Aim
In the Netherlands, people visit supermarkets on an average basis of 140 times a year. Every visit, consumers get to choose from thousands of products. Within every category, there are several brands that can be chosen from. The brand strategy of a brand can influence the product that a consumer picks. Brands play a critical role in establishing a firm's visibility and position in (international) markets. The Corporate Visual Identity (CVI) is an important part of the brand strategy. The CVI provides recognizability for example. Within corporate visual identity research, the logo has been highlighted as a key element, which can represent the organization to internal and external stakeholders. Although the logo is of great importance, the scientific research that has been done regarding this topic is limited. Especially when it comes to trends in logo design. There are multiple websites that predict design trends, but they lack scientific proof. Besides, supermarket brands are not commonly studied, although consumers make choices about these products on an almost daily basis. Method: In this study, a content analysis was used to analyze the trends amongst supermarket brands for the past 65 years. Here fore, the Dutch brand top 100, conducted by the Symphoni Iri group was used. The older variances of the logos were found with help of the regarding company or by research on the Internet. A codebook was made, based on literature about logo design. The codebook was extended and improved with input from experts, some other respondents and by a pre test. The final version of the codebook was used to analyze 213 logos. Findings: The main results that were revealed by this study, were the following. Most (supermarket brand) logos have red as a main color. Complementary, the most found color scheme had red and white in it (those colors were both found most as main color, as well as supporting color). Another popular color in logo design is blue. Over the years, the colorfulness of logos increased.

Also, a sans serif font is added more often. This adds a more modern look to a logo design. And (probably because of the crisis), more brands choose to get rid of the use of capitals in their logo design

Over the years, depth effects are more often added to designs, they also look more advanced than they used to. New technology and printing techniques have probably influenced this development. In contrast to 3D effects, also flat design seems to be a trend. Back to very simple -and as the word says- flat designs

Geometric logos do not occur very often, but logos even start to become rounder over the years. The use of opacity and lens flare increased over the years.
Also, brands more often tend towards an organic, more natural look

And brands try to show their authority by adding additional information like a year of registration or a location statement to their logos. Practical recommendations: The results of this research might be very interesting for designers. Logos are one of the main vehicles for communicating the image, cutting through the clutter and speeding recognition of the product or company. Therefore, it is of great importance to make a proper selection for a certain logo. Every design option that the designer choses, can have influence on the impact that a logo can deliver.

A very important choice is to choose the right color (combination). Many brands use red in their design, because that color is active and vibrant and it signifies a pioneering spirit and promotes ambition. However, other colors could deliver competitive advantage, because they could contribute towards an outstanding look. Blue, green and white are calming and pleasant colors. These colors could also be used when a brand would like to have a more natural appearance. This is especially interesting for brands that deliver products that are closely linked to nature. To create a natural (organic) look, it helps to add roundness, lens flare and multiple colors to the design.

If a brand wants to deliver a trendy look, it is wisely to choose carefully between either a 3D look, or the opposite: a flat design. No matter what kind of design you chose, it is always good to add round curves to a logo design. Future research : Future research. Limitations: As it comes to scientific research, it is always difficult to achieve complete reliability. Within this study only one researcher did the whole analysis. Therefore, the results are not completely objective.

Another insecurity is the completeness of the corpus. Only few of the companies whose logos were studied, were able to send their previous logo designs by email. Some of the companies did not have their previous designs digitalized very well; others refused to cooperate, because they got a lot of that kind of requests. So, a lot of logos had to be found on the Internet. Since different sources were used to hunt down these logos, it is not sure whether the list of logos is complete, or not.


•  Apoplastic and bulk tissue concentrations of NH4 + and H+ were measured during senescence of intact (attached) and excised ryegrass (Lolium perenne) leaves differing in nitrogen and carbon status. The potential for NH3 emission from the senescing leaves was estimated on the basis of the ratio between [NH4 + ] and [H+ ], designated the Γ-value, in apoplastic solution and bulk tissue. •  Attached leaves with visual symptoms of senescence showed two to three times higher [NH4 + ] and 0.5-1 unit lower pH in both apoplastic solution and bulk tissue extracts compared with green leaves. The Γ-values were, in all cases, low in attached leaves, ranging from 20 to 300 in the apoplastic solution and 500-900 in the bulk tissue. •  In excised leaves with high nitrogen status and low C : N ratio (≈ 10), apoplastic [NH4 + ] increased from around 40 µm to 2 mm after senescence in darkness for 4-9 d. Bulk tissue water [NH4 + ] increased in the same period to > 30 mm. Apoplastic Γ-values were in all cases < 1000, while bulk tissue Γ-values increased dramatically and reached more than 60 000 in high-nitrogen leaves. •  Ammonia compensation points predicted on the basis of apoplastic [NH4 + ] and pH in senescing leaves with high-nitrogen status reached 6-8 nmol mol-1 air. Consequently, senescing leaves may constitute a significant source of atmospheric NH3 .


In this paper an improved method for fuel cost apportionment of a combined power cum a desalination plant is presented. The conventional analysis for cogeneration systems has been, hitherto, the energetic (enthalpy) method which is useful for efficiency evaluation purposes, but it may not be fully accurate for capturing the "quality of fuel energy" consumed by processes in producing two or more useful effects, e.g., electricity and water. An exergy destruction procedure is proposed for the cost apportionment of fuel energy consumed where the available work potential of expanding stream can be fully accounted for cost distribution of the designed processes. For example, the turbines, that is used for power generation, exploits mainly the sensible-energy changes of high enthalpy steam undergoing expansion at high pressures and temperatures, whilst the thermally-activated desalination processes, such as the multi-effect distillation (MED), needed only the high latent-heat of bled-steam but at low pressures that has negligible work potential if the steam were to be used in the turbines. From this analysis, the incurred exergy destruction by the desalination processes is only 2%-7% of the total destruction available to the plant with bled-steam up to 50% of the total flow. We examined the ratio of exergy destruction consumed by the water to power production and, such a ratio is used as a basis for the fuel-cost determination in the cogeneration plant. It captures not only the realistic exergetic value of bled-steam of MED desalination, but it exposes the major shortcomings of the conventional enthalpy changes where a disproportion share of the input fuel cost, up to 32% of the total fuel input, may have been erroneously apportioned and giving an unfair valuation of the operational water cost.


The aim of this paper is to investigate to what extent occupation-specific demands explain the relationship between education and health. We concentrate on ergonomic, environmental, psychical, social and time demands. Merging the German Microcensus 2009 data with a dataset including detailed occupational demands (German Employment Survey 2006), we have a unique dataset to analyze the mediating role of occupational demands in the relationship between education and health status on the one hand and education and health behavior (BMI and smoking) on the other. We base our analyses on the entire working population and therefore also include those who no longer work, taking occupational demands related to their last job. First, we find that occupational demands are significantly related to subjective health and health behaviors. This holds even stronger for those who are no longer employed. Second, we find that whereas occupational demands do not explain educational differences in subjective health status, they do partially mediate the education gradient in the considered health behaviors. Educational differences in smoking status can partly be explained by ergonomic, environmental, psychical and social demands. The educational gradient in BMI is partly attributable to social occupational demands.


When improving the current state of technology in the finite element method, element formulation is a very important area of investigation. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a robust low-order tetrahedral element that is capable of meshing complicated geometries which cannot be meshed with standard brick elements. This element will be applicable to a large class of nonlinear materials that include nearly incompressible and incompressible materials and capable of analyzing small and large deformation as well as large rotations. Development of such an element will particularly benefit large strain metal-forming applications.Linear tetrahedral elements are very practical for several reasons including their simplicity and efficiency. Despite their advantages, these elements have known shortcomings in their performance when applied to incompressible or nearly incompressible materials because of their tendency to lock. To overcome this problem a stabilized mixed formulation is proposed for tetrahedral elements that can be utilized in solid mechanics and large deformation problems. An enhanced strain derived from a bubble function is added to the element to provide the necessary stabilization. The uniqueness of the proposed formulation lies within the fact that it does not require any geometric or material dependent parameters and no specific material model so that the formulation is completely general. The element was implemented through a user-programmable element into the commercial finite element software, ANSYS. Using the ANSYS platform, the performance of the element was evaluated by different numerical investigations encompassing both small and large deformation, linear and nonlinear materials as well as near and fully incompressible conditions. The element formulation was tested with several standard metal forming problems such as metal extrusion and punch forging that are known to experience difficulties during large deformations. The results were compared with analytical results or other available finite element results in the literature. Finally, conclusions are drawn and possible future investigations are discussed such as the application of the new element in 3D rezoning, dynamic problems and anisotropic materials.


Background Gluten intolerance is a systemic process of autoimmune nature; it develops in genetically predisposed subjects with gluten ingestion. The only treatment for celiac disease (CD) is a lifelong strict gluten-free diet (GFD). This study was designed to evaluate adherence to a GFD, risk of an eating disorder, and nutritional status in adult CD patients undergoing different interventions. Methods A total of 28 Spanish women, aged 40 years or more, took part in a randomized controlled trial. Each group received a different intervention: group 1, gluten-free nutrition plan + exercise (GFD + E); group 2, gluten-free nutrition plan (GFD); group 3, celiac controls (NO-GFD); and group 4, non-celiac controls (CONTROL). The training was prescribed by a sport scientist. It was based on resistance training with elastic bands; beforehand a warm-up was performed and the resistance was increased progressively. The variables studied were adherence to the GFD, risk of eating disorders, blood values, and body composition. Results Celiac women with personalized nutritional planning presented greater adherence to a gluten-free diet (p < 0.001). Regarding leukocytes, significant differences were observed between the GFD and control groups (p = 0.004). Perimeters and folds did not decrease significantly. Conclusion Women with celiac disease who follow an adapted and personalized diet have a better adherence to a GFD compared to those who follow a non-professional diet, and therefore have a better immune system status (blood leukocytes).


The results of experimental and theoretical studies of collisional ionization of Na Rydberg atoms in nS and nD(n = 8–20) states are presented. Molecular and atomic ions from associative ionization and photoionization by blackbody radiation were detected after pulsed laser excitation of Rydberg states in crossed Na atomic beams. An original method of determination of associative ionization rate constants based on the measurement of ratios of molecular and atomic ion signals was used, which did not require the determination of absolute number density of Rydberg atoms. The measured rate constants of associative ionization of Rydberg atoms in collisions with ground-state Na atoms are compared with the results of our earlier single-beam experiment and theoretical calculations. It is shown that the stochastic ionization model, which describes the collisional ionization of Rydberg atoms in terms of chaotic migration of highly excited electron induced by the motion of the colliding nuclei, yields a significantly better agreement with the experimental results than the earlier Duman–Shmatov–Mihajlov–Janev model.


The EUs goal is to spread peace and democracy over the European continent and therefore incorporate all European countries. On the other hand the public support for further EU enlargement decreased in recent years. This thesis will investigate whether macroeconomic factors are one potential explanation for this development. The central research question is: 'To what extent is the change in attitudes in EU member states towards further EU enlargements between 2004 and 2010 related to macroeconomic factors?'.
The research is conducted in a longitudinal design based on data published by Eurostat and Eurobarometer. The results are of particular relevance for EU officials to acquire knowledge about the formation of public opinion on EU enlargements and to enable finding solutions to counter the declining support for future enlargements.
The main findings revealed in this research are (1)The public opposition against further enlargements increased during the time period, especially after the hit of the financial crisis in 2008; (2)The attitude of wealthier countries seems to be more negative than that of poorer member states; (3)The member states' relation to the EU budget, whether they receive or contribute payments, constitutes a large part of the macroeconomic influence. (4)The public attitude is only to an extent explained by macroeconomic indicators.


Study objective Aerosolized ipratropium bromide or orally administered baclofen or oxybutynin chloride (Ditropan) block methacholine-associated airway hyperreactivity in subjects with chronic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI), whereas these agents do not inhibit airway hyperreactivity associated with the inhalation of histamine. The present study was performed to determine whether pretreatment with aβ 2 -agonist attenuates airway hyperresponsiveness in these subjects. Participants Subjects with chronic cervical SCI previously demonstrating airway hyperreactivity were challenged with methacholine (n = 9) or histamine (n = 16) alone and, on a separate day, 25 min following inhalation of nebulized metaproterenol sulfate. Results Inhalation of theβ 2 -agonist was associated with an increase in provocative concentration causing a 20% decrease in FEV 1 (PC 20 ) values (geometric mean) from 1.01 ± 2.76 to 20.54 ± 6.24 mg/mL for methacholine and from 2.29 ± 2.26 to 19.82 ± 5.93 mg/mL for histamine. No correlation was found between specific PC 20 values for individual subjects and percentage improvement in FEV 1 (liter) following inhalation of metaproterenol sulfate and between PC 20 values and baseline FEV 1 percent. Conclusion These data, combined with findings that patients with chronic high cervical SCI experience increased breathlessness following exposure to exogenous agents, suggest that long-term prophylactic β 2 -agonist therapy may reduce respiratory symptoms associated with airway hyperreactivity in these patients.


In flow ducts with closed side branches strong acoustic pulsations are often induced. This was shown by test results performed for systems with a single side branch and co-axial branches with the same lengths. With growing the flow velocity an excitation of successive resonant modes was observed. Their frequencies were increased together with the flow velocity but at peaks of sound pressure there was an excellent agreement between measurements results and theoretical predictions. A conversion of fluctuating flow energy to energy of resonant acoustic field was included in theoretical consideration by means of negative resistance in impedance model of branches. Hence, it was possible to predict a stronger nonlinearity in the case of a duct with co-axial branches. It was found that a characteristic parameter of the analyzed phenomenon is Strouhal number. Its values for all modes are within the same range approximately and, in addition, it determines a change of acoustic inertance at the branch opening.


The Internet has revolutionized multimedia content distribution, shifting the way content producers and users approach digital rights. However, ubiquitous computing will alter the digital rights management environment even more, and current techniques are ill equipped to deal with the changes. Distributed trust can help to overcome the challenge of maintaining digital rights for ubiquitous computing, using cellular automata to measure trust levels across a system.


From introduction: report.-This bulletin, which is published in two parts, contains the complete results of all spirit leveling done in South Carolina by the Geological Survey of the United States Department of the Interior, including those heretofore published.1 The 34th parallel of latitude, passing through Columbia, serves to divide the State into two sections, each of which is represented by one of the parts of the bulletin. Part 1 deals with the section lying north of the 34th parallel, designated as northern South Carolina, and part 2 deals with the section lying south of that parallel, designated as southern South Carolina.


Author(s): Ludsin, Hallie | Abstract: The international human rights movement is facing an existential crisis—a crisis created in part by its continuing failure to adequately address strong criticism that international human rights law (IHRL) is a form of cultural imperialism designed to destroy local religion and culture. While the debate underlying the crisis is not new, the strength of its threat to IHRL and the liberal democratic order is. One of the primary points of friction is over IHRL's seeming rejection of a group right to be governed by religious or cultural law—a right IHRL proponents fear would open the doors to discrimination against women, the LGBT community and nonconformists. Already, populist leaders like President Erdogan of Turkey have been able to capitalize on a combination of demands for a role for religion in governance and frustration with economic inequality to claw back on human rights and democratic guarantees.The debates surrounding group rights have reached an impasse that will do little to promote either human rights or greater respect for religion and culture. This Article seeks to break that impasse. First, it relies on progressive Muslim and African scholarship to tear down the assumptions shared by both IHRL and group rights proponents that make the impasse seemingly intractable: (1) that religious and cultural law are determined from the top down; and (2) that they demand total submission of their followers. Having debunked those assumptions, it then challenges both groups to consider whether a theory of substantive human rights could allow countries to guarantee individuals the right to feely and equally choose whether to be governed by religious or cultural law without risking that this choice will become a ruse for favoring the majority group or for subjugating women and vulnerable groups.


Robustness of phoneme recognition to additive noise is investigated for PLP and acoustic waveform representations of speech using support vector machines (SVMs) combined via error-correcting code methods. While recognition in the PLP domain attains superb accuracy on clean data, it is significantly affected by mismatch between training and testing noise levels. The classification in the high-dimensional acoustic waveform domain, on the other hand, is more robust to additive noise. Moreover, these classifiers perform best when trained on clean data. We also show that the simpler structure of the waveform representation allows one to improve performance using custom-designed kernel functions.


Inspired by mussels, dopamine (DOPA) was used as a green reducing agent for graphene oxide (GO) to prepare a superior flame retardant and high thermal conductive flexible film. The self-polymerization of dopamine occurred on the surface of GO nanosheets, accompanied by the reduction of GO. As the solvent was gradually removed, the reduced graphene sheets covered by polydopamine formed a layer-by-layer stacked film, where polydopamine acted as a linkage filled in the interlayer space. Herein, the experimental results indicated that the tensile strength of the constructed graphene/polydopamine composites film (GPF) was as high as 25 MPa. The in-plane thermal conductivity of this prepared film was 13.42 W m−1 K−1, whereas that in the cross-plane direction was 0.69 W m−1 K−1. The high anisotropy of the thermal conductivity was verified to be due to the high alignment of reduced graphene. Fire experiments showed that the GPF could effectively prevent flame spreading and propagation without ignition, and the heat release rate (HRR) curve showed that the GPF had no heat release below 500 °C. The peak HRR is only 40 W g−1 at 528 °C, whereas that of GO is 360 W g−1 at 165 °C. This phenomenon demonstrates that the GPF has excellent flame retardancy.


For different donor distribution types we theoretically investigate the intersubband transitions of single Si δ-doped GaAs structure as dependent on the applied electric field. The diffusion of donor impurities is taken into account in two different models: a triangular distribution and a non-uniform distribution. The electronic properties such as the effective δ-potential, the subband energies and the eigen-envelope wavefunctions have been calculated by solving the Schroedinger and Poisson equations self-consistently. Abrupt changes of the subband energy difference and the absorption peak are realized whenever the applied electric field reaches a certain value. These critical electric field values change dependent on the donor distribution model. The intersubband absorption spectrum shows that redshifts appear up to the critical electric field value for the (1-2) and (1-3) intersubband transitions. This spectrum also shows that blueshifts can occur when the electric fields are higher than certain values. These changing intersubband absorption peaks can be used in various infrared optical device applications.


A computer simulation program was developed to teach site investigation skills. It includes an open-ended assessment test to gauge an individual9s abilities and effectiveness at site investigation. The test consists of a series of educational and experience questions followed by 14 investigation strategy questions, which were designed to measure the ability to apply geological knowledge to characterize sites and improve investigation plans. The individual scores on the test were compared statistically with the educational and experience elements to assess the critical components of an engineering geologist9s background that improved his or her site investigation skills. The most important college courses contributing to site investigation skills include geomorphology, field camp, regional geology, and a strong introductory geology course. Secondary but helpful courses include case histories, stratigraphy, structural geology, engineering geology, sedimentation, rock mechanics, and hydrogeology. The total number of geology background courses is not statistically significant, nor is the terminal degree earned, although individuals with certain post-baccalaureate degrees showed higher scores than average. The number of years of experience is statistically significant, although after 20 years statistical improvements do not continue. Professional registration is correlated with improved scores, with the Certified Engineering Geologist and Geotechnical Engineer registration being the most important. Those who have only Engineer-in-Training or Geologist-in-Training registration showed significantly lower than average scores, reflecting their short record of experience. Finally, the number of geographic regions in which an individual had work experience was significant, although those who had worked in more than five regions did not follow the overall trend. Those with experience in the Rockies, California, the Piedmont, New England, and the Gulf Coast scored better than average. Those with experience in Florida, the Appalachians, or the Midwest scored worse than average, which may be a reflection of the relatively homogeneous geology and limited opportunities for breadth of experience in parts of those regions.


The COVID-19 pandemic has affected over 114 million people and has resulted in >2.5 million deaths so far. Some people have greater susceptibility which influences both SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and COVID-19 severity. Smoking is associated with increased ACE-2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, which facilitates its entry through the lung. However, despite the widespread use of e-cigarettes, also known as 'vaping', little is known regarding the effects of vaping on ACE-2 expression and how this affects SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, the added effect of nicotine in the vapor is also unknown. Thus, we tested whether vaping induces ACE-2 expression in the mouse lung. BALB/c mice exposed to e-cigarette vapor (±nicotine) resulted in a significant increase in peribronchiolar inflammation and influx of immune cells into the airways. Vapor increased monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, interleukin 1β, and KC levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in both sexes, which were further enhanced by nicotine (whereas increase in interleukin 6 was sex and nicotine independent). The reduction in basal inspiratory capacity with vapor exposure occurred independent of sex or nicotine. The increase in methacholine-induced airway hyper-responsiveness was independent of sex; however, in female mice it was only significant in the nicotine-exposed group. Lung ACE-2 expression was increased in male mice in a nicotine-dependent manner as compared with female mice. Collectively, while vaping (±nicotine) induced airway inflammation and impaired lung function, the induction of lung ACE-2 occurred to a significantly greater degree in males exposed to vapor containing nicotine as compared with females. Thus, via these effects on ACE-2 expression in the lungs and airways, vaping itself may facilitate SARS-CoV-2 entry into the airways.


The normal variations in the size of the ventricular systems was determined on technically satisfactory computer tomograms in 275 patients who were psychologically and neurologically normal. Ages range from one to 80 years and the data classified in decades. A physiological increase in the width of the ventricular system was found after the 50th year. The normal patients, who acted as a control group, were compared with 65 alcoholics. A significant increase in size (simple variance) was found in alcoholics after the fourth decade, as compared with normals. Correlation between the width of the ventricular system and cerebral function, and between liver damage and the ventricular system could not be established.


The introduction of photonics in microwave systems is setting new paradigms in radar architectures, providing new features potentially improving the surveillance effectiveness. In particular, photonics is enabling a new generation of the multiband radars able to manage multiple coherent radar signals at different frequencies simultaneously, with high and frequency-independent quality, enabling multispectral imaging for advanced surveillance systems. In fact, thanks to its high stability and huge bandwidth, photonics matches the urgent requirements of the performance and flexibility of the next-generation software-defined radar architectures, and it guarantees system compactness, thanks to the use of a single shared transceiver for multiband operations and to the potentials for photonic integration, which also promises reduced power consumption. In this paper, we present the first field trial, in a maritime scenario, of a fully coherent multiband radar enabled by the use of photonics. The paper reviews the basic concepts exploited for the photonic generation and the detection of the radar signals, and describes the extension to the multiband operation. We present details on the implementation and testing of a dual-band coherent radar system, discussing the potentials for a software-defined radio approach. Moreover, the results obtained after a simple digital data fusion are discussed, highlighting the capability of the coherent photonics-based multiband radars in exploiting the extended observation bandwidth for improving the system detection resolution with minimum computational costs.


This thesis deals with a new approach to Treadmill Automation and Physiological Control Systems that will serve as a platform for enhanced rehabilitation therapy, and will open up and facilitate a major new area of research in physiological control systems. On treadmill automation, the investigation focussed on the feasibility of a low-cost non- contact position control system with the aim of maintaining a subject at a prescribed position during a treadmill training exercise in order to ensure safety at all times. The development of an automatic speed control for the treadmill was first carried out using an identified model for the treadmill motor dynamics (response from speed command to actual belt speed). Subsequently, the positioning control system was designed and tested. The fundamental limitations to treadmill automation performance include low bandwidth and long time delays of the hardware (treadmill and ultrasonic sensor). Interactions between natural human control and the position controller, and spontaneous variability of human movement due to body oscillations and swaying, are discussed. On physiological control systems, we considered two key variables - the heart rate and oxygen uptake. The purpose of this is to develop a means of controlling exercise intensity during treadmill exercise. On the control of heart rate, a model of heart rate response to changes in speed was obtained via the system identification method. Thereafter, a heart rate controller was developed, tested, and evaluated on three healthy subjects during treadmill exercise. The results of the experiments demonstrated that the developed heart rate controller is superior to the in-built treadmill heart rate controller. A novel system is developed for the control of oxygen uptake, and is thus presented. The system proved that it is possible to control exercise intensity using the level of oxygen uptake during moderate exercise. The results of this work demonstrate that a linear first order model is able to sufficiently capture the complex dynamics of oxygen uptake during treadmill exercise. A controller was developed using this model and tested on healthy subjects. Six healthy active subjects participated completely in the tests. The results of the tests with these subjects establish the robustness of the controllers to inter-subject variability. Furthermore, the controller was refined and tuned to improve the performance of the control signal (treadmill speed). This was achieved by designing a controller that incorporated a pre-filter in the system. The results of the experiments using this set-up with the same set of healthy subjects show a significant improvement on the control signal (smoother treadmill speed).


Introduction: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a global health problem which is growing in prevalence. Hemodialysis is the most common treatment for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) which requires a permanent vascular access. Vascular accesses should have a good patency and low complication. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the efficacy & outcome of side-to-side (STS) versus end-to-side (ETS) methods in radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas in dialysis patients. Patients and Methods: In this randomized, single-blind clinical trial, 60 ESRD patients who required venous access for hemodialysis were divided equally into two groups. STS arteriovenous anastomosis was employed in one group and in the other, the ETS approach was conducted. Follow ups were done after 1, 6, and 24 weeks to detect fistula maturation and immediate or delayed complications. Results: The STS anastomosis group demonstrated higher rates of delayed maturation, vascular aneurism, and venous hypertension syndrome than ETS anastomosis group. The ETS group, however, showed higher rates of venous thrombosis and vascular stenosis. Overall, the rate of complications was 11% and 8% for STS and ETS anastomosis group respectively (P =0.03). Conclusion: In comparison, ETS arteriovenous fistulas involve less complications than STS method in ESRD patients. However, more thrombosis and stenosis detected by ETS method. ETS arteriovenous fistulas had less delayed maturation, aneurism, venous hypertension and overall complications than STS approach. ETS arteriovenous fistulas contribute to establishing a more stable connection to hemodialysis machine to conduct a more effective hemodialysis.


The main aim and first research focus of this study is to evaluate whether collaborative group work (CGW) is a viable and potentially productive teaching approach in mathematics in upper primary schools in Pakistan. A subsidiary aim and the second research focus is to explore the influences of teacher"s actions, social relations and task on student interactions during CGW.

The study was conducted in two private schools over one teaching term in the academic year 2010. In relation to the first research focus, methodologically, this study used a design experiment approach over the two case studies. Evidence was collected in a usual classroom context in the form of observations, audio and video recordings, interviews, questionnaires and field notes. The purpose was to collect the data in classroom conditions that were as normal as possible.

The first research focus was evaluated through the indirect evidence of its effects on students" interactions and attitudes. The first of these considered the extent to which students were interacting either in disputational mode, cumulative mode or exploratory mode. An exploratory mode of interaction enables meaning and knowledge to be constructed, and the thesis evaluation is based on the assumption that teaching that brings about exploratory interaction, that is where students are exchanging propositions, explaining and justifying ideas to each other, is productive.

The findings show that exploratory discourse towards the end of the intervention was more extensive than in its early stages. It is concluded that primary students in mathematics classes in Pakistan are capable of engaging in effective group work that promotes exploratory discourse between them.

The analysis of the attitudes to mathematics of students at the start, during and at the end of the teaching programme, based on the outcomes of semi-structured interviews (for some students) and a questionnaire (for all the students who were involved) shows a positive change in student attitudes over the period of the intervention. It is assumed that such a change has a positive influence on students" engagement and learning.

The two sets of findings concerning the first research focus suggest that CGW is viable and can be productive in the context of primary mathematics classrooms in Pakistan.


This paper presents a magnetic-field system and the method developed for testing the immunity of the active implantable medical devices to continuous-wave magnetic fields in the frequency range up to 1 MHz. The system is able to produce magnetic fields of 150 A/m for frequencies up to 100 kHz and strengths decreasing as l/f between 100 kHz and 1 MHz, with uniformity of the field within plusmn2.5% in the volume for tests. To simulate human tissue, the medical device, together with its leads, is placed on a plastic grid in a saline tank that is introduced in the magnetic field of the induction coil. This paper offers an alternative for the injection voltage methods provided in the actual standards for assessing the protection of the implantable medical devices from the effects of the magnetic fields up to 1 MHz. This paper presents the equipment and signals used, the test procedure, and results from the preliminary tests performed at the Food and Drug Administration-Center for Devices and Radiological Health on implantable pacemakers and neurostimulators. The new system and test method are useful for the EMC research on the implantable medical devices.


We investigate the behavior of Fourier transforms for a wide class of non-stationary nonlinear processes. Asymptotic central and noncentral limit theorems are established for a class of non-degenerate and degenerate weighted V-statistics through the angle of Fourier analysis. The established theory for V-statistics provides a unified treatment for many important time and spectral domain problems in the analysis of non-stationary time series, ranging from nonparametric estimation to the inference of periodograms and spectral densities.


Commodity markets work well in the U.S. because they standardize the products being sold. Using hedonic pricing models, this paper investigates the quality attributes that make soybeans differentiated across the U.S. and the possible implications that quality adjusted prices may have in today's markets. A hedonic model was tested using soybean prices from 2004 to 2013 to adjust for quality. A test was then conducted to show the price change over time due to quality changes in soybeans. Results show that quality-adjusted pricing may affect forecasting and hedging with stronger correlations computed between futures prices and quality adjusted prices than futures prices and observed prices.


Isshiki's arytenoid adduction combined with thyroplasty type I is a useful procedure for correcting the membranous vocal fold atrophy and the height difference between the two vocal folds, particularly in patients with a large posterior glottal chink and atrophy. Conventional arytenoid adduction (Isshiki's arytenoid adduction) is designed to place a suture through the muscular process of the arytenoid attached anteriorly to the thyroid ala, stimulating the function of the thyroarytenoid muscle and lateral cricoarytenoid muscle. Combining with thyroplasty type I, the suture direction of conventional arytenoid adduction prevented inserting implant material into the pocket of the thyroid cartilage window. In contrast to conventional arytenoid adduction, the suture direction in our approach is anchored anteroinferiorly, mimicking only the action of the lateral cricoarytenoid muscle (the major adductor of the larynx). It is used the thyroid cartilage window in thyroplasty type I to determine the direction of the lateral cricoarytenoid muscle. After approaching the muscular process based on Isshiki's arytenoid adduction, two nylon sutures are tied across the muscular process or the lateral cricoarytenoid muscle nearby the muscular process. The cricoarytenoid joint is not dislocated. One of the sutures was anchored to the inferior rear corner of the thyroid cartilage window to be used with thyroplasty type I and the other was anchored to the rear lower margin of the thyroid lamina. Gore-tex medialization thyroplasty is done after tying the sutures on the thyroid ala. Subjects were 30 unilateral paralytic dysphonia. Maximum phonation of all patients improved significantly after surgery. The preoperative and postoperative mean maximum phonation times were 6.0 and 17.9 seconds. No major complications occurred in this study. Our approach effectively combined arytenoid adduction and thyroplasty type I for patients with severe insufficient glottic closure.


The aim of this paper is to describe a renewed approach to the ABC landscape assessment method, a procedure that undertakes landscape approach considering abiotic (A), biotic (B) and cultural (C) elements shaping the landscape. This new method is organized in three nested multi-scaled levels defined with high accuracy (1:10,000; 1:20,000; 1:25,000), it combines holistic and parametric approaches and it delineates landscape units from both a typological and chorological point of view. The procedure is based on field work, congruently integrates physical, cultural and perceived landscape components and focuses on the spatial dimension of landscape. Landscape units are hierarchised and classified, leading to a landscape taxonomy. An example is given for Muntanyes d'Ordal, in the Barcelona metropolitan area, with 36 units and 1,019 delineations at Level I, 8 units and 74 delineations at Level II and 14 units at Level III. Overall, 42.5% of Level I delineations are defined by biotic elements and 32.4% by anthropic elements, which shows the peri-urban nature of the area studied. The main interest and originality of the method lies in the fact that the holistic and parametric approaches are integrated using a systematic procedure that can be easily replicated anywhere so that results from different areas can be compared.


The free energies of the austenite, the (modulated) premartensite and the unmodulated martensite of Ni2MnGa are determined using density functional theory and including quasiharmonic phonons and fixed-spin-moment magnons. This approach very well reproduces the complete phase sequence (martensite<-->premartensite<-->austenite) of stoichiometric Ni2MnGa as a function of temperature. By analyzing the relevant free energy contributions, we also understand the delicate interplay of phonons and magnons driving both phase transitions.


Enzymic and structural peculiarities of the ATP-dependent Lon protease from Escherichia coli and its mutant and modified forms were studied. Amino acid residues important for the function of proteolytic and ATPase sites and for the transmission of the interdomain signals of the activity coupling were found. It was shown that the protein substrates are hydrolyzed only by the full-size enzyme, whereas the isolated proteolytic domain displays a peptide-hydrolyzing activity.


Tb3+-doped Ca2BO3Cl compounds with different charge compensation approaches are synthesized by a high-temperature solid-state reaction method, and the luminescent properties and Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates are systematically characterized. Ca2BO3Cl:Tb3+ can produce green emission under 376 nm radiation excitation. With codoped A+ (A = Li, Na, K) as charge compensators, the relative emission intensities of Ca2BO3Cl:Tb3+ are enhanced by about 1.61, 1.97, and 1.81 times compared with those of the direct charge balance, which is considered to be due to the effect of the difference in ion radius on the crystal field. The CIE chromaticity coordinates of Ca2BO3Cl:Tb3+, A+ (A = Li, Na, K) are (0.335, 0.584), (0.335, 0.585), and (0.335, 0.585), corresponding to the hues of green. Therefore, A+ (A = Li, Na, K) may be the optimal charge compensator for Ca2BO3Cl:Tb3+.


A main component of a plant cell is its cell wall, which has a complex microscopic structure composed mainly of oriented cellulose microfibrils, pectins, hemicelluloses, structural proteins, and water.  The orientation and strength of the microfibrils strongly influence the mechanical properties of the wall, and it has been proposed that calcium-pectin cross-linking chemistry is one of the main regulators of cell wall elasticity. I will present a three-dimensional continuum model for a cell wall that takes into account the calcium-pectin cross-linking chemistry and microfibril microstructure.  To obtain the effective macroscopic properties of the wall, homogenization techniques will be used.  I will conclude my talk with numerical results showing how the elastic properties of the cell wall respond to the changes in the distribution of calcium-pectin cross-links.


Linear models have shown great effectiveness and flexibility in many fields such as machine learning, signal processing and statistics. They can represent rich spaces of functions while preserving the convexity of the optimization problems where they are used, and are simple to evaluate, differentiate and integrate. However, for modeling non-negative functions, which are crucial for unsupervised learning, density estimation, or non-parametric Bayesian methods, linear models are not applicable directly. Moreover, current state-of-the-art models like generalized linear models either lead to non-convex optimization problems, or cannot be easily integrated. In this paper we provide the first model for non-negative functions which benefits from the same good properties of linear models. In particular, we prove that it admits a representer theorem and provide an efficient dual formulation for convex problems. We study its representation power, showing that the resulting space of functions is strictly richer than that of generalized linear models. Finally we extend the model and the theoretical results to functions with outputs in convex cones. The paper is complemented by an experimental evaluation of the model showing its effectiveness in terms of formulation, algorithmic derivation and practical results on the problems of density estimation, regression with heteroscedastic errors, and multiple quantile regression.


ABP is more reliable and reproducible than casual BP, enables computation of the mean, daytime, night-time ABP, and 24-h pulse pressure, detects white coat effect or reversed white coat effect, and provides information regarding diurnal BP pattern as well as BP variability. ABP correlates better with target-organ damage than casual BP. ABPM is now widely used also in children. Increasing age and higher mean BP are factors that improve the success rate of ABPM. There is a guideline from American Heart Association to standardize the use of ABPM in children, including the detailed recommendations for the use of ABPM and for the interpretation of the data. Studies from several countries reported normal values for ABP in children by age and gender. Normal ABP values by height are also available.ABPM is useful when confirming the diagnosis, assessing the target organ damage, and treating and evaluating the effectiveness. While the advantages of ABP are shared by home BP to some extent, nocturnal BP, 24-hour pulse pressure, and short term BP variability can be measured only by ABPM. ABPM in the initial evaluation of suspected childhood HTN was shown to be highly cost-effective.


The relationships of hormonal mediators to the systemic hypermetabolism and catabolism of head injury were studied in 15 patients with severe head injuries. Resting energy expenditure (REE), urinary nitrogen balance, and plasma glucose concentration were measured daily for the first 2 weeks after injury as the major indicators of hypermetabolism. These dependent variables were correlated with daily measurements of urinary epinephrine, norepinephrine, metanephrine, normetanephrine, dopamine, and cortisol, and with plasma levels of insulin, glucagon, and C-reactive protein. Urinary catecholamine and cortisol excretion were markedly elevated in these patients throughout the 2 weeks of study. Catecholamine excretion peaked between days 7 and 10, whereas cortisol excretion tended to be highest on day 5 after injury. Urinary levels of norepinephrine, normetanephrine, and cortisol were highest in the two patients with Glasgow Coma Scale scores of 4. Plasma insulin and glucagon concentrations were elevated on day 1 after injury and tended to increase throughout the 2-week period of study. The variables significantly associated with REE were the severity of injury, reflected by the GCS score, the urinary excretion of norepinephrine during the first 2 days after injury, and the urinary excretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine during days 3 to 7 after injury. A negative nitrogen balance was associated with the urinary excretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine, with caloric balance, and with plasma C-reactive protein during days 1 and 2 after injury. During days 3 to 7, a negative nitrogen balance was associated with the urinary excretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine and with caloric balance, and during days 8 to 14, a negative nitrogen balance was associated primarily with urinary cortisol excretion.


A summary of hydrochemical research in the Plynlimon catchments from 1983 to the present is related to identifying water flow pathways within catchments and the modelling of soil and stream water acidification. The study reveals a highly heterogeneous system that barely conforms with current understanding of hydrology and acidification theory. The role of hydrochemical mixing processes and groundwater flow routing is emphasised as is the need for maintaining long term monitoring studies and enhancing process based studies of water and chemical fluxes through catchments. The applicability of current environmental impact models for predictive and environmental management purposes is questioned and it is proposed that new hydrochemical modelling structures are needed to examine the highly heterogeneous systems being modelled.


Researchers in any academic discipline build on each other's and their own previous work. Definitions, topics and concepts are shared. It is necessary to continuously follow up on interesting lines of inquiry. It is also necessary to identify, examine, and trace the intellectual linkage to each other in a given academic field as a basis of assessing the current state of its field to guide future development. Over the past 80 years, the way we count and analyze the intellectual linkage dramatically changed from the early manual transcribing and statistical computation of citation data to computer-based citation data creation and its manipulation. Most citation and cocitation analyses rely on commercial citation databases such as Social Science Citation Index. This paper introduces an alternative approach to conducting author cocitation analysis (ACA) without relying on commercial citation databases, based on custom bibliographic database and cocitation matrix generation systems specifically developed to use the custom database. The alternative approach overcomes several weaknesses of commercial online data-based ACA research. This guide to an alternative approach to ACA will encourage other researchers to explore the intellectual structures of various MIS fields and guide the future development as well as revealing their reference disciplines.


Complexes of the oxa-thia macrocycles [18]aneO4S2, [15]aneO3S2 and the oxa-selena macrocycle [18]aneO4Se2 (L) of types [MCl2(L)]FeCl4 (M = Sc or Y) were prepared from [ScCl3(thf)3] or [YCl2(THF)5][YCl4(THF)2] and the ligand in anhydrous MeCN, using FeCl3 as a chloride abstractor. The [MI2(L)]I, [LaI3(L)] and [LuI2(L)]I have been prepared from the ligands and the appropriate anhydrous metal triiodide in MeCN. Complexes of type [LaI3(crown)] and [LuI2(crown)]I (crown = 18-crown-6, 15-crown-5) were made for comparison. Use of the metal iodide results in complexes with high solubility compared to the corresponding chlorides, although also with increased sensitivity to moisture. All complexes were characterised by microanalysis, IR, (1)H, (45)Sc and (77)Se NMR spectroscopy as appropriate. X-ray crystal structures are reported for [ScCl2([18]aneO4S2)][FeCl4], [ScI2([18]aneO4S2)]I, [YCl2(18-crown-6)]3[Y2Cl9], [YCl2([18]aneO4S2)][FeCl4], [LaI3(15-crown-5)], [LaI2(18-crown-6)(MeCN)]I, [LuI(18-crown-6)(MeCN)2]I2, [Lu(15-crown-5)(MeCN)2(OH2)]I3, [LaI3([18]aneO4S2)], [LaI([18]aneO4S2)(OH2)]I2, [LaI3([18]aneO4Se2)] and [LuI2([18]aneO4Se2)]I. In each complex all the neutral donor atoms of the macrocycles are coordinated to the metal centre, showing very rare examples of these oxophilic metal centres coordinated to thioether groups, and the first examples of coordinated selenoether donors. In some cases MeCN or adventitious water displaces halide ligands, but not the S/Se donors from La or Lu complexes. A complex of the oxa-tellura macrocycle [18]aneO4Te2, [ScCl2([18]aneO4Te2)][FeCl4] was isolated, but is unstable in MeCN solution, depositing elemental Te. YCl3 and 18-crown-6 produced [YCl2(18-crown-6)]3[Y2Cl9], the asymmetric unit of which contains two cations with a trans-YCl2 arrangement and a third with a cis-YCl2 group.


Leveraging weak or noisy supervision for building effective machine learning models has long been an important research problem. The growing need for large-scale datasets to train deep learning models has increased its importance. Weak or noisy supervision could originate from multiple sources including non-expert annotators or automatic labeling based on heuristics or user interaction signals. Previous work on modeling and correcting weak labels have been focused on various aspects, including loss correction, training instance re-weighting, etc. In this paper, we approach this problem from a novel perspective based on meta-learning. We view the label correction procedure as a meta-process and propose a new meta-learning based framework termed MLC for learning with weak supervision. Experiments with different label noise levels on multiple datasets show that MLC can achieve large improvement over previous methods incorporating weak labels for learning.


We are developing paradigms and algorithms for browsing and editing families of animation using a haptic force-feedback device called a Phantom. These techniques may be generalized to navigation of any high degree-of-freedom system from a lower degree-of-freedom control space, with applications to telerobotics and simulation of virtual humans. We believe that modeling the animation configuration space coupled with the highly interactive nature of the haptic device provides one with useful and intuitive means of control. We have implemented our ideas in a system for the manipulation of animation motion capture data; in particular, anthropomorphic figures with 57 degrees of freedom are controlled by the user in real time. We treat trajectories, which encode animation, as first-class objects; haptic manipulation of these trajectories results in change to the animation. We have several haptic editing modes in which these trajectories are either haptically deformed or performed by the user with expressive control subject to dynamic haptic constraints.


Mandalay City, an old capital lying in Central Myanmar, has favourable geographic conditions for the development of seasonal diseases. With a total population of 796,091 and a density of 19,253 persons per square mile, 0.65% to 0.77% of the population is recorded to have suffered, among the seasonal diseases, mainly from diarrhoea, Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) and Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) during the recent years. In this research, the researcher identifies the epidemic seasons from the geographical point of view: diarrhoea occurs mostly in the rainy season, DHF in the late rainy season, and ARI in the late rainy season to the early winter. As epidemic areas, diarrhoea prevails yearly or periodically in water-logged settlement areas and in wards of poor sanitation and human environment, DHF in those areas as well as in the slum areas, and ARI in places polluted by air indoor or in surrounding areas. Moreover, it is found that the occurrence of diarrhoea increases when temperature, rainfall, and humidity become higher. DHF cases also increase directly with the three climatic elements but the correlation is high with relative humidity and low with the other two. ARI cases increase reversely with temperature and rainfall, and directly with relative humidity. Finally, a conceived model showing the factors influencing upon seasonal diseases in Mandalay City is produced.


This paper studies the relation between firm investment in general human capital, new firm creation and financial development for new firm financing, such as the existence of a venture capital industry. On one hand, firm investment in general human capital leads employees to generate new innovative ideas for starting their own firm. Since employees need a venture capitalist to start their new firm, firm investment in general human capital encourages the creation of venture capitalists by increasing the need for their services, such as providing advice and monitoring. On the other hand, as new firm financing becomes available, firms' willingness to invest in general human capital increases, and as a by-product, the creation of employee-founded and venture capital-backed new firms increases in the economy. Hence, our model provides a rational explanation for the emergence of new firms created by employees of established firms, which represents one of the most common type of new firms in many industries.


Scholarly research on mizuko kuyo has largely focused on its religious and social implications with a specific emphasis on its historical development as a significant Buddhist practice in Japan, the continued contemporary observance of the ritual necessitates a re-evaluation of its significance in the context of evolving reproductive norms and attitudes towards fetal loss and abortion in Japan. This paper examines the emergence and significance of the mizuko kuyo movement within the broader social and cultural context of contemporary Japan. By exploring state laws on abortion and childbirth, and the rituals and symbolism associated with mizuko kuyo , this research seeks to unravel the symbolic and emotional significance attributed to the ceremony, providing insights into its cultural implications and its role in supporting conventional gender roles in Japan. This multi-faceted examination of the mizuko kuyo movement thus offers a deeper understanding of its emergence, significance, and impact within contemporary Japanese society.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of femtosecond laser corneal trephination in eye bank eyes by histologic and ultrastructural investigation. Methods: We performed Z-shaped, tophat-shaped, and mushroom-shaped trephinations of swelled corneas from eye bank eyes using an Intralase FS60 system. The corneoscleral discs were fixed immediately after the laser procedure without removing the buttons. Thin and ultrathin tissue sections were examined by light and transmission electron microscopy. Results: Optical micrographs of the corneal tissue revealed that the femtosecond laser was efficient in producing Z-shaped, tophat-shaped, and mushroom-shaped dissections with reproducible high cut regularity. Investigations by transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that cut edges were of good quality devoid of thermal or mechanical damage of the adjacent tissues. However, cellular and collagenous nanometric debris was created by the laser. In the anterior stroma, they formed a layer of several microns in thickness residing on the terminated disrupted collagen fibers, whereas in the posterior stroma, they formed a thinner pseudomembrane running along the edges of the incision. Conclusions: Corneal trephination performed by the femtosecond laser preserves the ultrastructure of the disrupted collagen fibers. In edematous corneas, a layer of cellular and collagenic debris thicker in the anterior stroma and thinner in the posterior stroma runs along the edges of the incision obtained at a constant laser energy density.


A survey of 232 music history teachers representing 204 institutions in the U.S. and Canada gathered descriptive data on the design, teaching methods, assessment and objectives for music history for undergraduate music majors in 2011–2012. On average, 8.5% (i.e. nine of 120 credits) of a typical music major's degree is in music history. Students most often begin in the second year. The most common curriculum features only a chronological survey (n=81), while 37 add a one-course introduction and 21 add a menu of topics courses to the survey. Lecture is the most frequently used teaching method, but topics courses are more likely to use non-textbook readings, whole-group discussion, and guided listening than lecture. Examinations were the most significant mode of assessment by a large margin, followed by short writing assignments, participation/attendance, and fieldwork, oral histories, or interviews. Respondents preferred such traditional objectives as "trace the basic chronology of western art music" over objectives focusing on popular or world music, instruments, or performers, although cultural context was second on the list. Rankings of other objectives showed little variance. The author suggests that cultural changes and new research directions may challenge the traditional cast of music history teaching.


Climate models have been making significant progress encompassing an increasing number of complex feedback mechanisms from natural ecosystems. Permafrost thaw and subsequent induced greenhouse gas emissions, however, remain a challenge for climate models at large. Deducing permafrost conditions and associated greenhouse gas emissions from parameters that are simulated in climate models would be a helpful step towards estimating emission budgets from permafrost regions. Here we use a regional climate model with a 5 km horizontal resolution to assess future potential methane (CH4) emissions over presently unglaciated areas in Greenland under an RCP8.5 scenario. A simple frost index is applied to estimate permafrost conditions from the model output. CH4 flux measurements from two stations in Greenland; Nuuk representing sub-Arctic and Zackenberg high-Arctic climate, are used to establish a relationship between emissions and near surface air temperature. Permafrost conditions in Greenland change drastically by the end of the 21st century in an RCP8.5 climate. Continuous permafrost remains stable only in North Greenland, the north-west coast, the northern tip of Disko Island, and Nuussuaq. Southern Greenland conditions only sustain sporadic permafrost conditions and largely at high elevations, whereas former permafrost in other regions thaws. The increasing thawed soil leads to increasing CH4 emissions. Especially the area surrounding Kangerlussuaq, Scoresby Land, and the southern coast of Greenland exhibit potentially high emissions during the longer growing season. The constructed maps and budgets combining modelled permafrost conditions with observed CH4 fluxes from CH4 promoting sites represent a useful tool to identify areas in need of additional monitoring as they highlight potential CH4 hot spots.


Drawing from the experiences of the authors in developing, conducting, and evaluating sport psychology interventions, several considerations are highlighted and recommendations offered for effective psychometric assessment. Using the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS; Thomas, Murphy, & Hardy, 1999) as a working example, opportunities for bias to undermine a measure's validity and reliability are discussed with reference to a respondent's four cognitive processes: (a) comprehension, (b) retrieval, (c) decision-making, and (d) response generation. Further threats to an instrument's psychometric properties are highlighted in the form of demand characteristics athletes perceive in the environment. With these concerns in mind, several recommendations are made relating to the process of questionnaire administration and how possible compromises to the psychometric soundness of measures used in applied interventions can be minimized.


Bridge structures are essential for social and economic development, but they are costly to maintain. More efficient planning and better investment of resources are needed. To this end, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques are used to collect data on the behavior of the bridge in terms of engineering and environmental variables to support decision making. However, without predefined objectives for the monitoring campaign, it often results in large, unwieldy databases from which little or no value can be derived. To tackle this problem, this PDEng project focuses on a methodology that translates vibration global SHM data into a damage indicator. To this end, (i) two types of damage sensitive features obtained from the vibration data were thoroughly explored; (ii) a process based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to address the high dimensionality space of the data. Besides, an approach to calibrate the reference period based on the PCA was proposed; (iii) a one-class support vector machine to perform damage detection using damage sensitive features was implemented; and (iv) the validation was carried out based on two case studies, the Z24 bridge, and the SMC bridge benchmarks. In particular, for the latter, anomalies were detected with respect to the reference period four months before the closing of the bridge when the damage was found through on-site inspection.


Internal audit departments (IAD) have played a major role in their organizations enterprise risk management (ERM) activities since the birth of internal audit. A paradigm shift is however being witnessed as most institutions are now establishing risk management departments (RMD) to drive the ERM process, while internal audit departments are now being required to act as referees in the whole ERM process. This study sought to establish banking internal auditors' perception of their distinct role in the bank wide ERM process, and whether there is any conflict between internal audit and risk management departments being established to take over the ERM process. Bank internal auditors risk assessment practices in Kenya were also probed. To achieve the objectives set, a survey of involving all heads of internal audit departments in the banking industry in Kenya was conducted. Data analysis was done, and with response rate of 52%, it was concluded that the outcome of the study fairly represented the banking industry internal auditors' practices and perception of i risk management. The findings indicated that seven banks out of twenty one (33%) had not established a separate risk management department. It also emerged that only 14% of the internal auditors could clearly list the distinct role of IAD and those of RMD. For institutions both departments, a conflict was already brewing between IAD and RMD in 29% of the institutions. The conflict centered mainly on lack of clarity on the distinct roles to be played by those two departments in the whole ERM process. The ideal core roles of internal audit department in risk management process as identified in the literature review are; giving assurance on risk management processes, giving assurances that risks are evaluated correctly, evaluating the risk management processes, evaluating the reporting of key risks and finally, reviewing the management of key risks. The roles of risk management department in summary include, creating or recommending enterprise wide risk policies and procedures, developing and implementing methodology for measuring risks across the institution in a consistent and uniform manner. To reduce the conflict noted in the ix study between the two departments, the two departments' distinct roles should be agreed upon and documented in the form of an approved board charter. RMD should take charge of the whole ERM process while the 1AD department should only act as a referee, assuring the boar and the management that the ERM process is on course. The study found that, most banks in Kenya were in process of drafting the ERM process and strategies. This was consistent with developments all over the world as noted by Greuning (2003), who asserted that organizations were at different stages of implementing ERM process. On internal auditors risk assessment, it emerged that the practice by internal auditors was quite varied. This was attributed to the fact that risk management is an emerging discipline whose concepts and philosophy has not be fully appreciated by all the stakeholders in the banking industry including internal auditors. The study recommends that more workshops and seminars facilitated by the industry regulator, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), would go along way in ensuring that the risk management strategy is understood by all stakeholders, including internal auditors.


Estimating 3D poses from a monocular video is still a challenging task, despite the significant progress that has been made in the recent years. Generally, the performance of existing methods drops when the target person is too small/large, or the motion is too fast/slow relative to the scale and speed of the training data. Moreover, to our knowledge, many of these methods are not designed or trained under severe occlusion explicitly, making their performance on handling occlusion compromised. Addressing these problems, we introduce a spatio-temporal network for robust 3D human pose estimation. As humans in videos may appear in different scales and have various motion speeds, we apply multi-scale spatial features for 2D joints or keypoints prediction in each individual frame, and multi-stride temporal convolutional networks (TCNs) to estimate 3D joints or keypoints. Furthermore, we design a spatio-temporal discriminator based on body structures as well as limb motions to assess whether the predicted pose forms a valid pose and a valid movement. During training, we explicitly mask out some keypoints to simulate various occlusion cases, from minor to severe occlusion, so that our network can learn better and becomes robust to various degrees of occlusion. As there are limited 3D ground truth data, we further utilize 2D video data to inject a semi-supervised learning capability to our network. Experiments on public data sets validate the effectiveness of our method, and our ablation studies show the strengths of our network's individual submodules.


In cellular systems, the combination of Device-to- Device (D2D) communication and relaying is an efficient means for improving network coverage and transmissions quality without additional infrastructure deployment. It enables communication between user pairs in situations when both their direct D2D transmission and the traditional communication via the base station experience poor channel quality. In this paper, we propose a joint relaying-operation selection and power-allocation scheme, herein called HyD2D, for relay-assisted D2D communication in Rician fading environment. The target is to choose the set of communication links that minimizes the power consumption, while ensuring a minimum success probability. To overcome the nonconvexity of the outage probability constraints under Rician fading, we use the concept of coherent-measure- of-risk from the field of finance. We therefore obtain a linear programming formulation that we can efficiently solve. Simulations show that HyD2D selects the most energy- efficient relaying operation that satisfies the success probability requirement, while leveraging only statistical channel state information.


Energy Transfer Company (ETC) is proposing to construct the Orbit Pipeline Project (Project) located in Jefferson, Liberty, and Chambers counties, Texas. The Project consists of approximately 68.7 miles (mi) (110.6 kilometer [km]) of new 20.0-inch (in) (50.8-centimeter [cm]) diameter pipeline that will be used to transmit ethane and propane. The Project is located within the jurisdictional boundary of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) - Galveston District.

At the request of ETC, Perennial Environmental Services, LLC (Perennial) conducted an intensive Phase I cultural resources investigation for the proposed Project to comply with anticipated USACE permitting requirements. Archaeological investigations for the Project were conducted in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and Texas State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO) standards. Additionally, the Project traverses several discontinuous publicly-owned tracts that fall under the jurisdiction of the Antiquities Code of Texas (Code). The results of survey investigations conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit (TAP) #8690 (issued December 17, 2018, and amended on August 30, 2019) across six discontinuous publicly -owned tracts are also presented herein.

Consistent with USACE application requirements, and in accordance with Section 106 of the NHPA of 1966, as amended (36 CFR 800) and the Code, the proposed Project must make a reasonable and good faith effort to identify historic properties within the Project Area of Potential Effect (APE) and to take into account any potential effects, direct or indirect, the proposed undertaking could have on properties listed or considered eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL), as warranted.

As the Project footprint was not finalized at the time of field investigations, survey efforts were concentrated within the vicinity of delineated wetland and waterbody features along the length of the route within a 300.0-foot- (ft-) (91.4-meter- [m-]) wide Environmental Survey Area (ESA). The anticipated depths of impact for the Project will range from 4.0 to 7.0 ft. (1.2 to 2.1 m) along the pipeline centerline, with limited deeper impacts at horizontal directional drill (HDD) and bore locations, including Cow Island Bayou, Hillebrandt Bayou, Lower Neches Valley River Authority canals, Nolte Canal, the Trinity River, Turtle Bayou, Whites Bayou, Willow Marsh Bayou, and public road crossings. The anticipated depths of impact for temporary workspace areas within the Project APE corridor would not exceed 0.6 to 1.0 ft. (0.1 to 0.3 m). The overall APE for direct effects for the Project measured 2307.19 acres (ac) (933.68 ha), while APE for Code-permitted tracts totaled 210.0 ac (85.06 ha). As presented herein, the Project ESA is coterminous with the Project APE, which is also referred to as the USACE permit areas. Only the areas adjacent to the USACE permit areas and the entirety of Code-permitted areas were surveyed for cultural resources.

Jennifer Cochran served as the Principal Investigator, and field efforts were conducted by Sarah Boudreaux, Rafael Cortez, Wyatt Ellison, Rachel Kelley, William Kinkner, Colene Knaub, Jonathan Laird, Alejandro Martinez, and Thomas Ross across multiple field mobilizations between October 1, 2018, and November 12, 2019.

Investigations included an archival background review and intensive pedestrian surveys augmented by shovel testing in the vicinity of delineated wetland and waterbody features. Archival research determined that there are no previously recorded sites within, or directly adjacent to the Project APE, and approximately 32.7% of the Project APE has been previously surveyed for cultural resources. However, many of these surveys are outdated and do not meet modern survey standards. Additionally, many of these previously surveys were conducted for USACE-permitted projects, and the entire Project was not surveyed for the presence of cultural resources. As such, all areas surrounding identified wetland and waterbody for this Project were surveyed.

Perennial biologists delineated a total of 490 wetland areas. Of the 490 wetlands identified within the Project APE, 290 were characterized as palustrine emergent (PEM) wetlands, 106 were characterized as palustrine forested (PFO) wetlands, 4 were classified as PFO-Cypress wetlands, and 90 were characterized as palustrine scrub-shrub (PSS) wetlands. Perennial biologists also identified 270 waterbodies that ranged from perennial streams to ephemeral streams. Of the 270 waterbodies delineated, 36 were classified as having perennial flow, 66 were classified as having intermittent flow, and 148 were classified as ephemeral flow. Additionally, 20 open water features were delineated and classified as manmade ponds.

Survey efforts were concentrated in the vicinity of these features where land access was voluntarily granted in accordance with a scope of work for the Project approved by the USACE on August 28, 2018, and the Texas Historical Commission (THC) on October 1, 2018. Following the approval of the scope of work, ETC extended the eastern terminus of the Project to the western bank of the Neches River, and other minor reroutes were also implemented. Perennial applied the approved survey methodology to all new Project components.

For Code-permitted tracts, surveys were conducted across the entire length of the Project APE corridor in accordance with a stand-alone scope submitted to the THC on December 14, 2018, and amended August 30, 2019. Additionally, following the receipt of TAP#8690, the proposed Project was routed onto two additional publicly-owned tracts belonging to the Texas Department of Corrections (DOC) – Stiles Unit and Jefferson County. The TAP #8690 was revised and amended on August 30, 2019. Following this August 30, 2019 amendment, ETC added additional route options across the DOC – Stiles Unit tract. This additional mileage was surveyed using the same methods as stated in the previously presented revised TAP scope of work for this property.

In all, the survey investigations included the excavation of a total of 1,250 shovel tests of which 1,171 shovel tests were excavated within the Project APE. The remaining 79 shovel tests were excavated outside of USACE permit areas but within the Project workspace. For the purposes of this report, only investigations within the Project APE will be discussed.

Survey investigations within the Project APE resulted in entirely negative findings. No archeological sites were encountered within the survey areas reported herein. Additionally, no historic standing structures or landscape features such as historic-age canals were observed with any USACE permit areas. Overall, the surveys documented predominately inundated landscapes with a low probability for intact cultural resources. Numerous existing pipeline corridors and modern canal features are traversed by the Project. While some of the modern canals could be historic in nature or connected to a greater network of irrigation features used historically to supply agricultural crops with water, it is important to note that the majority of the waterways associated with these features will be bypassed via bore/HDD. As such, any impacts to these waterbodies as well as the associated canal structure will be entirely avoided. Additionally, all visual impacts from the proposed pipeline corridor will be temporary in nature.

To date, field surveys have been completed for all accessible wetland and waterbody features along the pipeline route, as well as the total length of the Project survey corridor across all Codepermitted tracts. Prior to the beginning of November 2019, field surveys had not been conducted along the eastern banks and associated bottomlands of the Trinity River due to multiple flooding events that resulted in heavy inundation beginning in September 2018 which prevented access or survey investigations of any kind. Additionally, field surveys did not occur along portions of the Project containing denied landowner permissions.

On November 6, 2019, a survey crew was able to access previously inaccessible areas associated with the Trinity River due to several months of normalized weather conditions throughout portions of Eastern Texas. Even under normal conditions, large portions of this area remain constantly inundated due to strong hydrological influences and the geomorphic position of the landscape. However, crews were able to traverse inundated areas by foot to access portions of the Project located immediately adjacent to the Trinity River. While the area located immediately adjacent to the Trinity River was not inundated at the time of survey, wetlands with strong hydrological indicators still dominate the landscape.

Of the 760 delineated wetland and waterbody features, 74 features were originally not surveyed for cultural resources due to restricted land access including denied landowner permissions and significant inundation. Of these 74 features, 38 feature locations (27 streams and 42 wetlands) will be bypassed via horizontal directional drill (HDD) or bore trenchless construction methods resulting in no impacts to these features. The remaining five features (including multiple crossing locations of the same feature) are located along the eastern banks of the Trinity River. While these features were surveyed for cultural resources with negative findings, the presence of buried deposits exists within the vicinity of these features. However, access to these features with heavy machinery is not feasible due to the remote location and constant hydrological influences (e.g. inundation and saturation) associated with the floodplain setting of the Trinity River. As such, these five features are proposed to be monitored by a qualified Archeological Monitor during construction efforts. Appendix C


We report on how the relaxation of patterns prepared on a thin film can be controlled by manipu- lating the symmetry of the initial shape. The validity of a lubrication theory for the capillary-driven relaxation of surface profiles is verified by atomic force microscopy measurements, performed on films that were patterned using focused laser spike annealing. In particular, we observe that the shape of the surface profile at late times is entirely determined by the initial symmetry of the perturba- tion, in agreement with the theory. Moreover, in this regime the perturbation amplitude relaxes as a power-law in time, with an exponent that is also related to the initial symmetry. The results have relevance in the dynamical control of topographic perturbations for nanolithography and high density memory storage.


Isotopic labelling with heavy hydrogen isotopes (D2 and T2) is widely used as a means to monitor the biological fate of a potential drug molecule and represents a particularly industry-facing example of chemoselective organometallic catalysis. Consequently, preliminary studies from our laboratory have allowed expedient access to a series of novel iridium complexes, such as 2, that are able to catalyse the ortho-deuteration of various coordinating functionalities and pharmacophores, such as ketones, amides and nitro compounds 2 (Scheme 1). As part of our latest studies, we recently reported an efficient protocol for ortho-deuteration using more readily accessible Ir(I)chloro-carbene complexes. Turning to more challenging substrate classes, the utility of bench-stable catalysts such as 5 has now evolved to deliver the first highly effective strategy for the ortho-deuteration of primary sulfonamides at room temperature (Scheme 2). Additionally, we have used experimental and computational methods in parallel to explain the origins of observed chemoselectivity in labelling multi-functional drug molecules like 7, highlighting the importance of substrate–complex interactions during complexation. The details of all such studies will be delineated in this lecture.


Child injuries have been neglected for many years, and are largely absent from child survival initiatives presently on the Indian agenda. We assessed the epidemiology of injury deaths in children in a population-based study in the Indian state of Bihar using verbal autopsy. Interviews were conducted using the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium shortened verbal autopsy questionnaire for deaths in 1–14 years children that occurred from January 2012 to March 2014 in 1 09 689 households in 1017 clusters representative of the state with a participation rate 87.1%. Cause of death was assigned using the SmartVA automated algorithm. The annualized overall, unintentional and intentional injury mortality incidence by sex and place of residence were estimated.The survey covered 2 24 077 children aged 1–14 years and identified 749 deaths from all causes in this age group. Injury deaths accounted for 12.4%, 29.9% and 26.1% of deaths in 1–4, 5–9 and 10–14 years age groups, respectively. Injury deaths accounted for 28% of all deaths in urban areas and 23.1% of all deaths among boys. The adjusted annualized incidence of injury mortality among children aged 1–14 years in Bihar was 31.3 (95% CI 30.8–31.9) per 1 00 000 children. This rate was significantly higher in 5–9 years (37.4, 95% CI 36.4 to 38.4) as compared with other ages. The unintentional injury mortality rate was 29.7 (95% CI 29.2 to 30.2) and intentional injury mortality rate was 1.6 (95% CI 1.5 to 1.8). Drowning mortality accounted for the most injury mortality (10.9, 95% CI 10.6 to 11.2) followed by bite of a venomous animal (9.3, 95% CI 9.0 to 9.6). The magnitude of and variations in injury mortality among children from this large representative sample from Bihar state can provide crucial inputs for more specific planning of targeted interventions which needed to address the injury risk in children.


SETTING
The Xpert(®) MTB/RIF assay is a highly sensitive molecular test with the potential to improve tuberculosis (TB) case detection. However, evidence supporting this potential at a programme level is minimal.

METHODS
Xpert testing following smear microscopy and chest X-ray was implemented as part of routine case finding in 16 districts of Eastern Nepal. Changes in TB case notification were evaluated based on a pre/post analysis, as were expected notifications based on linear trend.

RESULTS
A total of 9723 Xpert tests were performed, resulting in the identification of 1662 Mycobacterium tuberculosis-positive patients. Despite a previous declining trend in notifications, annual bacteriologically positive TB notifications increased by 15.2% during the intervention, from 3390 to 3906. However, annual notifications of pulmonary TB dropped by 8.5% overall, from 5123 to 4688. Both observations were significantly different from expected notifications based on historical trends. Treatment initiation for drug-resistant TB almost doubled.

DISCUSSION
Xpert testing significantly increased bacteriologically positive TB notifications, but large reductions in empiric treatment of smear-negative disease reduced the number of pulmonary TB notifications overall. While better diagnostics remain critical, focusing solely on superior test sensitivity may not increase TB case notifications. Additional interventions are required to reach the millions of people with TB who are missed by routine services.


A graviton of a nonzero mass and decay width propagates five physical polarizations. The question of interactions of these polarizations is crucial for viability of models of massive/metastable gravity. This question is addressed in the context of the DGP model of a metastable graviton. First, we argue that the well-known breakdown of a naive perturbative expansion at a low scale is an artifact of the weak-field expansion itself. Then, we propose a different expansion\char22{}the constrained perturbation theory\char22{}in which the breakdown does not occur and the theory is perturbatively tractable all the way up to its natural ultraviolet cutoff. In this approach the couplings of the extra polarizations to matter and their self-couplings appear to be suppressed and should be neglected in measurements at subhorizon scales. The model reproduces results of General Relativity at observable distances with high accuracy, while predicting deviations from them at the present day horizon scale.


Over the past ten years it has become increasingly clear that most, if not all, galaxies have super-massive black holes lurking in their cores. The implications for this are large as they not only have significant effects on the host galaxies, far beyond what would have been naively expected, but would provide several significant gravitational wave sources to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). This thesis is primarily concerned with these gravitational wave sources and the possible electromagnetic counterparts. In particular, when two galaxies merge, it leads to the ultimate merger of their individual SMBHs. If gas is present near the time of merger a circumbinary disk forms around the binary. By assuming the disk is pressureless, and looking at the limits of this approximation, in Chapter 2 we develop an analytic theory of the reaction of such a gaseous disk to the gravitational wave mass loss and recoil kicks which occur during a SMBH merger. However, to understand the effects of finite pressure, in Chapter 3 we develop a one-dimensional hydrodynamic code. The efficiency of the code and the power of the analytic solution allow us to explain the entirety of possible reactions. These results are also favorably compared with far more complicated 3D relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics simulations. LISA will not see only the mergers of two SMBHs, it would also see the inspirals of stellar-mass objects into a SMBH. In Chapter 4 we discuss a new channel of formation of these extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs). This new channel of EMRI formation is rich physically and, in particular, almost always requiring either the Kozai mechanism or an as-of-yet unnoticed phenomenon which we dub the reverse Kozai mechanism. We find that this channel of EMRI formation produces modest numbers of EMRIs when compared to the primary channel of EMRI formation, which, under optimistic detection scenarios for the most recent LISA design, results in the plausible detection of several. Finally, an unrelated project that considers solving the self-similar Type-II strong-shock problem in slightly asymmetric media is given in Chapter 5. We show that the results can even be applied to explosions along weak discontinuities in the density.


Seepages of oil at the surface or in coal mines have been known in Great Britain for several centuries. Records of the use of oil from the Coalport seepages date from 1684. James Young in 1847 extracted wax, burning oil, and lubricating oil from a crude oil obtained in the Biddings colliery, near Alfreton in Derbyshire. In 1902, some boring was carried out in the Sussex Weald, stimulated by the accidental discovery of natural gas at Heathfield, but this enterprise was soon abandoned. In 1918, a serious search for oil was made under the pressure of war-time conditions, and Messrs. S. Pearson & Son, Limited, between 1918 and 1921, under contract for H.M. Government, drilled 11 test-wells: seven in Derbyshire, two in Staffordshire, and two in Scotland. In every case the objective was an oil accumulation in Carboniferous beds. A small production was obtained from their first well, Hardstoft No. 1 in Derbyshire, and showings of oil were struck elsewhere, notably in the D'Arcy well in Scotland. Although the results up to that time may not have been conclusive, they were not considered sufficiently encouraging to justify further Government expenditure, and operations were suspended. Two wells were drilled later (1924–26) on the Hardstoft structure on the initiative of the Duke of Devonshire, owner of the property, but neither obtained any oil-production. Other attempts during the last 20 years to find oil by drilling have been those at Kelham, near the site of a coal exploration borehole, which found a show


The development of automotive cyber-physical systems (CPS) software needs to
 consider not only functional requirements, but also non-functional
 requirements and the interaction with physical environment. In this paper, a
 model-based software development method for automotive CPS (MoBDAC) is
 presented. The main contributions of this paper are threefold. First, MoBDAC
 covers the whole development workflow of automotive CPS software from
 modeling and simulation to code generation. Automatic tools are used to
 improve the development efficiency. Second, MoBDAC extracts nonfunctional
 requirements and deals with them in the implementation model level and source
 code level, which helps to correctly manage and meet non-functional
 requirements. Third, MoBDAC defines three kinds of relations between
 uncertain physical environment events and software internal actions in
 automotive CPS, and uses Model Modifier to integrate the interaction with
 physical environment. Moreover, we illustrate the development workflow of
 MoBDAC by an example of a power window development.


ABSTRACT While glutamine is a nonessential amino acid that can be synthesized from glucose, some cancer cells primarily depend on glutamine for their growth, proliferation, and survival. Numerous types of cancer also depend on asparagine for cell proliferation. The underlying mechanisms of the glutamine and asparagine requirement in cancer cells in different contexts remain unclear. In this study, we show that the oncogenic virus Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) accelerates the glutamine metabolism of glucose-independent proliferation of cancer cells by upregulating the expression of numerous critical enzymes, including glutaminase 2 (GLS2), glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GLUD1), and glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase 2 (GOT2), to support cell proliferation. Surprisingly, cell crisis is rescued only completely by supplementation with asparagine but minimally by supplementation with α-ketoglutarate, aspartate, or glutamate upon glutamine deprivation, implying an essential role of γ-nitrogen in glutamine and asparagine for cell proliferation. Specifically, glutamine and asparagine provide the critical γ-nitrogen for purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis, as knockdown of four rate-limiting enzymes in the pathways, including carbamoylphosphate synthetase 2 (CAD), phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate amidotransferase (PPAT), and phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetases 1 and 2 (PRPS1 and PRPS2, respectively), suppresses cell proliferation. These findings indicate that glutamine and asparagine are shunted to the biosynthesis of nucleotides and nonessential amino acids from the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle to support the anabolic proliferation of KSHV-transformed cells. Our results illustrate a novel mechanism by which an oncogenic virus hijacks a metabolic pathway for cell proliferation and imply potential therapeutic applications in specific types of cancer that depend on this pathway. IMPORTANCE We have previously found that Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) can efficiently infect and transform primary mesenchymal stem cells; however, the metabolic pathways supporting the anabolic proliferation of KSHV-transformed cells remain unknown. Glutamine and asparagine are essential for supporting the growth, proliferation, and survival of some cancer cells. In this study, we have found that KSHV accelerates glutamine metabolism by upregulating numerous critical metabolic enzymes. Unlike most cancer cells that primarily utilize glutamine and asparagine to replenish the TCA cycle, KSHV-transformed cells depend on glutamine and asparagine for providing γ-nitrogen for purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis. We identified four rate-limiting enzymes in this pathway that are essential for the proliferation of KSHV-transformed cells. Our results demonstrate a novel mechanism by which an oncogenic virus hijacks a metabolic pathway for cell proliferation and imply potential therapeutic applications in specific types of cancer that depend on this pathway. We have previously found that Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) can efficiently infect and transform primary mesenchymal stem cells; however, the metabolic pathways supporting the anabolic proliferation of KSHV-transformed cells remain unknown. Glutamine and asparagine are essential for supporting the growth, proliferation, and survival of some cancer cells. In this study, we have found that KSHV accelerates glutamine metabolism by upregulating numerous critical metabolic enzymes. Unlike most cancer cells that primarily utilize glutamine and asparagine to replenish the TCA cycle, KSHV-transformed cells depend on glutamine and asparagine for providing γ-nitrogen for purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis. We identified four rate-limiting enzymes in this pathway that are essential for the proliferation of KSHV-transformed cells. Our results demonstrate a novel mechanism by which an oncogenic virus hijacks a metabolic pathway for cell proliferation and imply potential therapeutic applications in specific types of cancer that depend on this pathway.