[Executive Summary]:

Getting Australians ready for a natural hazard has taken on a new imperative during the year this project was undertaken. Tasmania and Queensland were subject to unprecedented summer temperatures and suffered damaging bushfires in ecologies that were thought to be permanently safe from fire damage. Queensland then underwent a cascading series of bushfires, cyclones and floods, that saw the media team activated for three solid months. Agencies are actively accounting for climate change in their planning and successful preparedness programs are now more important than ever.

This project was designed to map the community engagement for preparedness approaches Australian agencies are currently using and to use this picture to develop closer linkages from frameworks to practice. It was a six-stage project: a literature review, interviews with agency community engagement practitioners and managers, design of a framework that accounted for their approach and then presentation of a toolkit that allowed implementation at grass roots level of the framework, and evaluation of this work.

The literature review confirmed that getting people to prepare for a natural hazard is difficult, even in places where hazards are regular and expected. People living in cyclone-prone areas tended to be better prepared and preparation was considered a social norm in these areas, but still there were large segments of the community who did not register risk or act on a threat. People in bushfire prone areas tended to be the worst prepared, and in particular, people in urban areas, and wildland/urban interfaces. A number of obstacles to preparing emerged from the literature. Key was failure to fully personalise a risk, even when the risk is accepted as likely. The business of day to day lives, cost, fear of being seen to over-react, weighing up likelihood against effort, optimism bias and being overwhelmed by the volume of tasks involved in preparing all have an influence, along with situational factors such demographics and life stage, on hazard preparation.

The literature also showed that community engagement in emergency management covers the whole spectrum of communication, engagement and participation, and that interpretation was used by practitioners used to cover all of these methods of interaction with the community. Therefore the term 'community engagement' was used to refer to work by engagement and communication teams concerned with preparedness for natural hazards.

Our interviews with practitioners explored what preparedness looks like, barriers and enablers of preparedness, what competencies exist in a prepared community and how they and their agency 'do' community engagement. We also touched on what they thought was best practice in the field and what framework/s they use to guide their practice. Practitioners told us that most of them work to the IAP2-based Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience Handbook 6 framework, usually with additions and alterations. Co-design and community development approaches emerged as a goal for many practitioners.

We found a wide range of approaches, usually driven by resourcing and skills. Some smaller states with very small teams undertake information delivery engagement practices, while other small teams have highly organised community capacity-building programs embedded in their organisation's strategic planning. Several larger organisations are doing community engagement in a measurably successful way. They show that it is possible to get year on year improvements to preparedness levels, as well as illustrating programmed methods of achieving this.

Our interviews gave us rich information from which we were able to build the following model containing five steps, and with three additional different layers. The first overlay features the aims of each step; the second explains the tactics associated with each step; and the third explains and guides the research, monitoring, evaluation and learning that permeates every aspect of the model. The fifth dimension of the model, and a key deliverable of this project, is a competency index, which connects the characteristics of the community with the different stages of the model. We've called the model the Australian generative model of community engagement for preparedness – the diagram below shows the basic framework.

Following development of the model, we undertook a systematic literature review to determine the effect of checklist preparedness activities for personal safety and coping during a hazard's impact and recovery phases. We used accepted systematic literature review standards and checked these against the Campbell Collaboration's method of systematic literature reviews, and in our first round of searching found 1,451 articles. These were sorted on title, and a further 1,328 excluded. After abstract and full text screening, not one article remained that attempted to examine the effect of discrete or groups of preparedness activities.

What we did find from the systematic literature review was a series of community engagement interventions that had been tested in an academic setting and published in both peer reviewed and grey literature. From this data we were able to compile a toolkit of community engagement techniques that had been tested in an emergency management preparedness setting.

At this point we were able to take the model to workshops of agency, local government and not for profit practitioners in the preparedness space. With their guidance, we were able to simplify the presentation of the model and consider aspects of the model that would or wouldn't work in practice. The workshops provided an iterative platform, with the model and the workshop materials evolving from the first workshop to the second. We expect the framework to evolve as practitioners mould it to suit and explain their approaches to community engagement for preparedness.

Evaluation was an important concept that emerged from the literature review, the interviews with practitioners and the systematic literature review, and has been identified as problematic by respected researchers Gilbert, Elsworth and Rhodes and their colleagues since 2007 (Gilbert, 2007; Elsworth, Gilbert & Rhodes, 2009; Gilbert, Elsworth, Stevens, Rowe & Robinson, 2010; Rhodes, Gilbert, Nelson and Preece, 2011). From these information sources and from community engagement evaluation literature, we also developed a Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit as a companion to the Community Engagement Toolkit. Both of these toolkits are separate documents within the project. Both are documents are designed to cater for entry level practitioners upward.

This project has provided a platform for advancement of Australian practice in community engagement for preparedness. It has allowed us to map approaches and competencies that have potential to clarify the community engagement planning process. It supports the matching of CE approaches and techniques to community competencies and characteristics, and provides guidance on evaluation.

We have also provided a series of recommendations on community engagement practice and further research ideas that we think will further advance efforts to get Australians ready for natural hazards.


This article reports on an investigationwith first year undergraduate ProductDesign and Management students within a School of Engineering and Applied Science. The students at the time of this investigation had studied fundamental engineering science and mathematics for one semester. The students were given an open ended, ill-formed problem which involved designing a simple bridge to cross a river.They were given a talk on problemsolving and given a rubric to follow, if they chose to do so.They were not given any formulae or procedures needed in order to resolve the problem. In theory, they possessed the knowledge to ask the right questions in order tomake assumptions but, in practice, it turned out they were unable to link their a priori knowledge to resolve this problem. They were able to solve simple beam problems when given closed questions. The results show they were unable to visualize a simple bridge as an augmented beam problem and ask pertinent questions and hence formulate appropriate assumptions in order to offer resolutions.


Considering the time effect of surrounding rock and the long time stability of the underground caverns after being excavated, a method on the finite element viscoelastic displacement based on Kelvin model. The recursion formula is obtained by the displacement analytic solution of Kelvin model. It can be used to predict the viscoelastic displacement development fast and accurately. Finally this method is employed into a project, and the calculated values by this method agree well with the measured values. Prove that the method is effective.


Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been linked to cancer stem-like (CD44+) cell in the prostate cancer (PCa) metastasis. However, the molecular mechanism remains elusive. Here, we found EMT contributed to metastasis in PCa patients failed in androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Castration TRAMP model also proved PCa treated with ADT promoted EMT with increased CD44+ stem-like cells. Switched CD44+ cell to EMT cell is a key step for luminal PCa cell metastasis. Our results also suggested ADT might go through promoting TGFβ1-CD44 signaling to enhance swift to EMT. Targeting CD44 with salinomycin and siRNA could inhibit cell transition and decrease PCa invasion. Together, cancer stem-like (CD44+) cells could be the initiator cells of EMT modulated by TGFβ1-CD44 signaling. Combined therapy of ADT with anti-CD44 may become a new potential therapeutic approach to battle later stage PCa.


Background: Head and neck swelling is a frequently encountered complaint in the outpatient department. A wide plethora of conditions give rise to head and neck lumps. Sometimes the diagnosis of these lesions is apparent from the site and associated features, while at other times the cause for mass in this region can be confusing. Fine needle aspiration cytology has emerged as a reliable tool for clinching the diagnosis in head and neck swellings.
Methods and Materials: A retrospective study was conducted in the department of Pathology, Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences, Western Regional Hospital, Pokhara. Details of diagnosed cases of HN swellings from the period of November 2015 to February 2018 were obtained from recorded data. Descriptive statistics was applied from the data collected for analysis.
Results: Out of total 456 patients included from a period of 28 months, female patients outnumbered male patients by 1.5 times. The most common age group of presentation for head and neck swellings was observed to be 20-29 years, with 93 patients which comprised of 20.39% of total. Highest incidence was that of lymph node swellings (55.04%) followed by thyroid swellings (21.49%).
Conclusion: Lymph node pathology was determined to be the commonest cause for head and neck mass. FNAC is a reliable and inexpensive means in investigating such lesions, which provides immense help in treatment of patients.


In recent times, more scholastic and social attention have been paid to blockchain and its distributed ledger system mechanism. The reasons for this ever-increasing attention cannot be far-fetched: blockchain now occupies a copious position in the present-day ways of doing things economically, digitally and 'digital-socially'. Blockchain could be described as a distributed ledger system that allows secure transactions without a central management system. In this distributed ledger system, transactions are coded into blocks, which are linked to each other in the form of a chain. The first application of blockchain is in the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Though not limited to bitcoin, blockchain finds usefulness in security and trusts for instance, digital assets could be coded into blocks to ensure and enforce quality of trust. Consequent upon the quality of trust the blockchain confers on a digital asset, transparency among participating nodes is guaranteed.  This is because, any change made to any record in a given block automatically initiates and enforces a corresponding change in all other blocks in the chain hence tampering or breach is almost impossible.  Owing to its impressive prospects in the socioeconomic and political ecosystem, this paper was conceived to examine the current developments around this novel technology with particular emphasis on its benefits and proposed  challenges and needs to fill the gap created in the vital socioeconomic domains. The paper concludes that the blockchain technology is a plausible approach to restoring the trust, confidentiality, availability and integrity in transactions in the cyberspace and the world at large as majority of the global economy thrives in the cloud.


A decoder circuit has been developed which reads out and decompresses high-definition video images recorded on the magneto-optical disk by MPEG2 compression. >


We analyse late summer phenology, abundance, and diversity of waders and waterfowl on a small gravel island, Kosa, on the western shore of Lake Baikal, eastern Siberia. We expected that the assemblages of waterbirds at such a small-scale, low quality roosting site would be characterised by lower species-diversity and numbers compared with high-quality staging sites like coastal mudflats. In comparison with such sites, however, Kosa Island hosted a surprisingly diverse wader assemblage. Abundance, in contrast, was as expected very low, and rather equally distributed across species. Consequently, Shannon diversity indices and the evenness of species abundance were high compared to high quality staging sites like the German Wadden Sea. We speculate that the combination of high diversity and high evenness indices may generally characterise low quality staging sites that are visited by a wide array of species in an opportunistic fashion. However, comparative analyses of a larger sample of sites are needed to test this prediction.


The geology of Cuba has been a challenge to geologists because of features such as the presence of well-preserved Jurassic ammonites, the rich Tertiary foraminiferal faunas (including remarkable Paleogene orbitoids), the gigantic Upper Cretaceous rudistids, the spectacular limestone Mogotes of Pinar del Rio, the extensive outcrops of ultrabasic igneous rocks, the chromite and manganese deposits, and the extraordinary structural complexity. In addition to these features, the numerous petroleum seeps, many of them coming out of basic igneous rock, have attracted much attention.

It is interesting to read early papers by reputable geologists such as E. DeGoyler (1918), J. W. Lewis (1932), or R. H. Palmer (1945), and to realize how little was known or understood about the geology of the southern portion of the North American continent in the early part of the 20th century.

Much early understanding of the geology of Cuba resulted from a series of studies conducted between 1936 and 1946 by the University of Utrecht, Holland, under the direction of L. M. R. Rutten. Some resultant publications are Rutten (1936), MacGillavry (1937), Thiadens (1937a, b), Vermut (1937), van Wessen (1943), Keijzer (1945), Hermes (1945), and De Vletter (1946). These authors outlined the components of a classic geosyncline. Between the late 1930s and late 1950s, Cuban geologists and paleontologists, such as P. R. Ortega y Ros, J. Broderman, P. Bermudez, and J. F. Albear, published several articles about the island's geology.

The search for oil has contributed significantly to the present understanding of the island's geology.


The surface activity of the antiaarhythmic drugs and their influence on the lipid-containing interphasics were studied. It was found that drug No. 7351 (diphenyl isopropyl acetic acid diethyl aminopropyl ester), fubromegan, metamysil, propranolol, quinidine, novocalinamide, xylocaine, and trimecaine possessed surface activity. There exists a symbate relationship between the surface and especially the interphasic activity and the antiarrhythmic effect. The most active antiarrhythmic drug No. 7351 increased the electric conductivity of the lecithine bilayer membrane much more than novocainamide.


The premier source for a comprehensive update and overview of developments in the most rapidly changing region in the world. Each edition features thematic coverage of regional, political, and economic developments. Chapters on every country of the region cover essential historical background as well as current developments and domestic and foreign policy issues. Supplementing the chapters are maps, data boxes, documents, and sidebars.


The aim of this paper is to outline fundamental concepts and principles of the Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) paradigm, with particular reference to the development of geospatial simulations. The paper begins with a brief definition of modelling, followed by a classification of model types, and a comment regarding a shift (in certain circumstances) towards modelling systems at the individual-level. In particular, automata approaches (e.g. Cellular Automata, CA, and ABM) have been particularly popular, with ABM moving to the fore. A definition of agents and agent-based models is given; identifying their advantages and disadvantages, especially in relation to geospatial modelling. The potential use of agent-based models is discussed, and how-to instructions for developing an agent-based model are provided. Types of simulation / modelling systems available for ABM are defined, supplemented with criteria to consider before choosing a particular system for a modelling endeavour. Information pertaining to a selection of simulation / modelling systems (Swarm, MASON, Repast, StarLogo, NetLogo, OBEUS, AgentSheets and AnyLogic) is provided, categorised by their licensing policy (open source, shareware / freeware and proprietary systems). The evaluation (i.e. verification, calibration, validation and analysis) of agent-based models and their output is examined, and noteworthy applications are discussed.Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are a particularly useful medium for representing model input and output of a geospatial nature. However, GIS are not well suited to dynamic modelling (e.g. ABM). In particular, problems of representing time and change within GIS are highlighted. Consequently, this paper explores the opportunity of linking (through coupling or integration / embedding) a GIS with a simulation / modelling system purposely built, and therefore better suited to supporting the requirements of ABM. This paper concludes with a synthesis of the discussion that has proceeded. The aim of this paper is to outline fundamental concepts and principles of the Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) paradigm, with particular reference to the development of geospatial simulations. The paper begins with a brief definition of modelling, followed by a classification of model types, and a comment regarding a shift (in certain circumstances) towards modelling systems at the individual-level. In particular, automata approaches (e.g. Cellular Automata, CA, and ABM) have been particularly popular, with ABM moving to the fore. A definition of agents and agent-based models is given; identifying their advantages and disadvantages, especially in relation to geospatial modelling. The potential use of agent-based models is discussed, and how-to instructions for developing an agent-based model are provided. Types of simulation / modelling systems available for ABM are defined, supplemented with criteria to consider before choosing a particular system for a modelling endeavour. Information pertaining to a selection of simulation / modelling systems (Swarm, MASON, Repast, StarLogo, NetLogo, OBEUS, AgentSheets and AnyLogic) is provided, categorised by their licensing policy (open source, shareware / freeware and proprietary systems). The evaluation (i.e. verification, calibration, validation and analysis) of agent-based models and their output is examined, and noteworthy applications are discussed.Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are a particularly useful medium for representing model input and output of a geospatial nature. However, GIS are not well suited to dynamic modelling (e.g. ABM). In particular, problems of representing time and change within GIS are highlighted. Consequently, this paper explores the opportunity of linking (through coupling or integration / embedding) a GIS with a simulation / modelling system purposely built, and therefore better suited to supporting the requirements of ABM. This paper concludes with a synthesis of the discussion that has proceeded.


The COVID-19 pandemic will have a profound and long-lasting impact on the entire scientific endeavor. Scientists already are adapting research programs to adapt to changes in what is prioritized—and what is possible; educators are changing the way that the next generation of researchers are trained, and flagship conferences in many fields are being cancelled, postponed, and fundamentally transformed. These broad-reaching changes are particularly impactful to human-oriented domains such as human-robot interaction (HRI). Because in-person human-subject experiments can take a year or more to conduct, the research we will see published in the field in the immediate future may appear to be "business as usual," with accounts of laboratory studies with large numbers of in-person participants. The research currently being performed, however, is of course a different story entirely. Studies that were under way when the current crisis began will be truncated, resulting either in work that cannot be published or in work whose true impact is difficult to accurately assess. Yet HRI research performed in the coming years will be changed in fundamentally different ways; the inability to perform—or expect future performance of—in-person human subjects research, especially research involving tactile or multiparty interaction, will change both the dominant methodological techniques employed by HRI researchers and the very research questions that the field chooses to—and is able to—address. These challenges demand that HRI researchers identify precisely how the field can maintain research quality and impact while the ability to conduct human-subject studies is severely impaired for an undetermined amount of time. A natural inclination may be simply to wait the crisis out in the hope of a speedy return to normalcy; however, in this article, we argue that the community can also take this opportunity to reevaluate and refocus how research in this field is conducted and how students are mentored in ways that will yield benefits for years to come after the current crisis has ended.


As unlabeled data carry rich task-relevant information, they are proven useful for few-shot learning of language model. The question is how to effectively make use of such data. In this work, we revisit the self-training technique for language model fine-tuning and present a state-of-the-art prompt-based few-shot learner, SFLM. Given two views of a text sample via weak and strong augmentation techniques, SFLM generates a pseudo label on the weakly augmented version. Then, the model predicts the same pseudo label when fine-tuned with the strongly augmented version. This simple approach is shown to outperform other state-of-the-art supervised and semi-supervised counterparts on six sentence classification and six sentence-pair classification benchmarking tasks. In addition, SFLM only relies on a few in-domain unlabeled data. We conduct a comprehensive analysis to demonstrate the robustness of our proposed approach under various settings, including augmentation techniques, model scale, and few-shot knowledge transfer across tasks.


 The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of studies concerning the linkage between the very complex system of the great Inner Asian Silk Road and the history of information. In an era where literacy was acquiring larger and larger importance beside the verbal information transmitting methods, the "filtering" (that is, privacy management) techniques became especially important, whose purpose was to keep the information inside a defined circle by the encryption or coding of written documents. Hence this paper cover not just general problems of transmitting information along the Silk Road, but also deals with the special methods of encryption or coding of Kharosthi documents. These legal documents can shed light on everyday life of the Silk Road during the 3–4 centuries, and they help us understand processes of administration, diplomacy and information techniques of that era. Keywords Silk road, Methods of ecryption, Legal documents, Seals, Aurel Stein


The structure of a uniform convolutional code, i.e., a code whose average distance is equal to its minimum distance, is examined, and results in a parity equation lattice. From this lattice, punctured uniform codes, i.e., uniform codes with parity bits deleted, are constructed, which can be threshold decoded and have limited error propagation. An "optimum" deletion sequence is provided. Some of the punctured uniform codes are optimal from a minimum-distance view point.


Roll-call votes are widely employed to infer the ideological proclivities of legislators. However, many roll-call matrices are characterized by high levels of nonresponse. Under many circumstances, nonresponse cannot be assumed to be ignorable. We examine the consequences of violating the ignorability assumption that underlies current methods of roll-call analysis. We present a basic estimation framework to model nonresponse and vote choice concurrently, build a model that captures the logic of competing principals that underlies accounts of nonresponse in many legislatures, and illustrate the payoff of addressing nonignorable nonresponse through both simulated and real data. We conclude that modeling presumed patterns of nonignorable nonresponse can yield important inferential payoffs over current models that assume random missingness, but we also emphasize that the decision to model nonresponse should be based on theoretical grounds since one cannot rely on measures of goodness of fit for the purpose of model comparison.


Economic and financial research on insurance markets has undergone dramatic growth since its infancy in the early 1960s. Our main objective in compiling this volume was to achieve a wider dissemination of key papers in this literature. Their significance is highlighted in the introduction, which surveys major areas in insurance economics. While it was not possible to provide comprehensive coverage of insurance economics in this book, these readings provide an essential foundation to those who desire to conduct research and teach in the field. In particular, we hope that this compilation and our introduction will be useful to graduate students and to researchers in economics, finance, and insurance. Our criteria for selecting articles included significance, representativeness, pedagogical value, and our desire to include theoretical and empirical work. While the focus of the applied papers is on property-liability insurance, they illustrate issues, concepts, and methods that are applicable in many areas of insurance. The S. S. Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School made this book possible by financing publication costs. We are grateful for this assistance and to J. David Cummins, Executive Director of the Foundation, for his efforts and helpful advice on the contents. We also wish to thank all of the authors and editors who provided permission to reprint articles and our respective institutions for technical and financial support.


The establishment of Women's Leadership Councils within the United Way of America and the subsequent development of the United Way Women's Leadership Council of Southeast Louisiana (UWSELA WLC) responded to the Women's Funding Movement and the increased involvement of women in professional philanthropy work. The community of women in philanthropy continues to grow and remains connected as it moves forward in further promoting women in professional charity and philanthropy work. The United Way of Southeast Louisiana develops its projects and goals to address local and community issues while adhering to the United Way's philanthropic Common Good goals. This case study explores the history, founding, motives, and practice of the UWSELA as well as the process of selecting the particular issues in which to direct focus and resources toward.


This manual discusses countermeasures which may be used to reduce the incidence of preventable commercial motor vehicle accidents. It presents guides and tips to help drivers and safety supervisors formulate strategies which are reflective of the particular needs and circumstances of their company and will lead to improved driving safety. The manual uses the notion that a preventable accident in one wherein the driver and/or the carrier failed to act in a reasonably expected manner to prevent it. This concept is broader than the commonly used safety management tool for improving safety where accident preventability is judged only on the basis of the driver's performance. Thus, this manual presents countermeasures which seek to improve carrier performance as well as driver performance. The manual contains a table of typical accident situations keyed to individually numbered countermeasure or guide sheets. For each accident situation, some potential causes are listed, together with the principal and secondary countermeasures which may help to address those causes. Each countermeasure referenced in the table is fully described on an individual sheet which contains tips and questions intended to prompt the reader to focus on strategies that could be implemented to counter the indicated accident situation. These strategies may be directed either towards the improvement of the driver's performance or the motor carrier's procedures. Since no two drivers or carriers are the same, countermeasures should be viewed as guidelines which could be developed into strategies that best address the needs and circumstances of the particular driver or carrier. Where appropriate, the countermeasure sheets reference selected books and resources for further information from the list at the end of the manual. Also, where appropriate, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) which address the issues are noted. Finally, the manual presents an accident analysis work sheet, as an aid to the safety analyst. The intent of the work sheet is to provide a systematic method for the analyst to explore the accident history of the carrier or individual driver, and identify appropriate countermeasures which could then be utilized to develop safety improvement strategies.


Ideal nanowire transistors exhibit saturation and square-law behavior in their output characteristics. The current saturation above the pinch-off voltage is an essential characteristic for transistors to be applied to a display device that is required to produce a consistent level of brightness even during long operation periods. However, fabricated oxide nanowire transistors exhibit three representative output characteristics-metallic, linearly increasing, and saturated curves-within a measurable range. In this study, through experiments and simulations using In 2O3 nanowire transistors, we show that fewer oxygen vacancies in the nanowire produce output characteristics more similar to ideal MOSFET characteristics. This result indicates that differences in electrical characteristics of the nanowire transistor are derived from the difference in the number of oxygen vacancies in the oxide nanowire.


We investigated forest development after the cessation of management based on inventory data from six beech forest reserves in Switzerland covering nearly 40 years, using observed changes to assess the textbook understanding of natural beech forest dynamics. Specifically, we evaluated the importance of light as a driver of tree species composition, and we aimed to disentangle the role of site characteristics and past management regimes for shaping today's forest properties. Forest dynamics in the reserves showed a clear trend toward a broadening of the diameter distribution, an increase in basal area and standing dead wood, an increase in beech dominance, and a reduction of tree species diversity over time, conforming to expectations. However, the expected development of specific structural features, such as significant amounts of large living trees and snags or a small-scale mosaic of various developmental phases, appears to take longer than the time elapsed since the cessation of management. The observed loss in species richness can be attributed to decreasing light availability, as almost all species that disappeared were shade intolerant. Additionally, the shade-intolerant tree species had a characteristic bell-shaped diameter distribution in all reserves, indicating a lack of recruits, whereas shade-tolerant species had an irregular to monotonically decreasing diameter distribution, demonstrating sustained regeneration. Along the environmental gradient covered by the six reserves, abiotic factors are sufficient to explain tree species distribution, with management history not contributing additional information. This suggests that at larger scales, tree species composition is determined by abiotic factors, but historical management strategies were obviously adapted well to the species' autecological requirements. Analyses such as ours provide the foundation for refining forest management systems as well as for developing effective and target-oriented conservation strategies.


In a microlensing event, a large magnification occurs at caustic crossing and provides an opportunity to obtain a stronger signal associated with the object. In this paper we study the possibility of magnetic field detection in a microlensing event through the Zeeman effect. We follow the prescription introduced by \citep{Robinson:1980} which analyses the spectrum of a star in a Fourier space to deconvolve other broadening mechanism from the actual Zeeman effect. First we study magnification contrast between source and spot in terms of spot size and then consider two distinct strategies using modern spectrographs and perform a Monte Carlo simulation to find the detection efficiency in magnification-magnetic field plan. The spectral resolution and signal to noise ratio in each strategies, specify suitable places in this plane to detect a magnetic field.
Apart from complexity of magnetic field on a star, we consider a simple model and propose a fantastic method to detect magnetic field using spectrum of source stars at caustic crossing.


Programming is introduced in secondary education in a growing number of subjects. This results in an increasing number of teachers teaching programming in their classes, often without proper training. Learning programming might be complicated, even more so is teaching it. In this context, there is a need to understand teachers' perspectives on teaching programming. This paper aims to identify challenges that teachers in secondary schools face and might negatively impact their teaching, i.e., stumbling stones, as well as elements that promote teaching and give motivation, i.e., stepping stones. The paper is based on the analysis of reflection notes delivered by in-service teachers attending a university-level course on teaching programming. The teachers compile the reflection notes after they complete their final project. Projects are centred around the definition of teaching plans to be tried out in class. The reflection notes of 173 students are analysed to identify issues related to: programming; teaching programming; recurrent didactic issues; and external challenges. The analysis is then summarised in a set of stumbling and stepping stones. For example, time is identified as one of the main stumbling stones by teachers. On the other side, motivation is one of the central stepping stones that we can identify in the data, often connected to the excitement of teaching something that was not previously taught in schools or that teachers perceive as highly relevant for society and the future job market. Implications for teacher training are also identified.


Background: Breast cancer is a global public health issue and the side effects of the clinical treatment can decline the quality of life of these women. Therefore, a healthy lifestyle is essential to minimize the physical and psychological side effects of treatment. Physical activity has several benefits for breast cancer women and Pilates solo and belly dance can be an enjoyable type of physical activity for breast cancer women undergoing clinical treatment. The purpose of the study will be to provide a Pilates solo and a belly dance protocol (3x/16 weeks) for women undergoing breast cancer treatment and compare its effects with the control group. Methods: The participants will be allocated to either the intervention arm (Pilates solo or belly dance classes 3x/week for 16 weeks) or a control group (receipt of a booklet on physical activity for breast cancer patients and maintenance of habitual physical activity routine). The Pilates solo and belly dance classes will be divided into three stages: warm-up and stretching; the main stage and relaxation. Measurements of study outcomes will take place at baseline, post-intervention, 6-, 12- and 24-months (maintenance period). The data collection for both groups will occur with a questionnaire application and tests, covering general and clinical information, primary outcome will be quality of life (EORT QLQ C30 and BR23), secondary outcomes will be physical aspects as cardiorespiratory fitness (6-minute walk test and cycle ergometer), lymphedema (sum of arm circumference), physical activity (IPAQ short version), disabilities of the arm (DASH), range of motion (goniometer test), strength (dynamometer test) and flexibility (sit and reach test) and psychological aspects as depressive symptoms (BECK Inventory), body image (Body Image After Breast Cancer Questionnaire), self-esteem (Rosenberg), fatigue (FACT-F), pain (VAS), sexual function (FSFI) and sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). Discussion: In view of the high prevalence of breast cancer among women, the implementation a specific protocol of Pilates solo and belly dance for patients with breast cancer is important considering the needs to improve the quality of life, physical and psychological aspects of their life. Pilates solo and belly dance are two kinds of physical activity that involves mental and body concentration, music, upper limb movements, femininity, and social involvement. An intervention with these two physical activities could offer a choice of supportive care to breast cancer women undergoing treatment to improve quality of life, physical and psychological aspects. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03194997 (registration date: 12 August 2017). Universal Trial Number (World Health Organization): U1111-1195-1623. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03194997


In this work, a new active device, namely the dual-X current conveyor is proposed for linear tunable continuous-time filtering. The proposed device avails tunability with the aid of triode MOSFETs, while keeping large-signal linearity high. Besides linearity enhancement, the dual-X structure of the active device brings interesting features, which help reduce the required number of active devices and MOSFET resistors in a MOSFET-C continuous-time filter. Also, unlike most MOSFET-C filter structures, there does not exist a matching requirement for the utilized MOSFETs. A CMOS implementation and two application examples (a current mode Tow-Thomas biquad and a current-mode sinusoidal oscillator) are supplied and simulated to reveal the important advantages.


ABSTRACT We investigate a class of partially linear functional additive models (PLFAM) that predicts a scalar response by both parametric effects of a multivariate predictor and nonparametric effects of a multivariate functional predictor. We jointly model multiple functional predictors that are cross-correlated using multivariate functional principal component analysis (mFPCA), and model the nonparametric effects of the principal component scores as additive components in the PLFAM. To address the high-dimensional nature of functional data, we let the number of mFPCA components diverge to infinity with the sample size, and adopt the component selection and smoothing operator (COSSO) penalty to select relevant components and regularize the fitting. A fundamental difference between our framework and the existing high-dimensional additive models is that the mFPCA scores are estimated with error, and the magnitude of measurement error increases with the order of mFPCA. We establish the asymptotic convergence rate for our estimator, while allowing the number of components diverge. When the number of additive components is fixed, we also establish the asymptotic distribution for the partially linear coefficients. The practical performance of the proposed methods is illustrated via simulation studies and a crop yield prediction application. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


Commonly described as the "lungs of the planet," the Amazon rainforest represents over half of the remaining rainforest in the world, constituting an important global carbon sink and one of the most culturally- and biologically-diverse regions of the world. The past half-century has seen a worrisome amount of deforestation in this rainforest, but different regions within the Amazon, however, compare differently in terms of deforestation trajectories. What has been the role of products obtained from managing forests, such as the now globally-consumed acai palm fruit, in reverting deforestation trends? My hypothesis is that there is a statistically significant negative correlation between such forest products and extent of deforestation. This study examines, within the historical and social context of the Amazon Delta and Estuary, the relationship between acai agroforestry and deforestation. The focus units are the municipios (roughly equivalent to counties) that constitute the Amazon Delta and Estuary, all located in the northern Brazilian states of Amapa and Para. Statistical data for deforestation obtained from PRODES, a Brazilian governmental project, which monitors deforestation via satellite, is used to ascertain deforestation in the region. This dataset is then correlated with census-based production data for each municipio for the period from 2002 to 2012. Mapping these variables onto municipios does visually demonstrate a contrast between areas of high deforestation and high acai production; however, the relationship is not statistically significant.


During the course of normal embryonic and post-embryonic development, 131 cells in a Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite undergo programmed cell death. Loss of function mutations in either of the genes ced-3 or ced-4 abolish cell deaths, enabling these 'undead' cells to survive and be incorporated into the adult with no obvious deleterious consequences. Ultrastructural reconstructions have shown that undead cells exhibit many differentiated characteristics. Most of the reconstructed cells appeared to be neurons with all the characteristic features associated with such cells, such as processes, synaptic vesicles and presynaptic specializations. However, clear morphological differences were seen among the undead neurons, suggesting a diversity of cell type. One of the reconstructed cells was a rectal epithelial cell, which had displaced its lineal sister that normally functions in this role. Removal of the ability to undergo programmed cell death by mutation therefore reveals a diversity of cryptic differentiated states that are acquired by cells that normally are destined to die.


Recently, it has been reported that eriC and crcB are involved in bacterial fluoride resistance. However, the fluoride-resistance mechanism in oral streptococci remains unclear. BLAST studies showed that two types of eriCs (eriC1 and eriC2) and two types of crcBs (crcB1 and crcB2) are present across 18 oral streptococci, which were identified in ≥ 10% of 166 orally healthy subjects with ≥ 0.01% of the mean relative abundance. They were divided into three groups based on the distribution of these four genes: group I, only eriC1; group II, eriC1 and eriC2; and group III, eriC2, crcB1, and crcB2. Group I consisted of Streptococcus mutans, in which one of the two eriC1s predominantly affected fluoride resistance. Group II consisted of eight species, and eriC1 was responsible for fluoride resistance, but eriC2 was not, in Streptococcus anginosus as a representative species. Group III consisted of nine species, and both crcB1 and crcB2 were crucial for fluoride resistance, but eriC2 was not, in Streptococcus sanguinis as a representative species. Based on these results, either EriC1 or CrcBs play a role in fluoride resistance in oral streptococci. Complementation between S. mutans EriC1 and S. sanguinis CrcB1/CrcB2 was confirmed in both S. mutans and S. sanguinis. However, neither transfer of S. sanguinis CrcB1/CrcB2 into wild-type S. mutans nor S. mutans EriC1 into wild-type S. sanguinis increased the fluoride resistance of the wild-type strain. Co-existence of different F− channels (EriC and CrcB) did not cause the additive effect on fluoride resistance in oral Streptococcus species.


Picture it. You are the owner of a non-union construction company who was recently awarded a contract to modernize a manufacturing plant. However, as you begin performing the contract, local unions begin to wage war against your company. They begin picketing and encouraging strikes without telling people the reasons for their animosity. They begin lobbying for higher emissions standards, even though there is no reason to believe the project would harm the environment. They seek to delay and raise the costs of the project by filing questionable lawsuits against you. Finally, they launch wholly unsupported grievance proceedings against your company based on inapplicable collective bargaining agreements. As the owner of the company, what are you to do? You can either sit back and take the abuse, or you can file a lawsuit against the unions seeking to prevent these draconian practices. However, before June 24, 2002, if your company did not prevail in its lawsuit, it would be subject to charges of unfair labor practices simply because your company lost while trying to vindicate its rights. This article discusses the legal parameters surrounding such a situation and advises employers (and their attorneys) on ways to handle these matters.


3 Abstract: The present world is greatly inclined towards alternating energy, but yet the use of coal as a primary energy source cannot be avoided. Disposal of huge amount of fly ash from the thermal power plants cannot be bypassed, since we cannot circumvent the second law of thermodynamics. The management of fly ash is a matter of great concern, in the present century. It has great potentiality in agriculture due to its efficacy in modification of soil health and crop performance. The present paper aims to highlight the optimum use of the metal phosphorus, present in the fly ash generated from Mejia Thermal Power Station (M.T.P.S), in boosting the agricultural production. The paper also identified strains of Phosphorus Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB"s) that are capable of converting the insoluble form of phosphorus present in rock soil into a more accessible soluble form.


The problem of shimmy of a castering wheel, such as the nose wheel of a tricycle gear airplane, is treated analytically. The flexibility of the tire is considered to be the primary cause of shimmy. The rather simple theory developed agrees rather well with previous experimental results. The author suggests that shimmy may be eliminated through a suitable choice of landing gear dimensions in lieu of a damper.


The phenomenal growths of information technology and related fields have warranted the development of new class of materials. Multifunctional oxides, magnetic-semiconductors, multiferroics and smart materials are just a few examples of such materials. They are needed for the development of novel technologies such as spintronics, magneto-electronics, radhard electronics, and advanced microelectronics. For these technologies, of particular interest are some solid solutions of ilmenite-hematite (IH) represented by (1-x) FeTiO3.xFe2O3 where x varies from 0 to 1; Mn-doped ilmenite (Mn+3-FeTiO3) and Mn-doped pseudobrookite, Mn+3-Fe2TiO5 (PsB). These multifunctional oxides are ferromagnetic with the magnetic Curie points well above the room temperature as well as wide bandgap semiconductors with band gap Eg > 2.5 eV. This paper outlines: (a) processing of device quality samples for structural, electrical and magnetic characterization, (b) fabrication and evaluation of an integrated structure for controlled magnetic switching, and (c) the response of the two terminal non-linear current-voltage (I-V) characteristics when biased by a dc voltage. Subsequently, we will identify a few microelectronic applications based on this class of oxides.


Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is envisioned to become a key technology for the upcoming six-generation (6G) wireless system due to its potential of reaping high performance in a power-efficient and cost-efficient way. With its disruptive capability and hardware constraint, the integration of IRS imposes some fundamental particularities on the coordination of multi-user signal transmission. Consequently, the conventional orthogonal and non-orthogonal multiple-access schemes are hard to directly apply because of the joint optimization of active beamforming at the base station and passive reflection at the IRS. Relying on an alternating optimization method, we develop novel schemes for efficient multiple access in IRS-aided multi-user multi-antenna systems in this paper. Achievable performance in terms of the sum spectral efficiency is theoretically analyzed. A comprehensive comparison of different schemes and configurations is conducted through Monte-Carlo simulations to clarify which scheme is favorable for this emerging 6G paradigm.


In this paper, three-phase noise is first analyzed using symmetrical component theory. Three-phase noise separators are modeled and characterized using symmetrical component theory and S-parameters. The critical formulas used to evaluate a three-phase noise separator are derived. A function scheme and a circuit structure for three-phase noise separators are proposed based on the theory developed. The technique to design a high-performance three-phase noise separator is explored. A three-phase noise separator prototype is finally built, measured, and evaluated using the theory developed in this paper. The prototype is used in a practical three-phase power electronics system for electromagnetic interference measurement.


In this paper, I demonstrate that expansionary fiscal policy associated with an increase in public debt can cause a persistent recession. I assume that entrepreneurs have borrowing constraints and that the government issues debt and collects tax from productive entrepreneurs. The government can also transfer resources to workers. Under this setting, an increase in public debt per se can enhance economic growth as it can compensate for the shortage of liquidity. However, output decreases as the transfer increases due to the income effect of the transfer on workers increasing the wage rate. Noticeably, both output and interest rates decline as the transfer and debt become larger. This result challenges the widely accepted view that the negative effect of expansionary fiscal policy on output should be the crowding-out effect that works through a hike in interest rates. It also implies that redistribution from workers to productive agents may enhance economic growth.


This review study deals with the collocation of the performance of three different separation techniques for the extraction of essential oil of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus) accordant with yield produced, time utilized for extraction, and overall cost of production. The system of Supercritical CO2 extraction (SFC), Microwave-assisted Hydrodistillation (MAHD), and conventional hydro-distillation (HD) method were juxtaposed from the yield and time point of view. SFE is a modern extraction technology that uses a Supercritical phase of CO2for the isolation of essential oil from lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus) and is a green process because of the use of natural and climate-friendly solventCO2. MAHD is a microwave-powered extraction procedure that provides efficient and effective heating to the plant material and uses deionized water as a solvent. A lab-scale apparatus of conventional hydro-distillation was used. SFE and MAHD were found to be superior green technology when compared with HD producing high quality of oil, in a short period with negligible environmental degradation.


Information Communication & Technology (ICT) plays an important role as a catalyst to enable and facilitate the implementation of the development, transfer, and utilization of knowledge, which subsequently may contribute to the improvement and innovation. This research intends to analyze how ICT competency directly influences knowledge management, how knowledge management directly influences innovation, and how ICT competency indirectly influences innovation through knowledge management. The research is limited to the case of the five sectors of the creative industries in the island of Batam, Indonesia. Those five sectors are television, radio, publishing, IT software and computer services, and architecture. The data are collected via questionnaire from a sample of 150 respondents. A structural equation model is established to study the interrelationship among those variables. At the end, the research concludes that ICT competency has positive effect on knowledge management, as well as on innovation via knowledge management, and knowledge management mediates the relationship between ICT competency and innovation.


This study aims to create a college English coursebook corpus of coursebooks widely used in universities in China to form the basis of an analysis. The comparative study based on Cunningsworth [1] coursebook evaluation theory, in view of several checklist items and the adoption of quantitative and qualitative approach, involves: vocabulary size, the coverage of vocabulary and collocations and the readability of texts. The statistics of evaluation show that there is a gap between requirements and coursebooks. It is hoped that the indices examined in this study would be of some help for English teachers to take vocabulary and collocation size and text readability into account in teaching practice and possibly for administrators to adjust curriculum design and for editors or publishers to revise existing coursebooks.


When breaking large currents in switching devices, arcs are created, which continue to carry the current. It is desirable to extinguish these in order to break the current. In this master thesis a model of the arcs behavior during current zero-crossings was made and put into a module, which is to be used when simulating electrical AC arcs. The module will be used when designing switches, e.g. contactors.When the current falls to 0 A there is a race between the transient recovery voltage and the dielectric strength, which determines if the arc will extinguish or restrike. The arc is extinguished if the dielectric strength is greater than the transient recovery voltage through the whole cycle.The transient recovery voltage is only dependent on the circuit used. The dielectric strength was found to mainly depend on the arc current, gap length and contact material. A model of the dielectric strength was made to determine if the arc will restrike or not.


This paper describes a multimodal environment to support all stages of the industrial design process. The system is considered to support a designer starting at the very early stages of the design process up to the production and reengineering of physical models. This switching between the virtual and the physical world is called multimodal. To deal with all those stages, the system's architecture comprises commercially available tools as well as completely new developed components. This architecture is presented and some parts of it will be described in detail. Special emphasis is placed on the kernel of the system, a VR-modeling tool and on its user interface. An overview of the provided interfaces from and to the physical world, and an outlook on further work complete this paper. THE "designDesign"-WORKSHOP Nowadays, product design is a highly complex and creative task, carried out under a number of constraints such as time and costs. The design process not only focuses on creating the shape for a new product, but comprises the whole range of product development, starting with the recognition of a "real-world problem" which is to be solved, and ending with the production of a first prototype. Several phases of the design process can be supported by computer modeling tools, while others cannot. The very early stages, also called "conceptual phases", only depend on the experience, view, and creativity of the designer. There is no process description for these early stages and a designer can hardly explain how he deals with them. In these stages, design is an entirely mental process dealing only with ideas and thoughts (Hofmann 1998). During the subsequent stages of design named visualization -, there is a strong need for supporting the designer with tools. In this case, the definition of tools comprises digital tools as well as physical ones. The main idea described in this paper is to combine these two worlds, physical and digital, and to allow a designer to switch easily between them (Weinert et al. 1998b). To achieve this goal there are many ideas and conclusions which were developed during a workshop held in Stuttgart in June 1998. 22 designers from several fields of design (architecture, industrial design, WWW-design, etc.) took part in the workshop and discussed their needs for additional digital and physical tools to improve their personal design processes. A technique called brainwriting was used to extract fundamental ideas and gather opinions. Those fundamental ideas are now serving as a basis for the proposed Multimodal Design Environment (MDE) (Hofmann 1998). These ideas are summarized in the following fig. 1: Fig. 1: Multimodal Design Process Digital vs. Physical Modeling It turned out that designers wish to use digital models for various reasons: A digital model allows fast and easy changes of material, shape, lighting, color, etc. Duplication and transportation of digital models are fast, low-cost operations. Variants can be generated with little extra effort, and close co-operation with colleagues and/or customers around the world becomes feasible. A digital model is directly available for computer processing, e.g., stress or flow simulations and CAD/CAM-production. On the other hand, there are several reasons why designers are not likely to abandon physical models: A physical model can be touched, and it has a weight. There are properties of a model which cannot be simulated nowadays, like flavor and smelling, and even some geometric aspects must be felt by hand. Many designers are used to physical models and have acquired high levels of skill with physical tools. Some see no need for digital tools and cannot imagine using them in a reasonable way. MDE is an approach to integrate both worlds in one design process by providing fast and easy transitions between them. This is necessary in order to combine the advantages of both worlds by avoiding their respective disadvantages. THE MULTIMODAL DESIGN ENVIRONMENT The MDE comprises a variety of different tools which are designed to work together closely. There are standard CAD/CAM-tools as well as a newly developed VR-modeling tool. Not all of them are running in a VR environment because for such tasks as surface reconstruction and NC-data generation there is no need to carry them out in an highly immersive environment. On the other hand, generation of new shapes or changing an existing virtual model are tasks which recommend an immersive VR environment. The following fig. 2 shows the overall structure of (the computer-based part of) the system. Fig. 2: Overall System Structure The figure shown above presents basically three layers and the degree of immersions grows from the outer to the inner circle. Between the layers there have to be interfaces which are described later in more detail. It is important to notice that the overall system structure comprises more than the VR-modeler and that only the co-operation of different tools on different levels will help designers in different stages of design. The next paragraph first describes in more detail the VR-modeler, the different tools it provides and their impact on the chosen data representation. The interaction concept is central to a further paragraph. At last, the tools and interfaces which are used to change the virtual models into physical ones and vice versa are presented.


Knowledge of the thermal conductivity of Ar under conditions of high pressures and temperatures (P-T) is important for model calculations of heat transfer in the laser heated diamond anvil cell (DAC) as it is commonly used as a pressure transmitting medium and for thermal insulation. We used a modified transient heating technique utilizing microsecond laser pulses in a symmetric DAC to determine the P-T dependent thermal conductivity of solid Ar up to 50 GPa and 2500 K. The temperature dependent thermal conductivity of Ar was obtained by fitting the results of finite element calculations to the experimentally determined time dependent temperature of a thin Ir foil surrounded by Ar. Our data for the thermal conductivity of Ar are larger than that theoretically calculated using the Green-Kubo formalism, but they agree well with those based on kinetic theory. These results are important for ongoing studies of the thermal transport properties of minerals at pressures and temperatures native to the mantle and ...


Integrins are heterodimeric transmembrane receptors that play an essential role in enabling cells to sense and bind to extracellular ligands. Activation and clustering of integrins leads to the formation of focal adhesions at the plasma membrane that subsequently initiate signalling pathways to control a broad range of functional endpoints including cell migration, proliferation and survival. The α4 and α9 integrins form a small sub-family of receptors that share some specific ligands and binding partners. Although relatively poorly studied compared with other integrin family members, emerging evidence suggests that despite restricted cell and tissue expression profiles, these integrins play a key role in the regulation of signalling pathways controlling cytoskeletal remodelling and migration in both adherent and non-adherent cell types. This review summarises the known shared and specific roles for α4 and α9 integrins and highlights the importance of these receptors in controlling cell migration within both homeostatic and disease settings.


: Cattell's High School Personality Questionnaire and Gough's Adjective Checklist were administered to 73 15-yr.-old boys to compare personality for groups selected on the basis of extreme scores on maturation (skeletal development, age at achievement of peak height velocity), body type (body somatotype, body skinfolds), performance (body reaction time), strength, physical fitness and socioeconomic status. Multiple discriminant analyses indicated that the only significant difference in personality between groups was for early versus late maturers (skeletal development) on Cattell's scale. The personality scores for the remaining extreme groups did not differ on either of the scales, Cattell's or Gough's.


We study a simple example of a sequential game illustrating problems connected with making rational decisions that are universal for social sciences. The set of chooser's optimal decisions that manifest his preferences in case of a constant strategy of the adversary (the offering player), is investigated. It turns out that the order imposed by the player's rational preferences can be intransitive. The presented quantitative results imply a revision of the "common sense" opinions stating that preferences showing intransitivity are paradoxical and undesired.


Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)19 T-cells exhibit powerful anti-leukemic effects in patients with B cell malignancies. However, the complexity of production of patient bespoke T cell products is a major barrier to the broader application of this approach. We are investigating a novel strategy to enable "off-the-shelf"' therapy with mismatched donor CAR19 T cells. Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN)s can be used to overcome HLA barriers by eliminating the risk of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) through disruption of T cell receptor expression, and by simultaneously targeting CD52, cells can be rendered insensitive to the lymphodepleting agent Alemtuzumab. Administration of Alemtuzumab can then be exploited to prevent host-mediated rejection of HLA mismatched CAR19 T cells. We manufactured a bank of such cells from volunteer donor T cells under GMP conditions on behalf of Cellectis S.A for final stage validation studies using a third generation self inactivating lentiviral vector encoding a 4g7 CAR19 (CD19 scFv- 41BB- CD3ζ) linked to RQR8, an abbreviated sort/suicide gene encoding both CD34 and CD20 epitopes. Cells were then electroporated with two pairs of TALEN mRNA for multiplex targeting of both the T cell receptor alpha constant chain locus, and the CD52 gene locus. Following ex-vivo expansion, cells still expressing TCR were depleted using CliniMacs alpha/beta TCR depletion, yielding a T cell product with <1% TCR expression, 85% of which expressed CAR19, and 64% becoming CD52 negative. This universal CAR19 (UCART19) cell bank has been characterized in detail, including sterility, molecular and cytometric analyses and human/murine functional studies ahead of submissions for regulatory approvals and Phase 1 testing in trials for relapsed B cell leukaemia. In the interim we received a request for therapy on a compassionate basis for an infant with refractory relapsed B-ALL, and with the agreement of Cellectis, we treated this first patient under UK special therapy regulations.

An 11 month girl with high risk CD19+infant ALL (t(11;19) rearrangement) relapsed in bone marrow 3 months after a myeloablative 8/10 mismatched unrelated donor transplant. Leukaemic blasts expressed CD19 but were CD52negative. Her disease progressed despite treatment with Blinatumomab (70% blasts in marrow) and we were unable to generate donor-derived CAR19 T cells on an existing study. Following institutional ethics review, detailed counseling, and parental consent, the patient received cytoreduction with Vincristine, Dexamethasone and Asparaginase followed by lymphodepleting conditioning with Fludarabine 90mg/m2, Cyclophosphamide 1.5g/m2 and Alemtuzumab 1mg/kg. Immediately prior to infusion of UCART19 cells, the bone marrow showed persisting disease (0.5% FISH positive). She received a single dose (4.5x106/kg) of UCART19 T cells without any significant toxicity. To date there has been no significant perturbation of cytokine levels in peripheral blood, and no indication of cytokine release syndrome. Although profoundly lymphopenic, UCART19 T cells were detectable by qPCR in the circulation by day 14 and at increased levels in both blood (VCN 0.35) and marrow (VCN 0.22) on day 28. The patient exhibited signs of count recovery and the bone marrow, while hypoplastic, was in cytogenetic and molecular remission. Chimerism was 90% donor, and a clearly demarcated population (7%) of third party cells indicated persistence of UCART19. A residual persistence of 3% recipient cells in the marrow suggests that leukemic clearance was not mediated by transplant mediated alloreactivity.

Within the short period of follow up available, our intervention comprising lymphodepletion and infusion of UCART19 T cells has induced molecular remission where all other treatments had failed. This first-in-man application of TALEN engineered cells provides early proof of concept evidence for a ready-made T cell strategy that will now be tested in early phase clinical trials.

Disclosures Qasim: CATAPULT: Research Funding; CELLMEDICA: Research Funding; CALIMMUNE: Research Funding; MILTENYI: Research Funding; AUTOLUS: Consultancy, Equity Ownership, Research Funding; CELLECTIS: Research Funding. Off Label Use: UCART19 T Cells are an unlicensed investigational medicinal product and in this case were used under MHRA special licence arrangements. Stafford: CELLECTIS: Research Funding. Peggs: Cellectis: Research Funding; Autolus: Consultancy, Equity Ownership. Thrasher: CATAPULT: Patents & Royalties, Research Funding; MILTENYI: Research Funding; AUTOLUS: Consultancy, Equity Ownership, Research Funding. Pule: AUTOLUS: Employment, Equity Ownership, Research Funding; CELLECTIS: Research Funding; AMGEN: Honoraria; UCLB: Patents & Royalties.


Abstract: Recently isolated populations offer a good biological model to infer the evolutionary forces responsible for the current divergences across populations. We coupled genetic, morphometric, ecological, and demographic analyses from three island populations of the endemic Balearic Wall Lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, (Balearic archipelago, Spain) to infer the mechanisms underlying the observed differences in body size. For each population, we described plant community structure, derived a biotic capacity index, and used individual-based data on 1369 lizards captured and released during 6 yr (2009–2015) to estimate population density and body growth patterns. We used genetic data collected on 80 individuals (∼27 for each population) to infer genetic divergences across islets and population history. Body size divergences cannot be explained by the ecological or population characteristics. Individual growth was slower in the smallest island, where lizards reached the largest average body size. In addition to having the highest density, results suggested that resource availability does not constrain asymptotic body size, but the speed at which individuals reach it does. The Approximate Bayesian Computation used to infer population history from genetic data supported the occurrence of two bottlenecks in the islet with the highest anthropogenic footprint. We emphasize the need to integrate ecological and genetic data and the importance of considering the effects of past human disturbance as an additional force in being able to model present island fauna.


13 patients between 19 and 35 years, 12 of them with histologically verified trophoblastic disease, were examined by MRI, to prove the diagnostic value of this method. In line with the excellent results of MRI described in the literature with respect to the differentiation of tissue characterisation, vascularisation and localisation of tumours, the response to chemotherapy was evaluated comparatively to HCG-titres (5 patients). The results showed, that a decrease of HCG-titres correlated with significant tumour reduction. MRI was performed with 1.5 Tesla machines. Axial, sagittal and coronal images of pelvis and abdomen in T1, proton density and T1 sequences, one after administration of Gd-DTPA, were carried out. Except for one case with decreasing titres, GTP was proven by MRI. The tumour showed a remarkable lack of homogeneity and signal increase in 7 cases in T2-weighted images. In one case, the tumour showed a marked signal enhancement after applying Gd-DTPA, compared with the normal myometrium. In 5 cases, destruction of the zonal anatomy of the uterus and dilatation of subserosal uterine and pelvis veins were found. The uterus was larger in size than expected for the duration of gravidity. In correlation with the clinical examination and HCG titres, MRI has the potential of multiplanar imaging and signal characterisation of tissue, and is therefore useful to evaluate the tumour extent and to detect residuals. Gradient echo-technique and the use of contrast media will reduce the duration of examination, but more experience is required.


A scheduling and control system can be viewed as a vital component of modern manufacturing systems that determines companies' overall performance in their respective supply chains. This paper studies reactive scheduling policies developed against unexpected machine failures. These reactive policies are based on rerouting the jobs to their alternative machines when their primary machine fails. Depending on the subset of the jobs considered for rerouting, the long-term performance of four policies are tested under various conditions. Expecting that these rerouting policies would bring an extra load for a material-handling system (MHS), a dynamic job shop environment was studied with and without a MHS. It is shown that the proper selection of a good reactive policy is based not only on the system characteristics such as utilization, machine down times and frequency of machine failures, but also on the MHS capacity (in terms of speed and number of MH devices). The extensive experiments show that when the MHS is not a bottleneck and/or the down times are long enough to compensate the cost of extra rerouting, rerouting all affected jobs to their alternative machines proves to be the best policy. However, when the MHS cannot handle the extra load due to rerouting or the down times are relatively short, then rerouting only the jobs that will arrive to the failed machine during repair performs the best.


A novel synchronization technique is proposed for a heterogeneous cognitive radio combining a public safety mobile communication system (PMCS) with a commercial mobile wireless communication system (CMWCS). Since the PMCS is crucial in public safety activities such as search-and-rescue operations, we have implemented a heterogeneous cognitive technique to improve the communication quality of the PMCS. To combine the PMCS with the CMWCS properly, the proposed synchronization technique enables not only the co-synchronization between the PMCS and the CMWCS but also the self-synchronization of the PMCS. In this paper, we especially focus on the PMCS's self-synchronization that is one of the most difficult parts of our proposed cognitive radio system. The proposed technique is utilized for systems employing differentially encoded 7t/4-shift QPSK modulation. The synchronization can be achieved by correlating the envelopes calculated from the PMCS's received signals with subsidiary information (SI) sent via the CMWCS. In this study, the performance of the proposed synchronization technique is evaluated by computer simulation.


BACKGROUND
Cementless humeral resurfacing arthroplasty is a bone-conserving arthroplasty option for patients with glenohumeral arthritis. It has been successful in the older patient population. However, data regarding the results of arthroplasty in younger, more active patients are lacking. We report the two-year results of this procedure in active patients who were less than fifty-five years of age.

METHODS
We reviewed prospectively collected clinical data on a series of thirty-six patients under fifty-five years of age with end-stage glenohumeral arthrosis, but without osteonecrosis, who had undergone a cementless humeral resurfacing hemiarthroplasty performed by a single surgeon. All patients were followed for a minimum of two years. We assessed pain, function, and patient satisfaction and documented all complications. Radiographs were evaluated for implant loosening.

RESULTS
The thirty-six patients had a mean age of 42.3 years and were followed for a mean of 38.1 months. Scores measured with a visual analog pain scale, the Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE) scale, and the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) scale all improved significantly from preoperatively to two years postoperatively (p < 0.001). Complications included one traumatic subscapularis rupture at six weeks, three cases of arthrofibrosis, and one deep hematoma. No obvious radiographic evidence of loosening was noted at the time of the latest follow-up. One shoulder was converted to a stemmed total shoulder arthroplasty at twenty-four months because of pain, but the implant was not loose at the revision. The remaining thirty-five patients were satisfied with the outcome at the time of the latest follow-up and had returned to their desired activity.

CONCLUSIONS
Cementless humeral resurfacing arthroplasty is a viable treatment option for younger, active patients. Early results indicate that the desired function and pain relief can be expected. Implant loosening and glenoid wear do not appear to be concerns in the short term despite the high activity levels of many patients. Long-term follow-up is needed to determine if these results persist.


Changes in oak gall wasps species diversity (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in relation to the presence of oak powdery mildew (Erysiphe alphitoides). Zoological Studies 51(2): 175-184. Plant-mediated interactions usually lead to multipartite interactions in a community of organisms. To evaluate the impact of oak powdery mildew Erysiphe alphitoides infestation on the distributions of cynipid oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), a field survey was conducted in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, in 2 consecutive years of 2009-2010. Multiple samples were taken from both infected and uninfected trees (Quercus spp.) at 4 different sites where maximum activity of E. alphitoides occurred and cynipid galls exhibited complete development. The species diversity and richness of gall-forming wasps were estimated and also parameters such as Simpson's index, Shannon's H', and the Sorensen similarity quotient were calculated. Data were also analyzed by independent-samples t-test to compare the mean numbers of galls occurring on infected and uninfected trees. Results clearly indicated that the highest richness and diversity of oak gall-forming wasps were consistently found on uninfected trees at all study sites in the 2 consecutive years. Further, the number and diversity of gall-forming wasps were negatively correlated with the extent (percentage) of pathogen infection, and trees with the heaviest E. alphitoides infection had the lowest numbers of gall-forming wasps. In addition, E. alphitoides decreased the rate of Sorensen's coefficient between regions where oak trees infected with E. alphitoides were sampled. This study demonstrates plant-mediated interactions between a native pathogen and a community of gall-forming insects on oak trees.


Cancer
It is not easy being a cancer cell, so such cells may need help from factors other than oncogenes that contribute to the cancer cell phenotype. Bublik et al. identify such a factor in protein fibroblast growth factor 13 (FGF13). FGF13 does not function like a regular growth factor. Instead, it acts in the nucleolus to repress transcription of ribosomal RNA and inhibit protein synthesis. Furthermore, it is tightly linked to the action of the tumor suppressor p53. The p53 protein inhibits expression of the FGF 13 gene, which also encodes a microRNA that in turn down-regulates p53, forming a negative feedback loop. FGF13 may help cancer cells avoid the toxic effects of excessive protein synthesis and could therefore be targeted for cancer therapy.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10.1073/pnas.1614876114 (2016).


The analysis of short-term cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory regulation during altered conscious states, such as those induced by anesthesia, requires to employ time series analysis methods able to deal with the multivariate and multiscale nature of the observed dynamics. To meet this requirement, the present study exploits the extension to multiscale analysis of recently proposed information decomposition methods which allow to quantify, from short realizations, the amounts of joint, unique, redundant and synergistic information transferred within multivariate time series. These methods were applied to the spontaneous variability of heart period (HP), systolic arterial pressure (SAP) and respiration (RESP) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft monitored before and after the induction of general anesthesia. We found that, after anesthesia induction, information is processed within the cardiovascular network in a scale-dependent way: at short time scales, a shift from synergistic to redundant information transferred from SAP and RESP to HP occurs, which is associated with enhanced baroreflex-mediated respiratory effects on arterial pressure; at longer time scales, the increased information transfer from SAP to HP denotes an enhancement of the baroreflex coupling related to slow cardiovascular oscillations.


Objective: The Emergency Department is a complex environment in which healthcare providers are confronted with uncontrolled and unpredictable critical patient workload. This necessitates multitasking, organization, critical thinking and clear communication. Safe practices during dispensing and administration of medications vastly reduces the potential for patient harm and decreases medication errors (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2008).
Design/Methods: An eight-question survey was developed to determine nurses' perceptions of the current medication storage system. Participants were asked to identify ways in which this system could be improved and medications organized in a safer, more systematic way. Following initial data collection, all medications were rearranged to improve medication organization and retrieval. The participants were then surveyed following the intervention to ascertain feedback.
Results: 68% of participants noted that they perceived the current system to be chaotic. When asked if organizational changes might improve patient care delivery and safety, 96% responded in the affirmative. Labeling medication with both generic/ brand names and organizing them by class and alphabetically thereafter were all identified as potential options for reorganization. Following the intervention, a post-survey demonstrated that 100% of respondents remained enthusiastic about the new system approximately 9 months after implementation.
Conclusions: The previous medication storage system was fractured and chaotic. Systematic organization of medications by name/class improved nurses' perceptions of medication safety and delivery while inadvertently reducing the waste of expired medications. Greater measures are needed to truly minimize the risk for a medication administration errors including targeted continuing education and implementation of an electronic medication administration system.


Analysis of physical and microbiological quality of quail meat samples was carried out during frozen storage (-18±2oC) of 90 days period. Slaughtering of six weeks old broiler quails was done hygienically. Quail meat samples were packed in low density polyethylene pouches taking best possible care to avoid contamination and stored at -18 ± 2°C for 90 days. These stored samples were evaluated for physical properties and microbiological quality after thawing at 4 ± 1oC for 12 h at an interval of 15, 30, 60 and 90 days. It was observed that drip loss increased, while the extract release volume (ERV) decreased with progression of the storage period. Similarly standard plate count, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and psychrophilic count decreased with advancement of frozen storage period. While all of the meat samples were found to be negative for Salmonella spp. It is concluded from the study that quail meat can be safely stored in frozen state for up to 3 months without any deterioration.


Many computationally-intensive programs, such as those for differential equations, spatial interpolation, and dynamic programming, spend a large portion of their execution time in multiply-nested loops that have a regular stencil of data dependences. Tiling is a well-known compiler optimization that improves performance on such loops, particularly for computers with a multilevel hierarchy of parallelism and memory. Most previous work on tiling is limited in at least one of the following ways: they only handle nested loops of depth two, orthogonal tiling, or rectangular tiles. In our work, we tile loop nests of arbitrary depth using polyhedral tiles. We derive a prediction formula for the execution time of such tiled loops, which can be used by a compiler to automatically determine the tiling parameters that minimizes the execution time. We also explain the notion of rise, a measure of the relationship between the shape of the tiles and the shape of the iteration space generated by the loop nest. The rise is a powerful tool in predicting the execution time of a tiled loop. It allows us to reason about how the tiling affects the length of the longest path of dependent tiles, which is a measure of the execution time of a tiling. We use a model of the tiled iteration space that allows us to determine the length of the longest path of dependent tiles using linear programming. Using the rise, we derive a simple formula for the length of the longest path of dependent tiles in rectilinear iteration spaces, a subclass of the convex iteration spaces, and show how to choose the optimal tile shape.


The diversity of bacterial groups of activated sludge samples that received wastewater from four different types of industry was investigated by a nested PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) approach. Specific 16S rRNA primers were chosen for large bacterial groups (Bacteria and alpha-Proteobacteria in particular), which dominate activated sludge communities, as well as for actinomycetes, ammonium oxidisers and methanotrophs (types I and II). In addition primers for the new Acidobacterium kingdom were used to observe their community structure in activated sludge. After this first PCR amplification, a second PCR with bacterial primers yielded 16S rRNA gene fragments that were subsequently separated by DGGE, thus generating 'group-specific DGGE patterns'. The community structure and diversity of the bacterial groups from the different samples was further analysed using different techniques, such as statistical analysis and Shannon diversity index evaluation of the band patterns. By combining the seven DGGE gels, cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling and principal component analysis clearly clustered two of the four activated sludge types separately. It was shown that the combination of molecular and statistical methods can be very useful to differentiate microbial communities.


Given the clinical success of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) across a diverse set of solid tumors, and the emerging role for different immune infiltrates in contributing to response to ICB, a comprehensive assessment of the properties that dictate immune infiltrations may reveal new biological insights and inform the development of new effective therapies. Multiple studies have examined somatic and functional immune properties associated with different tumor infiltrates; however, germline features that associate with specific immune infiltrates in cancers have been incompletely characterized. Here, we analyzed over 7 million autosomal germline variants in the TCGA cohort (5788 European-ancestry samples across 30 cancer types) and tested for pan-cancer association with established immune-related phenotypes that describe the tumor immune microenvironment. We identified: one SNP associated with the fraction of follicular helper T cells in bulk tumor; 77 unique candidate genes, some of which are involved in cytokine-mediated signaling (e.g. CNTF and TRIM34) and cancer pathogenesis (e.g. ATR and AKAP9); and subnetworks with genes that are part of DNA repair (RAD51 and XPC) and transcription elongation (CCNT2) pathways. We found a positive association between polygenic risk for rheumatoid arthritis and absolute fraction of infiltrating CD8 T cells. Overall, we identified multiple germline genetic features associated with specific tumor-immune phenotypes across cancer, and developed a framework for probing inherited features that contribute to variation in immune infiltration.


In this paper, we reveal the inherent tradeoff between the quality of routing performance and the size of routing states in wireless networks. We suggest that the key approach to an optimal routing design is how to efficiently encode a network topology into small dimensional coordinates from which hop count distances between pairwise sensors can be accurately recovered. Based on the precisely hop count distance comparison, our proposed topology aware routing can assist the greedy forwarding to find the right neighbor that is one hop closer to the destination, and therefore achieve high success rate of packet delivery. The intensive performance evaluation shows that the topology aware routing can achieve routing performance comparable to the shortest path routing while preserving the routing states as small as location aware routing. Particularly, high routing success rate can be achieved in both concave environments where voids are presented and dynamic environments where nodes crash frequently.


Nickel cobaltite, a low cost and an environmentally friendly supercapacitive material, is deposited as a thin nanostructure of 3–5 nm nanocrystals into carbon aerogels, a mesoporous host template of high specific surface areas and high electric conductivities, with a two‐step wet chemistry process. This nickel cobaltite/carbon aerogel composite shows ultrahigh specific capacitances of around 1700 F g−1 at a scan rate of 25 mV s−1 within a potential window of −0.05 to 0.5 V in 1 M NaOH solutions. The composite also possesses an excellent high rate capability manifested by maintaining specific capacitances above 800 F g−1 at a high scan rate of 500 mV s−1, and an outstanding cycling stability demonstrated by a negligible 2.4% decay in specific capacitances after 2000 cycles. The success is attributable to the fuller utilization of nickel cobaltite for pseudocapacitance generation, made possible by the composite structure enabling well exposed nickel cobaltite to the electrolyte and easy transport of charge carriers, ions, and electrons, within the composite electrode.


Botnets have become a vital part of underground economy and botherders are actively looking for new recruits to join their bot army. A lapse by an end user or an administrator in terms of not updating their software enables the botherder to achieve this objective. In this paper we will investigate the phenomenon of a machine infection from the perspective of a user update behavior. We also present type of attacks that are launched by hackers to compromise machine and the vulnerabilities that lead to such attacks as a result of update behavior. We will also characterize the user update behavior on the test network of study. Finally we will compare the update behavior of machines that were infected with the ones that were not infected. The objective of this investigation is to see if update behavior could be used as an effective security metric, our trends show that there is a very clear correlation between the machines that were infected and the machines that were not updated.


The choice of the method of anaesthesia in patients with diseases of the liver and kidneys must never be dogmatic. If patients selected for surgery suffer from functional disturbances of these organs, the key to the therapeutic measures required within the framework of anaesthesia lies in an understanding of the pathophysiological peculiarities and the compensatory mechanisms of the body. It is only in this manner that the drugs required for anaesthesia can be satisfactorily dosed, and it is also the only manner by which a possible interaction on already induced drug therapy can be estimated as safely as possible. On-target preoperative findings yield important hints to the anaesthetist with regard to the patient's present situation, enabling him to select the most appropriate method of anaesthesia and to initiate the requisite additional measures even before surgery. For example, in case of concomitant diseases of the liver and the kidneys maximum safety can be guaranteed only if the opportunities of preoperative findings and preoperative therapy are properly utilised.


Approval of inhaled nitric oxide by the US Food and Drug Administration for hypoxic respiratory failure of the term and near-term newborn provides an important new therapy for this serious condition. This statement addresses the conditions under which inhaled nitric oxide should be administered to the neonate with hypoxic respiratory failure.


Objectives: To assess multifocal electroretinogram (mf-ERG) values in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) who were treated with intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR). Methods: Thirty eyes of patients with DME, who underwent three consecutive monthly injections of IVR and as required thereafter, were evaluated. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (log MAR), optical coherence tomography (OCT) features [diameters of cyst and subretinal fluid, hyperreflective dots (HRDs)], and mf-ERG were evaluated at baseline, 1 month, and 6 months throughout the follow-up period. The correlation of mf-ERG values and OCT features, BCVA, and the duration of disease were investigated. Results: In the study group, the baseline P1 and N1 amplitudes were significantly lower than the control group, and P1 and N1 implicit times were significantly higher in patients with DME than in the control group in all rings (All p<0.05) The mean response density (P1 amplitude, nV/deg2) values increased over 6 months in rings 1, 2, and 3 (p<0.001, p=0.003, p=0.006). There was a negative correlation between the diameter of the cyst and the initial response density of P1 (for horizontal diameter: r=–0.658, p=0.03; for vertical diameter: r=–0.597, p=0.037; for the area of the cyst, r=–0.603, p=0.021). There was a significant negative correlation between the subretinal fluid and HRD reduction and the response density of P1 increase (all p<0.05). At baseline and 6 months, the correlation between BCVA and the P1 and N1 amplitude of the central ring was significant (for baseline P1: r=–0.649, p=0.01; for N1: r=–0.575, p=0.02; for 6-month P1, r=–0.603, p<0.001; for N1: r=–0.591, p=0.005). Conclusion: The combination of OCT and mf-ERG can be used to evaluate the functional recovery in DME.


Recent results in homotopy and solution paths demonstrate that certain well-designed greedy algorithms, with a range of values of the algorithmic parameter, can provide solution paths to a sequence of convex optimization problems. On the other hand, in regression many existing criteria in subset selection (including Cp, AIC, BIC, MDL, RIC, etc.) involve optimizing an objective function that contains a counting measure. The two optimization problems are formulated as (P1) and (P0) in the present paper. The latter is generally combinatoric and has been proven to be NP-hard. We study the conditions under which the two optimization problems have common solutions. Hence, in these situations a stepwise algorithm can be used to solve the seemingly unsolvable problem. Our main result is motivated by recent work in sparse representation, while two others emerge from different angles: a direct analysis of sufficiency and necessity and a condition on the mostly correlated covariates. An extreme example connected with least angle regression is of independent interest.


Nanosphere lithography fabricated nanostructures have highly tunable localized surface plasmons, which have been used for important sensing and spectroscopy applications. In this work, the authors focus on biological applications and technologies that utilize two types of related plasmonic phenomena: localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Two applications of these plasmonic materials are presented: (i) the development of an ultrasensitive nanoscale optical biosensor based on LSPR wavelength-shift spectroscopy and (ii) the SERS detection of an anthrax biomarker.