Developing architectures suitable for modeling raw audio is a challenging problem due to the high sampling rates of audio waveforms. Standard sequence modeling approaches like RNNs and CNNs have previously been tailored to fit the demands of audio, but the resultant architectures make undesirable computational tradeoffs and struggle to model waveforms effectively. We propose SaShiMi, a new multi-scale architecture for waveform modeling built around the recently introduced S4 model for long sequence modeling. We identify that S4 can be unstable during autoregressive generation, and provide a simple improvement to its parameterization by drawing connections to Hurwitz matrices. SaShiMi yields state-of-the-art performance for unconditional waveform generation in the autoregressive setting. Additionally, SaShiMi improves non-autoregressive generation performance when used as the backbone architecture for a diffusion model. Compared to prior architectures in the autoregressive generation setting, SaShiMi generates piano and speech waveforms which humans find more musical and coherent respectively, e.g. 2x better mean opinion scores than WaveNet on an unconditional speech generation task. On a music generation task, SaShiMi outperforms WaveNet on density estimation and speed at both training and inference even when using 3x fewer parameters. Code can be found at https://github.com/HazyResearch/state-spaces and samples at https://hazyresearch.stanford.edu/sashimi-examples.


Root system development is an important agronomic trait. The right architecture in a given environment allows plants to survive periods of water of nutrient deficit, and compete effectively for resources. Root systems also provide an optimal system for studying developmental plasticity, a characteristic feature of plant growth. This review proposes a framework for describing the pathways regulating the development of complex structures such as root systems: intrinsic pathways determine the characteristic architecture of the root system in a given plant species, and define the limits for plasticity in that species. Response pathways co-ordinate environmental cues with development by modulating intrinsic pathways. The current literature describing the regulation of root system development is summarized here within this framework. Regulatory pathways are also organized based on their specific developmental effect in the root system. All the pathways affect lateral root formation, but some specifically target initiation of the lateral root, while others target the development and activation of the lateral root primordium, or the elongation of the lateral root. Finally, we discuss emerging approaches for understanding the regulation of root system architecture.


This paper describes how, in large-scale multi-agent systems, each agent's adaptive selection of peer agents for collaborative tasks affects the overall performance and how this performance varies with the workload of the system and with fluctuations in the agents' peer selection policies (PSP). An intelligent agent in a multi-agent system (MAS) often has to select appropriate agents to assign tasks that cannot be executed locally. These collaborating agents are usually chosen according to their skills. However, if multiple candidate peer agents still remain a more efficient agent is preferable. Of course, its efficiency is affected by the agent' workload and CPU performance and the available communication bandwidth. Unfortunately, as no agent in an open environment such as the Internet can obtain such data from any other agent, this selection must be done according to the available local information about the other known agents. However, this information is limited, usually uncertain and often obsolete. Agents' states may also change over time, so the PSP must be adaptive to some extent. We investigated how the overall performance of MAS would change under adaptive policies in which agents selects peer agents using statistical/reinforcement learning. We particularly focused on mutual interference for selection under different workloads, that is, underloaded, near-critical, and overloaded situations. This paper presents simulation results and shows that the overall performance of MAS highly depends on the workload. It is shown that when agents' workloads are near the limit of theoretical total capability, a greedy PSP degrades the overall performance, even after a sufficient learning time, but that a PSP with a little fluctuation, called fluctuated PSP, can considerably improve it.

This paper is the revised and extended version of our conference papers [21] and [22].


Soil organic matter (SOM) and pH are key ecosystem drivers, influencing resilience to environmental change. We tested the separate effects of pH and SOM on nutrient availability, plant strategies, and soil community composition in calcareous and acidic Grey dunes (H2130) with low, intermediate, and/or high SOM, which differ in sensitivity to high atmospheric N deposition. Soil organic matter was mainly important for biomass parameters of plants, microbes, and soil animals, and for microarthropod diversity and network complexity. However, differences in pH led to fundamental differences in P availability and plant strategies, which overruled the normal soil community patterns, and influenced resilience to N deposition. In calcareous dunes with low grass‐encroachment, P availability was low despite high amounts of inorganic P, due to low solubility of calcium phosphates and strong P sorption to Fe oxides at high pH. Calcareous dunes were dominated by low‐competitive arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants, which profit from mycorrhiza especially at low P. In acidic dunes with high grass‐encroachment, P availability increased as calcium phosphates dissolved and P sorption weakened with the shift from Fe oxides to Fe‐OM complexes. Weakly sorbed and colloidal P increased, and at least part of the sorbed P was organic. Acidic dunes were dominated by nonmycorrhizal (NM) plants, which increase P uptake through exudation of carboxylates and phosphatase enzymes, which release weakly sorbed P, and disintegrate labile organic P. The shifts in P availability and plant strategies also changed the soil community. Contrary to expectations, the bacterial pathway was more important in acidic than in calcareous dunes, possibly due to exudation of carboxylates and phosphatases by NM plants, which serve as bacterial food resource. Also, the fungal AM pathway was enhanced in calcareous dunes, and fungal feeders more abundant, due to the presence of AM fungi. The changes in soil communities in turn reduced expected differences in N cycling between calcareous and acidic dunes. Our results show that SOM and pH are important, but separate ecosystem drivers in Grey dunes. Differences in resilience to N deposition are mainly due to pH effects on P availability and plant strategies, which in turn overruled soil community patterns.


A number of studies have appeared that evaluate the productivity of computer science scholars and their institutions. The aim of this work is to estimate the research productivity of Malaysia's computer science researchers and their affiliated institutions. To achieve the objectives of the study, we employed the bibliographic repository that is made available to the world's scientific research, which is the Thomson's Web of Science (denoted as CWTS-WoS) database . The 903 research works produced by Malaysia's computer science researchers, published as journal article (74.8 percent) and proceedings (25.2 percent) covered by the database from 2000 to 2010 were evaluated. The productivity of authors and core journals they published in have been determined using Lotka's and Bradford's Law. Some of the important findings are that most articles (54.9 percent) are multiauthored, author productivity is not in agreement with Lotka's law, the maximum number of articles were published in the Lecture Notes of Computer Science, distribution of articles is quite close to Bradford's Law, and the Multimedia University ranked first for the maximum number of publications (22.3% percent).


Leukemia results from uncontrolled growth of genetically altered blood cells. Depending on the cell type of origin, the leukemia is defined as T-cell, B-cell, or myeloid and as acute or chronic depending on its characteristics. However, patients with a certain subtype of leukemia (e.g. acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or acute T-cell leukemia (T-ALL)) still exhibit great heterogeneity in response to treatment and clinical outcome. For optimal survival it is therefore necessary to identify high-risk patients who benefit from more intense treatment and stem cell transplantation as well as patients with lower risk that benefit from less intense treatment. The treatment response is influenced by the genetic alterations that drive the leukemia and mutation status may therefore be used as a prognostic marker for risk stratification. In Paper I and II we focused on genetic markers previously identified as relevant for risk stratification of adult patients with the aim to evaluate them in pediatric patients with acute leukemia. Our results identified presence of FLT3-ITD and high BAALC expression as independent markers for adverse prognosis in pediatric AML. In addition, we found that high ERG expression was predictive for an adverse prognosis in pediatric AML with MLL-rearrangement. We also identified that high expression of the NOTCH1 target gene HES1 was associated with better survival rates in children with T-ALL. This indicates that the level of NOTCH1-activity is predictive for prognosis in pediatric T-ALL. Paper III focuses on mechanisms of KRAS-induced myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) and T-ALL in mice. The mechanistic role of hyperactive RAS is well understood in myeloid malignancies while its role in T-cell leukemogenesis is less clear. We used LSLKras2G12D;Mx1-Cre mice that models both MPN and T-ALL induced by hyperactive RAS and found that expression of KRASG12D had differential effects on the myeloid and Tlymphoid lineages. While increased proliferation of myeloid cells induced MPN by expansion of mature myeloid cells, increased proliferation and partial block in T-cell differentiation led to an expansion of early T-cell progenitors. With time, secondary genetic events resulted in T-ALL transformation and we identified loss of heterozygosity at the Kras2 locus as a cooperating genetic event in T-ALL induced by KRASG12D.


---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract Neuro endocrine tumor (NET) is one of the most common cancers leading to death worldwide. Many studies has emphasized the importance of Ki-67 as the proliferation marker in the neuro endocrine tumor. Automatic Ki-67 assessment is very challenging due to complex variations of cell characteristics. In this paper, we propose an integrated learning based framework using Fuzzy C means clustering (FCM) for accurate automatic Ki67 counting for NET and to localize both tumor and nontumor cells. Unlike the non-fuzzy clustering algorithms, FCM is less sensitive to noise and give better results for overlapped data sets. For feature selection t-test algorithm is used. The t-test has been used to rank features for microarray data. For multi-class problems, t – statistics value for each gene of each class is calculated by evaluating the difference between the mean of all the classes, where the difference is standardized by the within class standard deviation. The automatic Ki-67 counting is quite accurate compared with pathologists' manual annotations. This is much more accurate than existing methods.


Sex education in middle and high school health classes is critically important because it frequently comprises the primary mechanism for conveying information about sexual health to adolescents. Deliver evidence-based information on HIV and pregnancy prevention practices, and they will be less likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, the theory goes. One must ultimately inquire, however, if these programs actually work. Do adolescents actually implement what they learn in health education classes? Consider these two examples: Joe Ryder is a high school health teacher; he spends 15 days on sex education, and, at the end of the 15 days, his students take a unit test similar to the types of tests they take after units on smoking, cardiovascular health, and drugs. Cynthia Barnes is a high school health teacher; she also spends 15 days on sex education, but rather than giving her students a unit test, she engages them in role-playing activities in which the students must demonstrate how they would react in risky situations. Now, think about what might happen three months later. Suppose that a student in Ryder's class and a student in Barnes' class both find themselves in risky sexual situations. Which student do you think will be more likely to remember and use effective safe sex strategies? The assessment techniques used in sex education classes affect students' ability to use what they've learned in those classes. While teachers and parents may think tests or quizzes are appropriate forms of health education assessment, we argue that educators must seriously consider whether traditional techniques are the best ways to assess this type of learning. Although such assessment techniques may demonstrate short-term learning, they don't guarantee that students will remember and use the information when they find themselves confronted with critical sexual decisions. Sex education aims and assessments One objective of health education is to create positive behavioral change within the context of sexual health (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008). Sex education in health classes should provide students with impartial information about safe practices and methods for avoiding risky behaviors. Ideally, with this knowledge, students will make informed decisions before engaging in sexual activity, which will help decrease the rates of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy. Although most students will take a sex education class, their experiences will vary greatly due to the lack of standardized curricula at the federal, state, and sometimes district level that schools are required to follow (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2002; Landry, Singh, & Darroch, 2000). The federal government provides funding to states and districts but doesn't regulate these programs, leaving states to configure curricula and content for schools. Of the states that require some form of sex-related education, two require sex education only, 20 require sex education and HIV education, and 13 require HIV education only (Guttmacher Institute, 2012). (See Figure 1.) FIG. 1. Sex education by state: General and content requirements General Content requirements requirements for sex* and for sex* and HIV HIV education education WHEN PROVIDED, SEX EDUCATION MUST include information on: STATE SEX HIV Contraception Abstinence EDUCATION* EDUCATION MANDATED MANDATED Alabama X X Stress Arizona Stress Arkansas Stress California X X Cover Colorado X Stress Connecticut X Delaware X X X Stress Dist. …


This paper presents estimates of key preference parameters of the Epstein and Zin (1989, 1991) and Weil (1989) (EZW) recursive utility model, evaluates the model's ability to fit asset return data relative to other asset pricing models, and investigates the implications of such estimates for the unobservable aggregate wealth return. Our empirical results indicate that the estimated relative risk aversion parameter is high, ranging from 17-60, with higher values for aggregate consumption than for stockholder consumption, while the estimated elasticity of intertemporal substitution is above one. In addition, the estimated model-implied aggregate wealth return is found to be weakly correlated with the CRSP value-weighted stock market return, suggesting that the return to human wealth is negatively correlated with the aggregate stock market return. In quarterly data from 1952 to 2005, we find that an SMD estimated EZW recursive utility model can explain a cross-section of size and book-market sorted portfolio equity returns better than the standard consumption-based model based on power utility and better than the Lettau and Ludvigson (2001b) cay-scaled consumption CAPM model, but not as well as the Fama and French (1993) three-factor model with financial returns as risk factors.


The difficulties encountered in treating diabetes mellitus in the child or the young adult are so numerous that often the disease is inadequately managed. The disadvantages of incomplete control are not immediately apparent, but it is unreasonable to think that a poorly controlled patient will do as well as one whose metabolism is as nearly normal as treatment will permit.1This report deals with a regimen of control which is designed to approximate normal conditions of metabolism and with the typical response of children who have been treated in accordance with that regimen. Of a group of 131 diabetic children under active management, 53 have been studied for an aggregate of more than three thousand days in the hospital during the past three years. Each of these responded to treatment in a similar manner. The records of 27 of these patients were found especially adaptable to statistical analysis because


The volume of air at a transpulmonary pressure (PL) of 25 cmH2O was measured in 28 emphysema-free and 39 emphysematous excised adult lungs and in the lungs of 53 infants and children. In the adult emphysema-free lungs, this volume (V25) was significantly correlated with body length in males but, corrected for body length, not significantly correlated with age in either males or females. V25 was on the average 20 per cent larger than predicted TLC in non-emphysematous lungs in vivo. The lungs were also inflated and fixed with formalin at a constant PL of 25 cm H2O and their volume measured (VL). Marked and variable underinflation compared to V25 occurred in the adult lungs and VL minus lung weight averaged 75% of V25 and 91% of predicted TLC. In infants and children, the ratio of VL minus lung weight to V25 averaged 1.08 with a range of 0.58 to 1.84. The larger the lungs, the smaller the ratio, suggesting that fixation played a role in producing the small VL. In the emphysematous lungs, a significant correlation between the degree of emphysema and V25 was found. However, a statistically significant increase in V25 only occurred when the emphysema grade was greater than 5.


This paper deals with an existing question; does market liquidity disequilibrium leads to stock market bubble burst? Contemporary research has shown that liquidity is the key driving force behind capital market growth and its sustenance. Stock markets usually react to changes in market-wide liquidity, whose supply-demand cycle fluctuates with investor behavior actions. Market illiquidity due to supply shocks or sudden redemption, does exert strain on the financial markets as of when if too much untenable, lead to market crash. In this paper, we investigate how market-wide fluctuations in liquidity result in return volatilities and stock market return asymmetries as also to prove the notion whether liquidity per se, is the sole driver of stock market growth.


Multi-parameter patient monitor (MPM) uses vital signs, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation (SpO2) and respiration rate to identify the condition of patients. In this work, we use a support vector machine (SVM) backend classifier with four vital signs as its input and experimented using different kernels. It was observed that the SVM with a radial basis function kernel (SVM-RBF) outperforms the other kernels. Compared to non-linear SVMs, the linear SVM is computationally more efficient. Therefore, in this work we explore the use of feature mapping using locality constrained linear coding (LLC) to linearize the input features and thereby enhancing the performance of MPMs with a linear SVM (LLC-linSVM). To improve the performance further, we normalized LLC features by l2-norm (nLLC-linSVM). A performance improvement of 0.53% and 0.96% absolute for overall classification accuracy and specificity respectively was obtained over the baseline SVM-RBF system. However, a deterioration in the sensitivity was noted. To take advantage of both SVM-RBF and nLLC-linSVM, we finally fused the decision scores of both the systems. The fusion weights were estimated empirically using a dataset which is used neither for training nor testing. After decision fusion, we achieved a performance improvement of 0.90% absolute for classification accuracy, 0.24% absolute for sensitivity and 1.12% absolute for specificity compared to the baseline. All the systems were compared using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and the results show that the performance of the fused system is better than the individual systems.


Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are used as error-correcting codes in numerous digital communication and storage systems. Algebraic soft-decision decoding (ASD) of RS codes can achieve substantial coding gain with polynomial complexity. Among practical ASD algorithms, the iterative bit-level generalized minimum distance (BGMD) decoding can achieve similar or higher coding gain with lower complexity. The interpolation is a major step of ASD. The maximum achievable speed of this step is limited by the inherent serial nature of the interpolation algorithm. In this paper, a novel interpolation scheme that is capable of combining multiple interpolation iterations, as well as sharing interpolation results from previous decoding iterations, is developed for the iterative BGMD decoding. In addition, efficient VLSI architectures are proposed to implement the developed scheme. Based on the proposed architectures, an interpolator for a (255, 239) RS code is implemented on field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices. On a Xilinx Virtex-II device, our interpolator can achieve a throughput of 440 Mbps, which is 64% higher than the fastest previous design, with 51% less FPGA resource.


Modular understanding of behaviors and flows of exceptions may help in their better use and handling. Such reasoning tasks about exceptions face unique challenges in event-based implicit invocation (II) languages that allow subjects to implicitly invoke observers, and run the observers in a chain. In this work, we illustrate these challenge in Ptolemy and propose Ptolemy-X that enables modular reasoning about behaviors and flows of exceptions for event announcement and handling. Ptolemy-X's exception-aware specification expressions and boundary exceptions limit the set of (un)checked exceptions of subjects and observers of an event. Exceptional postconditions specify the behaviors of these exceptions. Greybox specifications specify the flows of these exceptions among the observers in the chain. Ptolemy-X's type system and refinement rules enforce these specifications and thus enable its modular reasoning. We evaluate the utility of Ptolemy-X's exception flow reasoning by applying it to understand a set of aspect-oriented (AO) bug patterns. We also present Ptolemy-X's semantics including its sound static semantics.


Crowding is defined as the negative effect obtained by adding visual distractors
around a central target which has to be identified. Some studies have suggested the
presence of a marked crowding effect in developmental dyslexia (e.g. Atkinson, 1991;
Spinelli et al., 2002).
Inspired by Spinelli's (2002) experimental design, we explored the hypothesis
that the crowding effect may affect dyslexics' response times (RTs) and accuracy in
identification tasks dealing with words, pseudowords, illegal non-words and symbolstrings.
Moreover, our study aimed to clarify the relationship between the crowding
phenomenon and the word-reading process, in an inter-language comparison
perspective. For this purpose we studied twenty-two French dyslexics and twenty-two
Italian dyslexics (total forty-four dyslexics), compared to forty-four subjects matched
for reading level (22 French and 22 Italians) and forty-four chronological age-matched
subjects (22 French and 22 Italians).
Children were all tested on reading and cognitive abilities. Results showed no
differences between French and Italian participants suggesting that performances were
homogenous. Dyslexic children were all significantly impaired in words and
pseudowords reading compared to their normal reading controls.
Regarding the identification task with which we assessed crowding effect, both
accuracy and RTs showed a lexicality effect which meant that the recognition of words
was more accurate and faster in words than pseudowords, non-words and symbolstrings.
Moreover, compared to normal readers, dyslexics' RTs and accuracy were
impaired only for verbal materials but not for non-verbal material; these results are in
line with the phonological hypothesis (Griffiths & Snowling, 2002; Snowling, 2000;
2006) . RTs revealed a general crowding effect (RTs in the crowding condition were
slower than those recorded in the isolated condition) affecting all the subjects'
performances. This effect, however, emerged to be not specific for dyslexics. Data
didn't reveal a significant effect of language, allowing the generalization of the
obtained results.
We also analyzed the performance of two subgroups of dyslexics, categorized
according to their reading abilities. The two subgroups produced different results
regarding the crowding effect and type of material, suggesting that it is meaningful to
take into account also the heterogeneity of the dyslexia disorder.
Finally, we also analyzed the relationship of the identification task with both
reading and cognitive abilities.
In conclusion, this study points out the importance of comparing visual tasks
performances of dyslexic participants with those of their reading level-matched
controls. This approach may improve our comprehension of the potential causal link
between crowding and reading (Goswami, 2003).


The Ca2+-sensitive K+ channel (maxi-K+) is an important modulator of corporal smooth muscle tone. The goal of these studies was twofold: 1) to determine the feasibility of transfecting corporal smooth muscle cells in vivo with the hSlo cDNA, which encodes for the human smooth muscle maxi-K+ channel, and 2) to determine whether transfection of the maxi-K+ channel would affect the physiological response to cavernous nerve stimulation in a rat model in vivo. Intracorporal microinjection of pCMVbeta/Lac Z DNA in 10-wk-old rats resulted in significant incorporation and expression of beta-galactosidase activity in 10 of 12 injected animals for up to 75 days postinjection. Moreover, electrical stimulation of the cavernous nerve revealed that, relative to the responses obtained in age-matched control animals (N = 12), intracavernous injection of naked pcDNA/hSlo DNA was associated with a statistically significant elevation in the mean amplitude of the intracavernous pressure response at all levels of current stimulation (range 0.5-10 mA) at both 1 mo (N = 5) and 2 mo (N = 8) postinjection. Furthermore, qualitatively similar observations were made at 3 mo (N = 2) and 4 mo (N = 2) postinjection. These data indicate that naked hSlo DNA is quite easily incorporated into corporal smooth muscle and, furthermore, that expression is sustained for at least 2 mo in corporal smooth muscle cells in vivo. Finally, after expression, hSlo is capable of measurably altering nerve-stimulated penile erection. Taken together, these data provide compelling evidence for the potential utility of gene therapy in the treatment of erectile dysfunction.


Integration is a complex phenomenon which embraces all aspects of individual and social existence. It implies uprooting from exclusive belonging, knowing that contact between cultures necessarily alters their integrity thus leading to newly composed identities. That means a fixed definition based on an essentialized origin is an illusion because the unique trajectories of the social actors evolving in the spaces where they meet are subject to constant remodelling, unless self-ghettoization occurs. However, building an anthroposocial vision is fundamental to understanding the new social and identity compositions at work in the social fabric and recognizing them as plural public practices, thus legitimate and meaningful at the very heart of the city not as appendices that can be added or removed according to the interests of the moment. The issue is to establish a balance between the unique efforts by which the actors assert themselves as subjects combining specific characteristics and universal values. As can be seen in the case of Mx, that implies skill development to accept inner differentiation, to face tensions and conflicts, and to escape assigned roles and status in order to reclaim both equality and differences.


Temporal reasoning can be performed by maintaining a temporal relation network, a complete network in which the nodes are time intervals and each arc is the temporal relation between the two intervals which it connects. In this paper, we point out that the task of detecting inconsistency of the network and mapping the intervals onto a date line is a Consistent Labeling Problem (CLP). The problem is formalized and analyzed. The significance of identifying and analyzing the CLP in temporal reasoning is that CLPs have certain features which allow us to apply certain techniques to our problem. We also point out that the CLP exists when we reason with disjunctive temporal relations. Therefore, the intractability of the constraint propagation mechanism in temporal reasoning is inherent in the problem, not caused by the representation that we choose for time, as [Vilain & Kautz 86] claims.


Introduction The end of life care needs of young adults, aged 16–40 years, are poorly described in current literature and no specific guidance exists for professionals that takes account of factors such as rarity, cancer type, heterogeneity and influence of life stage. Aims and Methods We will use using realistic evaluation to understand: A. Core components in pathways of care in the last year of life for people with cancer aged 16–40 years. B. How young adults and their families can be supported to achieve their preferences for care. C. Challenges for health and social care professionals. Work commences in 2013 and is linked to quantitative data from NIHR national programme, BRIGHTLIGHT (http://www.brightlightstudy.com). Research will be conducted in three or more sites across UK and includes patients, families and multiple professional disciplines as participants, shaping investigation and outputs. There are five phases: 1. Drawing together literature and national cancer intelligence; 2. Interviews with young adults, families and professionals; 3. Scenario workshops with families and professionals; 4. Analysis and interpretation of data including refinement through discussion with a panel of experts; 5. Development of recommendations for practice. Results Findings from BRIGHTLIGHT will be synthesised with our emerging qualitative data to inform explanations on needs and preferences for care in young adults and their families as the project progresses. Conclusions This innovative, comprehensive study of the end of life needs of young adults aged 16–40 years uses in-depth, multi-layered data which will inform understanding of need and inform policy and service delivery.


We report on the results of a detailed spectro-imaging and temporal analysis of an archival XMM–Newton observation of a new intermediate polar XMMU J185330.7−012815. Its X-ray spectrum can be well described by a multitemperature thermal plasma model with the K lines of heavy elements clearly detected. Possible counterparts of XMMU J185330.7−012815 have been identified in optical and ultraviolet (UV) bands. The low values of the inferred X-ray-to-UV and X-ray-to-optical flux ratios safely rule out the possibility of its being an isolated neutron star. We confirm the X-ray periodicity of ∼238 s but, differently from the previous preliminary results, we do not find any convincing evidence of phase shift in this observation. We further investigate its properties through an energy-resolved temporal analysis and find that the pulsed fraction monotonically increases with energy.


In order to obtain the electromagnetic shielding material, the lightweight flakes of poplar are selected to be the substrate. After the electroless copper plating, the flakes turn to electric cell which is made by hot-press with bicomponent epoxy, and it turn to electromagnetic shielding materials. In this paper, the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of electromagnetic shielding materials is investigated. The results indicates that the reasonable ratio of main components of the electroless copper plating is: copper sulfate 80g/L, reducing agent 90 g/L, K-Na tartrate (TART) 65 g/L, EDTA•2Na100 g/L, α, α'-dipyridyl 10mg/L, potassium ferrocyanide 50 mg/L. In the testing of Hertzian waves between 9 kHz~1.5GHz, the average effectiveness of electromagnetic shielding is 60.4dB.


Investor confidence and risk tolerance are important concepts that investors are constantly trying to gauge. Yet these concepts are notoriously hard to measure in practice. Most attempts rely on price or return data, but these run into trouble when trying to disentangle whether an observed price change is attributable to a shift in investor confidence or a change in fundamental value. In this paper, we take an alternative approach by looking at the world-wide holdings and trading of risky assets. We model global capital markets as the interaction between large global institutional investors and smaller domestic investors from each country. This permits separation of global price changes into two components, one that reflects changes in demand and fundamentals perceived by all investors, and a second that reflects changes in the relative risk tolerance of institutional investors over and above that of domestics. The latter component, changes in relative risk tolerance of global institutions, is driven by the willingness of these investors to acquire additional assets in each country in proportion to their current holdings. Using our model, we show how data on asset holdings and flows across countries can be used to identify changes in risk tolerance. We then apply this identification scheme to recent data on the global portfolio holdings of institutional investors. The resulting measure of risk tolerance impressionistically accords well with periods of market turbulence and quiescence. It also accounts for a considerable portion of the variation in portfolio holdings and is informative about future returns.


Modelling of mechatronic systems often results in implicit model description. Simulation systems provide different strategies to deal with this kind of problem, resulting in different modelling approaches. For this purpose, Mathwork's MATLAB system offers in its basic MATLAB system at programming level implicit ODE solvers, and in its toolboxes Simulink and SimMechanics (on basis of the Modelica-like system SimScape) graphical modelling environment. This Benchmark Study compares these modelling approaches and the simulation efficiency and results on basis of the ARGESIM Benchmark C11 'SCARA Robot'. Additionally, the contribution's investigations present a tuning of the PID control for point-to-point movement with and without collision prevention and introduce a trajectory tracking control with collision prevention, which improves the performance essentially.


The large size of pretrained networks makes them difficult to deploy for multiple tasks in storage-constrained settings. Diff pruning enables parameter-efficient transfer learning that scales well with new tasks. The approach learns a task-specific "diff" vector that extends the original pretrained parameters. This diff vector is adaptively pruned during training with a differentiable approximation to the L0-norm penalty to encourage sparsity. As the number of tasks increases, diff pruning remains parameter-efficient, as it requires storing only a small diff vector for each task. Since it does not require access to all tasks during training, it is attractive in on-device deployment settings where tasks arrive in stream or even from different providers. Diff pruning can match the performance of finetuned baselines on the GLUE benchmark while only modifying 0.5% of the pretrained model's parameters per task and scales favorably in comparison to popular pruning approaches.


Sulphur and nitrogen oxide pollutants cause acid rain that can eventually lead to the dissolution of calcite in marble and limestones. Calcium oxalate is an inorganic protective agent, which is obtained by treatment with ammonium oxalate. The functionalization of oxalic acid to give monoesters and monoamides (oxamates) allows tailoring the solubility of the relevant ammonium and calcium salts. In this context, theoretical calculations carried out at the Density Functional Theory (DFT) level were exploited to investigate the capability of oxalate, methyloxalate, phenyloxalate, oxamate, methyloxamate, and phenyloxamate to interact with the calcium carbonate lattice. An in-depth validation based on the structural data showed that DFT calculations with the PBE0 functional along with a single or triple-zeta def2 basis set allow understanding the different reactivity of the oxalate and oxamate derivatives and their efficiency in interacting with stones containing calcium carbonate, such as Carrara marble and biomicritic limestones.


The way science education is positioned and practised in New Zealand primary schools varies widely. In this qualitative case study, participants in senior management from five Auckland primary schools were asked how they perceived science, how it was taught and reasons for the pedagogical approaches chosen. It was clear all schools were different in terms of population and the pedagogical approaches used to teach science. Science was taught in a range of configurations—from siloed to transdisciplinary integrative approaches and by classroom teachers, specialists and outside providers. The schools in this study who saw 'science as everywhere' and practised collaborative teaching were more likely to teach science through integration.


This thesis is aimed at investigating the situation of divergent inflation rates of all provinces in China by the year 2000 to 2013. In order to investigate whether inflation is divergent in China, the study establishes a modified Phillips Curve model, to verify whether the Phillips curve is applicable to China, whether the provinces' inflation rates are displaying a similar sensitivity to changes in unemployment or the output gap as the average of China. This study uses the Panel Least Square for all provinces, and the time series is used to test for each province compared with average of China separately. The result shows that the provincial inflation rates have different sensitivity to changes in the output gap compared with the average of China. Additionally, the original Phillips curves and modified Phillips curves are applicable for provinces of China when the fixed effect at regional level.


Web services composition and discovery are two most important research issues in the study of Web services. Based on the study on previous known conferences it is pointed out that the Web service composition tree (WSCT) is the key that affects the performance of Web services compositions when a large number of services are available. Then the mutual search operations among Web service operations, inputs and outputs are studied, and a novel data structure called double parameter inverted file (DuoParalnvertedFile) is proposed to implement these operations. An algorithm to build DuoParalnvertedFile is provided as well. Based on above results an efficient algorithm for constructing the WSCT is given. Furthermore, the QoS (quality of service) of Web service composition results (WSCRs) is defined, and then an algorithm used to get the best WSCR in terms of QoS is proposed. Experiments show that this approach not only ensures the success of the performance of Web services composition but also ensures the QoS of Web services composition


The aim of this work was evaluation of milkability in Holstein cows. We collected a total 63 milk flow curves, using electronic mobile milk flow meter – lactocorder. The measuring was carried out in cows from 5 to 305 days in milk. The average milk yield per milking was 15.63 kg, with average milk flow rate 2.84 kg.min-1 and average maximum milk flow rate of 4.49 kg.min-1. The average duration of incline phase was 1.09 min., duration of plateau phase was 1.82. min, and duration of decline phase was 2.26 min. Percentage of bimodal milk flow curves was 52 %, on average. The highest average milk flow rate (3.01 kg.min-1) and the highest average peak milk flow rate (4.96 kg.min-1) were found in cows in second lactation, in comparison with primiparous cows (2.87 kg.min-1, and 4.37 kg.min-1) and cows in another lactation (2.7 kg.min-1, and 4.3 kg.min-1).


The Sylvania Mountain fault system is a major left-oblique structure that extends east from the Furnace Creek–Fish Lake Valley fault in southwestern Nevada (USA). The system interacts with a series of north-northeast–striking structures that bound a rectilinear pull-apart basin, Lida Valley, and serve as part of a displacement transfer system relaying slip from the eastern California shear zone to the Walker Lane. On the basis of gravity analysis, the Lida Valley basin is internally dissected by a complex system of faults. The subsurface basin morphology differs from north to south. Major extensional faults localized displacement in the north and formed deep basins, but in the south, displacement was distributed on widely spaced structures with modest displacement. Localized extension in the north is separated from the southern domain of distributed deformation by a west-northwest oblique-slip fault. The subsurface geometry of the basin was determined from a gravity survey with measurements depth inverted in three dimensions. Geologic cross sections were constructed and their gravity signatures forward modeled for compatibility with observations. Projections of mapped faults together with structures determined from gravity modeling were combined to construct the subsurface geometry of the Lida Valley fault system and to evaluate a fault displacement budget. By conserving fault slip on the array of structures, restoration of the pre-Neogene basement to a reference datum indicates a cumulative vertical displacement of 2.3–2.5 km since the onset of basin formation. Vertical displacement estimates were used to compute the horizontal component of extension, which ranges from 1.3 to 1.4 km.


The biofilm production ability of some multidrug resistant clinical bacterial isolates was determined in the presence of four biocides – chlorhexidine gluconate (3%), cetrimide (0.75%), sodium hypochlorite (3.5%) and chloxylenol BPC (3.8%) – using the modified microplate method. The multi drug resistant clinical isolates used in this study are Staphylococcus aureus , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella aerogenes , Proteus mirabilis and Citrobacter freundii . These bacteria showed resistance to at least 5 antibiotics. Quantitative microtiter plate assay showed that 24 (58.55%) out of the 41 biofilms producers produced strong biofilms with optical density ranging from 0.25 to 0.35.The result demonstrated that sodium hypochlorite was more effective in inhibiting biofilm formation in the bacterial isolates. Lower concentrations of the biocides were more effective in inhibiting biofilm formation by bacteria. The ability of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella aerogenes to form biofilms was most affected. There was little inhibition of biofilm formation by the biocides on Staphylococcus aureus . This study has shown a relationship between biocide and multidrug resistance. Keywords: Biocides, Multi drug resistance, sodium hypochlorite, Staphylococcus aureus


Subspace recovery from noisy or even corrupted data is critical for various applications in machine learning and data analysis. To detect outliers, Robust PCA (R PCA) via Outlier Pursuit was proposed and had found many successful applications. However, the current theoretical analysis on Outlier Pursuit only shows that it succeeds when the sparsity of the corruption matrix is of O(n/r), where n is the number of the samples and r is the rank of the intrinsic matrix which may be comparable to n. Moreover, the regularization parameter is suggested as 3/(7 squareroot gamma n}, where gamma is a parameter that is not known a priori. In this paper, with incoherence condition and proposed ambiguity condition we prove that Outlier Pursuit succeeds when the rank of the intrinsic matrix is of O(n log n) and the sparsity of the corruption matrix is of O(n). We further show that the orders of both bounds are tight. Thus R-PCA via Outlier Pursuit is able to recover intrinsic matrix of higher rank and identify much denser corruptions than what the existing results could predict. Moreover, we suggest that the regularization parameter be chosen as 1 squareroot{log n}, which is definite. Our analysis waives the necessity of tuning the regularization parameter and also significantly extends the working range of the Outlier Pursuit. Experiments on synthetic and real data verify our theories.


Since the September 2016 attack in Uri, Indo-Pak relations have steadily gotten worse. India cites Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir as the major reason for this deterioration, with the 14 February 2019 bombing at Pulwama as the most recent dramatic example; Pakistan blames Indian atrocities in Kashmir. But after every attempt to initiate dialogue, there is a return to hostility. This paper analyzes this cyclical pattern of dialogue, estrangement, and hostility in Indo-Pak relations. Further, it seeks to explain the structural, ideational, and strategic aspects of the problem and to outline a course correction in Indian foreign policy.


The development of near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes over the past few decades has changed the way that biomolecules are imaged, and thus represents one of the most rapidly progressing areas of research. Presently, NIR fluorescent probes are routinely used to visualize and understand intracellular activities. The ability to penetrate tissues deeply, reduced photodamage to living organisms, and a high signal-to-noise ratio characterize NIR fluorescent probes as efficient next-generation tools for elucidating various biological events. The coupling of self-labeling protein tags with synthetic fluorescent probes is one of the most promising research areas in chemical biology. Indeed, at present, protein-labeling techniques are not only used to monitor the dynamics and localization of proteins but also play a more diverse role in imaging applications. For instance, one of the dominant technologies employed in the visualization of protein activity and regulation is based on protein tags and their associated NIR fluorescent probes. In this mini-review, we will discuss the development of several NIR fluorescent probes used for various protein-tag systems.


Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) re-emerged in Western Europe in 2003, and has arguably now regained endemic status in many countries. It remains largely contained within in a population of men who have sex with men (MSM) with high rates of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, though a first female case was reported in Sexually Transmitted Infections in 2012. The first outbreak of a re-emerging STI, LGV has been the subject of a good deal of interest from epidemiologists—for example a recent article reflected on the challenges of interpreting epidemic dynamics from cross-sectional data. This month, we bring together four papers on LGV in a mini-series. De Vries et al present a fascinating case series, with some important clinical lessons which will no doubt generate debate as we continue to optimise testing and treatment guidelines for LGV. An analysis of clinical predictors of LGV by Pallawela et al reflects on the predominance of anal symptoms which in the light of LGV now need to be considered as potentially indicating an STI. Taking a wider epidemiological perspective, MacDonald et al use their multi-centre case-control study to describe groups who would particularly benefit from frequent screening and other interventions. However, detailed analysis of LGV repeaters using surveillance data convinced Rönn and colleagues that behaviour alone does not explain reinfection, which they see as related to centrality in sexual networks, This story seems set to run, and will continue to teach us lessons for future outbreaks of re-emergent or novel STIs. Testing for gonococcal infection and resistance is a perennial concern in the age of nucleic acid testing and multiple resistance. In a report from Canada, Dillon and colleagues report on the association of microbial resistance with strain types, and reflect on its implications for the targeting of antibiotic treatment and culture. In a paper focussing on the performance of nucleic acid testing in relation to culture, Perry et al conclude that the test they studied is superior to culture, but its role in oropharyngeal testing requires further research. Two manuscripts address sexual violence, an increasingly mainstream preoccupation of practitioners and researchers in sexual health. Hagemann et al report on the STI experience of Norwegian women attending a sexual health centre, and found that prevalence were in line with familiar risk factors and behaviours and not strongly assault related. However, a different epidemiological perspective is offered in Reed et al's fascinating report on the sexual behaviour of adolescent males in relation to their perpetration of sexual violence and more broadly. They emphasise the need for education and interventions for adolescent males. The internet as a novel location for finding sexual partners has received much attention in recent years—do online opportunities increase higher risk behaviours, or do they simply attract those whose behaviour is higher risk? Lewnard et al have undertaken a meta-analysis on this complex issue, and conclude that online encounters have increased odds both for unprotected anal intercourse among MSM and for sero-adaptive behaviours. They acknowledge the complexities of this field in a study well worth reading and with clinical implications. Having skated over the surface of these papers, I will draw your attention to an equally fascinating range of articles on topics ranging from prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, Human papillomavirus vaccination in women attending English sexual health clinics, partnership factors affecting the use of condoms in heterosexuals; the sexual health of female sex workers, estimation of sexual mixing and HPV viral load and persistence in HIV positive men. Shortly after you read this, I will be reporting to you from the ASTDA conference in Atlanta. Do look out for tweets and blogs, and let me know @sti_bmj what you would like to hear about.


The seventeenth century saw the brief flowering of tragic drama in western Europe as a whole and in England in particular. It was, argues Victor Kiernan, the artistic expression of the consciousness of change which permeated every aspect of life during this period. In this companion volume to Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen Kiernan sets out to rescue Shakespearean studies from the increasingly solipsistic terrain of literary criticism, focusing instead on historical location as a means to understanding Shakespeare's writing. Kiernan contends that the deep and accelerating changes in economy and society, brought about by the development of modern capitalism, drew the underlying tragic tensions of the History plays to the forefront. Other writers were feeling similar influences and across Western Europe, especially in France and Spain, tragic drama became a popular form. Kiernan shows how England's supremacy in this genre was both a mirror and a result of the profound nature of its social and economic development and the uncertainty and anxiety which it created. Opening with a sketch of the progress of the theatre, Kiernan goes on to provide a portrait of Shakespeare as a professional. He then considers each of the eight tragedies from Julius Caesar to Coriolanus, drawing out their contrasts and recurring themes. In a final section he analyses the group as a whole and explores attitudes to the monarchy, political life, war, religion and philosophy and the relationship between the sexes.


This paper attempts to analyse, in a theoretical perspective, the effects of economic fluctuations on the personal distribution of incomes. The framework developed here is logically separated into two building blocks. The first is a macrodynammic model determining wages and profits, I.e. the functional income distribution. The second is a set of 'entitlement rules', regulating the assignment of wages and profits to people and, hence, the personal income distribution. This admittedly artificial separation has the advantage of providing an approach that can, in principle, be applied to different models of the trade cycle, and of highlighting the arbitrariness of the choice of the entitlement rules, whose main determinants are social and historical factors. This analytical framework is applied to Goodwin's growth cycle model. Changes in income distribution are examined by means of two criteria: the Lorenz dominance and the Gini coefficient. The result of this paper show that inequality is unambiguously affected by economic fluctuations only over certain phases of the business cycle, while in the other phases Lorenz curves cross. This can partly explain why empirical evidence on this issue is rather mixed. On the other hand, the loose positive relationship between inequality and unemployment confirms one of the few regularities found in empirical research.


Unspliced mRNA from RNA segment 6 of influenza C virus contains a single open reading frame that potentially encodes a polypeptide of 374 amino acids. This polypeptide, which has not been identified as yet, is predicted to contain the complete amino acid sequence of the matrix protein, M1, as well as that of a small integral membrane protein, CM2. Here, we found that small amounts of two previously unrecognized proteins with apparent molecular masses of 42 (P42) and 44 kDa (P44) were immunoprecipitated with immune serum against CM2. The electrophoretic mobilities of P42 and P44 varied depending on virus strain, indicating that they are virus-coded. Treatment of infected cells with tunicamycin and digestion of immunoprecipitated proteins with various endoglycosidases revealed that P42 is modified by the addition of a high-mannose oligosaccharide chain to generate P44. A monoclonal antibody against M1, like anti-CM2 serum, was able to immunoprecipitate both the P42 and P44 proteins. Furthermore, the tryptic peptide map of either P42 or P44 was indistinguishable from the map of the mixture of M1 and CM2. These results, taken together, suggest strongly that P42 and P44 correspond to the 374 amino acid protein encoded by unspliced RNA segment 6 mRNA and its N-glycosylated form, respectively.


Together with the disruptive development of modern sub-symbolic approaches to artificial intelligence (AI), symbolic approaches to classical AI are re-gaining momentum, as more and more researchers exploit their potential to make AI more comprehensible, explainable, and therefore trustworthy. Since logic-based approaches lay at the core of symbolic AI, summarizing their state of the art is of paramount importance now more than ever, in order to identify trends, benefits, key features, gaps, and limitations of the techniques proposed so far, as well as to identify promising research perspectives. Along this line, this paper provides an overview of logic-based approaches and technologies by sketching their evolution and pointing out their main application areas. Future perspectives for exploitation of logic-based technologies are discussed as well, in order to identify those research fields that deserve more attention, considering the areas that already exploit logic-based approaches as well as those that are more likely to adopt logic-based approaches in the future.


In a peer network environment, which is typical in mobile ad-hoc wireless networks (MANETS), nodes collaborate to achieve some collective end. There is no hierarchy within the network, all nodes being given equal authority. In this untraditional environment we must provide traditional security properties and assure fairness in order to enable the secure, collaborative success of the network. One solution to this problem is to form a trusted domain. Such solutions have previously been intolerant of masquerading, and have suffered from a lack of precise control over the allocation and exercise of privileges within the trusted domain. We introduce a model based on the work of Yang'02 and Narasimha'03 that provides granular control over privileges, and guards against masquerading. The model is validate through the use of empirical measures for networks with size ranging from 30 to hundreds of nodes


Background: Swine flu (Influenza A, H1N1 subtype) is an acute respiratory infectious disease. The 2009 pandemic of H1N1 influenza A rapidly spread globally, causing significant morbidity and mortality. It was first global pandemic since 1968. Aims: The aim of the study is to summarize the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of cases of influenza A (H1N1) cases.    Material and Methods: Total 315 throat/ nasopharyngeal/nasal swabs were collected from category C patients. All the samples were tested by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR).  Results: Most common symptoms identified in present study were cough (100%) followed by fever (96.46%), sore throat (80.53%), difficulties in breathing (72.56%) and nasal catarrh (39.82%).   Conclusion: Study highlights the identification of swine flu (Influenza A, H1N1 subtype) on clinical basis and emphasizes early initiation of antiviral treatment, immunisation and precautions. Keywords: swine flu (Influenza A, H1N1 subtype), 2009 pandemic, clinical presentation, throat/nasopharyngeal/nasal swabs, RT-PCR


Accurate prediction of chemical reactions in solution is challenging for current state-of-the-art approaches based on transition state modelling with density functional theory. Models based on machine learning have emerged as a promising alternative to address these problems, but these models currently lack the precision to give crucial information on the magnitude of barrier heights, influence of solvents and catalysts and extent of regio- and chemoselectivity. Here, we construct hybrid models which combine the traditional transition state modelling and machine learning to accurately predict reaction barriers. We train a Gaussian Process Regression model to reproduce high-quality experimental kinetic data for the nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction and use it to predict barriers with a mean absolute error of 0.77 kcal mol−1 for an external test set. The model was further validated on regio- and chemoselectivity prediction on patent reaction data and achieved a competitive top-1 accuracy of 86%, despite not being trained explicitly for this task. Importantly, the model gives error bars for its predictions that can be used for risk assessment by the end user. Hybrid models emerge as the preferred alternative for accurate reaction prediction in the very common low-data situation where only 100–150 rate constants are available for a reaction class. With recent advances in deep learning for quickly predicting barriers and transition state geometries from density functional theory, we envision that hybrid models will soon become a standard alternative to complement current machine learning approaches based on ground-state physical organic descriptors or structural information such as molecular graphs or fingerprints.


I describe theories of a strongly-interacting electroweak symmetry breaking sector and discuss the expected size of anomalous weak-boson couplings in these models.


A new logic-in-memory architecture, in which storage elements are distributed over a current-mode logic-circuit plane by the use of floating-gate MOS transistors, is proposed to realize a compact arithmetic VLSI system. Since not only a storage function but also a voltage-mode linear summation and a voltage-to-current conversion are merged into a single floating-gate MOS transistor, the logic-in-memory VLSI becomes very compact with a high-performance capability. As an example, it is demonstrated that the effective chip area of the proposed four-valued current-mode full adder is reduced to 5% under the same switching speed in comparison with the corresponding binary CMOS implementation.


Aim: This study evaluated Building Information Modelling (BIM) awareness and adoption in Nigeria through the line of enquiry known as the 'diffusion of innovations' and its possible uptake. Study Design: The study is quantitative in nature and the primary data fetched through questionnaire survey within Nigerian construction industry. Place and Duration of the Study: Conducted within North-west, North-central and Lagos, Nigeria for a period of 4 months. Methodology: A quantitative approach was adopted to x-ray the Nigerian construction industry; a structured questionnaire was used across the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC). The generated data were analysed through descriptive statistics (in percentages) and presented in charts and graphs. Results: The result revealed that 59.5% are aware of BIM technology; 22.8% are aware and currently using BIM and the remaining 17.7% neither aware nor using BIM; consequently, the industry was evaluated just within the Late Majority in terms of awareness and just entered the Early Majority in terms of BIM technology adoption. Conclusion: Nigeria is at least five years behind US, UK and South Africa. In addition to lagging behind by at least five years, it is also behind by about 10% and 50% for UK and US respectively. The study also discovers the most significant barriers to BIM adoption as lack of BIM experts and lack of collaboration by its team stakeholders. The industry is likely to take the UK pattern in adopting the BIM and Recommendations are made based on the findings of the research.


Decarbonization of the heating sector is essential to meet the ambitious goals of the Paris Climate Agreement for 2050. However, poorly insulated buildings and industrial processes with high and intermittent heating demand will still require traditional boilers that burn fuel to avoid excessive burden on electrical networks. Therefore, it is important to assess the impact of residential, commercial, and industrial heat decarbonization strategies on the distribution and transmission gas networks. Using building energy models in EnergyPlus, the progressive decarbonization of gas-fueled heating was investigated by increasing insulation in buildings and increasing the efficiency of gas boilers. Industrial heat decarbonization was evaluated through a progressive move to lowercarbon fuel sources using MATLAB. The results indicated a maximum decrease of 19.9% in natural gas utilization due to the buildings' thermal retrofits. This, coupled with a move toward the electrification of heat, will reduce volumes of gas being transported through the distribution gas network. However, the decarbonization of the industrial heat demand with hydrogen could result in up to a 380% increase in volumetric flow rate through the transmission network. A comparison between the decarbonization of domestic heating through gas and electrical heating is also carried out. The results indicated that gas networks can continue to play an essential role in the decarbonized energy systems


Despite recent advances in face recognition using deep learning, severe accuracy drops are observed for large pose variations in unconstrained environments. Learning poseinvariant features is one solution, but needs expensively labeled large-scale data and carefully designed feature learning algorithms. In this work, we focus on frontalizing faces in the wild under various head poses, including extreme profile views. We propose a novel deep 3D Morphable Model (3DMM) conditioned Face Frontalization Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), termed as FF-GAN, to generate neutral head pose face images. Our framework differs from both traditional GANs and 3DMM based modeling. Incorporating 3DMM into the GAN structure provides shape and appearance priors for fast convergence with less training data, while also supporting end-to-end training. The 3DMMconditioned GAN employs not only the discriminator and generator loss but also a new masked symmetry loss to retain visual quality under occlusions, besides an identity loss to recover high frequency information. Experiments on face recognition, landmark localization and 3D reconstruction consistently show the advantage of our frontalization method on faces in the wild datasets. 1


Molybdenum sulfide materials have been shown as promising non-precious catalysts for hydrogen evolution. This paper describes the study of the promotional effects of certain transition metal ions on the activity of amorphous MoS3 films. Ternary metal sulfide films, M–MoS3 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn), have been prepared by cyclic voltammetry of aqueous solutions containing MCl2 and (NH4)2[MoS4]. Whereas the Mn–, Cu–, and Zn–MoS3 films show similar or only slightly higher catalytic activity as the MoS3 film, the Fe–, Co–, and Ni–MoS3 films are significantly more active. The promotional effects of Fe, Co, and Ni ions exist under both acidic and neutral conditions, but the effects are more pronounced under neutral conditions. Up to a 12-fold increase in exchange current density and a 10-fold increase in the current density at an overpotential of 150 mV are observed at pH = 7. It is shown that Fe, Co, and Ni ions promote the growth of the MoS3 films, resulting a high surface area and a higher catalyst loading. These changes are the main contributors to the enhanced activity at pH = 0. However, at pH = 7, Fe, Co, and Ni ions appear to also increase the intrinsic activity of the MoS3 film.


Dry calcareous grasslands in Europe are renowned for their high plant diversity. However, declining habitat areas and highly fragmented distribution threaten the long-term persistence of this valuable habitat type. In Estonia the decline of traditional grassland management and subsequent encroachment of shrubs has resulted in a substantial loss of alvar grasslands – a particularly rare and species-rich type of calcareous grassland. It is known that a shrub cover of more than 70% decreases the alvar grassland species richness. At the same time, a shrub cover of 30% is considered optimal for alvar grasslands and thus a target state for habitat restoration. However, very little is known about the effect of low shrub cover on environmental conditions and species composition of alvar grasslands. Our aim was to detect to what extent the small-scale plant diversity and species composition is influenced by low shrub cover (less than 30%). We hypothesized that even a low shrub cover can have an effect on the environmental conditions of alvar grasslands. We sampled small-scale plant species richness, shrub cover and abiotic environmental conditions such as light, soil moisture, soil pH and soil depth in 10 metre long transects (n = 33) subdivided into 10 cm × 10 cm plots in Estonian alvar grasslands. Structural equation modelling was used to quantify the direct and indirect effects of shrub cover on the richness of characteristic alvar species and on the richness of generalist species. We found that low shrub cover of up to 30% increased total and generalist species richness directly and indirectly by increasing the light heterogeneity. Alvar characteristic species richness was not related to low shrub cover values. This suggests that when estimating the effects of shrub cover on species richness and on conservation needs of grasslands, habitat specificity of species needs to be taken into account.


Abstract Objective To compare the distribution of P values in abstracts of randomised controlled trials with that in observational studies, and to check P values between 0.04 and 0.06. Design Cross sectional study of all 260 abstracts in PubMed of articles published in 2003 that contained "relative risk" or "odds ratio" and reported results from a randomised trial, and random samples of 130 abstracts from cohort studies and 130 from case-control studies. P values were noted or calculated if unreported. Main outcome measures Prevalence of significant P values in abstracts and distribution of P values between 0.04 and 0.06. Results The first result in the abstract was statistically significant in 70% of the trials, 84% of cohort studies, and 84% of case-control studies. Although many of these results were derived from subgroup or secondary analyses, or biased selection of results, they were presented without reservations in 98% of the trials. P values were more extreme in observational studies (P < 0.001) and in cohort studies than in case-control studies (P = 0.04). The distribution of P values around P = 0.05 was extremely skewed. Only five trials had 0.05 ≤ P < 0.06, whereas 29 trials had 0.04 ≤ P < 0.05. I could check the calculations for 27 of these trials. One of four non-significant results was significant. Four of the 23 significant results were wrong, five were doubtful, and four could be discussed. Nine cohort studies and eight case-control studies reported P values between 0.04 and 0.06, but in all 17 cases P < 0.05. Because the analyses had been adjusted for confounders, these results could not be checked. Conclusions Significant results in abstracts are common but should generally be disbelieved.


In today's environment, building a reliable and cost effective spacecraft is perhaps emphasized more than ever before. Sponsors are looking for the same high quality products but at lower costs and with shorter schedules. Whether it is a spacecraft for the Department of Defense (DoD), a research observatory for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), or a commercial communications satellite, total cost is a significant factor.


Five years after its inception, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) single market is malfunctioning in a litany of ways: there remain restrictions on the movement of goods, capital and labor across political boundaries. This paper describes the GCC single market's malfunctions. We also propose remedies, taking advantage of the single market experiences of, among others, the European Union. A key conclusion is that there is an absence of GCC supranational political institutions powerful enough to enforce rules, with the exception of the Supreme Council, which is itself not designed to deal with day-to-day issues such as enforcing a single market. Consequently, the GCC needs to alter its institutional structure if it wants the single market to operate correctly.


[1] Wind speeds for a nominal height of 10 m and from the lowest model level (∼70 m above ground level) from the Rossby Center regional climate model (RCM) (RCA3) run at four resolutions between approximately 50 × 50 km and 6 × 6 km are analyzed to assess the effect of model resolution on wind climates. The influence of model resolution in this topographically simple subdomain of northern Europe is more profound in the wind extremes than in the central tendency. The domain-averaged mean wind speed at 10 m increases by 5% as the resolution increases from 50 to 6.25 km, while the 50 year return period wind speed and wind gust at this height increase by over 10% and 24%, respectively. Larger changes are observed in these wind speed metrics at the lowest model level as model resolution increases (∼+10% in the mean and ∼+20% in the 50 year return period wind speed). These differences are of similar magnitude to the climate change signal in extreme wind events derived in prior research and may have implications for climate change risk and vulnerability analyses. Output from the lowest model level indicates some evidence for increased variability at synoptic and meso-α time scales with increased model resolution, but the effect is nonlinear. Furthermore, analysis of power spectra of grid cell average and tile fraction wind speeds at 10 m does not support the assertion that increased model resolution increases model skill at synoptic and meso-α time scales relative to in situ observations.


We present spectroscopy of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) observed at infrared wavelengths from 10 to 40 μm with the Spitzer Space Telescope and at millimeter wavelengths in 12CO and 13CO J =2–1 (230 and 220 GHz) with the Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope. The IR spectra demonstrate high-velocity features toward a molecular cloud coincident with a region of bright radio continuum emission along the northern shock front of Cas A. The millimeter observations indicate that CO emission is broadened by a factor of two in some clouds toward Cas A, particularly to the south and west. We believe that these features trace interactions between the Cas A shock front and nearby molecular clouds. In addition, some of the molecular clouds that exhibit broadening in CO lie 1′–2′ away from the furthest extent of the supernova remnant shock front. We propose that this material may be accelerated by ejecta with velocity significantly larger than the observed free-expansion velocity of the Cas A shock front. These observations may trace cloud interactions with fast-moving outflows such as the bipolar outflow along the southwest to northeast axis of the Cas A supernova remnant, as well as fast-moving knots seen emerging in other directions.


The present longitudinal study examined the role of neural cognitive control in the relation between negative and positive life events and depressive symptoms in adolescents. The sample comprised 138 adolescents (52% male, Mage = 13.49 at baseline) and their parents. At Time 1, adolescents participated in a functional neuroimaging session in which neural cognitive control was measured as hemodynamic activity during an inhibitory control task, and parents reported on adolescents' positive and negative life events within the past year. Adolescents and parents reported on adolescent depressive symptoms at Time 1, Time 2 (1 year later), and Time 3 (2 years later). Conditional latent growth curve model was used to test the main and interaction effects of neural cognitive control and positive/negative life events on the growth factors of depressive symptoms. Higher neural cognitive control moderated the relation between negative life events and the intercept of depressive symptoms. Adolescents with higher neural cognitive control did not experience higher depressive symptoms when confronted with more negative life events, whereas their counterparts with lower neural cognitive control did. The interaction effect between neural cognitive control and positive life events on depressive symptoms was not significant. Results suggest that neural cognitive control acts as a protective factor such that adolescents with higher neural cognitive control are protected against depressionogenic effects of negative life events, whereas adolescents with lower cognitive control are at greater risk for depressive symptoms in response to negative life events.


Context: Diabetes is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. India has the second highest number of individuals with diabetes in the world and these numbers are predicted to reach 120 million by 2045. Environmental exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide has been identified as a risk factor for diabetes However, to date, no published studies have examined the association of indoor air pollution (IAP) and diabetes in developing countries such as India, where traditional biomass fuels are still used for cooking and heating. Aims: To evaluate the association between IAP and diabetes mellitus. Settings and Design: The data collected through India's third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) in 2005–2006 were queried and analyzed. Materials and Methods: This study examined the association between IAP and diabetes among women aged 45 years and above using data from the NFHS-3. Statistical Analysis: Multivariable regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between diabetes and type of fuel, calculate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) after adjusting for confounders. Results: Less than 1/3 of the 9,502 (28%) participants were overweight or obese and 304 women reported having diabetes. A statistically significant association between solid fuel use and diabetes in women >45 years of age was observed (OR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.08–2.34). Conclusions: This study is the first attempt to determine the relationship between diabetes and IAP; more robust population-based cohort studies are needed to further explore this association.


There has been considerable interest in the use of genetically modified mice for detecting potential environmental carcinogens. For this reason, the National Toxicology Program has been evaluating Tg.AC hemizygous and p53 haploinsufficient mice as models to detect potential carcinogens. It was reasoned that these mouse models might also prove more effective than standard rodent models in evaluating the numerous disinfection byproducts that are found in low concentrations in drinking water. Dichloroacetic acid (DCA) is one of the most frequently found disinfection byproducts and DCA has been consistently shown to cause hepatocellular tumors in rats and mice in standard rodent studies. Tg.AC hemizygous and p53 haploinsufficient mice were exposed in the drinking water to DCA for up to 41 weeks. In a second study Tg.AC mice were subjected to dermal DCA exposure for up to 39 weeks. Increased incidences and severity of cytoplasmic vacuolization of hepatocytes were seen in the p53 mice, but there was no evidence of carcinogenic activity at exposures of up to 2000 mg/l in the drinking water. Increased incidences and severity of cytoplasmic vacuolization of hepatocytes were seen in the drinking water study with Tg.AC mice and a modest non-dose-related increase in pulmonary adenomas was observed in males exposed to 1000 mg/l in the drinking water. Dermal exposure up to 500 mg/kg for 39 weeks resulted in increased dermal papillomas at the site of application in Tg.AC mice. No significant increase in papillomas under the same study conditions was seen in the 26-week study. For DCA under these study conditions, the p53 and Tg.AC mice appear less sensitive to hepatocarcinogenesis than standard rodent models. These results suggest caution for the use of Tg.AC and p53 mice to screen unknown chemicals in drinking water for potential carcinogenicity.


Objective.

To reveal antibiotics being capable of potentiating the antimicrobial activity of colistin against multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Materials and Methods.

The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of colistin alone and in combination with fixed concentrations of antibiotics of different groups were determined for 272 multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant strains of K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa. Bactericidal activity of colistin, carbapenems, clarithromycin and their combinations were also determined at fixed PK/PD breakpoint concentrations of antibiotics.
Results.

Potentiation of colistin antibacterial activity in the presence of fixed concentration of rifampicin (0.5 mg/L) was observed as a 4–16-fold MIC decrease for K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii. In the presence of fixed concentrations of azithromycin (2 mg/L) or clarithromycin (1 mg/L), the colistin MICs decreased 64–512 times for K. pneumoniae, 4–32 times for A. baumannii, 16–64 times for P. aeruginosa. Two- or more-fold reduction of MIC of colistin in the presence of 1 mg/L clarithromycin was observed for 85.2% of K. pneumoniae, 86.3% of A. baumannii and 60.2% of P. aeruginosa strains. In the presence of 1 mg/L clarithromycin and 8 mg/L meropenem, the potentiation effect was enhanced and was observed for an even larger percent of isolates: 96.1% K. pneumoniae, 98.0% A. baumannii and 61.3% P. aeruginosa. Colistin-based combinations with clarithromycin-meropenem and clarithromycin-doripenem were bactericidal against most isolates of A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa (91.4–100%), and against colistin-sensitive K. pneumoniae (95.3%) and colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae (79.1%).
Conclusions.

The ability of macrolides to significantly potentiate the colistin antimicrobial activity against both colistin-sensitive and colistin-resistant strains of K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa was shown. This potentiation effect was enhanced in the presence of carbapenems. The most potent bactericidal activity was revealed with dual and triple combinations of colistin-clarithromycin and colistinclarithromycin-carbapenems.


: This paper evaluates the efficacy of the bacterial larvicide bacillus sphaericus strains BS-10 and C3-41, which are isolated in China, as well as BS2362 against larvae of Culex pipiens pallens in laboratory and under field conditions. The results indicate that C3-41 has the highest toxicity with LC50 at 0.0057 ppm and the bacterial formulations are more effective in light polluted water than in heavy polluted one, but the action of B. sphaericus could persist longer in more polluted water.


The research works involved in a three freedoms line type pneumatic manipulator. The object is aimed to control of position servo system. According to the mathematic model of single freedoms pneumatic manipulator, AMESim and MATLAB were used for system control simulation, and made comparison between whether or not have PID controller in the pneumatic position servo system in the simulation, obtain Consistent results. The Results shown that PID control of the pneumatic position servo system has high steady-state accuracy, short adjusting time, little overshoot, and can overcome the nonlinear time—varying characteristics to some extent.


A new interpretation of the Jesuit mission to New France is here proposed by using, for comparison and contrast, the earlier Jesuit experience in Japan. In order to present revisionist perspectives of the Jesuit missions based on a broader international framework beyond North America, the existing historical paradigms of the Jesuit missionary activity to Amerindians based on the limited regional history of New France are re-examined.


We evaluated the dynamics of ocular surface temperature using thermal imaging in 21 glaucoma subjects and 19 healthy subjects. On opening of the eye, subjects with glaucoma showed significantly cooler temperatures in the central cornea compared to the control group. The upper eyelid was also significantly cooler just before the eye opened. Immediately after opening the eye, the dynamic of temperature change was different in the two groups. In subjects with glaucoma, the eyes cooled significantly faster, with an average decrease of 0.49°C during the first second compared to 0.24°C in the control group. Our results support the hypothesis that both the stability of the tear film and changes in the ocular blood supply in subjects with glaucoma play an important role in thermal dynamics of the ocular surface.


We investigate generalized measurements, based on positive-operator-valued measures, and von Neumann measurements for the unambiguous discrimination of two mixed quantum states that occur with given prior probabilities. In particular, we derive the conditions under which the failure probability of the measurement can reach its absolute lower bound, proportional to the fidelity of the states. The optimum measurement strategy yielding the fidelity bound of the failure probability is explicitly determined for a number of cases. One example involves two density operators of rank d that jointly span a 2d-dimensional Hilbert space and are related in a special way. We also present an application of the results to the problem of unambiguous quantum state comparison, generalizing the optimum strategy for arbitrary prior probabilities of the states.


Abstract The Rif1 protein negatively regulates telomeric TG repeat length in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but how it prevents telomere over-extension is unknown. Rif1 was recently shown to control DNA replication by acting as a Protein Phosphatase 1 (PP1)-targeting subunit. Therefore, we investigated whether Rif1 controls telomere length by targeting PP1 activity. We find that a Rif1 mutant defective for PP1 interaction causes a long-telomere phenotype, similar to that of rif1Δ cells. Tethering PP1 at a specific telomere partially substitutes for Rif1 in limiting TG repeat length, confirming the importance of PP1 in telomere length control. Ablating Rif1–PP1 interaction is known to cause precocious activation of telomere-proximal replication origins and aberrantly early telomere replication. However, we find that Rif1 still limits telomere length even if late replication is forced through deletion of nearby replication origins, indicating that Rif1 can control telomere length independent of replication timing. Moreover we find that, even at a de novo telomere created after DNA synthesis during a mitotic block, Rif1–PP1 interaction is required to suppress telomere lengthening and prevent inappropriate recruitment of Tel1 kinase. Overall, our results show that Rif1 controls telomere length by recruiting PP1 to directly suppress telomerase-mediated TG repeat lengthening.


This paper presents an embedding of polychronous programs into synchronous ones. Due to this embedding, it is not only possible to deepen the understanding of these different models of computation, but, more importantly, it is possible to transfer compilation techniques that were developed for synchronous programs to polychronous programs. This transfer is nontrivial because the underlying paradigms differ more than their names suggest: Since synchronous systems react deterministically to given inputs in discrete steps, they are typically used to describe reactive systems with a totally ordered notion of time. In contrast, polychronous system models entail a partially ordered notion of time, and are most suited to interface a system with an asynchronous environment by specifying input/output constraints from which a deterministic controller may eventually be refined and synthesized. As particular examples for the mentioned cross fertilization, we show how a simulator and a verification backend for synchronous programs can be made available to polychronous specifications, which is a first step toward integrating heterogeneous models of computation.


Money illusion refers to the tendency to evaluate economic transactions in nominal rather than real terms. One manifestation of this phenomenon is the tendency to neglect future inflation in intertemporal investment decisions. Empirical evidence for this "inflation ignorance" is hard to establish due to the host of factors that simultaneously change with the inflation rate. We avoid these identification issues by conducting a controlled and fully incentivized investment experiment. We measure a substantial degree of money illusion and show that it is not driven by lacking diligence, arithmetic problems, or misunderstandings of inflation. Instead, participants seem to anchor subconsciously to nominal returns, even though they are unambiguously incentivized to base their decisions on real returns only. Our findings contribute towards understanding various anomalies on the individual and market level, such as insufficient savings efforts or equity mispricing.


The utility and effectiveness of whole exome sequencing (WES) have been demonstrated in a pediatric setting, and for this reason, it has recently begun being offered in in the prenatal setting. The scope of exome sequencing and the possibility for incidental findings raises ethical concerns and challenges current resources available to prenatal genetic counselors to implement this testing. This creates a need to understand genetic counselors' opinions toward such a test prior to its implementation. For this reason, a survey focusing on clinical scenarios and factors influencing genetic counselors' opinions on prenatal WES was distributed to clinical prenatal counselors and laboratory counselors through the National Society of Genetic Counselors' student research survey program. One hundred and sixty respondents met criteria for and completed the survey. Results of this survey were analyzed for descriptive statistics as well as comparison of responses using nonparametric analysis. Responses showed that 59.4% of respondents were comfortable with prenatal WES as a diagnostic tool after other diagnostic testing had come back negative or inconclusive. Support for use of prenatal exome sequencing increased significantly (p=0.0088) in the context of targeted prenatal exome (TES), with 74.4% of counselors supporting TES after other diagnostic testing was negative or inconclusive. The two largest factors influencing opinions and support of prenatal exome sequencing were the perceived ability of patients to handle the amount of information provided by the testing (n=125) and the clinical utility of exome sequencing in the prenatal setting (n=123). Most genetic counselors (70.7%) were more likely to support prenatal exome sequencing if educational resources were provided to aid in the implementation of the testing. Overall, 46.9% of genetic counselors would support this testing if it were restricted to cases with clear clinical indications, while an additional 31.9% would support prenatal TES only. The public health significance of this study is that, because prenatal WES/TES will likely be clinically available in the near future, understanding genetic counselors' perceptions of testing and barriers to uptake will help to more seamlessly integrate this testing into the clinic to provide the most benefit and least harm to prenatal patients.


Abstract We evaluated a screening program for the detection of congenital cytomegalovirus in 3075 unselected pregnant women. From each live-born child urine for CMV culture was collected within 7 days after birth. Each fetus expelled after a spontaneous second trimester abortion and each stillborn infant were also evaluated for a possible congenital CMV infection. For each congenital infection stored maternal sera were analysed to determine whether maternal infection was primary or recurrent. Fifteen out of the 3075 pregnancies studied resulted in a congenitally infected infant (0.49 %). Nine maternal CMV infections were primary infections; five were recurrent infections, and in one case the type of infection could not be determined. Three congenital infections resulted in severe sequelae, leading to the termination of pregnancy in two instances and to neonatal death in one case. One of these severe fetal infections was due to a recurrent maternal infection. Follow-up of the other 12 neonates demonstrated hearing disorders in two children. One was born after a primary maternal infection and one after a recurrent maternal infection. We conclude that congenital CMV infections occurs in 0.49% of all pregnancies in the population studied. Twenty percent of the congenitally infected infants present severe sequelae at birth or during pregnancy, and an additional 17% have audiological deficits at 1 year of age. Severe sequelae may occur after both primary and recurrent maternal CMV infection.


The ability of a Lactobacillus acidophilius (LA) based preparation to prevent from a myelotoxic damage was studied on (CBA.C57BL/6)F1 mice upon total gamma-irradiation or single intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphan. The antitumor and antimetastatic activity of LA-based preparation was studied in experiments with C57BL/6 mice bearing Lewis lung carcinoma or melanoma B16. The preparation obtained from heat-killed Lactobacillus acidophilius species provides protection of hemopoietic stem cells, as evidenced by the amount of endogenous CFUs increased 3.4-6.7 times. The LA-based preparation favored accelerated overcoming the radiation- and cyclophosphan-induced leukopenia. At the same time, the drug did not affect the proliferative activity and apoptosis of tumor cells, their growth rate, and metastatic activity. Nor did it reduce the efficacy of the experimental tumor radiotherapy.


Attention has been recently focused on the role of the rpoS (formerly katF) gene product as a regulator during the transition from the exponential growth phase to the stationary phase as well as during nutritional starvation. It has been demonstrated that RpoS is an alternate sigma factor which would bind to promoters of genes induced at these times. It was previously noted that rpoS mutants do not undergo a transition to short rods during entry into the stationary phase. Because of their well-established role in morphogenesis, we investigated the status of the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) in Escherichia coli wild-type and isogenic rpoS mutants. Samples from cultures of E. coli ZK126 and ZK1000 (rpoS::kan) were taken in the midlogarithmic, early stationary, and late (24 h) stationary phases. The increase in PBP 6 seen upon entry of the wild-type strain into the stationary phase was not observed with the rpoS::kan cells, even after 24 h. There was also a marked decrease of PBP 3 in wild-type stationary-phase cells; PBP 3 has a known influence on morphogenesis. This decrease in PBP 3 was found to be markedly affected by the disruption of rpoS. Similar observations were made after prolonged starvation of the two strains for either glucose or a required amino acid. Inasmuch as PBPs are involved in peptidoglycan synthesis, we also examined two properties of peptidoglycan, autolysis and cross-linkage, that might be altered by the PBP differences. However, neither of these properties, which are known to undergo changes in the stationary phase, appeared to be influenced by the status of RpoS.


Structures often enduring random amplitude load or multilevel amplitude load. However, the test researches on fatigue often using equivalent amplitude load. It is very important for fatigue research that how to accurately evaluate structure's fatigue properties of random amplitude load or multilevel amplitude load when only using equivalent amplitude load fatigue test results. According to damaging degree equivalent principle of multilevel amplitude load or random amplitude load, deduced equivalent stress amplitude calculation formula using linearity Miner accumulative damage rule and Corten-Dolan accumulative damage rule. Introduced the formula's using method on fatigue detail or fatigue life evaluation. Utilizing the S-N curve and S-N equation from RC beams fatigue experiment, verified the formula aiming at 3 RC beams' random amplitude fatigue experiment results, and it is indicated that the formula's results had quite high precision and approached the experimentation result though it is partial security. The formula operated convenience and it had higher precision compared to similar formula, so the formula suit for engineering application.


In New Zealand we have a child/youth, and an adult version of the Rights Caution, which are the rights read to an individual when they are arrested, detained, or questioned by police. The child/youth version was created with the developmental needs of young people in mind, however, it remains unclear whether it is assisting young people to better understand their rights. No research has been completed in New Zealand looking at young people's comprehension of the Rights Caution, however, international research has shown that 1) the majority of individuals under 15 years old have limited rights comprehension, and 2) adapted versions of rights do not increase young people's understanding. In consideration of these findings, the current research aimed to answer three key questions: 1) Do young people in New Zealand understand the Rights Caution, 2) what level of understanding do they have, and does this change with age, and 3) is the child/youth version of the Rights Caution helping to increase young people's level of understanding of their rights, compared to the adult version? Participants were recruited from two Wellington region schools (N=101). They were interviewed using The New Zealand Rights Caution Competency Questionnaire, which was designed for this study, to assess young people's understanding of the New Zealand Rights Caution. Participants were divided into either a 10-to-13-year-old age group (n=58), or a 14-to-16-year-old age group (n=43), and were randomly selected to be interviewed using either the child/youth, or adult version of the Rights Caution. It was found that participants had limited understanding of the Rights Caution, exhibiting more basic understanding, compare to in depth knowledge around the application of the rights. Level of understanding was not affected by participant's age; the older participants knew as little as the younger ones did. Furthermore, it was found that the child/youth version of the Rights Caution did not assist participants in their understanding, and actually contained language that participants found more difficult to understand. These findings suggest that the New Zealand Rights Caution may not be effective in providing young people with the legal protection that it is intended to, and the processes around its use with New Zealand youth may need to be revised.