Blackberry and pear are rich in human health protective phenolic bioactives with high antioxidant activity. These fruits are relevant dietary targets to counter chronic oxidative stress-linked diseases, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). Due to high perishability, the human health relevant bioactive qualities of such fruits deteriorate during postharvest storage and processing. By improving stability and bioavailability of nutritionally relevant phenolic bioactives during post-harvest stages, effective integration of blackberry and pear as dietary support strategies can be targeted for T2D benefits. Solutions to bioactive quality loss of fruits can be achieved by advancing bioprocessing strategy integrating compatible fruit synergy and beneficial lactic acid bacteria (LAB) based fermentation. This approach was targeted to enhance high levels of phenolic bioactive-linked health quality of blackberry (Rubus spp.) integrated with pear (Pyrus communis) at a ratio of 30:70, which was optimized previously based on potential synergistic effects. The aim of this study was to recruit beneficial LAB such as Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum to bioprocess previously optimized blackberry: pear synergies to improve phenolic bioactive-linked T2D benefits. Essential health-targeted food quality during bioprocessing was assessed based on total soluble phenolic content, phenolic compound profile, total antioxidant activity, anti-hyperglycemic property relevant α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzyme inhibitory, and anti-hypertensive relevant angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activities using in vitro assay models. Additionally, potential inhibitory activity of fermented fruit extracts against pathogenic Helicobacter pylori, the common bacterial ulcer pathogen was also investigated. Overall, improvement in the retention and stability of phenolic bioactive content in 30:70 blackberry: pear combination, as well as in 100% juice of both fruit extracts were observed following fermentation. Furthermore, enhanced antioxidant activity, anti-hyperglycemic property relevant α-glucosidase, and anti-hypertensive property relevant ACE enzyme inhibitory activities were also observed in fermented extracts of 30:70 blackberry: pear synergy. Among the substrates only fermentation of 100% blackberry with LAB resulted in inhibitory activity against H. pylori. These results provide the biochemical rationale to develop blackberry: pear fruit synergy and beneficial LAB-based fermentation to improve T2D relevant health benefits while also potentially improving keeping quality.


Urinary incontinence presenting after iatrogenic or other trauma to the urethral sphincters is a distressing symptom for the patient and often a troublesome problem for a surgeon. Dynamic retrograde urethrography and voiding cystourethrography can greatly assist the urologist in determining the extent of the damage to the sphincters and thence selecting the appropriate treatment. We outline a method of urethrography for the assessment of male urinary incontinence, not previously described in the radiologic literature, to be used as a radiologic adjunct to clinical and urodynamic assessment.


Food traceability depends on the end-to-end management from "farm to fork." In particular, most food products have a complex multilevel circulation network and various distribution channels that lead to difficulties in building a food traceability system that is effective through the supply chain, starting from the production end. In the face of increasingly rigorous regulations, the food companies producing low-margin products are challenged with solutions that are both economical and effective. We have designed a practical food traceability model and system framework for food tracking and tracing from production to distribution. The proposed system, still under development, strikes a balance between traceability and associated costs.


Open-domain chatbots are supposed to converse freely with humans without being restricted to a topic, task or domain. However, the boundaries and/or contents of open-domain conversations are not clear. To clarify the boundaries of "openness", we conduct two studies: First, we classify the types of "speech events" encountered in a chatbot evaluation data set (i.e., Meena by Google) and find that these conversations mainly cover the "small talk" category and exclude the other speech event categories encountered in real life human-human communication. Second, we conduct a small-scale pilot study to generate online conversations covering a wider range of speech event categories between two humans vs. a human and a state-of-the-art chatbot (i.e., Blender by Facebook). A human evaluation of these generated conversations indicates a preference for human-human conversations, since the human-chatbot conversations lack coherence in most speech event categories. Based on these results, we suggest (a) using the term "small talk" instead of "open-domain" for the current chatbots which are not that "open" in terms of conversational abilities yet, and (b) revising the evaluation methods to test the chatbot conversations against other speech events.


Objective In the present study the relationship between behavioural adjustment following cognitive conflict and schizotypy was investigated using a Stroop colour naming paradigm. Previous research has found deficits with behavioural adjustment in schizophrenia patients. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that individual differences in schizotypy, a personality trait reflecting the subclinical expression of the schizophrenia phenotype, would be associated with behavioural adjustment. Additionally, we investigated whether such a relationship would be explained by individual differences in neuroticism, a non-specific measure of negative trait emotionality known to be correlated with schizotypy. Methods 106 healthy volunteers (mean age: 25.1, 60% females) took part. Post-conflict adjustment was measured in a computer-based version of the Stroop paradigm. Schizotypy was assessed using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and Neuroticism using the NEO-FFI. Results We found a negative correlation between schizotypy and post-conflict adjustment (r = −.30, p<.01); this relationship remained significant when controlling for effects of neuroticism. Regression analysis revealed that particularly the subscale No Close Friends drove the effect. Conclusion Previous findings of deficits in cognitive control in schizophrenia patients were extended to the subclinical personality expression of the schizophrenia phenotype and found to be specific to schizotypal traits over and above the effects of negative emotionality.


We demonstrate the use of integrated micro-resonator based optical frequency comb sources as the basis for transversal filtering functions for microwave and radio frequency photonic filtering and advanced functions.


Science in the Arctic Region convener:Shun Tsutaki(The University of Tokyo), NAOYA KANNA(Arctic Research Center, Hokkaido University), Shunsuke Tei(北海道大学 北極域研究センター, 共同), Tetsu Nakamura(Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University) Thu. May 24, 2018 5:15 PM 6:30 PM Poster Hall (International Exhibition Hall7, Makuhari Messe) The Arctic and circumpolar region is the key area for the study of global change because the anthropogenic impact is projected to be the largest in this area due to the complicated feedback processes of the nature. A number of international and interdisciplinary research projects have been conducted for the studies on the land-atmosphere-ocean system. In order to understand the feedback processes occurring in the Arctic and to project the global warming in the future, we need to establish the intense observational network and to exchange the knowledge and information by combining the different scientific communities under the common interest of the Arctic. The objectives of this session are 1) to exchange our knowledge on the observational facts and integrated modelling and 2) to deepen our understanding on wide range of natural sciences related to the Arctic and the circumpolar region. Studies on humanities, social sciences, and interdisciplinary fields are also welcomed.


Designing and preparing effective acid–base tandem catalysts is one of the research hotspots at present because assembling antagonistic active sites in one catalyst is still a challenge. In this work, amine-functionalized bimetallic metal–organic frameworks (MIL-101(Al/Fe)–NH2 (X)) were synthesized through a rapid reflux method and acted as acid–base bifunctional catalysts for tandem reaction (deacetalization–Knoevenagel condensation reaction). The bimetallic MOF catalysts exhibit enhanced catalytic activity when compared with monometallic catalysts either MIL-101(Al)–NH2 or MIL-101(Fe)–NH2. The superior performance of MIL-101(Al/Fe)–NH2 (X) has been attributed to the synergistic effect between Al3+ and Fe3+ ions and the hierarchical pore structure. Moreover, the as-synthesised samples showed robust stability, excellent recyclability, and durable catalytic activity.


Abstract We report a tool, Calling Cards Reporter Arrays (CCRA), that measures transcription factor (TF) binding and the consequences on gene expression for hundreds of synthetic promoters in yeast. Using Cbf1p and MAX, we demonstrate that the CCRA method is able to detect small changes in binding free energy with a sensitivity comparable to in vitro methods, enabling the measurement of energy landscapes in vivo. We then demonstrate the quantitative analysis of cooperative interactions by measuring Cbf1p binding at synthetic promoters with multiple sites. We find that the cooperativity between Cbf1p dimers varies sinusoidally with a period of 10.65 bp and energetic cost of 1.37 KBT for sites that are positioned 'out of phase'. Finally, we characterize the binding and expression of a group of TFs, Tye7p, Gcr1p and Gcr2p, that act together as a 'TF collective', an important but poorly characterized model of TF cooperativity. We demonstrate that Tye7p often binds promoters without its recognition site because it is recruited by other collective members, whereas these other members require their recognition sites, suggesting a hierarchy where these factors recruit Tye7p but not vice versa. Our experiments establish CCRA as a useful tool for quantitative investigations into TF binding and function.


Introduction Millions of acute care hospital patients need a peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) each year. However, up to half of PIVCs remain in situ when not being used, and 30%–50% of intravenous (IV) catheters develop complications or stop working before treatment is finished, requiring the insertion of a new device. Improved assessment could prompt timely removal of redundant catheters and prevent IV complications. This study aims to validate an evidence-based PIVC assessment and decision-making tool called I-DECIDED and evaluate the effect of implementing this tool into acute hospital clinical practice. Methods and analysis The protocol outlines a prospective, multicentre, mixed-methods study using an interrupted time-series (multiple measures preintervention and postintervention) implementation at three Australian hospitals between August 2017 and July 2018. The study will examine the effectiveness of the I-DECIDED assessment and decision-making tool in clinical practice on prompting timely PIVC removal and early detection of complications. Primary outcomes are prevalence of redundant PIVCs (defined as device in situ without a clear purpose), IV complications (occlusion, dislodgement, infiltration, extravasation and phlebitis) and substandard dressings (loose, lifting, moist or soiled); device utilisation ratios; and primary bloodstream infection rates. Secondary outcomes including staff barriers and enablers to PIVC assessment and removal, patient participation, documentation of PIVC assessment and decisions taken to continue or remove the PIVC will be recorded. Using the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework, we will undertake staff focus groups, bedside patient interviews and PIVC assessments and chart audits. Patients aged 18 years or more with a PIVC will be eligible for inclusion. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval from Queensland Health (HREC/17/QPCH/47), Griffith University (Ref No. 2017/152) and St Vincent's Health and Aged Care Human Research and Ethics Committee (Ref No. 17/28). Results will be published. Trial registration number ANZCTR: 12617000067370; Pre-results.


This paper addresses incremental few-shot instance seg-mentation, where a few examples of new object classes ar-rive when access to training examples of old classes is not available anymore, and the goal is to perform well on both old and new classes. We make two contributions by extending the common Mask-RCNN framework in its second stage - namely, we specify a new object class classifier based on the probit function and a new uncertainty-guided bounding-box predictor. The former leverages Bayesian learning to address a paucity of training examples of new classes. The latter learns not only to predict object bounding boxes but also to estimate the uncertainty of the prediction as a guid-ance for bounding box refinement. We also specify two new loss functions in terms of the estimated object-class distribution and bounding-box uncertainty. Our contributions produce significant performance gains on the COCO dataset over the state of the art - specifically, the gain of +6 on the new classes and +16 on the old classes in the AP instance segmentation metric. Furthermore, we are the first to evaluate the incremental few-shot setting on the more challenging LVIS dataset.


Aggregation of protein causes various diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and type II diabetes. It was found that aggregation of protein depends on many factors like temperature, pH, salt type, salt concentration, ionic strength, protein concentration, co solutes. Here we have tried to capture the aggregation mechanism and pathway of hen egg white lysozyme using molecular dynamics simulations at two different temperatures; 300 K and 340 K. Along with the all atom simulations to get the atomistic details of aggregation mechanism, we have used coarse grained simulation with MARTINI force field to monitor the aggregation for longer duration. Our results suggest that due to the aggregation, changes in the conformation of lysozyme are more at 340 K than at 300 K. The change in the conformation of the lysozyme at 300 K is mainly due to aggregation where at 340 K change in conformation of lysozyme is due to both aggregation and temperature. Also, a more compact aggregated system is formed at 340 K.


The use of arti cial neural networks with geographical data is often constrained by the very small number of training data points which can be obtained Using multi spectral and parametric data from the Nullica state forest in NSW Australia we look at addition of noise and resampling as methods of increasing the number and quality of the training set to get the most out of the data Resampling the data appears to o er potential as a method of generalising the neural network without the accuracy trade o of added noise


This paper examines the implementation of pipelined applications using run-time reconfiguration. Throughput and latency of pipelined applications can be significantly improved when reconfiguration is performed at the level of individual pipeline stages, as opposed to configuration of the entire FPGA. If reconfiguration and execution can be performed simultaneously, the performance of a pipelined application approaches its theoretical maximum. This paper proposes a new FPGA configuration mechanism, called striping, that supports pipeline stage reconfiguration and simultaneous configuration and execution. Additionally, the use of the pipeline stage as the atomic unit of reconfiguration introduces a design abstraction that enables the development families of upwardly-compatible FPGAs and virtual hardware design.


It is well known that light is capable of carrying a component of orbital angular momentum (OAM), and that this OAM can be manipulated in such a way as to be useful in applications such as optical trapping, leading to the development of optical tweezers which now see use in many fields for the manipulation of small scale particles. Despite the advances in the field of optical OAM, relatively little research has been conducted in the field of acoustical OAM. Presented in this thesis is evidence of the equivalence of optical and acoustical OAM in several experiments that have already been proven and widely accepted for the optical case.

Demonstrated in chapter 3 is what has been dubbed an acoustic spanner, which provides a preamble to the main body of the research. In this chapter, an experiment that demonstrates how sound waves can carry a component of OAM using simple off-the-shelf equipment is discussed. An anular array of loudspeakers was constructed and a set of analogue electronics was assembled in such a way that, when driven by a signal from a laboratory signal generator, eight individual signals were
produced, identical to the driving signal, but separated by a relative phase difference of π/4. The net result is that, considered as a set, there is a difference of 2π between the first and eighth signals. These signals were sent to the eight speakers which resulted in an approximation to a l = 1 beam. A demonstration is also made of how the OAM carried by a sound beam may be transmitted to matter by observing the rotation of a styrofoam disk, and measure the total displacement from it's equilibrium position. These reults were confirmed when the direction of the beam was reversed by reversion the direction of the phase increase.

A further experiment detailed in chapter 4 was conducted where four signals of varying frequency were superimposed upon one another before being phase shifted and sent to the speakers. This meant that instead of a beam with a single tone, as was generated in the acoustic spanner experiment, a polyphonic acoustic vortex was generated using four frequencies. Using a microphone mounted atop a translation stage, an amplitude cross-section of the vortex confirmed that there were indeed four constituent vortices in the beam. It was also confirmed that these constituent beams were not coupled to one another, and thus it was possible to stear each component of the vortex without affecting the others. This was achieved by modulating the amplitude of the signal at one speaker, and applying an equal and opposite modulation at the corresponding speaker on the opposite side of the array.

The final experiment was an investigation into the phase structure of acoustical vortices. While only first order beams were used in the acoustic spanner and polyphonic vortex experiments, high order beams were produced this time. Beams of l = ±1±2±4 were produced, and the same microphone and translation stage that was used before was used totrace a 2-dimensional cross-section through the beams and measure their phase profiles. The results for l = ±1 and ±2 were as expected, and the phase profiles for these can be seen in the figures in chapter 5. Beams for l = ±4 were expected to fail since the number of speakers used in the array did not provide enough sources for the beam to fully form into a vortex, and this was also as expected. The phase profiles are incliuded in chapter 5 to demonstrate the limitations of the experiment, and to show that in this case that it's impossible to differentiate between a l = 4 and a l = −4 beam in the say that can be done for the others. Similarly, l = ±3 beams are not measured due to the limitations of the apparatus.


Fusion reactions of cages and fullerenes C4, C6 C8, C10, C12 and C14 with each other are modeled on the basis of Arrhenius's postulate. It means that at first there forms an intermediate compound and afterwards a chemical reaction is going on. During the reactions new covalent bonds between the reacting atoms of different fullerenes are formed and old covalent bonds are destroyed. The process is similar to fusion of bubbles in a soap solution. The graphs describing the process are suggested. We have obtained fullerenes C8, C12 C16, C20, C24 and C28 that can be incorporated in the fullerene periodic system as the Δn=4 series.


Microglia play a key role in defending central nervous system from various internal and external threats. However, their excessive and/or chronic activation is associated with deleterious effects in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. Previously, we have shown that ribavirin when applied in clinically relevant dosage (10 μM) modulates activated microglia in complex fashion inducing both anti- and proinflammatory effects, simultaneously causing cytotoxicity. Here, we examined potential of low-dose ribavirin (0.1 and 1 μM) to modulate activated BV-2 microglia. Morphological and functional activation of BV-2 cells was achieved with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. Our results demonstrated that low-dose ribavirin did not induce cell death, while 10 μM ribavirin promoted LPS induced apoptosis. We determined that 1 μM ribavirin was equally efficient in deactivation of LPS induced morphological changes as 10 μM ribavirin treatment. Ribavirin showed halfway success in reducing markers of functional activation of microglia. Namely, none of the doses had effect on LPS triggered production of proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha. On the other hand, low-dose ribavirin proved its effectiveness in reduction of another inflammatory mediator, nitric oxide, by inhibiting inducible form of nitric oxide synthase. Our results imply that low-dose ribavirin may alleviate nitrosative stress during neuroinflammation.


SUMMARYDiscussions of immigration policy are typically framed in the context of their economic effects in receiving countries, notably labour market and fiscal effects. In this paper, we characterize immigration policy in a richer model where migrants are also a source of cultural externalities stemming from either preferences or the functioning of formal and informal institutions in receiving countries. While in terms of pure economic effects, immigrants do not generally have any more incentives than low-skilled natives to allow for more immigration in the future, this is not the case when accounting for cultural externalities. Therefore, insofar as past immigrants have a voice in affecting future policies, a time-consistent immigration policy entails back-loading; as natives attempt at limiting voice of immigrants in the future, the economic effects of immigration flows as well as the cultural externality they introduce. Furthermore, natives exploit any pre-commitment device to limit immigration flows, e.g. building ''walls'', limiting immigrants' political rights, or accumulating fiscal surpluses.


Facial artery musculomucosal (FAMM) flaps are musculomucosal flaps based on the facial artery. These flaps consist of mucosa, submucosa, a small amount of buccinator muscle, the deeper plane of the orbicularis oris muscle, the facial artery, and the venous plexus. We describe the use of a FAMM flap for the repair of a vermilion defect after resection of a lower lip carcinoma. A 62-year-old man with an ulcer and mass of the lower lip was referred to our hospital. The pathological diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma. He underwent tumor resection and vermilion reconstruction using an FAMM flap. We identified the facial artery by Doppler ultrasound. The FAMM flap was designed superiorly to Stensen's duct. The flap was elevated and rotated inferiorly. Then, the defect of the vermilion was covered. The donor site was closed primarily. Although the tip of the FAMM flap underwent partial necrosis postoperatively, the flap survived after conservative treatment. An FAMM flap is useful for repairing defects in the vermilion, although only a flap of limited size can be harvested.


Background. A web-based curriculum is made transparent by providing multidimensional overviews of content (learning objectives) aligned with learning outcomes and frameworks, opportunities and assessment formats. A South African university embarked on the mapping of its curricula on the web-based learning opportunities, objectives and outcome platform (LOOOP).  Objectives. To reflect on the customisation of LOOOP and training of lecturers, and to determine lecturers' perceptions of the usability and value of LOOOP.  Methods. The project manager reflected on the initiating processes, and a survey determined the lecturers' perceptions of the usability and value of curriculum mapping, using a 4-point Likert scale questionnaire. The convenience sample comprised the first 30 lecturers who had uploaded their curriculum content and consented to partake in this ethics-approved study. Descriptive statistics portray the percentages of agreement on the positive statements of the questionnaire.  Results. Challenges related to slow staff buy-in and development were experienced. Required modifications to LOOOP were promptly dealt with. The majority of participants agreed on the usability (≥89%), as well as structure and transparency (≥87%) of LOOOP. Mapping is expected to enhance curriculum revision (≥95%) and communication (≥96%), viewing the curriculum scope, complexity and cohesion (97%), as well as abstracting data for management analysis and reporting (100%).  Conclusions. The lecturers agreed on the usability and values of curriculum mapping, which indicates that online mapping is sufficiently beneficial to justify the time and resources invested. Mapping should be a product of collaborative participation and planned as a long-term commitment, which can also be used to research the impact of mapping on student learning.


Aim: The aim of this research is to determine the marital adjustment and hopelessness in infertile couples. Methods: The descriptive and comparative study was conducted with 84 infertile couples between July and December 2014. The data were collected using the Individual Identification Form, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Data were analyzed using numbers, percentages, mean values, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis, t test and correlation analysis and p values <0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the women who participated in the study was 30.46±4.71 and 33.94±5.08 years. 77.4% were diagnosed with primary infertility, 38.1% of the infertility was due to female problems and the mean marriage duration was 7.04±4.29 years and mean infertility time was 5.59±3.35 years. Women's Beck Hopelessness Scale total score average was 12.29±2.48, males were 10.09±2.70 and there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores. The total score average of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale was 89.00±12.79 for women and 100.39±17.24 for men and there was a significant difference between the points average. In addition, there is a significant negative correlation between the mean scores of Beck Hopelessness Scale and Dyadic Adjustment Scale of women and men participating in the study. Conclusion: Women who were affected by infertility during the study were found to experience more hopelessness and the marital adjustment was worse than men.


One ofthe known complications of diabetes is hearing impairment. This comparative study in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, aimed to evaluate the association of diabetes mellitus and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) among a non-elderly population. Among 160 subjects aged < 60 years with no history of occupational noise exposure (80 diabetics and 80 age- and sex-matched non-diabetic controls), 45% of diabetic patients and 20% of controls had SNHL (OR 3.5, 95% CI: 1.6-6.6). Age at onset and duration of diabetes were associated with SNHL. Diabetes mellitus may be a risk factor for hearing loss regardless of age and smoking. Determining the cause of SNHL in diabetic patients may lead to development of better treatment options.


The purpose of the roadmap proposed by IRGC is to recommend a structured process that organisations can follow in their transition towards the development of precision medicine. The process is adaptable, and each organisation should further develop it to align with its own needs, culture and objectives. The roadmap suggests a comprehensive approach to the development of precision medicine: it begins with the creation of a space for dialogue among stakeholders, it considers a step-wise implementation of precision medicine, it recommends a careful attention to the data issue, and it reminds that regulation and payment systems will have to be adapted.


IN 1965 Kountz et al 1 pointed out that redistribution of blood flow from the mesenteric to the peripheral vascular bed might be the causal factor in some cases of mesenteric ischemia. They presented a patient who developed patchy infarction of the small bowel following sequential sympathectomy and right ileofemoral bypass. In subsequent animal experiments they showed that cross-clamping of the aorta resulted in a modest increase in flow in the superior mesenteric artery. Release of the aortic clamp caused a decrease in blood flow below the preocclusion flow levels in the superior mesenteric. Although necrosis of the gut has been observed following extensive vascular surgery, all reported cases have occurred with division of the inferior mesenteric artery which may be the major source of intestinal blood flow. We would like to report an experience that supports the theory of redistribution of blood flow without the presence of a sympathectomy.


Lumbar puncture (LP) is known to result in complications. Procedure skills should be taught and evaluated more effectively to improve health care quality. Validated checklists are central to teaching and assessing procedural skills. The results of the first step of the validation of an adult LP checklist are described. A comprehensive literature review of articles published on LP did not yield a checklist validated by the Delphi method. A modified Delphi technique, involving a panel of 9 experts, was used to develop a 20-item LP checklist for teaching and assessing LP, the first step in the validation process. The internal consistency coefficient using Cronbach's αwas 0.79. The authors used a modified Delphi method to develop a checklist for teaching and assessing LP. For this checklist to become further validated, it should be implemented and studied in the simulation and clinical environments.


The movement of individuals among patches of suitable habitat is a key process in metapopulation biology, but is very difficult to observe under natural conditions. Thus, many estimates of rates of movement are indirect and incomplete, and there is little empirical knowledge of the factors affecting immigration and emigration. I studied intensively a local population of Sinai Baton Blue butterflies in a discrete habitat patch. The study lasted the entire adult flight period, and involved almost every individual in the local population. Using these data I attempted to estimate the number of immigrants and emigrants, and identified an important factor affecting inter-patch movement. Early in the season, individuals were resident in the study patch for only a very short time; I assumed this was because they were emigrating, and thus estimated that at least 14% of the population emerging in the study patch emigrated. I assumed that butterflies not caught until they were relatively old, had immigrated to the patch (rather than being missed at a young age), and thus estimated that 13% of the population caught in the patch was composed of immigrants, most of which were females. Individuals assumed to be immigrants arrived in the patch throughout the adult flight period, but older individuals generally arrived later in the season. Timing of migration was almost certainly linked to phenology of the butterfly's only hostplant, Sinai Thyme. Most butterflies remained in their natal patch. The degree of inter-patch movement estimated using this method was consistent with other metapopulation studies, and would suffice for this species to exist as a metapopulation.


Probabilistic testing techniques that sample input data at random from a probability distribution can be more effective at detecting faults than deterministic techniques. However, if overly large (and therefore expensive) test sets are to be avoided, the probability distribution from which the input data is sampled must be optimised to the particular software-under-test. Such an optimisation process is often resource-intensive. In this paper, we present a prototypical cloud platform-and architecture-that permits the optimisation of such probability distributions in a scalable, distributed and robust manner, and thereby enables cost-effective probabilistic testing.


We have performed the various measurements of the transformation strain with and without the different external magnetic fields on the Ni51.6Mn23.4Ga25 single crystals. A stress-free and two-way thermoelastic shape memory, with -1.15% strain (negative sign represents the shrinkage) and 6 K temperature hysteresis, has been found in the single crystal. The deformation can be enhanced up to -2.35% with a bias field 1.2 T applied along the measurement direction of the parent phase [001] crystallographic axial direction. Turning the field laterally applied to [010] and [100] directions of the parent phase, however, the strain was suppressed by the field of 1.2 T to 0.56% and –0.55%, respectively, a different deformation scene. Moreover, it is found that even the field of 1.2 T does not have a significant influence on the phase transition temperature and the temperature hysteresis, which indicates that the mechanism of field-enhanced strain in this material is the twin boundary motion.


Using a photonic crystal fiber with a zero dispersion wavelength of the fundamental mode at 780 nm designed and fabricated in our lab, the ultraviolet and mid-infrared continua are generated by cross-phase modulation between red-shift solitons and blue-shift dispersive waves. The dependences of continuum on the pump power and wavelength are investigated. With the pump working at 820 nm, when the pump power increases from 300 to 500 mW, the bandwidths of ultraviolet and mid-infrared continua change from 80 to 140 nm and 100 to 200 nm, respectively. The wavelength of ultraviolet continuum is below 246 nm, and the wavelength of mid-infrared continuum exceeds 2500 nm. Moreover, the influences of pump power on wavelength and conversion efficiency of different parts of continua are also demonstrated.


Quartz mylonites composed of elongate ribbon quartz without appreciable recrystallization at grain boundaries were examined and contrasted. One was from a lower greenschist facies environment at Mount Isa, Australia, in which the c -axis preferred orientation of the ribbons is either a pronounced orthorhombic distribution or a small-circle distribution (with a small opening angle) about the normal to the foliation and lineation. The other was an upper greenschist or lower amphibolite facies mylonite from Risfjallet in the Swedish Caledonides, in which the c -axis preferred orientation of the ribbon is a maximum lying close to the foliation and normal to the lineation. Variation in preferred orientation can be accounted for by temperature and (or) strain-rate differences, with basal-slip mechanisms predominant at lower temperatures and prismatic slip (and possibly other slip systems), together with diffusion-controlled processes, predominant at higher temperatures.


The phenomenon of the formation of periodic precipitate structure has attracted the attention of several research workers. The usual method of obtaining such structures is to diffuse the external electrolyte into the gel impregnated with internal electrolyte. In this thesis the phenomenon is explained based on diffusion mechanism and the following logarithmic relationship.
 Log (Xn-Xn-1) = A + α Xn
In the present studies six different systems, viz. lead arsenite, lead arsenate, lead carbonate, lead fluoride in aqueous agar agar gel and zinc carbonate and lead carbonate in aqueous polyvinyl alcohol gel. Data obtained for the spacings between the rings has been plotted as log (Xn-Xn-1) against Xn. The curves obtained are straight lines proving the validity of the equation for all the systems.
The influence of concentrations of external and internal electrolytes on the spacing of rings is another aspected predicted by the equation. From the general equation;
 (Xn-Xn-1) = (P(S/CoCo1)) eαXn
The distance between the consecutive rings should be inversely proportional to the concentration of extend and internal electrolyte. Detailed studies were also made on the factors influencing the spacings in periodic precipitation with special reference to the effects of anions, acids, gel concentration, addition of glycerol, mixed gels, temperature, electric potential etc. All the above mentioned factors influence the ring spacings by increasing or decreasing the rate of diffusion of ions. The logarithmic relationship is also verified in all these cases. The correctness of the mathematical theory of the formation of periodic precipitation based on diffusion mechanism is proved from the various experimental studies


Restenosis after coronary angioplasty is still a significant problem despite the dynamic development of intervention cardiology. Homocysteine causes endothelial dysfunction and disorders of the coagulation system, increases in platelets aggregation and stimulates the proliferation of the vascular smooth cell. These were the reasons for investigating the relation between homocysteine level and the risk of restenosis. Some studies indicate that higher homocysteine levels increase the risk of restenosis after coronary angioplasty, while it has not been proven in other studies. The results of the only one randomized trial demonstrated that pharmacological lowering of the homocysteine level decreased the risk of restenosis after coronary angioplasty. At this time there are some studies which started focusing on the role of lowering homocysteine level in cardiovascular risk. These investigations may explain the importance of homocysteine level in the development of cardiovascular diseases. There is a need of a large prospective multicenter trial assessing the relationship between increased homocysteine level and the frequency of restenosis after coronary angioplasty. Using intravascular ultrasonography could be especially helpful in assessing the role of decreasing homocysteine level on neo-intima formation and arterial remodeling after intervention.


An oxygen sensor installed in vehicle exhaust systems enables to measure the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas, in which the measured data are collected and analyzed in ECU(Engine Control Unit). The oxygen sensor is exposed to the high speed exhaust gas at high temperature circumstance, so that protection caps are required not only to protect the susceptible measuring part, but also to provide the real time measurement without time delay. In this study, a new oxygen sensor with one protection cap was proposed, and the CFD analysis was carried out in order to compare the performance characteristics, such as flow speed and ratio of AOA(Age of Air), for the conventional and new oxygen sensor. The numerical results of CFD analysis provided the flow speed of 1.34m/s and the ratio of AOA of 3.43. The similar features obtained from the numerical results showed that the new oxygen sensor guarantees the same performance characteristics of the conventional ones.


The importance of an adequate periconceptional maternal folate status to prevent fetal neural tube defects has been well demonstrated and resulted in the recommendation for women to use folic acid supplements during the periconception period. The importance of maternal folate status for offspring neurodevelopment and brain health is less well described. We reviewed the current evidence linking maternal folate status before conception and during pregnancy with neurodevelopment and cognition of the offspring. We discuss both animal and human studies. Preclinical research revealed the importance of maternal folate status for several key processes required for normal neurodevelopment and brain functioning in the offspring, including DNA synthesis, regulation of gene expression, synthesis of phospholipids and neurotransmitters, and maintenance of healthy plasma homocysteine concentrations. Human observational studies are inconclusive; about half have shown a positive association between maternal folate status and cognitive performance of offspring. Whereas some studies suggest a positive association between maternal folate intake and cognition of offspring during childhood, data from interventional studies are too limited to conclude that there is a direct effect. Future preclinical studies are needed to help us characterize the behavioral effects, understand the underlying mechanisms, and to establish an optimal dosage and time window of folate supplementation. Moreover, more conclusive data from well-designed human observational studies and randomized controlled trials are needed to determine whether current recommendations for folic acid supplementation during pregnancy cover the needs for normal cognitive development in the offspring.


Diversity is an important and valuable concept that has been adopted in many fields to reduce correlated risks and to increase survivability. In information security, diversity also helps to increase both defense capability and fault tolerance for information systems and communication networks, where diversity can be adopted from many different perspectives. This dissertation, in particular, focuses mainly on two aspects of diversity – the application software diversity and the diversity in data interpretation.
Software diversity has many advantages over mono-culture in improving system security. A number of previous researches focused on utilizing existing off the shelf diverse software for network protection and intrusion detection, many of which depend on an important assumption – the diverse software utilized in the system is vulnerable only to different exploits. In the first work of this dissertation, we perform a systematic analysis on more than 6,000 vulnerabilities published in 2007 to evaluate the extent to which this assumption is valid. Our results show that the majority of the vulnerable application software products either do not have the same vulnerability, or cannot be compromised with the same exploit code.
Following this work, we then propose an intrusion detection scheme which builds on two diverse programs to detect sophisticated attacks on security-critical data. Our model learns the underlying semantic correlation of the argument values in these programs, and consequently gains more accurate context information compared to existing schemes. Through experiments, we show that such context information is effective in detecting attacks which manipulate erratic arguments with comparable false-positive rates.
Software diversity does not only exist on desktop and mainframe computers, it also exists on mobile platforms like smartphone operating systems. In our third work in this dissertation, we propose to investigate applications that run on diverse mobile platforms (e.g., Android and iOS) and to use them as the baseline for comparing their security architectures. Assuming that such applications need the same types of privileges to provide the same functionality on different mobile platforms, our analysis of more than 2,000 applications shows that those executing on iOS consistently ask for more permissions than their counterparts running on Android. We additionally analyze the underlying reasons and find out that part of the permission usage differences is caused by third-party libraries used in these applications.
Different from software diversity, the fourth work in this dissertation focuses on the diversity in data interpretation, which helps to defend against coercion attacks. We propose Dummy-Relocatable Steganographic file system (DRSteg) to provide deniability in multi user environments where the adversary may have multiple snapshots of the disk content. The diverse ways of interpreting data in the storage allows a data owner to surrender only some data and attribute the unexplained changes across snapshots to the dummy data which are random bits. The level of deniability offered by our file system is configurable by the users, to balance against the resulting performance overhead. Additionally, our design guarantees the integrity of the protected data, except where users voluntarily overwrite data under duress.
This dissertation makes valuable contributions on utilizing diversity in software security and information hiding. The systematic evaluation results obtained for mobile and desktop diverse software are important and useful to both research literature and industrial organizations. The proposed intrusion detection system and steganographic file system have been implemented as prototypes, which are effective in protecting valuable user data against adversaries in various threat scenarios.


We have described a facile synthesis of novel 1,3-thiazolidine purine nucleosides. All these analogues are derived from the key intermediate N-tert-butoxycarbonyl-1,3-thiazolidine-2-ol, which was obtained from L-cysteine methylester hydrochloride. The tetrabutylammonium fluoride (TBAF) induced coupling of the 1,3-thiazolidine moiety with suitably protected purines afforded highly regioselective N-9 substituted purine nucleosides. All the newly synthesized products were characterized by 1H NMR, ES-MS and elemental analyses. Their antibacterial activity is reported.


Targeting prostate cancer metastasis has very high therapeutic potential. Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death among men in the USA, and death results from the development of metastatic disease. In order to metastasize, cancer cells must complete a series of steps that together constitute the metastatic cascade. Each step therefore offers the opportunity for therapeutic targeting. However, practical limitations have served as limiting roadblocks to successfully targeting the metastatic cascade. They include our still-emerging understanding of the underlying biology, as well as the fact that many of the dysregulated processes have critical functionality in otherwise normal cells. We provide a discussion of the underlying biology, as it relates to therapeutic targeting. Therapeutic inroads are rapidly being made, and we present a series of case studies to highlight key points. Finally, future perspectives related to drug discovery for antimetastatic agents are discussed.


Extending marriage to same-sex couples in Virginia would generate up to $60 million in spending to the state economy. According to 2010 U.S. Census, the most recent data available, 14,244 same-sex couples live in Virginia. Of those couples, the Institute estimates that 50 percent (7,122 couples) would choose to marry in the first three years, a pattern that has been observed in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Nearly 5,000 marriages would occur in the first year alone, and bring up to $38 million in revenue to the state of Virginia that year. Wedding-related spending and tourism would generate approximately 459 to 595 new jobs in Virginia over the first three years.


The majority of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) cases arise from mutations in the steroid 21-hydroxylase (CYP21) gene. Without reliance on HLA gene linkage analysis, we have developed primers for differential polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the CYP21 gene and the non-functional CYP21P gene. Using the amplification created restriction site (ACRS) approach for direct mutational detection, a secondary PCR was then performed using a panel of primers specific for each of the 11 known mutations associated with CAH. Subsequent restriction analysis allowed not only the detection but also the determination of the zygosity of the mutations analysed. Existing deletion of the CYP21 gene could also be detected. In the analysis of 20 independent chromosomes in 11 families of CAH patients in Taiwan, four CYP21 mutation types, besides deletion, were detected. Interestingly, in five different alleles, the CYP21P pseudogene contained some polymorphisms generally associated with the CYP21 gene. These results suggest gene conversion events that are occurring in both CYP21P and CYP21 genes. Our combined differential PCR-ACRS protocol is simple and direct and is applicable for prenatal diagnosis of CAH using chorionic villi or amniotic cells.


We use a welfare-based intertemporal stochastic optimization model and historical data to estimate the size of the optimal intergenerational and liquidity funds and the corresponding resource dividend available to the government of the Canadian province Alberta. To first-order of approximation, this dividend should be a constant fraction of total above- and below-ground wealth, complemented by additional precautionary savings at initial times to build up a small liquidity fund to cope with oil price volatility. The ongoing dividend equals approximately 30 per cent of government revenue and requires building assets of approximately 40 per cent of GDP in 2030, 100 per cent of GDP in 2050 and 165 per cent in 2100. Finally, the effect of the recent plunge in oil prices on our estimates is examined. Our recommendations are in stark contrast with historical and current government policy.


To quantitatively analyze main figure, field, agency and level of sponge city research in China, and clear research focus and hot spot in each year, by using the Full Text Database of Chinese Sci-tech Periodicals and other retrieval tools, the statistics and analysis of 3152 research literatures on sponge city published in domestic academic journals of 2004-2016 are conducted based on bibliometrics. It is found that since the concept of "sponge city" was firstly proposed in 2012, development research of sponge city involves 40 subject fields and is mainly published in 32 kinds of journals, which is dominated by natural science research (1427 literatures). Researchers are mainly from each college and university, some design institutes and Chinese Academy of Sciences. The research could play certain guidance significance for further research and construction of ecological city construction in China.


Despite the strategic and software engineering benefits mobile agents (MAs) brings to network management, their performance is still a controversial issue. A number of quantitative analyses and experiments on mobile agent performance have been reported in the last few years. Among the claims in these studies, there are some obvious controversies. In an effort to determine the existence of contradiction and explore the cause for disagreement, this paper compares a number of evaluative studies of MA performance in the network management domain. Their experiments and analytical models are briefly described, and their findings and conclusions are highlighted for effective contrasting. With direct inference from this comparative survey, we suggest that many factors must be carefully taken into account when evaluating the MA network management paradigm. These key factors include the size of the network, the specific management tasks the MA is to perform, the initial MA size, data compression, the transfer mode, the specific platform adopted, etc. Our careful examination reveals that most of the disagreement is caused by difference in the above measurement factors. Ample evidence from the reviewed studies demonstrated that MAs are not actually efficient enough for real-time polling and collecting large amount of data, but we have enough proof that MAs demonstrate considerable robustness and performance in performing complex local computing, data filtering and updating. One contradiction in the body of literature is identified when the network has limited size. More carefully planed study is needed to solve this obvious contradiction.


ABSTRACT As past research has considered the major stages of the consumer behavior model separately, it is hardly possible to evaluate the most effective factor over final decision making. Thus, this study has a special significance, as it evaluates every stage, makes a comparison between stages, and puts forward the relationship between them. The discussion of findings is related to the assessment of data collected through a questionnaire survey among Turkish domestic tourists. Study findings have concluded a positive interrelationship among all stages of the consumer behavior model in tourism, and these findings can be regarded as sufficient evidence to support the 10 research hypotheses proposed in the study. In light of these findings, the paper also addresses both theoretical and practical implications.


The evaluation of exercise capacity and cardiac output (QC) is fundamental in the management of patients with advanced heart failure (AdHF). QC and peak oxygen uptake (VO2) have a pivotal role in the prognostic stratification and in the definition of therapeutic interventions, including medical therapies and devices, but also specific treatments such as heart transplantation and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. Due to the intertwined relationship between exercise capacity and daily activities, exercise intolerance dramatically has impact on the quality of life of patients. It is a multifactorial process that includes alterations in central and peripheral haemodynamic regulation, anaemia and iron deficiency, pulmonary congestion, pulmonary hypertension, and peripheral O2 extraction. This paper aims to review the pathophysiological background of exercise limitations in HF patients and to examine the complex physiology of exercise in LVAD recipients, analysing the interactions between the cardiopulmonary system, the musculoskeletal system, the autonomic nervous system, and the pump. We performed a literature review to highlight the current knowledge on this topic and possible interventions that can be implemented to increase exercise capacity in AdHF patients-including administration of levosimendan, rehabilitation, and the intriguing field of LVAD speed changes. The present paper confirms the role of CPET in the follow-up of this peculiar population and the impact of exercise capacity on the quality of life of AdHF patients.


This paper seeks to determine the role of farmland afforestation in the development of rural areas in Poland. An analysis covered the distribution of afforestation conducted in the years 2003-2013 in terms of afforestations needs of rural communes. The assessment relied on the ranking of communes worked out by the Forest Research Institute for the purposes of the National Woodiness Enhancement Programme (NWEP). It was found that, in spite of the NWEP, farmland afforestation did not proceed in a spatially ordered way. The research showed that there is no straightforward relation between the level of afforestation needs of rural communes and spatial differences in farmland afforestation.


We examined team performance as it was affected by organizationally supported face-to-face and technology-mediated knowledge practices. Guided by an information processing perspective, we demonstrate from a field study of over 250 teams within a global Fortune 100 technology company that team member participation in face-to-face and technology-mediated knowledge practices (e.g., community of practice (CoP) meeting attendance and use of CoP-related technologies, respectively), and team knowledge sharing practices are positively related to individual team member knowledge. We predicted that absorptive capacity would moderate tacit knowledge relationships with team performance, and that transactive memory would moderate explicit knowledge relationships with team performance. We found that the patterns of relationships differed depending on the measure of team performance. The predictions held for absorptive capacity by tacit knowledge on manager-assessed performance, and for transactive memory by explicit knowledge on customer satisfaction. Additionally, there was a significant direct effect, with no moderation, of tacit knowledge on customer satisfaction. We highlight multilevel modeling for team research and argue for joint consideration of organizational and technology practices. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The retina of the pearl mutant mouse, C57BL/6J pe/pe, exhibits reduced light sensitivity in the dark-adapted condition (Balkema and Pinto, J Neurophysiol 48:968, 1982). The authors searched for an anatomic correlate in the retina which could relate to the functional deficit. Electron microscopic mosaics of the outer plexiform layer of light- and dark-adapted pearl and wild-type mice were analyzed. The numerical density and length of the photoreceptor synaptic lamellae showed these parameters to be indistinguishable in wild-type and pearl retinas under conditions of both light- and dark-adaptation. Light-adapted pearl retinas exhibited some rod spherules that contained structurally modified synaptic lamellae with bulbous thickenings and adjacent electron-dense bodies. These lamellar modifications were neither apparent in the light-adapted, wild-type retinas, nor in the dark-adapted retinas of either genotype. Pronase application to ultrathin sections hydrolyzed synaptic lamellae, bulbous thickenings and electron dense bodies.


Background Type 1 Gaucher disease (GD1) is the most common lysosomal disorder, characterized by the accumulation of beta-glucocerebroside into the macrophages of several organs. Cardiac involvement is rare and referred to as restrictive cardiomyopathy, pulmonary hypertension, and calcifications of the valves and the aortic arch. Aim To assess the cardiovascular status by cardiac magnetic resonance, including evaluation of tissue characterization, in GD1 patients. Methods Nine GD1 patients were recruited at the Tertiary Care Centre for Rare Diseases at Ca' Granda Foundation IRCCS Hospital, Milan. The patients' records were available for a mean time of 6 ± 3 years. Medical history of cardiac disease and cardiovascular risk factors were surveyed by direct interview. Patients were scanned with a 1.5 Avanto Siemens using a comprehensive cardiovascular evaluation protocol, including morphologic and functional sequences with gadolinium contrast media, to assess early and late enhancement (late gadolinium enhancement). Echocardiography was performed to study the cardiac morphology and function, including the measurement of pulmonary pressure. Results Three patients showed left atrial enlargement, one patient showed moderate aortic stenosis in bicuspid valve with mild aortic dilatation, and one patient showed moderate mitral regurgitation. No evidence of myocardial late gadolinium enhancement was detected after gadolinium contrast media. Seven patients received enzyme replacement therapy for a median of 1 year, and two patients were evaluated at diagnosis. Conclusion Although cardiac disease in Gaucher disease is considered rare and associated with particular genotypes, we have found two valvular diseases and mild left atrial enlargement in three out of nine patients. Further studies to evaluate the prognostic value of these findings are warranted.


Turkish Horror cinema started 2016 with the goriest film ever made in Turkey as Can Evrenol, a young director famous for his short films, released his first feature Baskin for Turkish horror enthusiasts. As one of the rare Turkish horror films without Islamic themes, Baskin tells the story of five police officers who find themselves in an old and deserted Ottoman police station after answering an emergency call during their night patrol. Once they begin to explore this labyrinth-like building, the officers are captured and wake up in the middle of a ritual with chanting and sexual activity, all under the control of a character named the Father. Having been screened in the Midnight Madness program in 2015 Toronto Film Festival, the film received positive reviews abroad and was appraised by Turkish horror critics while it was highly criticised by Turkish viewers due to its violence, bloody scenes, sexual references and strong language. Nevertheless, Baskin offers a powerful subtext in which the old barbarism vs. civilisation discussion that has been central to the Gothic mode since its birth, is reopened in a contemporary Turkish context. Moreover, the concept of repressed sexuality, another common theme in Gothic narratives, is reinforced in the film as a critique of Turkish masculine culture. In this paper, I will argue that the film engages with the idea of civilisation through the characters of the police officers who symbolise order in society, and of barbarism through the character of the Father and his cult who, in a way, represent the most primitive urges of the human race. Drawing on Maria Boletsi's idea of the barbarian as 'incomprehensible, unfamiliar, uncanny, improper' in the eyes of the civilised, I will generate a discussion which conceptualises traditional masculinity depicted in the film as the barbarian of Turkish society.


This paper describes a new model for the analysis of the flow in volutes of centrifugal compressors. It explicitly takes into account the vortical structure of the now that has been observed during detailed 3D flow measurements. It makes use of an impeller and diffuser response model to predict the non-uniformity of the volute inlet flow due, to the circumferential variation of the pressure at the volute inlet, and is therefore applicable also at off-design operation of the volute.Predicted total pressure loss and static pressure rise coefficients at design and off-design operation have been compared with experimental data for different volute geometries but only one test case is presented here. Good agreement in terms of losses and pressure rise is observed at most operating points and confirms the validity of the impeller and diffuser response model.Copyright © 1998 by ASME


We present 3DVNet, a novel multi-view stereo (MVS) depth-prediction method that combines the advantages of previous depth-based and volumetric MVS approaches. Our key idea is the use of a 3D scene-modeling network that iteratively updates a set of coarse depth predictions, resulting in highly accurate predictions which agree on the underlying scene geometry. Unlike existing depth-prediction techniques, our method uses a volumetric 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) that operates in world space on all depth maps jointly. The network can therefore learn meaningful scene-level priors. Furthermore, unlike existing volumetric MVS techniques, our 3D CNN operates on a feature-augmented point cloud, allowing for effective aggregation of multi-view information and flexible iterative refinement of depth maps. Experimental results show our method exceeds state-of-the-art accuracy in both depth prediction and 3D reconstruction metrics on the ScanNet dataset, as well as a selection of scenes from the TUM-RGBD and ICL-NUIM datasets. This shows that our method is both effective and generalizes to new settings.


Both Britain and Australia have seen rapid, inadequately funded, expansion of student numbers, and increasing central planning. To address these problems, this paper argues (a) that students should pay via a system of income-contingent loans for the private benefits they derive from higher education, and (b) that, within a government-ordained regulatory framework, universities should be free to set fees and student numbers. In the wake of the Dearing Report in 1997, Britain is making progress on (a) by introducing income-contingent loans to cover student's living costs. If anything, however, it is moving backwards on (b) by introducing a flat-rate fee of 25 per cent of average tuition costs, abated for poorer students. Though laudable in its equity objectives, the government's post- Dearing policy has serious problems: it brings in no extra money in the short run; is harmful to access; is inequitable in other ways; and faces serious administrative problems. In contrast, Australia got the design of loans right ten years ago, and the West Committee's Final Report argues for greater freedom for universities to conduct their own affairs. Once more, Australia looks set fair to give a lead.


Hearing loss is invisible and therefore historically has not been given the attention needed. If hearing loss is undetected and/or "rehabilitative" or intervention efforts are not begun as soon after birth as possible then a child's language, emotional, and cognitive development will be affected which will contribute to literacy and other academic difficulties later. This is the second article of a two-part series that discusses the importance of early identification of hearing loss and the implications, discussed in the context of human development. Part 1 discussed hearing loss in general and its relation to human development in detail. Part 1 also briefly discussed the terms "Deaf", "hard-of-hearing", and "deaf". This present article will discuss these terms in greater detail, and how early identification is important for all three groups when considered in the context of human development.


In this paper, a new method is proposed for load balancing in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). WMNs that consist of static wireless routers, some of which, called gateways, are directly connected to the wired infrastructure. This policy is based on Ant-Net method with movable factors having operation similar to ant. The main point considered in this proposed method is capability of breeding of ants. This capability is continuation of route that is produced by the parent ants. By this capability, the target is to find an optimized route by creating a number of generations. In addition, it uses various generations, in a type of genetic algorithm to find optimized route. This can provide the required route with special goals. This method is able to prevent some of the difficulties which have not been seen in the colony algorithms of ants. The results show that, this new proposed method shows better operation in comparison to Ant-Net and other related methods. Also it can significantly increase the throughput and reduce the rate of delay in the network.


Summary Common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) are a significant vertebrate pest of eucalypt plantations in Tasmania; their browsing damage can cause loss in growth, reduced seedling survival and deformities. Possum damage could therefore become a serious problem in Australia's rapidly expanding eucalypt plantations. In addition, expansion of plantation areas is projected to include drier zones, where inter-specific eucalypt hybrids may play an important role. However, hybrids are currently being developed with little knowledge of their resistance to pests. This study examined the susceptibility to browsing by common brushtail possums of a range of eucalypts (Eucalyptus bicostata, E. globulus, E. gunnii, E. nitens, E. morrisbyi and E. ovata) and their F1 hybrids in four separate field trials in Tasmania. The Tasmanian endemics E. gunnii and E. morrisbyi were extremely susceptible to browsing whereas the other four species were relatively resistant. Within E. globulus, significant differences in damage between provenances were also detected. Field damage on interspecific F1 hybrids was generally intermediate in crosses between susceptible and resistant eucalypt species. While the exact degree of susceptibility varied, crossing a relatively resistant species with a highly susceptible species resulted in a significant increase in the susceptibility of the F1 hybrid compared with that of the resistant species. Only the hybrids between the two major plantation species E. nitens and E. globulus were significantly more susceptible to browsing than either the E. nitens or E. globulus controls, which were both relatively resistant. In practical terms, the present study indicated that possum susceptibility is an important factor to consider when investigating the potential of pure species and their hybrids for commercial use.


Chiral diarylmethanols are versatile building blocks for the preparation of biologically active substances, but they are difficult to obtain in enantiopure form. We used Nocardia corallina B-276 for the oxidative kinetic resolution of (±)-4-(chlorophenyl)phenylmethanol, 1. Two experimental methods were used: 1) Suspension of cells in a phosphate buffer solution and 2) Cells in the culture media, in a 3-L bioreactor. After 36 hrs using the first method, the ketone/alcohol ratio was 56/44 and the unoxidized alcohol had an enantiomeric ratio of 93/7, predominating the R -alcohol.


This paper focusses narrowly on three areas of public policy concerning the environment deemed necessary for sustainable economic growth. It has relevance to Asian nations as they continue to demand for higher growth and at the same time keeping environmental degradation in check. The three areas are : (1) the issue of siting environmentally unfriendly but nationally required facilities, otherwise known as the NIMBY syndrome, (2) the waste generation problem, and (3) the need to price green goods. In addition to the above three areas for public policy, the paper also discusses a number of pragmatic principles for use in environmental management. Such things as cost-benefit analysis and project appraisal; the pursuit of clean and advanced technologies and inherent conflicts; exploring market solutions; understanding multiple stakeholders; and last but not least the need to establish data baselines for environmental quantity and quality.


In the immediate future, multimedia product distribution through the Internet will become main stream. However, it can also have the side effect of unauthorized duplication and distribution of multimedia products. That effect could be a critical challenge to the legal ownership of copyright and intellectual property. Many schemes have been proposed to address these issues; one is digital watermarking which is appropriate for image and video copyright protection. Videos distributed via the Internet must be processed by compression for low bit rate, due to bandwidth limitations. The most widely adapted video compression standard is MPEG-4. Discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain watermarking is a secure algorithm which could survive video compression procedures and, most importantly, attacks attempting to remove the watermark, with a visibly degraded video quality result after the watermark attacks. For a commercial broadcasting video system, real-time response is always required. For this reason, an FPGA hardware implementation is studied in this work. This thesis deals with video compression, watermarking algorithms and their hardware implementation with FPGAs. A prototyping VLSI architecture will implement video compression and watermarking algorithms with the FPGA. The prototype is evaluated with video and watermarking quality metrics. Finally, it is seen that the video qualities of the watermarking at the uncompressed vs. the compressed domain are only 1dB of PSNR lower. However, the cost of compressed domain watermarking is the complexity of drift compensation for canceling the drifting effect.


Recently, version 3.0a of the software package FEMLAB for solving multiphysics partial differential equations was released. In the present project we compared its performance with the previous release 2.3 and the package Fluent 6.1 in stationary laminar flow benchmark problems in two and three dimensions. It turns out that the new version is an essential improvement over the old version. It is much faster then Fluent in 2D


The origin of the phrase 'let them eat cake' is obscure. Conversely, it is widely understood that the woman whose name is most associated with the phrase, Marie Antoinette, the last pre-revolutionary Queen of France, never said it. But despite its lack of veracity the phrase demonstrates neatly the degree of disdain and anger directed at the Queen to the point where hatred becomes a useful term. This hatred was not unique to Marie Antoinette. While there is no phrase to highlight her role in the public eye, Alexandra Fedorovna, the last Czarina of Russia, was the focus of parallel disdain. Despite the timescale their situations are strikingly similar. The French and Russian revolutions form the backdrop for the close of these two women's lives. Political historians de-emphasise the role of individual actors in shaping events, but the events of individual lives – or more precisely, the way in which those events are interpreted in the public sphere – can provide an insight into the impersonal events that constitute noteworthy targets of analysis. This study identifies a common dynamic that explains the reason why Marie Antoinette and Alexandra Fedorovna were both the target of such intense hatred during the revolutions that overthrew the systems they were part of and contributed collectively and individually to the shaping of the modern world.


In this article we examine the cultural practices of a group of South Australian football supporters known as the "Grog Squad." While hard drinking is undeniably a central part of this group of exclusively male fans, being a "Groggie" is much more than just being in a boozy boys club. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken throughout the 2005 South Australian football season, as well as Internet research, we argue that the style of support engaged in by the Grog Squad represents a paradox for how we typically understand football fans. On the one hand, much of the language and behavior of the Grog Squad is characteristic of the aggressive masculinity common in male contact sports. On the other, being a Groggie provides access to a range of resources, benefits, networks, and supports that confound many of the popular assumptions about male social relationships in sport. To explain the arrant sexism and homophobia of the Grog Squad simply in terms of hegemonic masculinity is to obscure the very real so...


Collections were made during one year, between August 2005 and July 2006, in Malinalco, State of Mexico, in three sites of tropical deciduous forest, a pasture and a induced forest of pine-oak, established in a altitudinal gradient ranging from 1,253 m to 2,300 m. The total of 7,680 specimens Scarabaeidae, Silphidae and Trogidae were captured through NTP-80, representing 18 genera and 38 species. Onthophagus and Canthon contained 46% of the richness of Scarabaeidae. The more distant sites were complementary in their species composition. The lowest complementarity occurred between sites with tropical deciduous forest. It revises the material collected through pitffal traps and light traps funnel type, increasing the list of 38 to 50 species in the study area. Between 40% and 50% of the species in Malinalco are distributed in localities of the province of the basin Balsas and localities of the province of the Sierra Madre del Sur, and 30% in the localities of the province of Pacifica coast. For the first time 17 species of Scarabaeidae and three Trogidae were reported for the State of Mexico.


Freeze-thaw cycles have the impact on mechanical properties of the concrete in northern areas of China. In this paper, on the basis of the damage degree of freeze-thaw cycles and experiment data, for C30~ C50 concrete after freeze-thaw cycles, the loss rate of relative dynamic elastic modulus and the relation between compressive stress-strain are analyzed. Compounding good frost resistance of concrete is one of important measures to improve durability of concrete, and degradation patterns of mechanical properties are found. This study may serve as prediction of the service life of concrete in cold regions.


The aim of the present work was to investigate the preparation of microspheres as potential drug carriers for proteins, intended for controlled release formulation. The hydrophilic bovine serum albumin was chosen as a model protein to be encapsulated within poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (50:50) microspheres using a w/o/w double emulsion solvent evaporation method. Different parameters influencing the particle size, entrapment efficiency and in vitro release profiles were investigated. The microspheres prepared with different molecular weight and hydrophilicity of poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) polymers were non porous, smooth surfaced and spherical in structure under scanning electron microscope with a mean particle size ranging from 3.98 to 8.74 μm. The protein loading efficiency varied from 40 to 71% of the theoretical amount incorporated. The in vitro release profile of bovine serum albumin from microspheres presented two phases, initial burst release phase due to the protein adsorbed on the microsphere surface, followed by slower and continuous release phase corresponding to the protein entrapped in polymer matrix. The release rate was fairly constant after an initial burst release. Consequently, these microspheres can be proposed as new controlled release protein delivery system.


IMPORTANCE
Understanding the natural history of Huntington disease will inform patients and clinicians on the disease course and researchers on the design of clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the longitudinal change in clinical features among individuals with Huntington disease compared with controls.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Prospective, longitudinal cohort study at 44 research sites in Australia (n = 2), Canada (n =4), and the United States (n = 38). Three hundred thirty-four individuals with clinically manifest Huntington disease who had at least 3 years of annually accrued longitudinal data and 142 controls consisting of caregivers and spouses who had no genetic risk of Huntington disease.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Change in movement, cognition, behavior, and function as measured by the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and vital signs.

RESULTS
Total motor score worsened by 3.0 points (95% CI, 2.5-3.4) per year and chorea worsened by 0.3 point per year (95% CI, 0.1-0.5). Cognition declined by 0.7 point (95% CI, 0.6-0.8) per year on the Mini-Mental State Examination. Behavior, as measured by the product of frequency and severity score on the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale, worsened by 0.6 point per year (95% CI, 0.0-1.2). Total functional capacity declined by 0.6 point per year (95% CI, 0.5-0.7). Compared with controls, baseline body mass index was lower in those with Huntington disease (25.8 vs 28.8; P < .001), and average pulse was higher (74.2 vs 69.6 beats/min; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Over 3 years, the cardinal features of Huntington disease all declined in a monotonic manner. These data quantify the natural history of the disease and may inform the design of trials aimed at reducing its burden.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00313495.


Transboundary pollution constitutes an important component of environmental degradation in many countries. The demand for institutional changes that reduce transboundaiy pollution grows with increasing levels of economic development and accumulation of environmental degradatioo. Single countries, however, can set up such institutions only in cooperation with other countries. This paper analy7.CS the strategic game theoretic situation of countries ccncemed with transboundary polhnion under alternative benefit- st situations. The results suggest that a system of reciprocal obligations of countries can result in supranational agreements if the assurance problem of each signatory can be solved and the distribution of costs and benefits of such agreements are perceived as being fair.


The principle of fair labelling has informed the creation of international crimes and other concepts of international criminal law since the modern inception of this discipline. In particular, it was the symbolic and condemnatory import of international labels such as genocide and crimes against humanity that partly motivated their introduction as offences separate from domestic ordinary crimes. Paradoxically, fair labelling has received marginal attention in legal scholarship and practice. Moreover, frequent instances of relabelling known as 'recharacterisation of crimes' may not be entirely consistent with that principle, inviting further analysis thereof. In this context, the purpose of this article is to provide a more systematic and comprehensive analysis of the principle of fair labelling in international criminal law, particularly in light of the phenomenon of recharacterisation of crimes. Its central claim is that fair labelling is as a fair trial right which precludes recourse to recharacterisation in certain circumstances.


In this paper, we consider hybrid-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data of ocean surface slicks, and hypothesize that we can design a system that is able to discriminate between mineral oil, plant oil, and clean sea. We focus particularly on challenges related to data set shift between the training and test data. In SAR images of ocean surfaces, data set shift is typically caused by the variation of wind level and incident angles that directly impact the backscatter intensities. We evaluate several classifiers, domain adaptation strategies, and multilooking strategies. Hybrid-polarimetric SAR data are simulated from the Radarsat-2 quad-pol images. The proposed methodology was trained using five different Radarsat-2 quad-pol images that cover slicks of known types, and tested on 10 different Radarsat-2 quad-pol images covering various ocean surface slicks. The results show that we were able, to a large degree, to classify the type of various surface slicks. The average classification accuracy obtained from cross-validation on the training data was 91%. The results also show that we were able to correctly classify surface slick in new test images, even if the wind, surface, and acquisition conditions were different from the training images. We conclude that hybrid polarity is an attractive mode for future enhanced SAR-based oil spill monitoring; however, to fully exploit the imaging mode, single-look complex images are necessary.


ABSTRACT Delpeche-Ellmann, N.C., Soomere, T., 2013. Using Lagrangian models to assist in maritime management of Coastal and Marine Protected Areas Several previous attempts to mitigate current-driven environmental risks to the nearshore via a concealed structure of surface Lagrangian transport have assumed a constant value to the entire nearshore. We extend these attempts towards more realistic accounting for the Coastal and Marine Protected Areas (MPA). We investigate the effects shifting the present fairway would have on the amount of current-driven pollutants the MPA may receive. The Rossby Centre Ocean circulation model, the TRACMASS Lagrangian trajectory model and statistical methods were employed to identify patterns of current-driven transport in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, for the period 1987–1991. Pollution point sources were assumed to occur along the fairway. An analysis was made on how much of the pollution travelled to each of the MPA and the time frame involved. The existing fairway passes extremely close to one of the MPA. Shifting the fairway by a small distance to the south leads to a huge decrease in the amount of pollution. However deciding to shift a fairway requires several other factors to be considered, for this may also increase the risk of pollution for other MPAs or be incompatible with the national legislation.


Background: Pregnant women comprise a vulnerable population owing to the changes they experience in various stages that affect their mental health. Mental health problems affects nearly one-fifth of pregnant women during the prenatal and postpartum periods. Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 focus on maternal and child health and specify that overall health cannot be reached without mental health. Aims: The aim of this comprehensive systematic review was to evaluate research evidence on the determinants of antenatal mental health disorders among Iranian women. Methods: Using a systematic literature review of observational studies in English and Farsi we focused on Iranian women being evaluated for the determinants of antenatal mental health problems. PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Scientific Information Databases (SID), Global Medical Article Limberly, Iranian Biomedical Journal and the Iranian Journal Database were independently searched to identify articles published during 2000–2016. Results: Thirty-one studies met the inclusion criteria and the results showed a significant relationship between antenatal mental health risks and variables such as lack of social support, marital status, domestic violence, unintended pregnancy and socioeconomic status. The paucity


We develop optimal sleeping and harvesting policies for radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting devices, formalizing the following intuition: when the ambient RF energy is low, devices consume more energy being awake than what can be harvested and should enter sleep mode; when the ambient RF energy is high, on the other hand, it is essential to wake up and harvest. Toward this end, we consider a scenario with intermittent energy arrivals described by a two-state Gilbert-Elliott Markov chain model. The challenge is that the state of the Markov chain can only be observed during the harvesting action, and not while in sleep mode. Two scenarios are studied under this model. In the first scenario, we assume that the transition probabilities of the Markov chain are known and formulate the problem as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP). We prove that the optimal policy has a threshold structure and derive the optimal decision parameters. In the practical scenario where the ratio between the reward and the penalty is neither too large nor too small, the POMDP framework and the threshold-based optimal policies are very useful for finding non-trivial optimal sleeping times. In the second scenario, we assume that the Markov chain parameters are unknown and formulate the problem as a Bayesian adaptive POMDP and propose a heuristic posterior sampling algorithm to reduce the computational complexity. The performance of our approaches is demonstrated via numerical examples.


Background Subfertility, a time to pregnancy (TTP) >12 months, is present in 40% of women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) actively trying to conceive.1 Since RA patients appear to reach menopause at a younger age2, the reduced fertility may be caused by a lower ovarian reserve (OR). Serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels are currently the most reliable way to measure the OR. Objectives Our objective was to study preconception AMH levels and their association with TTP in women with RA. Methods A post-hoc analysis was performed in patients of the Pregnancy-induced Amelioration of RA (PARA) cohort who were visited preconceptionally. Serum AMH levels were measured using the pico AMH ELISA assay (Ansh Labs, Texas, USA), and compared to converted3 AMH values from a cohort of 554 healthy adult controls4. Results Preconception serum was available in 209 women aged 32.1±3.9 years, of whom 45% were subfertile. The median AMH level was 2.5 ug/L (IQR 1.5–4.6). AMH levels were significantly lower compared to healthy controls (p<0.001), with 17.2% (95% CI 10.7 – 23.8%) of patients having levels below the age-specific 10th percentile. Log-transformed AMH levels were negatively associated with age (-0.070 (95% CI -0.11;-0.031), p=0.001), and with the presence of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) (-0.38 (95% CI -0.71;-0.056), p=0.022). The associations remained significant in the multivariable analyses. AMH levels showed no significant association with TTP (HR 1.09 (95% CI 0.94;1.27), p=0.26). Conclusions Women with RA have lower AMH levels than healthy controls. Reduced AMH levels were more pronounced in ACPA positive patients, suggesting that the OR may be compromised more strongly in patients with a more severe disease. However, since preconception AMH levels were not associated with TTP, the reduced levels do not explain the reduced fertility in women with RA. References Brouwer J, Hazes JM, Laven JS, Dolhain RJ. Fertility in women with rheumatoid arthritis: influence of disease activity and medication. Ann Rheum Dis 2015;74:1836–41. Del Junco DJ, Annegers JF, Coulam CB, Luthra HS. The relationship between rheumatoid arthritis and reproductive function. Br J Rheumatol 1989;28 Suppl 1:33; discussion 42–5. Su HI, Sammel MD, Homer MV, Bui K, Haunschild C, Stanczyk FZ. Comparability of antimullerian hormone levels among commercially available immunoassays. Fertil Steril 2014;101:1766–72 e1. Lie Fong S, Visser JA, Welt CK, et al. Serum anti-mullerian hormone levels in healthy females: a nomogram ranging from infancy to adulthood. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2012;97:4650–5. Acknowledgements This study was funded by the Dutch Arthritis Foundation (Reumafonds). The pico AMH assays were generously provided by Ansh Labs (Houston, Texas, USA). Furthermore, we would like to thank all patients and rheumatologists who contributed to the PARA study, as well as all researchers and laboratory workers who worked on this project. Disclosure of Interest J. Brouwer: None declared, J. Laven: None declared, J. Hazes: None declared, J. Visser: None declared, R. Dolhain Grant/research support from: unrestricted research grant by UCB Pharma BV


In the face of federal government intransigence, climate activists are looking to the local leaders to aggressively address climate change. While local politicians are limited in many respects, their control over land use and transportation policy provides them with powerful tools to reduce Americans' reliance on cars–thereby decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. Using six years of novel elite survey data,we find thatmayors are strongly committed to addressing climate change and reducing their communities' reliance on cars. They are also supportive of some specific policies–including the construction of dense,multifamily housing and bicycle lanes–that would decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Other policy views, though, reveal that mayors do not consistently endorse evidence-based transportation policy practices that would make walking and cycling safe and attractive modes of transit. Insufficient knowledge, a lack of funding, partisan polarization, and public opposition all pose potent obstacles to mayors taking the lead on climate change.


given. Dr Grollman has tried to steer between and has produced a book, still manageable, and yet quite detailed. This has been done, as he says, by the inclusion only of such chemical, physiological, biochemical and clinical details which are germane to the subject, and excluding such aspects which are of primary interest to the professional pharmacologist only. The text is excellently presented, with good use of bold type to make learning easy. Physiology, pharmacology, therapeutic use, preparations available (U.S.P. and B.P.) and selected references are usually given but the compromise is nevertheless there, and I have used the book less than I would have expected.


This article analyzes the rotation and the survival of undersecretaries in Chile during the governments of the Concertación (1990-2010) and the government of Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014). During the last decade cabinets as an object of study have earned centrality among scholars who study the presidential functioning and those who study political elites. In this context, this paper analyzes an object of study that has been overlooked: the undersecretaries, the second government line. Descriptively it examines the rotation of all undersecretaries of the period and with survival analysis, specifically proportional hazards models, the influence of institutional factors and critical events (shocks) as a kind of ministerial dependency, low presidential approval, corruption scandals are evaluated, among others, in relation with the permanence of the undersecretaries in office. The findings of this article allow a thought about factors that are part and influence the political system and emerge as predictors of risk/survival in the undersecretariats. This makes this work an original contribution to the generation of knowledge about the role that undersecretaries have played within the government apparatus.


Natural properties of stochastic searching strategies and operations in metaheuristic algorithms have important influence on convergence performance of various metaheuristic algorithms. Through similarity analysis to two kinds of metaheuristic algorithms, exact heuristic algorithm based on branch-and-cut is put forward according to change trend of similarity between two arbitrary high-quality solutions. In the meanwhile, two conditions were given in this paper because efficiency of branch-and-cut algorithm is closely allied to complexity of solved object. New heuristic algorithm can help metaheuristic algorithms finding superior solutions than other heuristic algorithms, and accelerate metaheuristic algorithms convergence. Simulation experiments show that new heuristic algorithm is efficacious.


AIM
The aim of this study was to investigate whether the glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1) and T1 (GSTT1) gene polymorphisms contributed to development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Fifty women with diagnosis of GDM and 50 control individuals without GDM or altered glucose intolerance during their pregnancy were enrolled in the study. Multiplex polimerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method was applied to determine the GSTM1 and GSTT1 gene polymorphisms. Genotypes were determined according to bands detected with the agarose gel electrophoresis.

RESULTS
The difference in the frequencies of GSTM1 null genotypes between GDM and control groups was not statistically significant (60% and 54%, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference between GDM and control groups with respect to GSTT1 null genotype rates (22% and 20%, respectively).There was no statistically significant difference between GDM and control groups with respect to GSTT1 null genotype rates (22% and 20%, respectively).

CONCLUSION
This study shows no association between GST gene polymorphisms and GDM.


To improve efficiency of NC tool path generation for triangular Bézier surface and solve the interference issues of tool path, we proposed an algorithm of generating interference-free NC tool path based on triangular Bézier surface. The R*S tree is introduced into the algorithm and the dynamic spatial index structure of the triangular Bézier surface model is established by R*S tree; the intersection regions are acquired rapidly based on the R*S tree, so that the intersection triangular Bézier patches are located exactly; each intersection triangular Bézier patch is adaptively subdivided into many triangular planar patches in the scope of the tool path precision; the intersection curves are acquired through the intersection of triangular planar patches and cutting planes; the points on intersection curves are taken as the driving points, thus the interference-free cutter location points of triangular Bézier surface are obtained by the iterative calculation method, and then the interference-free cutter location points are connected rightly to generate NC tool path. It has been proved by examples that the algorithm of generating NC tool path based on triangular Bézier surface has strong adaptation to data type and that it can accurately and efficiently obtain the interference-free NC tool-path for the intricate triangular Bézier surface.


An evaluation of two-branch antenna diversity on mobile telephones is performed in the presence of head and hand phantoms to model the influence of the user. Two mobile telephone prototypes for the 1800-MHz band are considered. The evaluation is done by measuring the three-dimensional (3-D) complex radiation patterns from each antenna with the prototypes positioned near the phantom head and hand (i.e., in talk position) and calculating the diversity performance for three different scenarios of the incoming field. The two-branch antenna setups on both prototypes produce a calculated diversity gain of about 9 dB for selection diversity at the 99% reliability level.


As a powerful and expressive nontextual media that can capture and present information, instructional videos are extensively used in e-learning (Web-based distance learning). Since each video may cover many subjects, it is critical for an e-learning environment to have content-based video searching capabilities to meet diverse individual learning needs. In this paper, we present an interactive multimedia-based e-learning environment that enables users to interact with it to obtain knowledge in the form of logically segmented video clips. We propose a natural language approach to content-based video indexing and retrieval to identify appropriate video clips that can address users' needs. The method integrates natural language processing, named entity extraction, frame-based indexing, and information retrieval techniques to explore knowledge-on-demand in a video-based interactive e-learning environment. A preliminary evaluation shows that precision and recall of this approach are better than those of the traditional keyword based approach.


Campylobacter jejuni, a widespread food-borne pathogen is responsible for enteritis in the populations of both industrialised and developing nations and is acquired by consumption of contaminated water, milk and food products. Contaminated poultry meat is regarded as an important source of campylobacteriosis, with both commercial broiler and turkey growing flocks infected at two to three weeks of age by direct and indirect horizontal exposure. Non-chlorinated water is regarded as a vehicle of infection, followed by rapid intraflock dissemination. Intensification in the poultry industry has contributed to the increased prevalence rates on carcasses associated with increased stocking density and mechanized processing which are inherent to the high efficiency dictated by a competitive market. Currently, pre- and post-harvest control measures may ameliorate the problem of Campylobacter infection in consumers. Refrigerated storage and transport of red meat and poultry, appropriate handling and food preparation, and thorough cooking reduce the possibility of food-borne infection. In view of the world-wide distribution of C. jejuni infection and the multiplicity of sources, including non-pasteurised milk and contaminated water, it is inappropriate to impose trade restrictions on poultry meat based on the detection of campylobacters.