This research reports on three innovative pilots (located in Hampshire, Dyfed Powys and Greater Manchester) that have incorporated the PPIT into their working practices in order to establish a more robust identification and referral pathway for priority domestic abuse perpetrators. A process evaluation was undertaken between January and November 2017 to assess the strengths and limitations of each of the three pilots, compare the offender cohorts being identified, identify the strategies being undertaken to manage these individuals, and gather the perceptions of those involved about the effectiveness of these new arrangements. The research adopted a mixed method approach comprising interviews with practitioners (n=18) a number of site visits and a quantitative analysis of monitoring data of perpetrators (n=513) coming through the PPIT pilots. This research illustrated the many ways that practitioners can work together to create meaningful change in how domestic abuse is tackled in local areas. This is a complex area of work, which requires partnership working across multiple agencies to address offending that is both high volume and which can also be highly harmful to adults as well as children. Further research is required to systematically evaluate the full range of outcomes that are possible (i.e. in addition to the positive changes reported here, such as more informed and coordinated responses in the identification and management of priority domestic abuse perpetrators, do the actions taken within the PPIT pilots also produce significant reductions in re-offending and corresponding improvements to victims' safety?). In addition to data gathered through the monitoring databases already in place in the pilots, future research needs to access the views of those perpetrators and victims directly affected by these new working arrangements and interventions. Finally, opportunities for mutual learning and critical reflection on practice should be provided to support practitioners and to help build a community of practice of key stakeholders engaged in this type of work.


The second-order intermodulation distortion product, namely composite second-order (CSO) distortion, of an AM-SCM video transmission system can be caused by the optical isolators, cascaded fiber amplifiers, or the fiber transmission cable employed. Moreover, the absolute distortion value depends on the polarization angle of light input to the optical isolators, cascaded fiber amplifiers, and fiber transmission line. The degraded distortion values are measured and their mechanisms are clarified. >


I invite conference attendees to a discussion of ideas presented in a 'graphic paper' (sent out a week before the conference) addressing themes of emergence between wholes and parts as these relate to our comprehension of what the world must be like for our understanding of it to make sense. The comic book form is used in the paper for its inherent emergent qualities. The relationship between images, dialogue, panels, gutters, page composition and narrative elements, holistically make this form archetypal in addressing the themes of the paper and the conference. The challenge of the graphic paper, which explores bronze as a metaphor in defining the holistic properties that emerge from the joining of tin and copper, is to assess the consequences of synthesising the ideas of emergence in the writings of both Deleuze and Jung. In Deleuze's collaboration with Felix Guattari, their writing points to the emergent properties within art as containing the ability to reterritorialize our relations with the world. 'What defines the territory is the emergence of matters of expression (qualities)…Can this becoming, this emergence, be called art?' (1998 p. 315-316) And in Jung's formation of the Transcendent Function 'which creates a transition from one attitude to another' as the engine of individuation, where a third thing emerges from this process, 'a changed situation', 'a new attitude', through a dialogue between conscious and unconscious (The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche CW8 p88-89).
Alongside Jung and Deleuze the graphic paper will add to this crucible, ideas from Critical Realist Roy Bhaskar (1944-2014) (Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom (2008: p49-56) and Assemblage theorist Manuel DeLanda (1952-) Philosophy and simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason (2011) as both of these thinkers present ways of appreciating 'generative mechanisms' (Bhaskar, A Realist Theory of Science, 1975) as a way of adding to our understanding of reality without ever claiming to have knowledge of things in themselves (Kant 1724-1804) Critique of Pure Reason (1781). The claim of the graphic paper is that these four Realist thinkers present a movement beyond the constraints of positivism's 'epistemic fallacy', postmodernism's solipsistic 'linguistic turn', and clears a path for what Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2017) terms Dynamic Quality, the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality.


This paper presents novel feature descriptors and classification algorithms for the automated scoring of HER2 in Whole Slide Images (WSI) of breast cancer histology slides. Since a large amount of processing is involved in analyzing WSI images, the primary design goal has been to keep the computational complexity to the minimum possible level and to use simple, yet robust feature descriptors that can provide accurate classification of the slides. We propose two types of feature descriptors that encode important information about staining patterns and the percentage of staining present in ImmunoHistoChemistry (IHC)-stained slides. The first descriptor is called a characteristic curve, which is a smooth non-increasing curve that represents the variation of percentage of staining with saturation levels. The second new descriptor introduced in this paper is a local binary pattern (LBP) feature curve, which is also a non-increasing smooth curve that represents the local texture of the staining patterns. Both descriptors show excellent interclass variance and intraclass correlation and are suitable for the design of automatic HER2 classification algorithms. This paper gives the detailed theoretical aspects of the feature descriptors and also provides experimental results and a comparative analysis.


To the Editor.— I read with great interest the article by Harris et al, entitled "Treatment of Scleromyxedema With Melphalan," in the March 1979Archives(115:295-299). I would like to interject a note of caution on the use of melphalan in the treatment of scleromyxedema and comment on some of the authors' assertions regarding efficacy and side effects. In their series of eight patients, acute myelocytic leukemia developed in one patient after long-term therapy with melphalan. This patient and another died, apparently of infection with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. The development of leukemia is a recognized and serious side effect of longterm therapy with melphalan and other alkylating agents. 1,2 In addition, P carinii is also a serious infectious complication in immunosuppressed patients, either as a result of their basic disease or as a result of their treatment with immunosuppressive agents. Since scleromyxedema is not a disease characterized by immunosuppression, it


Systematic improvement of quality of care at the end of life is still scarce. The regional palliative care service in Skåne, which has eight units covering a population of almost 1.3 million inhabitants, has systematically used the Swedish Register of Palliative Care (SRPC, http://www.palliativ.se/ ) for care development. 9 out of 12 of the indicators improved significantly in 2014 compared to 2013. Through transparency of registered data and regular feedback to the department's units we have been able to encourage the exchange of experiences between the units, provide opportunities for internal and external benchmarking and also prioritize topics for teaching and training. The positive results must be interpreted with caution as this is a non-controlled follow-up. The exact correlation between recorded data and value for the patient is mainly unknown and requires further studies.


Recently, considerable attention has rightly been paid to the nutritional impact of the sharp hikes in international food prices which took place in 2007-8 and, again, in 2010-11. While sacrosanct, this growing focus has somewhat obscured the effect of other factors which do affect malnutrition in the Sub-Saharan Africa context, i.e. the long term impact of agricultural policies, huge and persistent seasonal variation in domestic food prices, and the impact of famines which still regularly stalk the continent. This paper focuses on the relative weight of these factors in explaining child malnutrition (proxied by the number of child admissions to feeding centers) in Malawi and Niger, two prototypical countries in the region. The analysis shows that the drivers of domestic food staple prices and of the ensuing child malnutrition have to be found not only – or not primarily – in the changes of international food prices but mainly in the impact of agricultural policies on food production, the persistence of a strong food price seasonality, and recurrent and often poorly attended famines. Indeed, even during years of declines in international food prices, these factors often exert a huge upward pressures on domestic food prices and child malnutrition.


Considering prospective observation among gas-processing plant workers, the authors evaluated epidemiologic parameters associated with cardiovascular diseases. Findings are that functional cardiovascular disorders (vascular neurosis) appeared the most prevalent entity. Occupational environment could he considered as a risk factor for vascular neurosis in workers of gas-processing enterprise.


The finding of two assemblages of well preserved radiolarians, one from Punta Gruesa and the other from Cabo Irigoyen-Arrayo Vasco area, on the Atlantic coast, Tierra del Fuego Island, is reported. The former contains: Amphicraspedum sp. d. A. murrayanum Haeckel, Buryella dumitricai (Petrushevskaya), Orbiculiforma renillaeformis (Campbell and Clark), and Corythomelissa adunca (Sanfilippo and Riedel) among the most representantive species, its age is constrained to Late Paleocene-Early Eocene. The latter assemblage contains Theocotyle (Theocotylissa) ficus (Ehrenberg), Amphisphaera macrosphaera (Nishimura), Buryella tetradica Foreman, and Spcngurus bilobatus Clark and Campbell, its age is Early Eocene in agreement with the associated planktonic foraminifera. Both assemblages contain Heliostylus sp., Mita sp., and Stylosphaera minor Clark and Campbell.


Abstract It is now well established that vertebrate ovarian follicles undergo atresia via apoptosis, a process that is initiated within the granulosa cell layer of undifferentiated follicles. Although the exact signals, membrane-bound receptors, and associated intracellular signaling pathways leading to apoptosis within granulosa cells have yet to be established, it is evident that multiple and redundant pathways exist. Fas, together with its ligand, has been the most commonly studied death-inducer in the mammalian ovary; however, nothing is currently known regarding expression of either Fas or the related tumor necrosis factor receptor type 1 (TNFR1), in avian species. Based on characterization of a chicken fas partial cDNA, which includes the entire death domain, the deduced amino acid sequence shows 37% identity (53% positive) to human Fas. Northern blot analysis demonstrates low expression of the 2.0-kilobase fas transcript in most tissues, including the granulosa layer, and highest levels are found in the spleen, theca tissue, and the postovulatory follicle. Significantly, fas and tnfr1 mRNA levels are higher in atretic follicles than in nonatretic, prehierarchal (3- to 8-mm diameter) follicles. Moreover, both fas and tnfr1 mRNA levels are up-regulated by twofold to eightfold in granulosa cells following plating in the presence of fetal bovine serum, with the most dramatic increase found in fas expression within prehierarchal follicle granulosa. Coculture with transforming growth factor (TGF) β attenuates this increase for both receptors, whereas cAMP attenuates only the up-regulation of fas. By comparison, treatment with TGFα enhances expression of tnfr1, but not fas, mRNA. Taken together, these data are the first to implicate fas as a mediator of granulosa cell apoptosis in a nonmammalian vertebrate, and to implicate the protein kinase A signaling pathway in down-regulating fas expression. In addition, data provided demonstrate the presence of multiple death domain-containing TNFR family members simultaneously expressed within hen granulosa cells, each of which may be regulated by separate signaling pathways.


Fluctuations in the default rate on high-yield corporate bonds are among the factors that explain variance in the sector's returns. Accordingly, several econometric models have been developed to forecast the default rate. One plausible explanatory variable not normally included is the trend in credit rating changes within the speculative-grade category. The ratio of Moody's Investors Service's downgrades to upgrades explains approximately one-half to two-thirds of the change in the default rate two to three quarters later.


A description of the area of Agent Based Social Simulation (ABSS) from a computer scientist's perspective is presented. We begin by defining ABSS by positioning it with respect to the three research areas that it is related to, i.e., agent-based computing, the social sciences, and computer simulation. We then discuss the role of ABSS and how it may aid cross-fertilisation between these areas.


The effect of roasted soybeans, blood meal, and tallow as sources of fat and RUP for lactating dairy cows was studied. Forty-five cows, blocked by age, calving date, and milk yield during the previous lactation, were assigned randomly to the following treatments (ingredient in the DM, RUP as a percentage of CP, and fat in the DM, respectively): 1) soybean meal (16, 35, and 3.2%), 2) whole roasted soybeans (18, 40, and 6.2%), 3) ground roasted soybeans (18, 40, and 6.2%), 4) blood meal (2.7, 40, and 3.2%), and 5) blood meal plus tallow (2.7 and 3, 40, and 6.2%). Diets were fed from wk 3 to 18 of lactation and consisted of 20% alfalfa silage, 30% corn silage, and 50% concentrate. The DMI of blood meal and whole roasted soybean diets was about 11% lower than DMI of the soybean meal diet. Milk yield (38.4 kg/d) and milk fat percentage (3.37%) were similar among diets. The roasted soybean diets resulted in the lowest milk protein percentage. Less than 2.7% blood meal might be advisable for diets fed to high yielding dairy cows to avoid reduced DMI.


The possibilities and limitations of time-of-flight particle-desorption mass spectrometry are analysed from the standpoint of accuracy of monoisotopic mass determination. For an instrument with mass reflector, typical mass accuracy was found to be ca. 20 ppm (standard deviation). The main limitation was found to be the mechanism of secondary ion production itself. A fraction of biological ions are formed in the gas phase and therefore exhibit both time delay and energy deficit. This leads to a limited resolving power and non-symmetric ion peaks. A peak shape model, taking into account gas-phase ion formation, is built and analysed, and a simple correction procedure proposed. The application of the correction has increased the mass accuracy to 12 ppm (standard deviation). It is shown that further progress cannot be achieved by a correction procedure without instrumental improvements.


This article attempts to utilize the concept of social change for the study of transformations in the Greek welfare state during the period of the multiple crises it is currently experiencing (2010–2020). This will be done through an analysis of the changes taking place in the Greek social security system, the backbone of social policy in Greece. The main argument is that, although there are fundamental differences in the development of the Greek welfare state compared to the welfare model of Western European countries, in the last decade there has been a convergence towards a neoliberal model of social policy. The elaboration of this claim will examine those theories of social change that attempt to explain the transition from the Keynesian to the neoliberal welfare state both in the period after 1970 and in the period after the Great Recession of 2008. The development of the Greek social security system over time is then examined, with a particular focus on the decade from 2010–2020. This will show that, despite the different context for the development of the social security system in Greece, the reforms imposed by austerity policies in the last decade have led to a convergence with the model of the neoliberal welfare state. The trend towards residualization and privatization of the social security system with a focus solely on the management of extreme poverty can be observed as one of the mechanisms of social change that are being adopted.


Author(s): Lui, Jan Hsi | Advisor(s): Kriegstein, Arnold R | Abstract: Many of the extraordinary intellectual capabilities of humans are attributed to the proper development and function of the neocortex. This region of the brain is responsible for higher cognitive functions such as sensory perception, spatial reasoning, and conscious thought, and is distinguished in humans by its large size and extensively folded pattern. However, the developmental events that underlie this structure have mostly been inferred from characterizations of the mouse or rat, whose neocortex is small and not folded. Here, we directly characterize the progenitor cells present in the developing human neocortex. We find that the developing human neocortex utilizes a proliferative cell population that forms the outer subventricular zone (OSVZ), a region removed from the cerebral ventricles that is not present in the mouse. We further identify an OSVZ progenitor cell type known as an outer radial glial (oRG) cell and demonstrate using real-time imaging that they undergo self-renewing asymmetric divisions to generate neuronal progenitor cells. oRG cells function as neural stem cells and underlie an OSVZ lineage of progenitor cells, which over the course of many cell cycles amplifies neuron number and likely modifies the trajectory of migrating neurons.Because the establishment of non-ventricular radial glia may have been a critical evolutionary advance underlying increased cortical size and complexity in the human brain, we further discuss the prevalence of oRG cells and OSVZ proliferation in different species throughout evolution. We learn that OSVZ proliferation is present in all superorders of placental mammals, but only in those species with folded brains are these mechanisms appreciably utilized. To gain insight into the molecular and evolutionary bases for these phenotypic differences, we performed serial microrarray analysis to uncover gene co-expression patterns present in the developing human neocortex. From these data, we identified co-expression modules that correspond to human radial glia and further determined genes within these modules that have undergone human-specific evolutionary changes. This data serves as a molecular substrate for comparisons of radial glia between species and will help elucidate the molecular mechanisms that drive OSVZ proliferation.


ABSTRACT We pursue three main objectives in this editorial for the Special Issue on Identification in a Digital Age: Implications for Development. After outlining the motivations that led us to launch this Special Issue call, we first propose a framework to map the theoretical link between digital identity and human development, articulated in three dimensions linking digital identity to expected development outcomes. Secondly, we present the seven papers in this collection in terms of how they problematise such a link, observing how each of them uses empirical data to increase existing knowledge on this connection and question it. Thirdly, we leverage insights from these contributions to put forward a research agenda on digital identity and human development, suggesting possible avenues to engage with this topic and ultimately, framing digital identity as an object of ICT4D research.


Considering that practically all reactions that involve nucleotides also involve metal ions, it is evident that the coordination chemistry of nucleotides and their derivatives is an essential corner stone of biological inorganic chemistry. Nucleotides are either directly or indirectly involved in all processes occurring in Nature. It is therefore no surprise that the constituents of nucleotides have been chemically altered—that is, at the nucleobase residue, the sugar moiety, and also at the phosphate group, often with the aim of discovering medically useful compounds. Among such derivatives are acyclic nucleoside phosphonates (ANPs), where the sugar moiety has been replaced by an aliphatic chain (often also containing an ether oxygen atom) and the phosphate group has been replaced by a phosphonate carrying a carbon–phosphorus bond to make the compounds less hydrolysis-sensitive. Several of these ANPs show antiviral activity, and some of them are nowadays used as drugs. The antiviral activity results from the incorporation of the ANPs into the growing nucleic acid chain—i.e., polymerases accept the ANPs as substrates, leading to chain termination because of the missing 3′-hydroxyl group. We have tried in this review to describe the coordination chemistry (mainly) of the adenine nucleotides AMP and ATP and whenever possible to compare it with that of the dianion of 9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]adenine (PMEA2− = adenine(N9)-CH2-CH2-O-CH2-PO32) [or its diphosphate (PMEApp4−)] as a representative of the ANPs. Why is PMEApp4− a better substrate for polymerases than ATP4−? There are three reasons: (i) PMEA2− with its anti-like conformation (like AMP2−) fits well into the active site of the enzyme. (ii) The phosphonate group has an enhanced metal ion affinity because of its increased basicity. (iii) The ether oxygen forms a 5-membered chelate with the neighboring phosphonate and favors thus coordination at the Pα group. Research on ANPs containing a purine residue revealed that the kind and position of the substituent at C2 or C6 has a significant influence on the biological activity. For example, the shift of the (C6)NH2 group in PMEA to the C2 position leads to 9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]-2-aminopurine (PME2AP), an isomer with only a moderate antiviral activity. Removal of (C6)NH2 favors N7 coordination, e.g., of Cu2+, whereas the ether O atom binding of Cu2+ in PMEA facilitates N3 coordination via adjacent 5- and 7-membered chelates, giving rise to a Cu(PMEA)cl/O/N3 isomer. If the metal ions (M2+) are M(α,β)-M(γ)-coordinated at a triphosphate chain, transphosphorylation occurs (kinases, etc.), whereas metal ion binding in a M(α)-M(β,γ)-type fashion is relevant for polymerases. It may be noted that with diphosphorylated PMEA, (PMEApp4−), the M(α)-M(β,γ) binding is favored because of the formation of the 5-membered chelate involving the ether O atom (see above). The self-association tendency of purines leads to the formation of dimeric [M2(ATP)]2(OH)− stacks, which occur in low concentration and where one half of the molecule undergoes the dephosphorylation reaction and the other half stabilizes the structure—i.e., acts as the "enzyme" by bridging the two ATPs. In accord herewith, one may enhance the reaction rate by adding AMP2− to the [Cu2(ATP)]2(OH)− solution, as this leads to the formation of mixed stacked Cu3(ATP)(AMP)(OH)− species, in which AMP2− takes over the structuring role, while the other "half" of the molecule undergoes dephosphorylation. It may be added that Cu3(ATP)(PMEA) or better Cu3(ATP)(PMEA)(OH)− is even a more reactive species than Cu3(ATP)(AMP)(OH)−. – The matrix-assisted self-association and its significance for cell organelles with high ATP concentrations is summarized and discussed, as is, e.g., the effect of tryptophanate (Trp−), which leads to the formation of intramolecular stacks in M(ATP)(Trp)3− complexes (formation degree about 75%). Furthermore, it is well-known that in the active-site cavities of enzymes the dielectric constant, compared with bulk water, is reduced; therefore, we have summarized and discussed the effect of a change in solvent polarity on the stability and structure of binary and ternary complexes: Opposite effects on charged O sites and neutral N sites are observed, and this leads to interesting insights.


Existing sediment continuity models for nonuniform sediment suffer from a number of shortcomings, as they fail to describe vertical sorting fluxes other than through net aggradation or degradation of the bed and are based on a discrete representation of the bed material interacting with the flow. We present a new type of sediment continuity model that is based on a stochastic description of the bed surface rather than discrete bed layers. The model is aimed at conditions dominated by bed load transport wherein the river bed is fully covered by river dunes. Application of the model should be limited to spatial scales covering a significant number of bed forms. The resulting model, i.e., the sorting evolution model, is suitable for unsteady conditions, as it takes into account the time evolution of, for instance, vertical sorting in modeling net aggradation or degradation of the river bed. The present paper lists the various submodels of a morphodynamic model system to which the sorting evolution model is applied. We compare the results of the morphodynamic model system to measured data from two flume experiments. The new model shows reasonable results for the predicted time evolution of the vertical sorting profile, as well as the time evolution of the grain size distribution of the bed load transport. Yet the model does not properly include sorting mechanisms associated with partial transport and the winnowing of fines from the trough surface and subsurface. The model serves as a basis for a future simplification of the model into a new stochastics-based bed layer type sediment continuity model in which vertical sediment fluxes are included in a parameterized way.


This Handbook offers a concise and practical description of how corporate secretaries might carry out their role to improve governance in their organizations. It can also serve as a guidance tool for both International Finance Corporation (IFC) clients and advisory staff to clarify the potentially expansive duties of corporate secretaries and to help them assist corporate secretaries in understanding what skills they require to fulfill their roles. The Handbook is based on IFC's publication, Corporate Secretaries Toolkit, which provides a portfolio of modules that cover topics of interest and value to those carrying out the role of corporate secretary and to the companies and organizations they serve. It also provides trainers with materials and instructions for conducting training.


Factors affecting the Profitability of Broiler Production among Small-scale Farmers in Lusaka, Zambia Poultry industry is proving to be a very important sector in Zambia and most developing countries, the broiler sector particularly. The broiler industry has grown significantly over the past years as the market became liberalized. This study focused on identifying those factors that can affect profitability of broiler production amongst small holder farmers, this represented the general objective. More specifically, the study sort to identify the effects of various factors such as household size and level of management had on the profits. This was achieved by carrying out a gross margin analysis, a proxy for profitability, and then regressing the gross margin on various variables in the multivariate model. This study used mainly primary data which was collected from registered poultry producers 'fhrough'a well structured'questionnaire in Lusaka area from the Poultry Association of Zambia. The data collected was then analyzed in S T A T A 11 where both gross margin and the regression were computed. Factors found to be significant in explaining variations in profits are; cost of production, mortality, farm gate price, market outlets, volume of sales and household size. The farm gate price, volume of sales and household size were found to influence the variation positively where as cost of production and mortality "iiegatively influenced profitability as expected. It is therefore prudent for government to invest in extension services designed to teach and encourage farmers to invest in broiler production as it is a very'profitable venture with gross margin being averagely positive for most farmers in Lusaka. Harad Chuma Lungu University of Zambia, 2013 Supervisor: Dr. G Tembo


The modern information systems on the Internet are often implemented as composite services built from multiple atomic services. These atomic services have their interfaces publicly available while their inner structure is unknown. The quality of the composite service is dependent on both the availability of each atomic service and their appropriate orchestration. In this paper, we present LUCS, a formal model for predicting the availability of atomic web services that enhances the current state-of-the-art models used in service recommendation systems. LUCS estimates the service availability for an ongoing request by considering its similarity to prior requests according to the following dimensions: the user's and service's geographic location, the service load, and the service's computational requirements. In order to evaluate our model, we conducted experiments on services deployed in different regions of the Amazon cloud. For each service, we varied the geographic origin of its incoming requests as well as the request frequency. The evaluation results suggest that our model significantly improves availability prediction when all of the LUCS input parameters are available, reducing the prediction error by 71 percent compared to the current state-of-the-art.


The authors retrospectively studied 43 children with femoral fractures, treated with titanium elastic nailing (TEN). Twenty-two underwent closed fluoroscopic reduction ( Group I), whereas the other 21 underwent mini-open reduction (Group II). The operation time averaged 71 minutes in group I, and 48 minutes in group II (p < 0.001). The mean fluoroscopy time was 793 seconds in group I, and 35.5 seconds in group II (p <0.001). However, blood loss and hospital stay were significantly higher in group II (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001 respectively). Time to full weight bearing, time to radiographic union and TEN outcome score did not differ significantly. Overall, no one technique was really superior. From a practical viewpoint, a mini-open reduction may be decided intra-operatively if closed reduction proves to be problematic. This decreases intra-operative radiation and length of the surgical procedure.


Wireless Video Sensor Networks (WVSNs) provide opportunities to use large number of low-cost low-resolution wireless camera sensors for large-scale outdoor remote surveillance missions. Camera sensor deployment is crucial in achieving good coverage, accuracy and fault tolerance. In particular, with the decreased costs of wireless cameras, redundant camera deployment is attractive in order to get multiple disparate views of events for improved event identification. If the capturing of an event spans 360°, this is referred to as angular coverage. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining optimal camera placement to achieve angular coverage continuously over a given region. We develop a bi-level algorithm to find the minimum-cost camera placement. In the first level, we run a master problem that identifies the camera placement points to achieve angular coverage of a discrete set of points selected from the region of interest. Next, we use a sub-problem to identify points in the continuous region that are not covered by the cameras placed in the previous run of the master problem. We then add these uncovered points to discrete point set of the master problem and re-run the master problem. We continue running the master and sub-problems iteratively until the sub-problem becomes infeasible indicating that the entire region is covered. In the numerical experiments, we consider two cases 1) placement of homogeneous cameras with fixed resolutions; and 2) placement of heterogeneous cameras with different characteristics and resolutions. We also introduce varying resolution requirements for different parts of the region and place the cameras such that the required resolution is satisfied. The numerical results show the superiority of the bi-level approach respect to existing approaches.


Mitochondrial synthesis of Cox1, the largest subunit of the cytochrome c oxidase complex, is controlled by Mss51 and Pet309, two mRNA-specific translational activators that act via the COX1 mRNA 5′-UTR through an unknown mechanism. Pet309 belongs to the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein family, which is involved in RNA metabolism in mitochondria and chloroplasts, and its sequence predicts at least 12 PPR motifs in the central portion of the protein. Deletion of these motifs selectively disrupted translation but not accumulation of the COX1 mRNA. We used RNA coimmunoprecipitation assays to show that Pet309 interacts with the COX1 mRNA in vivo and that this association is present before processing of the COX1 mRNA from the ATP8/6 polycistronic mRNA. This association was not affected by deletion of 8 of the PPR motifs but was undetectable after deletion of the entire 12-PPR region. However, interaction of the Pet309 protein lacking 12 PPR motifs with the COX1 mRNA was detected after overexpression of the mutated form of the protein, suggesting that deletion of this region decreased the binding affinity for the COX1 mRNA without abolishing it entirely. Moreover, binding of Pet309 to the COX1 mRNA was affected by deletion of Mss51. This work demonstrates an in vivo physical interaction between a yeast mitochondrial translational activator and its target mRNA and shows the cooperativity of the PPR domains of Pet309 in interaction with the COX1 mRNA.


BACKGROUND
Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is highly prevalent in patients with asthma. However, no study has evaluated the effect of CRS severity on asthma-related oral corticosteroid use - a marker of poor asthma control and prognosis. We therefore sought to evaluate the association between CRS severity and asthma-related oral corticosteroid use.

METHODOLOGY
Prospective cross-sectional study of 110 adult asthmatic CRS patients. CRS severity was measured using the 22-item Sinonasal Outcomes Test (SNOT-22) and Lund-Kennedy endoscopy score. Number of asthma-related courses of oral corticosteroids in the past year was queried at enrollment. Association was sought between metrics for CRS severity and asthma-related oral corticosteroids use in the last year. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves defined whether SNOT-22 or endoscopy scores could be used for detecting asthma-related oral corticosteroid use.

RESULTS
The mean SNOT-22 score was 44.9 (standard deviation [SD] : 23.3) and mean endoscopy score was 4.1 (SD: 3.0). The mean number of asthma-related oral corticosteroid courses taken in the last year was 1.1 (SD: 1.9). SNOT-22, but not endoscopy score, was associated with requiring at least one course of asthma-related oral corticosteroids in the last year (odds ratio = 1.03, 95%CI: 1.02 - 1.06, p=0.003), which translates to an odds ratio of 2.0 for a 21-point increase in SNOT-22. ROC analysis identified equally optimal SNOT-22 scores of greater than 32 (sensitivity: 88.1%, specificity: 41.2%) or greater than 65 (sensitivity: 38.1%, specificity: 91.2%) for detecting the need for at least one course of oral corticosteroids within the past year.

CONCLUSIONS
CRS symptom severity is associated with past asthma-related oral corticosteroid use. SNOT-22 scores may be used as a versatile tool to screen for past asthma-related oral corticosteroid use in asthmatic CRS patients - i.e. those at greatest risk from their asthma - with either high sensitivity or high specificity.


Irish female methods of suicide from 1980 till 2009 were investigated in order to determine the likelihood of the method of suicide as determined by decade as well as the age at death. Secondary data analysis was conducted on the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF) dataset. Multinomial logistic regression was used to compare methods of suicide using odds ratios. Log-linear analysis was conducted in order to investigate possible interactions between the variables. A stepwise backward elimination procedure determined the most parsimonious model to account for the observed frequencies. Follow-up chisquare analyses were conducted on the three-way interaction in order to separately assess possible interactions of decade and age on method of suicide. Findings showed that the odds of hanging increased over time in comparison to overdosing and drowning. Interaction effects are present between all three variables and there is a significant association between age and decade for hanging but not so for overdosing or drowning. It is concluded that hanging is a method which is indeed increasing over time for women in Ireland.


The common agricultural policy (CAP) is a much discussed policy in the European Union (EU). It allocates great sums to the European agricultural sector every year and has been accused of being trade distorting and outdated. This thesis takes a closer look at what protectionist measures the CAP has used. The policy's effects on trade will be assessed employing the sugar industry as a reference case. Sugar is heavily protected and is one of the most distorted sectors in agriculture. The CAP effects on trade in the sugar industry for ten countries in and outside the EU from 1991 to 2011 are estimated using a gravity model. This particular type of estimation has, to the author's knowledge, not been performed for the sugar industry before, which makes the study unique. The results of the empirical testing indicates that trade diversion occurs if one country is a member of the CAP and its trading partner is not. When both trading partners are outside the CAP cooperation, they are estimated to have a higher trade volume. This result indicates that the CAP decreases trade. Current economic theory, in particular the North-South model of trade developed by Krugman (1979), suggests that protectionism of non-competitive sectors should be abolished and funds should instead be directed to innovation and new technology. The CAP is in this sense not adapted to modern economic thought.


Background Vaccination is a critical step in reducing child mortality; however, vaccination rates have declined in many countries in recent years. This decrease has been associated with an increase in the outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases. The potential for leveraging mobile platforms to promote vaccination coverage has been investigated in the development of numerous mobile apps. Although many are available for public use, there is little robust evaluation of these apps. Objective This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of apps supporting childhood vaccinations in improving vaccination uptake, knowledge, and decision making as well as the usability and user perceptions of these apps. Methods PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases were systematically searched for studies published between 2008 and 2019 that evaluated childhood vaccination apps. Two authors screened and selected studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted and analyzed, and the studies were assessed for risk of bias. Results A total of 28 studies evaluating 25 apps met the inclusion criteria and were included in this analysis. Overall, 9 studies assessed vaccination uptake, of which 4 reported significant benefits (P<.001 or P=.03) of the implementation of the app. Similarly, 4 studies indicated a significant (P≤.054) impact on knowledge and on vaccination decision making. Patient perceptions, usability, and acceptability were generally positive. The quality of the included studies was found to be moderate to poor, with many aspects of the methodology being unclear. Conclusions There is little evidence to support the use of childhood vaccination apps to improve vaccination uptake, knowledge, or decision making. Further research is required to understand the dichotomous effects of vaccination-related information provision and the evaluation of these apps in larger, more robust studies. The methodology of studies must be reported more comprehensively to accurately assess the effectiveness of childhood vaccination apps and the risk of bias of studies. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.2196/16929


The structural evolution that accompanied the breakup of Pangea during Jurassic time has been constrained in Mexico only at the regional scale on the basis of global plate tectonics and geometric considerations. According to available regional-scale reconstructions, the Jurassic tectonic evolution of Mexico was characterized by: (1) anticlockwise rotation of the Yucatan block along NNW-trending dextral faults and (2) sinistral block motions along W- to WNW-trending faults, which are geometrically needed to restore southern and central Mexico to the northwest of its present position during early Mesozoic time and avoid the overlap between North and South America in the reconstruction of Pangea. Reports of W- to WNW-trending sinistral faults that were active in Mexico during Jurassic time are presently few, and the existence, extension, and age of some of these structures have been questioned by many authors. In this work, we present the provenance analysis from a Jurassic clastic succession deposited within the Otlaltepec Basin in southern Mexico. Whole-rock sandstone petrography integrated with chemical analysis of detrital-garnet and U-Pb detrital-zircon geochronology documents that the analyzed stratigraphic record was deposited during rapid exhumation of the Totoltepec pluton along the Matanza fault, which is a W-trending sinistral normal fault that extends along the southern boundary of the Otlaltepec Basin. U-Pb zircon ages and biostratigraphic data bracket the age of the Matanza fault between 163.5 ± 1 and 167.5 ± 4 Ma. This indicates that the Matanza fault was involved in the crustal attenuation that accompanied the breakup of Pangea and that sinistral motion of continental blocks along W-trending structures was taking place in southern Mexico as predicted by global plate tectonic reconstructions.


This article analyzes the relationship between foreign aid and globalization to explain developing-country ties to world society and argues that foreign aid can be viewed as a recursive mechanism through which donor states refine and spread international norms and organizational ties. Using network data on foreign aid relationships between countries, this article analyzes the effects of aid on human rights treaty ratification and international organization memberships in a sample of 135 less-developed countries from the period of 1975–2008. Results of random effects panel regression models show that increased aid network centrality brokers increased country ties to world society, supporting a novel interpretation of foreign aid as a transnational process of political globalization.


We present a method for reconstructing articulated 3D models from videos in real-time, without test-time optimization or manual 3D supervision at training time. Prior work often relies on pre-built deformable models (e.g. SMAL/SMPL), or slow perscene optimization through differentiable rendering (e.g. dynamic NeRFs). Such methods fail to support arbitrary object categories, or are unsuitable for real-time applications. To address the challenge of collecting large-scale 3D training data for arbitrary deformable object categories, our key insight is to use off-the-shelf video-based dynamic NeRFs as 3D supervision to train a fast feed-forward network, turning 3D shape and motion prediction into a supervised distillation task. Our temporal-aware network uses articulated bones and blend skinning to represent arbitrary deformations, and is self-supervised on video datasets without requiring 3D shapes or viewpoints as input. Through distillation, our network learns to 3D-reconstruct unseen articulated objects at interactive frame rates. Our method yields higher-fidelity 3D reconstructions than prior real-time methods for animals, with the ability to render realistic images at novel viewpoints and poses.


The growing need for power efficient extreme-scale high-performance computing (HPC) coupled with plateauing clock-speeds is driving the emergence of massively parallel compute architectures. Tens to many hundreds of cores are increasingly made available as compute units, either as the integral part of the main processor or as coprocessors designed for handling massively parallel workloads. In the case of many-core graphics processing units (GPUs) hundreds of SIMD cores primarily designed for image and video rendering are used for high-performance scientific computations. The new architectures typically offer ANSI standard programming models such as CUDA (NVIDIA) and OpenCL. However, the wide-ranging adoption of these parallel architectures is steeped in difficult learning curve and requires reengineering of existing applications that mostly leads to expensive and error prone code rewrites without prior guarantee and knowledge of any speedups. Broad range of complex scientific applications across many domains use common algorithms and techniques, such as adaptive mesh refinements (AMR), advanced hydrodynamics partial differential equation (PDE) solvers, Poisson-Gravity solvers etc, that have demonstrably performed highly efficiently on GPU based systems. Taking advantage of the commonalities, we use GPU-aware AMR code, GAMER [1], to examine the unique approach of solving multi-science problems in astrophysics, hydrodynamics and particle physics with single codebase. We demonstrate significant speedups in disparate class of scientific applications on 3 separate clusters, viz., Dirac, Laohu and Mole 8.5. By extensively reusing the extendable single codebase we mitigate the impediments of significant code rewrites. We also collect performance and energy consumption benchmark metrics on 50-nodes NVIDIA C2050 GPU and Intel 8-core Nehalem CPU on Dirac cluster at the National Energy Research Supercomputing Center (NERSC). In addition, we propose a strategy and framework for legacy and new applications to successfully leverage the evolving GAMER codebase on massively parallel architectures. The framework and the benchmarks are aimed to help quantify the adoption strategies for legacy and new scientific applications.


An important limitation of current protein secondary structure prediction tools is the bad performance in locating the secondary structure boundaries. Efficiently utilize the residue position-specific preference around secondary structure boundaries can help to resolve this problem. TLSSP (Two Level Secondary Structure Predictor), proposed in this study, used a two-level strategy to utilize these properties efficiently and find the optimal global secondary structure. In TLSSP a set of binary classifiers were designed to recognize the boundaries of helices and strands firstly, then a global model based on condition random fields (CRFs) was built to predict the secondary structures. Five-fold cross-validation test on EVA dataset (containing 3744 proteins provided by EVA service) indicated that, TLSSP can get quite good performance on both boundaries prediction and global secondary structure prediction.


Background: Pneumonectomy can be used to manage destroyed lung; however, it is associated with a high risk of complications. This study analyzed the outcomes of pneumonectomy in patients with destroyed lungs.
Methods: The study included 28 patients who had pneumonectomy for benign lung diseases from January 2011 to December 2017. Descriptive analysis was used to present patients' demographics, surgical details, and postoperative outcomes. Intraoperative blood loss was compared in tuberculous vs. non-tuberculous patients and those who had extrapleural vs. intrapleural pneumonectomy.
Results: The study included 11 (39%) males, and the mean age was 36.6 ± 9.8 years (range: 5– 61). The persistent cough was the presenting symptom in 93% of cases, expectoration in 78.6%, hemoptysis in 46.4%, and chest pain in 28.6% of patients. Indications for pneumonectomy were tuberculosis in 13 (46.4%), septic bronchiectasis in 10 (35.7%), invasive opportunistic infections in 3 (10.7%), neglected endobronchial foreign body in 1 (3.6%), and neglected rupture bronchus in 1 (3.6%) patient. Pneumonectomy was left-sided in 21 (75%) patients. We performed extrapleural pneumonectomy in 7 (25%) patients, intra-pericardial isolation in 5 (17.9%) patients, and two patients (7.2%) had completion pneumonectomy. Mean perioperative bleeding was 390.7± 233.8 ml. The intraoperative blood loss was more in patients with tuberculosis and extrapleural pneumonectomy (P< 0.05). Postoperative complications occurred in 7 patients (25%), and we reported one operative mortality.
Conclusions: Pneumonectomy for benign lung disease is a challenging procedure. Destroyed lung due to TB and bronchiectasis are the most common indications. The outcome could be improved with careful patient selection, appropriate preoperative preparation, meticulous operative techniques, and high postoperative care standards.


In November 2015, soon after he became Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull committed the Australian government to participating in the Open Government Partnership, something that had been promised by the Rudd/Gillard Labor Government but not acted upon by the Abbott Coalition Government.  The Open Government Partnership is an international initiative that provides a platform for reformers inside and outside governments around the world to develop reforms that "promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance". Since its foundation in September 2011, over 2,000 commitments have been made by 65 participating countries, covering a third of the world's population. Countries must meet a set of basic eligibility criteria and agree to an Open Government Declaration to join. Once a member, governments must develop a National Action Plan with civil society in their country on a biennial basis. The government must regularly report on its progress and work with civil society to achieve the agreed reforms. Progress is evaluated at regular intervals by an independent researcher appointed by the OGP's Independent Reporting Mechanism. The OGP emphasises partnership between government and civil society at all levels. Its steering committee is formed of equal government and civil society representatives, with co-chairs drawn from each. Once Australia had signed up we were then obliged to work within the timeline set by the OGP which required a final plan to be submitted by July 2016. In the pre-Christmas rush information sessions were held in various capital cities and a wiki established to solicit suggestions from the community for what should be on the National Action Plan. Then in April this year people came together in Canberra to try to whittle down over 200 suggestions and the shortlist was taken back to government to be turned into a plan and approved before the election was called... This did not happen and now we are in care taker mode with the July deadline still looming. In order to help coordinate the community engagement side of the OGP project, and push the government to commit to the process, a group has set up the OGP Civil Society Network which anyone can join. Below we provide an update on where things are at with the OGP process which needs an urgent response from government if we are to either make or extend the 1 July target. What happens now we're caretaker mode? On 17 May 2016 Network Chair David Solomon wrote to the message to the Prime Minister urging the government to take extra time beyond the 1 July target date to formulate and submit a national action plan. So far there has been no response. And no announcement or communication from the government since early April regarding possible commitments to be included in the plan. The caretaker convention arrangements impose limits on what can be done during the campaign. However a different government elected on 2 July should have the opportunity to put its own stamp on the plan. And a re-elected Turnbull government should take another look at where things stand because of the wide gulf between thinking inside and outside government about possibilities, and the absence to date of a formal process that brings government and civil society together to negotiate and agree on priorities. When the government called a halt to engagement in early April: Two hundred and ten suggestions from outside government had been submitted during a public consultation from which eighteen were selected in a somewhat arbitrary fashion at a government initiated workshop in Canberra on 10 April. They were transformed into fourteen drafts that cover: Open data – infrastructure, better open data for the public Public integrity – contract transparency, anti-corruption, open policy and consultation, whistleblower protection, parliamentary conduct Innovation – fostering innovation, opening procurement processes Fiscal transparency– EITI, beneficial ownership transparency Access to Information – FOI and role of OAIC Public Participation – new ways to engage Ongoing engagement – joint government-civil society management of the process. Government agencies meantime adopted a narrower focus suggesting the following initiatives, none of which have been the subject of any elaboration or dialogue with those outside government during the OGP plan process: Centralised Annual Report discovery portal Create a Digital Marketplace Create, manage and preserve information digitally Enable and encourage more data-driven digital report publishing Future-proofing open data infrastructure Grants.gov.au redevelopment ICT Project dashboard Redesign the open data request process Scoping a public consultation platform Scoping an e-Tabling system Transforming high volume services. Minister for Justice Keenan in London at the recent Anti-Corruption Summit committed the government to linking commitments made there with its OGP plan, a welcome grander idea than those contemplated by public servants. (Communique para 31) On another 'big picture' issue the government has been silent on following the lead of other OGP members in linking Sustainable Development Goals with the plan. Whoever wins the election on 2 July should renew efforts with civil society – hence the need for a formal process – to develop a plan setting out commitments that "promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance,"  the goals the OGP seeks to advance. Prime Minister Turnbull in November told the Co-chairs of the international OGP Steering Committee these goals "directly align with Australia's long and proud tradition of open and transparent government." On the other side of the election tussle, then Labor Attorney General Mark Dreyfus in May 2013 said "Australia shares the values of the Open Government Partnership." With five weeks to go until the election the OGP and related issues concerning transparency, accountability, open government and citizen participation should surely get a mention. The Network stands ready to play a role in partnering with government after the election to develop an ambitious plan Australia can submit slightly late to the OGP . But a plan that can go forward with pride, and shared government and civil society ownership. -------------------------------- The Australian Open Government Partnership Network is a coalition of civil society organisations and individuals committed to making government work better through transparency, participation and accountability. The network collaborates with and challenges governments in Australia to develop and implement ambitious open government reforms through Australia's membership of the Open Government Partnership. Member organisations include Accountability Roundtable,Transparency International Australia, Open Knowledge Australia, OpenAustralia Foundation, Electronic Frontiers Australia, Code for Australia, Australian Press Council, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Publish What You Pay, Blueprint for Free Speech, Creative Commons Australia, Australian Privacy Foundation, Australian Policy Online and Internet Australia Peter Timmins is Interim Convener, OGP Network Amanda Lawrence is APO Research and Strategy Manager As an open access platform for public policy research and information APO fully supports the principles of open government and the Open Government Partnership and is a member of the OGP Civil Society Network and the Access to Information Working Group. Amanda Lawrence and Peter Timmins both attended the meeting in Canberra in April this year.


Two modeling frameworks have been developed to describe and predict soil erosion and sediment deposition in recent years. The first is based on the concept of transport capacity. Deposition occurs only when the transport capacity is exceeded. This approach has been implemented in WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) and several other physically based erosion prediction models. An alternative approach is based on simultaneous erosion and deposition. Net erosion or deposition is seen as a result of the dynamic interactions among all processes involved. The simultaneous erosion and deposition approach lays the foundation for GUEST (Griffith University Erosion System Template) and for recent studies of multi-size sediment deposition. This paper uses the original governing equations for WEPP and GUEST to represent the two approaches to water erosion and deposition modeling. The paper shows analytically that the two sets of governing equations, while vastly different in their appearance, share an identical structure, and thus can be reduced to a common set of equations unifying both approaches. The unified framework involves four terms: (i) sediment concentration at the transport limit, (ii) flow detachment, (iii) sedimentation because of gravity, (iv) a rainfall-driven sediment source term. The two modeling frameworks show only minor differences in how these four terms are formulated. Analytical solutions to the unified erosion and deposition equations show that the characteristic length for erosion is the ratio of maximum sediment discharge to maximum rate of detachment, and the characteristic length for deposition is the ratio of minimum sediment discharge to minimum rate of deposition, or simply the ratio of unit discharge to fall velocity. The paper clarifies and simplifies the current approaches to erosion and deposition modeling.


Background: Hereditary vitamin D resistant rickets (HVDRR) type II , is a rare autosomal recessive disorder with known heterogeneity in clinical features, response to treatment and presence or absence of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene mutation. Here, we described VDR gene mutations in 2 sisters with HVDRR with correlation to clinical features, and response to treatment. Methods: Vitamin D receptor gene sequence analysis was performed for exons 2 and 3, in addition to polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for exons 7 and 8. Patients, their parents, their elder sister and brother were studied. Treatment with high dose vitamin D, response to therapy, and 30 months follow up were recorded for both patients. Results: A novel heterozygous point mutation (c.A155G) at the initiation codon of exon 3 was found in the 2 patients, their father and their healthy brother. This point mutation changed the amino acid (aa) at position 51 of the VDR from serine to glycine (p.Ser51Gly) at the start of the second zinc finger of the DNA-binding domain of the VDR. Exon 7 showed a heterozygous mutation in both patients and their mother. The mutation was located at the 970 base pair (bp) of VDR. Patients responded well to high doses oral calcium and Alfacalcidol without relapse of their rickets for the whole follow up period.  Conclusion: Compound heterozygous mutation was identified in the VDR gene in 2 sisters with HVDRR. This mutation resulted in HVDRR without alopecia that was responsive to high dose vitamin D therapy.  doi:10.4021/jem41w


Purpose: Spinal metastases often requires Kyphoplasty (used to stabilize a collapsed vertebral body and relieve pain by injecting a cement mixture into the vertebral body) followed by palliative fractionated external beam radiotherapy. We propose to combine these two treatments into a single procedure (spinal brachytherapy) by adding a β‐emitting radionuclide to the kyphoplasty cement, thereby irradiating the bone from within. The potential advantages of this approach include delivery of a higher dose to the vertebral body, limiting the radiationdose to the spinal cord (due to the limited range of β‐particles in tissue) and eliminating the need for repeat patient visits for palliative radiotherapy.Method and Materials: The feasibility of the proposed procedure was studied by creating a CT‐based voxelized model of a T6 vertebral body, coupled with radiation transport using Monte Carlo N‐Particle code (MCNPX Version 2.5). A cylindrical source representing the injected cement was introduced into the voxelized model. Four β‐emitters, Y‐90, P‐32, Sr‐89 and Re‐188 were chosen as candidate isotopes for the simulations. Each simulation consisted of thirty million histories. The dose deposited in each voxel was used to generate isodose curves and dose‐volume histograms, yielding comparisons of dose to the vertebral body and the spinal cord. The activity of each radionuclide necessary to deliver a dose of 60 Gy to the vertebral body was calculated. The corresponding dose to the spinal cord was also determined. Results:Dose‐volume histograms and isodose line overlays for the different radionuclides indicate activities ranging from 0.5 – 950 mCi, will deliver the target dose to the vertebral body. Conclusions: Present work indicates that β‐emitting radionuclides can be safely used to irradiate the vertebral body while sparing the spinal cord. Future work will involve determining the radionuclide most suitable for this application based on different dosimetric and design considerations.


Semantic segmentation aims to parse the scene structure of images by annotating the labels to each pixel so that images can be segmented into different regions. While image structures usually have various scales, it is difficult to use a single scale to model the spatial contexts for all individual pixels. Multi-scale Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and their variants have made striking success for modeling the global scene structure for an image. However, they are limited in labeling fine-grained local structures like pixels and patches, since spatial contexts might be blindly mixed up without appropriately customizing their scales. To address this challenge, we develop a novel paradigm of multiscale deep network to model spatial contexts surrounding different pixels at various scales. It builds multiple layers of memory cells, learning feature representations for individual pixels at their customized scales by hierarchically absorbing relevant spatial contexts via memory gates between layers. Such Hierarchically Gated Deep Networks (HGDNs) can customize a suitable scale for each pixel, thereby delivering better performance on labeling scene structures of various scales. We conduct the experiments on two datasets, and show competitive results compared with the other multi-scale deep networks on the semantic segmentation task.


Callus derived from cultured anthers of Gloryvine ( Vitis vinifera L. x V. rupestris Scheele) contained both haploid (n=19) and diploid (2n=38) cells, but all the plantlets produced in vitro were diploid. The presence of haploid cells in callus derived from anthers was further indicated by the occurrence of nuclei with the 1C-DNA level. Haploid cells were not found in callus from internode explants. Multinucleate pollen grains were observed, but there was strong anatomical evidence that the anther-callus originated primarily from somatic cells of the anthers wall and the connective. There was considerable variation among anther-derived plants in leaf morphology. Progeny of selfed anther-derived plants exhibited segregation for leaf characters indicating heterozygosity and somatic origin. Isoenzyme patterns for indophenol oxidase, leucine amino peptidase and catechol oxidase in anther-derived plants and in the original genotype from which the cultures were established were indistinguishable.


Attribution is central to the debate on how to respond to cyber intrusions. The policy challenge is increasingly moving from identifying who is behind a cyber intrusion to finding the adequate policy response, including whether to publicly attribute. The article examines the use of public attribution as a political strategy for attaining specific political effects beyond the dyadic attacker–victim relationship, including shaping the operational and normative environment of cyber operations, with the potential to exert an independent deterrent effect. My analysis unfolds in three parts. The first part introduces two core concepts—sense-making and meaning-making—to capture different parts of the attribution process. I then introduce a theoretical understanding of public attribution drawing on the literature on revealing covert activity and argue that public attribution can serve the function of defining a particular interaction order, i.e. shape the rules of the 'game'. In part two and three I discuss two empirical examples of both concepts. I bring to the fore three observations: First, some states have shifted their policy responses from dealing with individual cyber intrusions to responding in a broader political framework of relations with a specific adversary leading to campaign-like responses. Second, the political decision whether to attribute publicly is not only a signal to the adversary, but also aims at shaping the future political and normative operational environment. Third, such norm shaping has the potential to exert an independent—though limited—deterrent effect, particularly on potential adversaries. The analysis demonstrates the importance of the meaning-making process to understanding the politics of attribution and the rewards of theoretically integrating it into the politics of secrecy and exposure of covert activities of states.


Abstract. Environmental factors provide important information for the better management of pig farms and they have significant effects on pigs' production efficiency, health and welfare. Due to the physiological and morphological limitations on thermoregulation of pigs, they change their lying behaviour to adapt to high and low temperatures. In hot conditions they avoid physical contact with others in the pen during resting time and vice versa. Visual monitoring of pig behaviours, usually practiced in small scale farms, is unreliable, expensive and time consuming in large scale farms. The development of image analysis systems could be a reliable and non-intrusive technique for automatic assessment of pig group behaviour. The aim of this study was to develop an algorithm for identification of pig group lying behaviour under commercial farm conditions using an optical method. Pigs were monitored by a top view CCD camera and animals were extracted from their background using image processing algorithms. The x–y coordinates of each binary image were used for ellipse fitting algorithms to localize each pig. As a result, ellipse parameters such as "Major axis length", "Minor axis length" and "Centroid" could be calculated for all fitted ellipses. In order to determine the group lying behaviour, the Delaunay triangulation algorithm was applied. By means of the region properties and perimeter of each Delaunay triangule it was possible to automatically find the changes in lying behaviour of grouped pigs and the distance between pigs with high accuracy


Despite the positive aspects of information technology (IT) use, it is common for users to experience negative IT incidents. Examples of negative IT incidents include getting lost in an unfamiliar country due to a dysfunctional map application and missing a monetary insurance benefit due to the failure of an activity tracker application. Such incidents can harm IT providers by giving rise to user dissatisfaction, discontinued use, switching, and negative word-of-mouth. To minimize this harm, it is important to understand how users cope after negative incidents. Specifically, information systems (IS) researchers have called for research that uncovers the complex interplay of IT users' coping strategies (e.g., users' coping efforts after employing one strategy and combinations of several consecutive strategies). To address these calls, we conducted a mixed methods study that examined mobile application users' coping strategies after highly negative incidents. We developed a model that explains how users navigate between problem-focused strategies, emotion-focused strategies, and appraisals. As theoretical contributions, we identify coping sequences and distinct routes from the coping strategies, uncover the role of momentary emotional load, and present IT-specific insights. As practical implications, we identify favorable and unfavorable coping strategies and sequences from both the IT providers' and the users' perspectives.


The aim of the present article is to study in detail the so-called spin equation (SE) and present both the methods of generating new solution and a new set of exact solutions. We recall that the SE with a real external field can be treated as a reduction of the Pauli equation to the (0 + 1)-dimensional case. Two-level systems can be described by an SE with a particular form of the external field. In this article, we also consider associated equations that are equivalent or (in one way or another) related to the SE. We describe the general solution of the SE and solve the inverse problem for this equation. We construct the evolution operator for the SE and consider methods of generating new sets of exact solutions. Finally, we find a new set of exact solutions of the SE.


Abstract This article describes new opportunities in soft robotics and some potential avenues to overcome challenges associated with the realization of these opportunities. New opportunities include new applications that exploit novel amorphous nonrigid dynamics, a new design space due to the elimination of traditional manufacturing constraints, more opportunities for modeling and mimicry of natural systems, and increased safety and mechanical compatibility with humans. Challenges include limited simulation and design automation tools, lack of soft actuation methods, and difficulty in manufacturing and component standardization. Both computational (e.g., evolutionary design tools) and mechanical (porous and jamming materials) approaches are proposed to alleviate these needs.


This paper presents an improved classification system for brain tumours using wavelet transform and neural network. The anisotropic diffusion filter was used for image denoising, and the performance of the oriented rician noise reducing anisotropic diffusion (ORNRAD) filter was validated. The segmentation of the denoised image was carried out by fuzzy c-means clustering. The features were extracted using symlet and coiflet wavelet transforms, and the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm based neural network was used to classify the magnetic resonance (MR) images. This classification technique of MR images was tested and analysed with existing methods, and its performance was found to be satisfactory with a classification accuracy of 93.24%. The developed system could assist physicians in classifying MR images for better decision-making.


There exists a big potential for renewable energy technologies in South Africa and despite the fact that rapid growth of the application of renewable energy is taken place in many parts of the world, the current installed renewable capacity in South Africa is negligible. The objective of this study was to address this gap by analysing ways to accelerate the market penetration of renewable energy technologies in South Africa. The activities undertaken in this study contain two major components: a thorough analysis of South Africa's specific constraints and barriers to renewable energy implementation, and a review of the lessons learnt from Member States of the EU on the promotion of renewable energy development. The focus of the study was restricted to the analysis of electricity generating technologies, in particular solar, biomass, wind and mini-hydro renewable energy technologies. The report suggests recommendations to stimulate the market penetration of renewable energy technologies in South Africa. They are structured in: • actions to enhance the policy framework for renewable power generation, • actions to enhance the policy framework for off-grid renewable energy, and • recommendations to stimulate renewable energy project development.


This study evaluated periodontal repair and biomaterial reaction following implantation of a calcium carbonate and autogenous bone on the regeneration of 3-wall intrabony defects in the beagle dogs. The surgical control group received a flap operation only, while the experimental group I was treated with a calcium carbonate and the experimental group II was treated with autograft. The subjects were sacrificed 8 weeks after surgery and a comparative histometric analysis was done. No root resorption or ankylosis were observed in the experimental group. ANOVA post Hoc test showed that the experimental group II produced statistically significant higher gain in connective tissue adhesion, new cementum regeneration and new bone formation. These results suggest that the use of autograft in 3-wall intrabony defects has a significant effect on new cementum and new bone formation height.


BACKGROUND
The Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 (United Nations 2015) set national targets for reducing maternal mortality, putting pressure on governments of countries lacking comprehensive statistical systems to find other ways to measure it. One approach tested since the 1990s has been to collect necessary data through national population censuses.

OBJECTIVE
This paper reviews maternal mortality data from the 2010 round of censuses for several countries to determine whether the census is useful for monitoring maternal mortality.

METHODS
Data on births, deaths, and pregnancy-related deaths from two censuses for 10 countries was evaluated using standard methods; adjustments were applied to the reported numbers if so indicated.

RESULTS
In general, the censuses underreported births moderately and underreported deaths by larger amounts; except in one case, proportions of pregnancy-related deaths appeared plausible. Adjusted estimates of the pregnancy-related mortality ratio (PRMR) were generally higher than estimates from Demographic and Health Survey sibling data or estimates of maternal mortality developed by cross-national studies.

CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of recent data confirms results of earlier assessments: Census data provides imperfect but still valuable information on maternal mortality. Data requires careful assessment and often adjustment, resulting in estimates with large uncertainty.

CONTRIBUTION
This paper provides additional evidence as to whether maternal mortality can usefully be measured by population censuses in countries lacking civil registration data.


Research and development (R&D) is perceived as an important source for new innovation and innovation is the key driving force for economic development and competitiveness. This article deals with characteristics of research and development in the Czech and Slovak regions. Both states have common history, similar socio-economic conditions and similar problems. The aim of the article is to assess and compare the intensity and structure of R&D in the regions. It was confirmed that in both countries research activity is concentrated in the capital cities (Prague and the Bratislava Region) and the South Moravian Region. The expenditures on R&D reach 2 % of gross domestic product in the Czech Republic and 0,89 % in Slovakia, which is below the average of the EU countries. The intensity of R&D in this article is evaluated through the IR&D index and using the cluster analysis the regions are divided into three groups. The IR&D index confirmed higher intensity of R&D in the Czech regions. The evaluation of the R&D structure is based on Quadrant of research orientation and it is supplemented by the share of technical and natural sciences. The best prerequisites for innovations can be expected in regions with Pasteur-type and Edison-type research orientation. Our analysis showed that research activity is lower in Slovakia in general and this fact does not represent good conditions for Slovak competitiveness.


This is a review essay covering three recent books related to Native Californian agroecological practices: M. Kat Anderson, Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005); Ira Jacknis, Food in California Indian Culture (Berkeley: Phoebe Hearst Museum Press, 2004); and Kent G. Lightfoot and Otis Parrish, California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009).


Introduction:
 The SAMMPRIS trial demonstrated that stenting for symptomatic intracranial stenosis (ICS) (70-99%) with the Wingspan system is significantly more dangerous than best medical management. The Wingspan involves a complicated four step deployment procedure; when conversely, the balloon mounted coronary stent (BMCS) is a single step process without the need for an exchange maneuver. Based on our experience, we hypothesize that intracranial stenting with BMCS is a less complicated, clinically viable alternative for patients with symptomatic ICS.

 Methods:
 We performed a retrospective chart review of all patients at our center with symptomatic ICS (defined as >70%) and attempted placement of BMCS (n=37) between 12/2005-6/2012. Pretreatment ICS was measured by conventional cerebral angiography in all cases. Clinical outcomes included peri-procedural stroke or death prior to hospital discharge and all cause stroke or mortality within serial follow-up. Procedural outcomes included complications of stent placement and long-term stent patency. Follow-up was obtained up to 48 months with a mean follow-up of 18.5 months.

 Results:
 BMCS was attempted in 37 patients (14 women, 23 men; age range 30-80 years, mean 60.8 years). There was a 97% technical success rate for the procedure with one patient suffering an asymptomatic MCA dissection. Two patients (5.4%) had small peri-procedural infarcts. There were no peri-procedural deaths. At one year follow-up, there were three non-stroke related deaths (8%), one asymptomatic stent occlusion at three months follow-up and five patients requiring angioplasty for restenosis. There were two late infarcts, one not in distribution of the stent, and one in a patient who was taken off antiplatelet regimen. Angiography in these patients demonstrated stent patency.

 Conclusion:
 This small single center experience suggests that BMCS may be a safer, less complicated, and clinically viable alternative to the Wingspan stent for patients with symptomatic ICS who fail best medical therapy. Further prospective comparative studies of BMCS for symptomatic ICS would be required to verify this experience.


Grazing is known as one of the key factors for diversity and community composition in grassland ecosystems, but the response of plant communities towards grazing varies remarkably between sites with different environmental conditions. It is generally accepted that grazing increases plant diversity in productive environments, while it tends to reduce diversity in unproductive habitats (grazing reversal hypothesis). Despite empirical evidence for this pattern the mechanistic link between modes of plant—plant competition and grazing response at the community level still remains poorly understood. Root-competition in particular has rarely been included in theoretical studies, although it has been hypothesized that variations in productivity and grazing regime can alter the relative importance of shoot- and root-competition. We therefore developed an individual-based model based on plant functional traits to investigate the response of a grassland community towards grazing. Models of different complexity, either incorporating only shoot competition or with distinct shoot- and root-competition, were used to study the interactive effects of grazing, resource availability, and the mode of competition (size-symmetric or asymmetric). The pattern predicted by the grazing reversal hypothesis (GRH) can only be explained by our model if shoot- and root-competition are explicitly considered and if size asymmetry of above- and symmetry of below-ground competition is assumed. For this scenario, the model additionally reproduced empirically observed plant trait responses: erect and large plant functional types (PFTs) dominated without grazing, while frequent grazing favoured small PFTs with a rosette growth form. We conclude that interactions between shoot- and root-competition and size symmetry/asymmetry of plant-plant interactions are crucial in order to understand grazing response under different habitat productivities. Our results suggest that future empirical trait surveys in grassland communities should include root traits, which have been largely ignored in previous studies, in order to improve predictions of plants' responses to grazing.


We have searched three Parkes multibeam 1.4 GHz surveys for the presence of fast radio bursts (FRBs) out to a dispersion measure (DM) of 5000 pc cm$^{-3}$. These surveys originally targeted the Magellanic Clouds (in two cases) and unidentified gamma-ray sources at mid-Galactic latitudes (in the third case) for new radio pulsars. In previous processing, none of these surveys were searched to such a high DM limit. The surveys had a combined total of 719 hr of Parkes multibeam on-sky time. One known FRB, 010724, was present in our data and was detected in our analysis but no new FRBs were found. After adding in the on-sky Parkes time from these three surveys to the on-sky time (7512 hr) from the five Parkes surveys analysed by Rane et al., all of which have now been searched to high DM limits, we improve the constraint on the all-sky rate of FRBs above a fluence level of 3.8 Jy ms at 1.4 GHz to $R = 3.3^{+3.7}_{-2.2} \times 10^{3}$ events per day per sky (at the 99% confidence level). Future Parkes surveys that accumulate additional multibeam on-sky time (such as the ongoing high-resolution Parkes survey of the LMC) can be combined with these results to further constrain the all-sky FRB rate.


The microstructures in 3 mol% Y2O3-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) sintered at 1100°-1650°C were investigated to clarify cubic-formation and grain-growth mechanisms. The cubic phase in Y-TZP appeared at 1300°C and its mass fraction increased with increasing sintering temperature. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and nanoprobe X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) measurements revealed that no amorphous layer existed along the grain-boundary faces in Y-TZP, and Y3+ ions segregated not only along the tetragonal-tetragonal phase boundaries but also along tetragonal-cubic phase boundaries. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and nanoprobe EDS measurements revealed that the Y3+ ion distribution was nearly homogeneous up to 1300°C, but cubic phase regions with high Y3+ ion concentration clearly formed inside grains at 1500°C. These results indicate that cubic phase regions are formed from the grain boundaries and/or the multiple junctions in which Y3+ ions segregated. We termed such a new diffusive transformation phenomenon "grain boundary segregation-induced phase transformation (GBSIPT)". The grain-growth mechanism is controlled by the solute-drag effect of Y3+ ions segregating along the grain boundary.


Coffee production in Kenya has been sinking since 1980s. The condition has been worsened by climate change phenomenon which has brought new production challenges in recent years. The biggest challenge is the changing dynamics of coffee pests and diseases, for example, Coffee Leaf Rust, which has become of a major concern globally. Variety improvement through breeding is believed to be one of the most sustainable ways of reducing production costs and mitigating climate change. Over the years, considerable success has been made in Arabica coffee breeding to improve yields, quality and to manage some biotic and abiotic stresses. Kenya produces mainly Arabica coffee from five commercial cultivars. These include three traditional varieties namely SL28, SL34 and K7, all of which are also susceptible to major coffee diseases, and two improved varieties namely Ruiru 11 and Batian. Owing to the current production challenges and the rising demand of Kenyan coffee in the world market, improved Arabica coffee cultivars with better quality, higher yield potential, resistance to diseases and tolerant to drought are largely replacing traditional varieties on a large scale in Kenya. This paper highlights the foreseeable role of these improved varieties in reversing the tumbling production trend and ensuring coffee sustainability in Kenya.


This paper discuses the e-Resources deposited in the Tamil Nadu Digital Library (TNDL) project by the participating Universities .The major of objective of the study is to analysis the contributions of the e-Resources by 13 State Universities in the Digital Repository (DR).The relevant data were extracted from website of Tamil Nadu Digital Library (http://www.tndigitallibrary.ac.in). It has 158555 digital resources and 1330195 subject catalogues on various disciplines. The results show that Anna University has deposited more number of journals than the other Universities. It is also investigated that more number of subject catalogues are available on Literature. Further, it is recommended that awareness about the project is to be created among the Librarians, the Teachers and the Users. The Universities are required to share and update the digital resources among other participating Universities in order to maximize the utilisation of the resources.


Multimedia network teaching, as a bran-new teaching approach, has broken through the restrictions of space and time of traditional education, changed the current situation that the teacher is "speaking the hype" on the podium, but the students are "sleepy" at the desks, and has provided the flexible and free learning environment for students to make students become active from passivity and also makes the teacher no longer prepare lessons and give lessons repeatedly, but makes the teacher focus on improvement of teaching quality. Due to later development of network teaching in our country, especially later starting in aspect of track and field teaching in colleges and universities. This paper focuses on introduction of the inevitability and superiority for application of multimedia network teaching in track and field teaching in colleges and universities.


Background Violence against female is an important and serious public health and medico-legal problem. It carries important risk factor related to ill health of female and its consequences on physical, social, mental and reproductive health of women. Objectives To determine the type of fatal and non-fatal intentional injuries involving women, girls and young female kids and method used for such injuries and to reveal the magnitude of domestic violence of both physical and sexual types. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out within 6 months period on 82 medico-legal female cases with intentional violence. All females (living and postmortem cases) were studied. Information was collected from the same victim or her relative (in non-living cases) through an interview, police reports and their medical reports. Digital photography was done for some interesting cases while radiological survey followed by complete autopsy for all non-living cases. Results The study showed that 57.3% were living subjects while 42.7% were postmortem victims. Regarding the living cases, their mean age was 20.61±9.37 years. Illiteracy constitutes 57.4% of them. All of them were referred as cases of violence directed to the genital area (sexual assault) but 72.3% were with no tear to the hymen. In post-mortem victims, the mean age was 28.6±12.84years. Housewives constituted 85.7% of them and 45.7% were having primary school level of education only. Burn was the main type of injury constituting 71.4%. In 65.71% were affected by sexual assault and in 69% of victims there were old hymen tears. In 80% death was due to suicide. Conclusion Violence was more common among living female and highest in the third decade of life. Majority were either with low level of education or having primary school level of education. All of the living females were sexually assaulted while burn was the main type of injury among the postmortem group.


Background : Condyloma acuminata is a common sexually transmitted disease of sexually active adults caused by HPV having variable response to the different available therapies and none of them have proved to be uniformly effective as recurrences are common. Objective : A randomized, single blinded, paralleled group, intention to treat prospective study was conducted not only to compare the two treatment modalities but also to determine the efficacy and safety of drugs under study. Materials and Methods : 60 cases of clinically diagnosed condyloma acuminata were randomly divided into two equally matched groups (n=30). Group-I, patients were treated with a combination of cryotherapy (liquid nitrogen) with topical 20percent podophyllin and Group-II, patients were treated with a combination of intralesional bleomycin with topical 5percent placentrex gel. Evaluation criteria included assessment of lesion response, patient's response, duration of response, recurrence rate and safety. Photographic assessment at baseline, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks was done. Results : 289 condylomas were treated in total (n=60), 175 (60.55percent) Group-I and 114(39.4percent) in Group-II . 49 patients completed the study, 24 treated in Group-I and 25 in Group-II. By intention to treat, lesional clearance rate at 24 weeks in Group-I was 80percent as compared to 83.33percent in Group-II. The clinical efficacy of combination therapy in Group-II was higher as compared to Group-I but there was no statistically significant difference between both the groups (p greater than0.05). The side effects evaluated in this study were mild and transient and they were assessed using a 4 point clinical score (0=absent, 1=mild, 2=moderate, and 3=severe). Conclusion : In this comparative study Intralesional bleomycin with 5percent placentrex gel was found to be more effective although both treatment modalities have good potential for treatment of condyloma. Key words : Anogenital warts, Liquid Nitrogen, Combination therapy, Intralesional injection, Topical application


The need to postpone all elective medical activities (consultations and elective surgery) has emerged due to the experiences of some Italian regions during the current coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. In fact, these activities may expose not only patients but also health workers to an increased risk of infection. Even though all screening measures are applied, as well as adherence to individual behavioral principles, the risk of contracting an infection by coming to the Hospital remains high. All emergency procedures including unpostponable oncological treatments were excluded from these limitations, leaving some health care professionals feeling that the particularities of certain disorders and the potential harmful implications of putting them in "standby" had not been fully addressed, which is justified by the unexpected severity of this sanitary crisis.1‐3 Indeed, these unprecedented times have put enormous pressure on both our professional and personal lives. With this in mind, we must look after patients with COVID‐19 while continuing to provide ongoing care for our existing patients. From our point of view the correct way to manage this situation would be to advocate for a change in perspective, adopting an asymmetrical approach: focusing on our patients' special needs, but never neglecting the major community interest.


We investigate the generation of free-space terahertz (THz) radiation from photoconductive antennas using single crystal and polycrystalline ZnSe substrates. The photoconductive antennas have been excited above (400 nm) and below (800 nm) the bandgap. We investigate the dependence of the THz electric field radiated from biased ZnSe emitters on the applied bias field and on the incident optical fluence for bias fields as high as 26 kV/cm and for optical fluences of 0.005-3 mJ cm-2. The saturation fluence is observed to be significantly different both above and below bandgap excitation. These results show that, in comparison with GaAs substrates, ZnSe has strong potential as a high-power THz emitter.


The participation of two members of the German radical Left terrorist group Revolutionary Cells turned the 1976 Entebbe hostage crisis into a significant chapter of German and Israeli history. The article reviews the framing of the hijacking of a passenger plane by a West German–Palestinian commando and explores historical references to the traumatic memories of the Holocaust that resonated in the public perception, cinematic depiction, and commemoration of the event. Through an analysis of newspaper coverage, documentary reports, docudrama films, and attempted attacks on German theaters, the article describes the framing as alternating and conflicting and emphasizes the relationship of history, media, and memory.


Different polymeric matrices have been investigated for use in the development of biodegradable films. The incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals in such films has particularly attracted attention because of the potential for achieving improved properties of starch nanocomposites. In the present study, cellulose nanocrystals were extracted from coconut fibers and incorporated in cassava and potato starch films at different concentrations. The properties of the different nanobiocomposite films were comparatively evaluated, including their barrier and mechanical properties. All the films, regardless of the nanocrystal concentration, were found to exhibit low solubility in water, with increased moisture content particularly observed in the films with higher nanocrystal concentrations. The potato starch film with the lowest nanocrystal concentration was found to exhibit the best mechanical properties. The observations of this study indicated that the source of the starch and the nanocrystal concentration determined the properties of the nanobiocomposite films.


Sigma-delta (/spl Sigma/-/spl Delta/) modulators have been widely used over the last few decades, in various signal processing applications. Usually, sigma-delta modulators produce single-bit outputs and thus are well suited for VLSI circuits which could be implemented using a small number of multipliers. For improved signal-to-noise (quantization) performances, higher order modulator schemes with multiloop and multi-stage architecture are utilized in most of the sigma-delta applications. The quantization noise behaviour of these higher order modulators is well known. Based on the quantization noise characteristics various de-modulator filter architectures, such as optimal FIR, Sinc filters and Laguerre HR filters are reported in the literature. In this paper, the VLSI implementation issues of these various demodulator filters are investigated. For this purpose the demodulators are implemented using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) architecture.


Leaves of three Atriplex spp. and Cassia sturtii grown in two different locations in South Africa were analysed for certain nutritive characteristics. Crude protein values ranged from 176 to 234 g/kg DM for the Atriplex spp. and for C. sturtii from 114 to 147 g/kg DM. The in vitro digestible organic matter concentrations for the Atriplex spp. varied from 718 to 773 g/kg DM and for C. sturtii from 529 to 574 g/kg DM. The neutral detergent fibre concentration ranged from 295 to 407 g/kg DM for the Atriplex spp. and for C. sturtii from 223 to 250 g/kg DM. Higher acid detergent lignin concentrations than expected were noted and varied for the Atriplex spp. from 98 to 139 g/kg DM and for C. sturtii from 71 to 75 g/kg DM. Both species proved to have a fair potential as fodder crops for livestock.


Imperial Citizen examines the intersection between Ottoman colonialism, control of the Iraqi frontier through centralization policies, and the impact of those policies on Ottoman citizenship laws and on the institution of marriage. In an effort to maintain control of the Iraqi province, the Ottomans adapted their 1869 citizenship law to prohibit marriages between Ottoman women and Iranian men. This prohibition was an attempt to contain the threat that the Iranian Shi'a population represented to Ottoman control of their Iraqi provinces. In Imperial Citizen, Kern establishes this 1869 law as a point of departure for an illuminating exploration of an emerging concept of modern citizenship. She unfolds the historical context of the law and systematically analyzes the various modifications it underwent, pointing to its farreaching implications throughout society, particularly on landowners, the military, and Sunni women and their children. Kern's fascinating account offers an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the Ottoman Iraqi frontier and its passage to modernity.