosin reduced responses but left a residual response which could not be eliminated by rauwolscine; this could indicate a "non-alpha" junctional activation; rauwolscine, on its own, could increase responses to high frequencies indicating blockade of prejunctional alpha-mediated feedback. In rats, acid-base balance was critical for the activation of alpha 1- and alpha 2-adrenoceptors. The effects of the antagonists indicated that adrenaline acts predominantly through alpha 1-adrenoceptors at high pH, but that the influence of alpha 2 increased as pH falls. Also, as pH fell, the pressor effects of phenylephrine and xylazine decreased, respectively, suggesting that the mechanism of the change lies at the receptors or a subsequent stage in excitation-contraction coupling. These results are discussed in relation to current hypotheses on the heterogeneity of postjunctional adrenoceptors.


The current research examines tacit coordination behavior in a lottery selection task. Two hundred participants in each of three experiments and 100 in a fourth choose to participate in one of two lotteries, where one lottery has a larger prize than the other. Independent of variations in the complexity of the mechanism of prize allocation, the prize amounts, and whether the lottery is the participant's first or second choice, we typically find that the percentage of participants who choose the high versus low-prize lotteries does not significantly differ from the equilibrium predictions. This coordination is achieved without communication or experience. We additionally find that participants with an analytical thinking style and a risk-averse tendency are more likely to choose the low-prize lottery over the high-prize lottery. This tendency seems to be stable across choices. The pattern of our results suggests that to achieve tacit coordination, having a subset of individuals who attend to the choices of others is sufficient. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Farming today has gone beyond subsistence farming that produces for the farmer and his
household. Research shows that the consumption of grains or cereal crops is at an alarming
rate in the world, so to encourage small farm holders a manually operated multi-crop hand
push planter with changeable metering devices for cowpea, maize and soybean was
designed, fabricated and evaluated to improve planting efficiency and reduce drudgery
involved in manual planting method. The laboratory and field tests were conducted to
determine weight of seeds discharged from the planter, seed percentage damage, field
capacity, average depth of placement of seeds in furrow, average inter-row spacing of seeds
and the emergence of the seedlings. Results revealed that the planter had field efficiency and
field capacity of 76.3% and 0.39 ha/hr with seed rate of 0.25 kg/ha, 0.18 kg/ha and
0.21kg/ha respectively for cowpea, maize and soybean. Percentage difference between the
seed damage of 3.54%, 2.32% and 1.32% of cowpea, maize and soybean respectively
obtained was from an average spacing of 40.8cm and depth of 3.98cm. The single-row
multi-crop planter is very simple to use and it is maintenance free, except for the bearings
which needs to be lubricated from time to time to allow the planter's ground wheel to move freely. For this design, the drive shaft directly controls the seed metering mechanism which eliminates completely attachments such as pulleys, belt systems, and gears thereby eliminating complexities which increase cost, and increasing efficiency at a highly reduced cost which is the focus of this project work. The planter can be easily maintained without any technicality and all materials used for the fabrication are locally available in the case of worn - out parts.


In this study of prosecutors' charging decisions in sexual assault cases, we test the hypothesis that the effect of victim characteristics is conditioned by the relationship between the victim and the suspect. We categorize the victim/suspect relationship as one involving strangers, acquaintances/relatives, or intimate partners, and we examine the effect of victim, suspect, and case characteristics on charging decisions in each type of case. The results of our analysis reveal that the effect of victim characteristics, with one exception, is confined to cases involving acquaintances and intimate partners. In these types of cases, prosecutors were less likely to file charges if there were questions about the victim's character or behavior at the time of the incident. In contrast, the victim's reputation and behavior did not affect charging in cases involving strangers; in those types of cases, prosecutors were more likely to file charges if the suspect used a gun or knife or if the victim was white. We conclude that stereotypes of "real rapes" and "genuine victims" continue to influence the charging decision in at least some types of sexual assault cases.


A holistic view of the cosmological appearance and development of space is obtained by studying space as a spherically closed surface of a 4-sphere in a zero energy balance between motion and gravitation. Such an approach re- establishes Einstein's original view of the cosmological structure of the universe but instead of forcing space to be static with a cosmology constant, it lets it contract or expand while constantly maintaining a balance between the energies of motion and gravitation within the structure. In spherically closed dynamic space the fourth dimension, the direction of the 4-radius of the structure, is purely metric in its nature; time can be treated as a universal scalar, and the line element cdt in the fourth dimension gets the meaning of the distance that space moves at velocity c in time differential dt. The rest energy of matter appears as the energy of motion due to the motion of space in the fourth dimension, in the direction of the 4-radius of the structure. The dynamic universe approach converts Einsteinian spacetime in variable time and distance coordinates into dynamic space in absolute coordinates. All velocities in space are related to the 4-velocity of space, and the local state of rest appears as a property of the local energy system rather than as the state of an observer. Based on the zero-energy balance of whole space and the conservation of energy in interactions in space, the dynamic space approach allows the derivation of relativistic phenomena and cosmological predictions in closed mathematical form without relying on the Lorentz transformation or the relativity and equivalence principles. Mach's principle gets a quantitative expression, and the picture of cosmology is cleared: no dark energy or free parameters are needed to explain the magnitude/redshift relations of distant objects. Local systems expand in direct proportion to the expansion of whole space which results in a Euclidean appearance of distant space and explains the observed development of the surface brightness of galaxies. The rate of internal atomic processes is tied to the velocity of light which is determined by the expansion velocity and local geometry of space. All processes, like radioactive decay or buildup of large scale structures in space, have been faster in the young expanding universe. The ongoing decelerating expansion of space continues to infinity by gradually releasing the rest energy of matter. In the dynamic universe, the cycle of observable physical existence begins at cessation at infinity in the past and ends at cessation at infinity in the future.


Abstract Horse oocytes were collected from an abattoir over a 15-mo period. After classification of follicle size and cumulus morphology, oocytes were either fixed immediately (0 h) or matured in vitro (24 h). There was no effect of season on the number of antral follicles present on the ovaries, or on oocyte maturation rate for any class of oocyte. The proportion of oocytes having condensed chromatin at 0 h increased with increasing follicle size. The oocyte maturation rate also increased with follicle size, and for follicles ≤ 20-mm diameter, was higher for oocytes initially having expanded cumuli than for those having compact cumuli. The maturation rate was strongly correlated (r2 = 0.92) with the proportion of oocytes having condensed chromatin at 0 h. Oocytes with diffuse chromatin were found essentially only in follicles ≤ 20-mm diameter that yielded compact granulosa, indicating follicle viability. Presence of diffuse chromatin was inversely related to maturation rate. We conclude that the major signal for chromatin condensation, and thus acquisition of meiotic competence, occurs in viable follicles after 20-mm diameter in the horse. Condensation of chromatin in oocytes in smaller apparently viable follicles, while associated with acquisition of meiotic competence, may represent a pre-atretic change.


Changes of extracellular space (ECS) volume evoked by peripheral repetitive stimulation were studied in the cerebral cortex. Extracellular volume and its changes were measured by electrical impedance method with the fourth electrode scheme. Measurements indicate that the dynamic changes of ECS volume accompany electrical activity of cortex and have value 3-5%.


We propose LMI conditions for H1 analysis and state-feedback control of discrete-time Markov Jump Lur'e systems. We will also approach two possible situations, either mode-dependent and modeindependent state-feedback control. For the first approach, we consider that the controller has access to the Markov mode (k), on the other hand, for the second approach, we consider that the Markov parameter (k) cannot be read by the controller. A numerical example illustrates the obtained results.


More than 15 years after their first successful commercial introduction in the United States, genetically engineered (GE) seeds have been widely adopted by U.S. corn, soybean, and cotton farmers. Still, some questions persist regarding the potential benefits and risks of GE crops. The report finds that, although the pace of research and development (measured by the number of USDA-approved field tests) peaked in 2002, other measures show that biotech firms continue to develop new GE seed varieties at a rapid pace. Also, U.S. farmers continue to adopt GE seeds at a robust rate, and seed varieties with multiple (stacked) traits have increased at a very rapid rate. Insecticide use has decreased with the adoption of insect-resistant crops, and herbicide-tolerant crops have enabled the substitution of glyphosate for more toxic and persistent herbicides. However, overreliance on glyphosate and a reduction in the diversity of weed management practices have contributed to the evolution of glyphosate resistance in some weed species.


Standardized long-term multi-plot investigations of variation in nest size in free-ranging model species are rare, despite their value for understanding how the environment influences plastic traits such as nest size. Here, we report the results of an 18-yr descriptive study of nest size in first clutches produced by secondary-cavity nesting great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) in the Mediterranean, whilst also taking individual (lay-date, clutch size, age, species) and environmental characteristics (e.g. weather, oak habitat, region) into account. Nests of both species were built in relatively small standardized boxes erected in habitat patches that differed in the presence of the dominant oak species which was either summergreen deciduous or evergreen sclerophyllous. Nest size showed strong differences between species, and also in relation to environmental factors. Great tits built smaller nests than blue tits, Corsican birds had larger nests than mainland ones, nests tended to be larger in evergreen oak-habitat, and larger nests were built during drier weather. None of the individual-specific traits most often considered in long-term studies (lay-date, clutch size, and female age) were related to nest size in either species. Experimental approaches will be required to identify the underlying mechanisms that caused the observed phenotypic diversity for nest size in our study system.


With more and more extreme premature and very low-birth weight babies being resuscitated, umbilical central venous catheterisation is now being used more frequently in neonatal intensive care. One of the life-threatening complications is pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade; however, it is potentially reversible when it is caught in time. The authors present a case of cardiac tamponade following umbilical venous catheterisation in a neonate. The patient was diagnosed at the appropriate time by echocardiography and urgent pericardiocentesis proved lifesaving.


Recent reanalysis of material excavated from the Bluefish Caves, Yukon Territory claims to have identified culturally modified bone dating to 24,000 cal. BP, thereby providing evidence for continuous human occupation of eastern Beringia from the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the recent research largely ignores the history of criticisms of the site and leaves outstanding questions about the site context, associations of lithic artifacts and Last Glacial Maximum radiocarbon dates, and the impact of natural processes on the faunal assemblage, and therefore, how the site fits into the broader Beringian archaeological record. This paper critically analyzes the archaeological record from Bluefish Caves by focusing on evidence for significantly disturbed archaeological contexts and alteration of bone by nonanthropogenic processes. We offer alternative hypotheses explaining the archaeological record at Bluefish Caves based on published data that were not considered in the recent reanalysis. These alternative hypotheses must be addressed before Bluefish Caves can be considered evidence for a Last Glacial Maximum occupation of Beringia. Bluefish Caves remains provocative but unconvincing archaeological evidence for the Beringian Standstill supported by genetic data.


In plants, boron (B) works to build the cell wall structure by forming borate ester cross-links with pectin, and the deficiency of this element brings about oxidative damage and cell death. However, the process via which B deficiency leads to such catastrophe has not been well understood. In this study, we investigated the temporal changes in transcript profiles of B-deprived cultured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) BY-2 cells using cDNA microarray. The results suggest that the cells deprived of B up-regulated their antioxidative defense system to cope with the stress condition. However, the adaptive responses seemed to have declined within the first 12 h of deprivation. Tetrazolium reducing activity of B-deprived cells was lower than that of control cells at 12 h. These results together suggest that cellular function in B-deprived cells was seriously damaged as early as 12 h after deprivation. The rapidity of the onset of B deprivation-induced damages suggests the importance of the pectic network covalently cross-linked with B.


This paper presents a novel method of global adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) for the adaptive optimal control of nonlinear polynomial systems. The strategy consists of relaxing the problem of solving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation to an optimization problem, which is solved via a new policy iteration method. The proposed method distinguishes from previously known nonlinear ADP methods in that the neural network approximation is avoided, giving rise to significant computational improvement. Instead of semiglobally or locally stabilizing, the resultant control policy is globally stabilizing for a general class of nonlinear polynomial systems. Furthermore, in the absence of the a priori knowledge of the system dynamics, an online learning method is devised to implement the proposed policy iteration technique by generalizing the current ADP theory. Finally, three numerical examples are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The ultimate success or failure of a restored tooth is dependent on clinical management such as material choice, cavity design, bonding techniques and others. The current paper adopts a fundamental result in the linear theory of elasticity on the singular stress distribution in bi-materials wedge to analyze the choice of different materials used for the restoration of a tooth. Based on the value of the strongest singularity, different restorative materials are evaluated in terms of the susceptibility to the tooth fracture. Comparable results are reported for amalgam, gold alloys, and ceramic materials. Due to a wide variety of mechanical properties the application of resin composites could lead to better or worse fracture resistance of the restored tooth. The theoretical findings are supported by current clinical reports on longevity of restored teeth.


This paper reports on work to detect the static eccentricity faults for permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) using spectral analysis methods. Measurements are carried out by collecting the stator current and voltage, torque and speed for healthy and faulty cases of the motor. Static eccentricity case is formed by changing the rotor position in the manner of sliding the shaft on a horizontal axis. As a result of the spectral analysis for the motor currents, side band effects appeared at around the fundamental frequency are determined as a most important indicator of the eccentricity. In addition to this determination, the eccentricity problem is observed from the torque and rotor speed data comparing with each others as well as current and voltage variations.


Past urban settlements in tropical island environments offer particularly challenging sites for mainstream archaeology. Often associated with shallow stratigraphic sequences, archaeological sediments and soils in these sites are strongly influenced by local geology and seawater. This study discusses the advantages and challenges of developing an integrated geoarchaeological program to examine the use of space at the Swahili stonetown of Songo Mnara Island, Tanzania. This exceptionally well preserved site, occupied for less than two centuries (C14 th -16 th AD), comprises a complex urban layout with stone-built houses, wattle-and-daub structures, funerary complexes, activity areas such as wells, and open areas. The program has combined geoarchaeological (soil macro- and micromorphology, ICP-AES, pH, EC), geophysical (magnetic susceptibility) and archaeological (large excavations, test trenches, artefact distribution mapping) techniques to investigate the use of space across different contexts. Initial geoarchaeological prospection and opportunistic soil sampling has allowed framing of the island's environmental settings and archaeological deposits as well as outlining open spaces in between buildings. Subsequent research applied a systematic sampling strategy to map geochemical and artefact distributions in conjunction with context-specific soil micromorphology. The results provide a means to map out the impact of occupation across the site as well as to differentiate between open, roofed and unroofed spaces. ICP-AES results, for example, demonstrate that measurements of Ca, Mg, P, S and Sr levels can help discriminate occupation/activity areas in tropical island environments. They also indicate that the depletion of certain elements (e.g. Na, K, and Ni) should be considered as a means of differentiating between roofed and unroofed spaces. The combination of different methodologies demonstrates the importance of addressing discrepancies as well as correlations between multiple datasets for deciphering features within urban spaces in tropical environments and interpreting ancient activities that occurred within them.


On a million-year time scale the global carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2 are assumed to be largely determined by the so-called solid Earth processes weathering, sedimentation, and volcanic outgassing. However, it is not clear how much of the observed dynamics in the proxy data constraining the carbon cycle over the Cenozoic might be determined by internal processes of the atmosphere-ocean-biosphere subsystem. Here, we apply for the first time a process-based model of the global carbon cycle in transient simulations over the last 20 Myr to identify the contributions of terrestrial carbon storage, solubility pump and ocean gateways on changes in atmospheric CO2 and marine δ13C. We apply the isotopic carbon cycle box model BICYCLE, which consists of atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere and ocean reservoirs, the latter containing the full marine carbonate system. Our simulation results show that the long-term cooling since the Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum (about 15 Myr BP) leads to an intensification of the solubility pump, and a drop in atmospheric CO2 of up to 100 ppmv. This oceanic carbon uptake is largely counterbalanced by carbon loss from the terrestrial biosphere. The reduction in terrestrial C storage over time including the expansion of C4 grasses during the last 8 Myr might explain half of the long-term decline in deep ocean δ13C and would support high CO2 (400 to 450 ppmv) around 15 Myr BP. The closure of the Tethys and the Central America ocean gateways explains the developing gradient in deep ocean δ13C between the Atlantic and Pacific basin. We furthermore calculate the residuals, which are unexplained by our results and are therefore caused by solid Earth processes. From the residuals ocean alkalinity rising over time is detected as the main reason for declining atmospheric CO2 which led to Earth's long-term cooling observed since the Mid Miocene Climate Optimum. A combination of two processes — a reduction in volcanic out-gassing of CO2 together with increasing continental weathering rates — might explain the rising alkalinity pattern. The reduced volcanic activity probably caused by shrinking seafloor spreading rates started around 16 Myr BP is connected with a prominent regime shift in the carbon cycle-climate system. The existence of such a regime shift is confirmed if we extend our analysis to deep ocean records of δ18O and δ13C over the whole Cenozoic.


Summary: Preparations of protoplasm, nuclei and mitochondria were introduced into living Verticillium cells. Most of the hyphae of auxotrophs injected with protoplasm obtained from complementary auxotrophs survived micro-injection (80%). Of these, 21% formed 'artificial' heterokaryons from which both parental genotypes were recovered by conidial analysis. Reciprocal injections of protoplasm were made between auxotrophic strains with darkly-pigmented resting structures (Hyl+) and hyaline strains lacking resting structures (Hyl+. Conidial analysis resulted in the recovery of all auxotrophic markers. The majority of phenotypes having darkly-pigmented resting structures were of the Hyl+ type (92 to 96%), but a few were partially or completely hyaline. Reciprocal injections between Hyl+ or Hyl+ 'sooty' (Sot) strains and Hyl or Hyl Sot+ strains (hyaline strains induced by ultraviolet-irradiation from Sot auxotrophs) revealed the cytoplasmic inheritance of the Hyl marker in contrast to the nuclear inheritance of the Sot marker. The survival of recipient cells injected with preparations of nuclei was 30 to 40% on complete medium but conidial analyses indicated that heterokaryons were not produced. The survival of hyphae injected with mitochondrial preparations was 40 to 45%, and these colonies showed considerable morphological instability which was overcome during 2 to 3 weeks incubation. Conidial analyses of Hyl recipients injected with Hyl+ mitochondrial preparations resulted in 13 to 21% darkly-pigmented variants. These results suggest that one or more factors controlling darkly-pigmented structures were present in the mitochondrial preparations from the Hyl+ donor cytoplasm.


This paper identifies a novel function for permits: they can be used by the government as an instrument to elicit information about the intentions of private investors to put capital into an area. Such information is a crucial input for the government's decision on how much infrastructure to build in an area, such as the capacity of an elementary school or a public transit system in an expanding community. Decisions on infrastructure that protects against natural disasters require precisely this information. For example, a levee should be built higher and stronger the more capital it will protect. Current experience in New Orleans makes this evident, particularly given the considerable uncertainties about the private sector's intention of returning to or investing in areas at risk. Permits can replace unreliable "cheap talk" elicitation devices, such as surveys or town meetings, and can be used as an input into prediction or futures markets. An important innovation in our procedure is to use markets to elicit information separately from hedgers (the investors in our model) and speculators.


Abstract This study employed a scenario-based approach whereby participants were asked to choose which communication channel they prefer in certain situations. The first aim was to determine the effect of the topic of interactions and social ties on channel choice. The second aim was to examine the underlying mechanisms (controllability, anonymity, co-presence, and affective understanding) in the relation between interaction topic and social ties and channel choice. A questionnaire was administered among 238 participants, who were presented five communication scenarios with topics of low and high intimacy and four social ties, ranging from weak to strong. Results revealed that preference for face-to-face (FtF) communication was highest, followed by audio-only computer-mediated communication (CMC) and text-based CMC. Preference for FtF communication was higher when people valued feeling co-present and decreased when people valued feeling anonymous. Our results showed that communication channel choice is strategic and the choice for FtF ommunication, audio-only and text-based CMC largely depends on controllability, anonymity and co-presence.


Inflated egos, corporate insanity, slave labour, sexual excess, dazzling genius. Welcome to the world of classical recording. "Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness" is a sparkling expose of the strange truth and sheer brilliance behind the classical music recording industry. Leading music critic Norman Lebrecht charts its rise since the great Caruso's first gramophone bestseller of 1902 and predicts the industry's imminent doom in the face of schmaltzy crossover albums and new technology. From the imperious Karajan to the perfectionist Toscanini and charismatic Bernstein, the leading figures are all here, depicted in witty, incisive pen portraits. Including Lebrecht's own selections of 100 recorded masterpieces and twenty that should never have been made, this is a compelling story of flamboyant maestros, lifelong alliances, disastrous personality clashes and entrepreneurial masterstrokes.


Many practical control, estimation and fault detection problems involve hybrid systems, here losely defined as systems involving both continuous and discrete variables. Various approaches have been proposed for modeling hybrid systems. Often engineering systems include ``logic'' components (eg. if-then-else rules, finite state machine, etc.) which are conveniently described via propositional logic. Moreover, in addition to a quantitative system description there might be some available qualitative information about the behavior of the system, for instance in terms of heuristic knowledge. Recently it was shown (Bemporad and Morari, 1999) that expressing logical propositions in the form of linear constraints on integer variables leads to a powerful modeling framework, the so called mixed logic dynamical (MLD) form. It allows to describe a broad number of important classes of systems, like piecewise linear systems, systems with mixed discrete/continuous inputs and states, and many others more (Bemporad and Morari, 1999). The framework permits to include and prioritize constraints, and incorporate heuristic rules in the description of the model. In this work we first show that the MLD form can be used as a new tool to model systems with faults. Next we formulate the moving horizon estimation (MHE) problem for MLD systems, which can be considered dual to (receding horizon) model predictive control. At each time step we solve a least squares estimation problem over a finite horizon extending backwards from the current time. The resulting optimization problem is a mixed-integer quadratic program (MIQP), for which efficient solvers exist. We propose to use this moving horizon estimation formulation to estimate states and faults of hybrid systems in the MLD form. Next we propose a state smoothing algorithm based on MHE. We provide sufficient conditions on the time horizon and the additional penalties in the MHE cost function to guarantee asymptotic convergence of the MHE scheme. Moreover we propose an algorithm for the computation of the additional penalties that allows to implement MHE by solving Mixed-Integer Quadratic Programs. Finally we consider some aspects of the mathematical problems involved in the estimation procedure.


This paper gives an overview of intersection type assignment for the Lambda Calculus, as well as compare in detail variants that have been defined in the past. It presents the essential intersection type assignment system, that will prove to be as powerful as the well-known BCD-system. It is essential in the following sense: it is an almost syntax directed system that satisfies all major properties of the BCD-system, and the types used are the representatives of equivalence classes of types in the BCD-system. The set of typeable terms can be characterized in the same way, the system is complete with respect to the simple type semantics, and it has the principal type property.