Despite the benefits of applying methods of geographic information science (GIScience), the use of such methods in health service planning and provision remains greatly underutilized. Spread of epidemic diseases is a constant threat to mankind and the globalization of the world increases the risk for global attacks from multi-resistant bacteria or deadly virus strains. Therefore, research is needed to better understand how GIScience could be used in epidemiologic analyses and other health applications.This thesis is divided into two parts; one for epidemiologic analyses and one for neighbourhood studies. The overall objective of the epidemiologic part of this research is to understand more about the spatial spread of past pandemics and to find out if there are any common patterns. This overall objective is divided into four specific research objectives; 1) to describe the spatial spread of the Russian Influenza in Sweden, 2) to create models of propagation of the Black Death in Sweden, 3) to establish spatiotemporal characteristics common to past pandemics in Sweden and 4) to visualize the spatiotemporal occurrence of salmonella among animal herds in Sweden.This thesis also discusses some other aspects of health related to place. Are differences in neighbourhood deprivation related to the amount of presence of goods and services? Is the way cities are planned affecting the behaviour within the local population regarding spontaneous walking and physical activity? The specific research objectives for this part are to define how deprivation is related to presence of goods and services in Sweden and to create walkability indices over the city of Stockholm including a quality test of these indices.Case data reported by physicians were used for the epidemiologic studies. The pandemics discussed covered the entire world, but our data is from Sweden only and as regards the Black Death there was no case data at all. The data for the goods and services analyses are from all of Sweden, whereas the walkability indices are based on data from the city of Stockholm. Various methods have been used to clean, structure and geocode the data, including hand written reports on case data, maps of poor geometric quality, information from databases on climate, demography, diseases, goods and services, income data and more, to make this data feasible for spatial analysis, modeling and visualization. Network analysis was used to model food transports in the 14th century as well as walking in the city of Stockholm today. Proximity analysis was used to assess the spatio-temporal spread of the Russian Influenza. The impact of climatological factors on the propagation of the Asian Influenza was analyzed and geographically weighted mean (GWM) calculations were used to discover common characteristics in the spatio-temporal spread of three past pandemics.Among the results generated in the epidemiologic study the following should be noted in particular; the local peaking periods of the Asian Influenza were preceded by falling temperature, the total peaking period for the three pandemics (Russian, Asian and A(H1N1)pdm09) was approximately 10 weeks and their weekly GWM followed a path from southwest to northeast (opposite direction for the A(H1N1)pdm09). From the neighborhood studies one can note that compared to the results measured and reported by tested individuals there is a positive (small but significant) association between neighborhood walkability and physical activity outcomes.The main contribution of this work is that it gives epidemiologists and public health specialists new ideas, not only on how to formulate, model, analyze and visualize different health related research questions but also ideas on how new procedures could be implemented in their daily work. Once the data reporting is organized in a suitable manner there is a multitude of options on how to present important and critical information to officials and policy makers.


Organisations, which decide to initiate a Six Sigma programme, need to acquire and internalise the programme knowledge, in addition to creating, using and sharing the knowledge created through improvements. A methodology, namely Knowledge Focused Six Sigma (KFSS), designed in accordance with critical success factors for Six Sigma deployment and reinforced with knowledge management principles, becomes a necessity for a winning programme. KFSS methodology, designed to enhance the deployment and increase the benefits of the programme, also allows the organisations to assess their Six Sigma Intellectual Capital because with Six Sigma, there are not only financial benefits and number of belts, but also the organisation's intellectual capital increases.


Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a wellestablished concept [1,2], but what does EBM really mean to a busy urologist? Of course, all would like the time to keep up-to-date with the literature and weigh evidence before making treatment choices. The quandaries remain; how to best integrate EBM into daily practice and does it affect the practice of medicine? My answer to the latter is unequivocally 'yes'. For example, recently a poor surgical candidate was referred to me for partial nephrectomy. His renal mass was ideal for treatment with radiofrequency ablation (RFA). However, his insurer approved the referral only for partial nephrectomy, which was much more expensive. The insurer had determined that data for RFA came from only a few studies with 2 years of follow-up in £ 30 patients, and therefore deemed that the treatment was not evidence-based; this decision was made by a registered nurse at the insurance company, based on an EBM search.


A new method based on surface integral is presented in the research of mechanical mechanism of spheres penetrating gelatin. On the assumption that each wetted area element is applied with dynamic force perpendicular to the surface, frictional force parallel to the surface and material resistance which is a constant, the resultant force applied on spheres was integrated containing three unknown coefficients. Transparent gelatin was used in the experiments and steel spheres were fired at speed around 800m/s. High speed cameras got the position data of the penetrating spheres. The uncertain coefficients in the movement equations were determined with these data. The equations were solved in analytical forms. Experiments show that the coefficients are constant for spheres with different radiuses. Calculation results demonstrate that the mechanical model is good to predict the movement of spheres in gelatin.


The proliferation of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in Internet of Things (IoT) not only threatens the security of digital devices and infrastructure but also severely degrades IoT system performance due to the overly consumed network resources. With the knowledge of identity information of devices and signaling data, Internet service providers (ISPs) can detect and block DDoS traffic by monitoring the upstream IoT packets, and thereby, improve network efficiency. However, inspecting all data packets online for DDoS detection will significantly increase both the network delay and the computational overhead. Therefore, the packet sampling strategy is crucial for the defenders to detect DDoS attacks. To this end, this article formulates a Stackelberg game model to analyze the collaborative IoT packet sampling against DDoS attacks. Through the equilibrium analysis of the DDoS game, we derive the lower bound of packet sampling rate (PSR) that can effectively deter potential attackers. Unlike traditional offline detection, our proposed packet sampling strategy can support both the online detection and proactive prevention of DDoS traffic. As a use case, a multipoint DDoS defense framework is developed to address the IP spoofing in 5G networks based on the proposed packet sampling strategy, which deters DDoS attacks and reduces the packet sampling cost, and thereby, maximizes the IoT utility, compared with existing methods. In typical reflection attacks (in which no more than five packets of response are triggered by a request packet), our proposed scheme not only reduces more than 70% of the sampling rate but also demonstrates superior robustness against boundary condition variation.


Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is a powerful framework for studying emergent behavior in complex agent-based simulations. However, RL agents are often assumed to be rational and behave optimally, which does not fully reflect human behavior. In this work, we propose a new, more human-like RL agent, which incorporates an established model of human-irrationality, the Rational Inattention (RI) model. RI models the cost of cognitive information processing using mutual information. Our RIRL framework generalizes and is more flexible than prior work by allowing for multi-timestep dynamics and information channels with heterogeneous processing costs. We demonstrate the flexibility of RIRL in versions of a classic economic setting (Principal-Agent setting) with varying complexity. In simple settings, we show using RIRL can lead to optimal agent behavior policy with approximately the same functional form of what is expected from the analysis of prior work, which utilizes theoretical methods. We additionally demonstrate that using RIRL to analyze complex, theoretically intractable settings, yields a rich spectrum of new equilibrium behaviors that differ from those found under rationality assumptions. For example, increasing the cognitive cost experienced by a manager agent results in the other agents increasing the magnitude of their action to compensate. These results suggest RIRL is a powerful tool towards building AI agents that can mimic real human behavior.


Unicompartmental total knee arthroplasty is a controversial procedure, and only with long-term follow-up studies can its validity be appreciated. Thirty-six patients (42 knee procedures) were followed up for a period of 61 to 97 months (average, 67 months). Of the 42 knee procedures performed, 13 failures occurred, requiring revision. These failures resulted from loosening, primarily of the tibial component and in a great majority of the cases, were related to technique and prosthetic design. However, 62% of the patient population gained lasting pain relief, range of motion, and functional capacity.


A Suzuki distribution has proved useful for modelling fading-shadowing channels of urban multipath propagation. The Suzuki model, which has a complicated integral form, is accurately described. A method of generating Suzuki distributed random sequence is proposed. The results can be used for simulation experiments in order to avoid costly hardware tests of wireless communication systems.


Master The Crucial Technical Skills Every Software Architect Needs! To succeed as a software architect, you must master both technical skills and soft skills. Dave Hendricksen illuminated the soft skills in his highly-regarded 12 Essential Skills for Software Architects. Now, in 12 More Essential Skills for Software Architects he turns to the technical side. Drawing on his decades of experience, Hendricksen organizes technical skills into three areas. PROJECT SKILLS: driving projects from ideation through delivery TECHNOLOGY SKILLS: building, buying, and/or leveraging the right technologies VISIONARY SKILLS: realizing an architectural vision that improves long-term competitiveness He helps you develop and sharpen these key technical skills: from conceptualizing solutions to developing platforms and governance, and from selecting technology innovations to infusing architectures with an entrepreneurial spirit. This guide reveals the technical skills you need and provides a coherent framework and practical methodology for mastering them. Taken together, Hendricksens two books offer the most complete, practical pathway to excellence in software architecture. Theyll guide you through every step of your architecture careerfrom getting the right position to thriving once you have it. Essential Architect Skills Visionary Skills Entrepreneurial Execution Technology Innovation Strategic Roadmapping Technology Skills Governance Platform Development Know-how Architectural Perspective Project Skills Estimation Partnership Discovery Management Conceptualization Dave Hendricksen is a big data architect for Thomson Reuters, where he works closely with the firms new product development teams to create innovative legal products for large-scale online platforms such as Westlaw.com. Hendricksen presented Designing and Building Large-Scale Systems in an Agile World at Carnegie Mellon Universitys influential Software Engineering Institute.


Research article (RA) abstracts constitute an important genre in higher education. Previous research on the RA abstract has often combined abstracts from journals from the same discipline, with the view of revealing possible intra/inter-disciplinary, cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, etc. variations. The present study analysed empirical RA abstracts from TESOL Quarterly, a well-recognised journal in Applied Linguistics, with the view of revealing their rhetorical structure and linguistic peculiarities. Hundred (100) empirical RA abstracts collected from the website of the journal constituted the data for the study. The data were analysed, with attention to the move structure (kinds, frequency, and sequencing of moves) as well as the linguistics realisation of moves. The study revealed that TESOL Quarterly empirical RA abstracts feature a five-move structure, with the Purpose and Product moves being Obligatory and the Introduction, Method, and Conclusion moves being core moves. It was also revealed that the abstracts were characterised by nine move sequences, with the five-move sequence (M1>M2>M3>M4>M5) dominating. The study also revealed that each move was characterised by unique configurations of linguistic features, particularly tense, voice, and grammatical subject roles. This study contributes to scholarship on RA abstracts. It also has implications for pedagogy and practice, and serves as a trigger for further studies.


Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is an early onset neurodegenerative disorder which selectively destroys frontal and temporal cortical neurones. The resulting damage leads to a range of language and behavioural deficits, however, episodic memory is generally maintained. Around 10% of FTLD cases are caused by progranulin gene mutations that lead to haploinsufficiency and reduced expression of progranulin. Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) has been shown to have a key protective effect over progranulin, inhibiting enzymatic cleavage by neutrophil elastase. Previous work demonstrating this role of SLPI is largely from in vitro studies and scenarios with above-physiological SLPI concentrations. To ascertain a role for endogenous SLPI in the regulation of progranulin a murine SLPI knockout model was used and tonic progranulin measurements taken.No change in circulating progranulin levels were seen in SLPI null mice (at 6, 12 or 20 months of age) when compared to non-transgenic controls, though significant differences were observed between male and female SLPI null animals. Similarly, tissue (brain and lung) levels of progranulin were comparable between wild-type and SLPI null mice, despite the presence of active neutrophil elastase. Behavioural analysis of SLPI null mice revealed no major phenotype when compared to wild-type, over a range of behavioural tests. However primary neuronal cultures taken from SLPI null mice did display an elevated progranulin response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). These data suggest that, although SLPI may play a role in progranulin regulation during an inflammatory event, it is unlikely to play a major role in progranulin regulation under basal conditions, as reported previously. Therefore under disease conditions regulation of extracellular progranulin is likely through other modulatory factors that have yet to be described.


As the cyber security landscape dynamically evolves and security professionals work to keep apace, modern-day educators face the issue of equipping a new generation for this dynamic landscape. With cyber-attacks and vulnerabilities substantially increased over the past years in frequency and severity, it is important to design and build secure software applications from the group up. Therefore, defensive secure coding techniques covering security concepts must be taught from beginning computer science programming courses to exercise building secure applications. Using static analysis, this study thoroughly analyzed Java source code in two textbooks used at a collegiate level, with the goal of guiding educators to make a reference of the resources in teaching programming concepts from a security perspective. The resources include the methods of source code analysis and relevant tools, categorized bugs detected in the code, and compliant code examples with fixing the bugs. Overall, the first text revealed a relatively moderate bug rate of approximately 44% of files analyzed contained either regular or security bugs. About 13% of the total bugs found were security bugs and the most common security bug was related to the Pseudo Random security vulnerability. The second text produced a slightly larger bug rate of 53.80% with approximately 8% of security bugs. After combining the texts for an average rate, the total number of security bugs that were likely to appear was roughly 10% percent. This encompasses security bugs such as malicious code vulnerabilities and security vulnerabilities related to exposing or manipulating data in these programs.


The aim of this paper is to highlight some of attempts at integrating Project-Based Learning approach into the practice of teaching and learning on engineering and vocational education. There are at least five criteria to capture the uniqueness of Project-Based Learning, in attempting to describe the difference between Project-Based Learning and prior models that involved projects. The five criteria are centrality, driving question or problem, constructive investigations, autonomy, and realism. Benefits attributed to Project-Based Learning include: increased motivation, problem-solving ability, decision-making skills, collaboration, and resource-management skills.


Erythropoietin, a naturally occurring human protein that stimulates red blood cell production, is secreted by the kidney in direct response to anemia and hypoxia. This mechanism is absent in those with impaired renal function; thus, those suffering from chronic renal failure may develop anemia evidenced by very low hemoglobin and hematocrit, low red blood cell count, and low reticulocyte count. Commercially available epoetin alfa recombinant may be administered intravenously or subcutaneously to reverse this deficiency.


Recent evidence suggests that auditors access social media platforms habitually throughout the workday. While exploratory research has found concerning effects related to social media usage, existing research has not investigated how viewing social media content might affect auditors. Using an experiment that holds social media usage constant, we examine how social media content impacts auditors' task performance. Relying on social comparison theory, we predict and find that the collection and evaluation of audit evidence (an integral component of audit quality) suffers when auditors view posts of peers' rewarding social experiences compared to those who do not view such content. In a further test of our theory, we demonstrate that evidence collection is preserved when auditors view posts made by other accountants in a professional setting alongside posts featuring peers' rewarding social experiences. Given the audit quality consequences of our results, these findings have implications for practitioners, academics, and regulators.
 JEL Classifications: M40; M41; M42.


GLOBAL PROCESSES AND discourses are concretely articulated in a low-income neighborhood in Cairo. Looking at locality as a structure of feeling, a material reality, and an attachment to a particular community, this essay shows how the continuous communication between families and young migrant men (through audio tapes, letters, and phone calls) and the pressure from their families to purchase housing units or remodel existing apartments are powerful techniques that provide moral support for labor migrants, ensure the flow of cash, and reinforce attachment to the neighborhood of origin. [Globalization, locality, labor migration, Middle East, Cairo]


The use of telemedicine to improve patients' health has been evolving rapidly over the past few years. Initially, our clinical research focus was on the development of effective ways for treating chronically ill patients, mostly those suffering from neurological disorders. While we identified the medical benefits of this information technology, there remains a salient strategic question addressing its competitive impact. In this paper, we analyze the impact of introducing telemedicine on the market share of the specialty hospital deploying this technology and on the competing hospitals in the region. Our analytical results prove that, contrary to earlier expectations, the value of telemedicine relative to in-person visits is not always increasing with the distance of the patient from the hospital. This result explains why patients located far from the specialty hospital may not prefer telemedicine care. We prove that telemedicine, unlike numerous other e-commerce applications, does not lead to the "winner takes all" phenomenon. We found that the advent of telemedicine changes the competitive equilibrium between specialty hospitals and community hospitals. Both hospital types will significantly benefit from delivering complementary care to chronic patients, rather than continuing to compete with each other.


We investigated how the interplay between environmental factors and presence of neighbouring populations determines the distribution and abundance of a small, endangered rodent, the water vole (Arvicola terrestris). We studied thriving and non-fragmented populations of water voles in the absence of their main predator, the introduced American mink (Mustela vison). A low degree of population fragmentation, such as the one characterizing the studied populations, was probably typical of water voles before their decline started. We found that under these conditions water voles' distribution is mainly determined by three environmental factors: presence of freshwater, adequate food, and cover. Variance in other factors is well tolerated by water voles. We obtained this result by the use of rule-based models in two separate areas. The two models correctly classified 81% and 83% of the observed cases, respectively. When optimised on one area and cross-validated on the other area the performance of the models was still high (73% and 79%) indicating that the models were robust and generalizable. We also found that the density of animals was lower in sub-optimal than in optimal habitat. We then tested the hypothesis that the number of neighbouring colonies determines the probability of finding voles in a given section. We found that the presence of nearby colonies was an important factor in determining the presence of water voles in sub-optimal habitat, while isolated patches of suitable habitat were less likely to host water voles. These observations suggest the possible presence of a source-sink dynamic, where an optimal habitat acts as a source for populating sub-optimal habitats that may be considered a sink habitat. These findings are discussed in the context of water vole conservation.


A new way of using resin test models for teaching the structural behaviour of common building elements is presented. It is proposed that a combination of several tools be used. By recording experimental tests with high definition cameras and processing the images with ARAMIS® software, it is possible to accurately describe the displacement fields and, from them, the stress in the tested elements. Numerical models are also used to compare both results. The correctness of the numerical models can be assessed, and consequently changes can be made to adjust them to the results of the experimental tests. Moreover, as the models respond to widely studied canonical elements, the results are comparable with those expected according to the theory of structures.


This paper aims to evaluate the fatigue life of an existing railway riveted steel bridge. Based on the measured train load information, the current load spectrum of the bridge is obtained, and the stress histories and stress spectrum of main members of the bridge are achieved using FE model and rain-flow counting method. The fatigue life of the bridge using traditional method is evaluated. At the same time, the finite element (FE) model of riveted component is established and the stress intensity factor of crack tip is calculated. The fatigue crack is simulated on the basis of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), and the fatigue life of the main members is also evaluated based on the damage tolerance analysis method. The evaluated results of fatigue life show that the fatigue remaining life of the bridge is very long due to the lower live load stress level.


In the 2018-2019 revision of the American Bar Association (ABA) Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, the ABA further relaxed the requirements relating to distance education in J.D. programs. However, outside of a handful of schools that have received permission to teach J.D. courses almost entirely online, most experiments in distance legal education have occurred in post-graduate (i.e. post-J.D.) programs: LL.M. degrees, and various graduate certificates and Master's degrees in law-related subjects. These programs can be taught completely online without requiring special ABA permission.

This essay reflects on the author's experiences over a number of years as both a teacher and student in distance education classes in both legal and other areas of instruction. She identifies practical lessons she has learned in this context relating to issues including: the kinds of skills that can most effectively be taught online; personnel requirements for developing and offering online courses; the pros and cons of asynchronous online formats; differing online social norms of behavior; optimum class size for online delivery; and, access and administration issues. This discussion is intended as a jumping off point for future conversations about effective online course delivery in legal academia, which may be of particular relevance if J.D. programs ultimately do move toward greater online delivery.


The effect of arrays' size on magnetization reversal in nanodisks has been investigated. Symmetrical arrays of Py nanodisks with diameter 600 nm and thicknesses 10, 22, and 30 nm has been studied by magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). It has been found that the increase in a number of nanodisks leads to the fall of magnetic vortex annihilation field. The dependence of the vortex nucleation field has oscillating behavior due to magnetostatic interaction between adjacent nanodisks. The dependences of critical fields of vortex nucleation and annihilation calculated within "rigid" vortex model are in a good agreement with experimental results. Using MFM it has been demonstrated that transition from single domain state to C-state occurs in nanodisks at different applied magnetic fields. We have revealed that the coincidence of magnetization switching in nanodisks rises with increasing of magnetostatic interaction.


Electronic circuit boards of computers consist of components which generate substantial amounts of heat during their operation. Among these, the microprocessor chip is one of the major sources of heat generation. In high-performance processor chips, the rates of heat generation are also correspondingly high. The performance of the chips themselves, as well as that of the neighboring electronic components are affected by the temperature levels attained, which in turn depend on the heat dissipation capability. Effective thermal management of microprocessor chips, following precise thermal characterization, is essential to avoid their untimely failure due to overheating. The selection of an appropriate cooling methodology and the design of an efficient cooling system for the microprocessor chip essentially require a clear knowledge of the heat dissipation rates during its operation. A comprehensive database of heat dissipation from microprocessor chips as a function of the activity level, based on actual measurements, is rare to find in the literature. A major reason for this is that conventional intrusive measurements on and around the chip are quite insufficient, as they will alter the performance, while the system is under operation. To overcome this, a nonintrusive digital interferometric measurement has been devised in this paper for obtaining the in situ temperature distributions and the heat dissipation patterns around the microprocessor chip, while it is under operation. The interferometric method utilizes interference of coherent laser beams to make measurements in the thermal field around the heat-dissipating component. An Intel Pentium 4 microprocessor with its integrated heat sink was used for experimentation. The computational load on the processor was varied utilizing a software package, thus varying the heat generation rates, and the base temperature of the fins in the heat sink attached to the microprocessor. Interferometric measurements were made to obtain the temperature distribution in the medium, and the patterns of heat dissipation from the fins' surfaces. Indicators of the heat transfer behavior, namely, the local heat flux values and the heat transfer coefficients were obtained from the experiments, using digital image processing techniques. Experiments were conducted at various fin-base temperatures, under free and forced convection conditions, to characterize the effect through a database of the heat dissipation level. In essence, a nonintrusive temperature measurement method coupled with digital image processing techniques has been successfully used for convective heat transfer studies on the microchip while the microchip is under operation.


Tufted folliculitis is an uncommon folliculitis of the scalp that resolves with patches of scarring alopecia within which multiple hair tufts emerge from dilated follicular orifices. The clinicohistological data from a group of 15 patients with tufted folliculitis were reviewed and compared with those of seven patients with folliculitis decalvans, five with acne keloidalis nuchae, four with dissecting cellulitis of the scalp, three with kerion celsi and 20 with follicular lichen planus. It was found that tufted folliculitis could be differentiated from folliculitis decalvans only by finding several hair tufts scattered within patches of scarring alopecia. Histologically, a single tuft consisted of peculiar clustering of adjacent follicular units opening at the bottom of an epidermal depression. Conversely, the presence of keloidal plaques in acne keloidalis nuchae, coalescing nodules discharging purulent material in dissecting cellulitis of the scalp, erythematous plaques covered by pustules replete with fungal elements in kerion celsi, and the absence of follicular pustules in follicular lichen planus distinguished these diseases from tufted folliculitis. On the basis of these findings, it is suggested that tufted folliculitis should be considered as a distinctive clinicohistological variant of folliculitis decalvans. Tufting of hair is caused by clustering of adjacent follicular units due to a fibrosing process and to retention of telogen hairs within the involved follicular units.


Extensive empirical studies presented in this article confirm that the quality of radio communication between low-power sensor devices varies significantly with time and environment. This phenomenon indicates that the previous topology control solutions, which use static transmission power, transmission range, and link quality, might not be effective in the physical world. To address this issue, online transmission power control that adapts to external changes is necessary. This article presents ATPC, a lightweight algorithm for Adaptive Transmission Power Control in wireless sensor networks. In ATPC, each node builds a model for each of its neighbors, describing the correlation between transmission power and link quality. With this model, we employ a feedback-based transmission power control algorithm to dynamically maintain individual link quality over time. The intellectual contribution of this work lies in a novel pairwise transmission power control, which is significantly different from existing node-level or network-level power control methods. Also different from most existing simulation work, the ATPC design is guided by extensive field experiments of link quality dynamics at various locations over a long period of time. The results from the real-world experiments demonstrate that (1) with pairwise adjustment, ATPC achieves more energy savings with a finer tuning capability, and (2) with online control, ATPC is robust even with environmental changes over time.


While it is apparent that the heat shock response is ubiquitous, variabilities in the nature of the heat shock response between closely related species have not been well characterized. The heat shock response of three genotypes of tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, Lycopersicon pennellii, and the interspecific sexual hybrid was characterized. The two parental genotypes differed in the nature of the heat shock proteins synthesized; the speciesspecific heat shock proteins were identified following in vivo labeling of leaf tissue with [(35)S]methionine and cysteine. The duration of, and recovery from, heat shock varied between the two species: L. esculentum tissue recovered more rapidly and protein synthesis persisted longer during a heat shock than in the wild species, L. pennellii. Both species induced heat shock protein synthesis at 35 degrees C and synthesis was maximal at 37 degrees C. The response of the F1 to heat shock was intermediate to the parental responses for duration of, and recovery from, heat shock. In other aspects, the response of the F1 to heat shock was not intermediate to the parental responses: the F1 induced only half of the L. esculentum specific heat shock proteins, and all of the L. pennellii specific heat shock proteins. A discussion of the inheritance of the regulation of the heat shock response is presented.


Based on comparative case studies of Apple Computer's strategic actions in the music and cellular telephony industries, we develop the concept of "cross-boundary disruptor" as a new type of entrepreneurial actor in inter-industry strategic dynamics. We document how the confluence of forces that drove the convergence of the music and computing industries gave rise to Apple Computer becoming a defining example of a cross-boundary disruptor to the music industry, and examine Apple's chances to do the same in the cellular telephony industry. Using our preliminary conceptual framework, we further examine what kind of company could become a cross-boundary disruptor in the US healthcare industry to help overcome its long-standing stasis. We summarize our case study-based findings into a preliminary substantive theory of the cross-boundary disruption phenomenon, and discuss several implications for further strategic entrepreneurship research and for strategic leadership practice.


determine the spontaneous and induced frequency of transplacental micronucleis in Sprague Dawley rats, demonstrating the clastogenic or aneugenic effects in the fetus through the maternal exposure, and their linking with the genotoxic and reproductive effect. Four experimental groups were formed, 1) negative control (mockery), solvent control NaCl %), 3) cyclophosphamide to 50 mg/kg, and 4) bleomycin to 30 mg/kg. All the groups were administered the 14, 15 and 16 days of the gestation by intraperitoneal route. 48 h to the last inoculation was preceded to the euthanasia, being obtained the maternal bone marrow and fetal liver samples. Bigger induction of damage was observed in fetal hepatic cells when it was compared with maternal bone marrow cells. It was demonstrated that the cyclophosphamide is able to induce bigger citotoxicity and genotoxicity that the bleomycin in both cellular types, demonstrating the transplacental clastogenic potential of both mutagens linking this genotoxicity assay to the reproduction. These results are used in the new drugs evaluation with antigenotoxic effects by transplacental route.


More than 270 different types of papillomaviruses have been discovered in a wide array of animal species. Despite the great diversity of papillomaviruses, little is known about the evolutionary processes that drive host tropism and the emergence of oncogenic genotypes. Although host defense mechanisms have evolved to interfere with various aspects of a virus life cycle, viruses have also coevolved copious strategies to avoid host antiviral restriction. Our and other studies have shown that the cytidine deaminase APOBEC3 family members edit HPV genomes and restrict virus infectivity. Thus, we hypothesized that host restriction by APOBEC3 served as selective pressure during papillomavirus evolution. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the relative abundance of all dinucleotide sequences in full-length genomes of 274 papillomavirus types documented in the Papillomavirus Episteme database (PaVE). Here, we report that TC dinucleotides, the preferred target sequence of several human APOBEC3 proteins (hA3A, hA3B, hA3F, and hA3H), are highly depleted in papillomavirus genomes. Given that HPV infection is highly tissue-specific, the expression levels of APOBEC3 family members were analyzed. The basal expression levels of all APOBEC3 isoforms, excluding hA3B, are significantly higher in mucosal skin compared with cutaneous skin. Interestingly, we reveal that Alphapapillomaviruses (alpha-PVs), a majority of which infects anogenital mucosa, display the most dramatic reduction in TC dinucleotide content. Computer modeling and reconstruction of ancestral alpha-PV genomes suggest that TC depletion occurred after the alpha-PVs diverged from their most recent common ancestor. In addition, we found that TC depletion in alpha-PVs is greatly affected by protein coding potential. Taken together, our results suggest that PVs replicating in tissues with high APOBEC3 levels may have evolved to evade restriction by selecting for variants that contain reduced APOBEC3 target sites in their genomes.


Using the formation of a lesbian and gay electoral constituency as a case, this article demonstrates how activists and party elites contest and construct collective identities and groups. Activist–party interactions produce identity-building feedback that recognizes some groups and identities and rejects others, creating conditions for people to see themselves as partisans. I call this process "constitutive group mobilization." I find that, when party actors affirmed civil rights and libertarian constructions of lesbian and gay people and politics, mobilization was relatively bipartisan. Republicans' emerging alliance with the Christian Right, however, brought activists to form the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Democratic Clubs, crystallizing civil rights as the dominant linkage to partisanship. These developments reveal how groups and identities form endogenously to parties rather than entering the party system as preformed entities with fixed interests and partisanship. Thus, the lesbian and gay case provides insights about group and identity formation previously overlooked in party and LGBT politics scholarship.


We report here the development of 65 novel microsatellite loci and construction of a composite genetic linkage map for Culex pipiens complex mosquitoes. Microsatellites were identified by in silico screening of the Culex quinquefasciatus genome assembly. Cross-species utility of 73 microsatellites for population studies in C. pipiens sensu stricto and C. quinquefasciatus was evaluated by genotyping a subset of samples collected in Indiana, United States, and Point Fortin, Trinidad. Allele frequencies of 67 microsatellites were within Hardy-Weinberg expectations in both population subsets. A composite linkage map was constructed based on restriction fragment length polymorphism and microsatellite polymorphisms in 12 independent F1 intercross mapping populations. The composite map consists of 61 marker loci totaling 183.9 cM distributed across the 3 linkage groups. These loci cover 29.5, 88.8, and 65.6 cM on chromosomes I-III, respectively, and allow for assignment of 10.4% of the genome assembly and 13.5% of the protein coding genes to chromosome position. Our results suggest that these microsatellites will be useful for mapping and population studies of 2 pervasive species in the C. pipiens complex. Moreover, the composite map presented here will serve as a basis for the construction of high-resolution genetic and physical maps, as well as detection of quantitative trait loci to aid in the investigation of complex genetic traits influencing phenotypes of interest.


In this paper we evaluate solutions that provide measurements for the network convergence time in switched Ethernet networks when links failures happen. We evaluate three solutions to measure the network convergence time in a faulty situation. Compared to the commercially available solutions, our proposals are cost-effective, portable, and open source. Thus, they are easy to deploy on many testbeds. We show the performance of the solutions by measuring different metrics including jitter, network convergence time and packet loss during the network recovery time. Our measurements indicate that it is possible to accurately measure the network convergence time using a packet sender which does not suffer interference from the overlying operating system. Furthermore, we noticed that the packet sniffer TShark did not suffer from kernel interrupts from overlying operating systems.


After controlling for the content of earnings information over the quarter, security returns measured over the entire quarter are affected by the path of earnings expectations during the quarter. This research uncovers cases consistent with low-balling, in which negative information elicits a positive market response. There are also observed cases consistent with high-balling, in which positive information elicits a negative or zero market response.


© Cambridge University Press 2007 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.This 2007 book is a comprehensive exposition of FET modeling, and is a must-have resource for seasoned professionals and new graduates in the RF and microwave power amplifier design and modeling community. In it, you will find descriptions of characterization and measurement techniques, analysis methods, and the simulator implementation, model verification and validation procedures that are needed to produce a transistor model that can be used with confidence by the circuit designer. Written by semiconductor industry professionals with many years' device modeling experience in LDMOS and III-V technologies, this was the first book to address the modeling requirements specific to high-power RF transistors. A technology-independent approach is described, addressing thermal effects, scaling issues, nonlinear modeling, and in-package matching networks. These are illustrated using the current market-leading high-power RF technology, LDMOS, as well as with III-V power devices.


This study builds new empirically based theory on how the processing of an innovation project with a high degree of uncertainty induces change in key components in organization design. By using an embedded case study as our research strategy and organization design theory as our analytical lens, we construct ten propositions that determine how the organization design of our case organization was influenced because of their innovation project. These changes represent: a) improved competencies for exploration activities, b) improved competencies for exploiting new knowledge, and c) increased readiness for change.


Only computed tomography (CT) is able to demonstrate ocular, orbital and peri-orbital soft tissues, calcification and bony structures directly and without superimposition of other tissues. 165 patients with tumours of the eye or orbit have been examined by CT and in 143 the diagnosis has been confirmed. The value of CT lies in its ability to demonstrate tumours and to define their orbital and extra-orbital extension and their relationship to neighbouring structures. In 51% of the lesions there was bone destruction and in 6% intracranial extension. Density measurements before and after intravenous contrast medium only rarely provided a specific diagnosis.


Global models of the interaction of the solar wind with the Martian upper atmosphere have proved to be valuable tools for investigating both the escape to space of the Martian atmosphere and the physical processes controlling this complex interaction. The many models currently in use employ different physical assumptions, but it can be difficult to directly compare the effectiveness of the models since they are rarely run for the same input conditions. Here we present the results of a model comparison activity, where five global models (single‐fluid MHD, multifluid MHD, multifluid electron pressure MHD, and two hybrid models) were run for identical conditions corresponding to a single orbit of observations from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. We find that low‐altitude ion densities are very similar across all models and are comparable to MAVEN ion density measurements from periapsis. Plasma boundaries appear generally symmetric in all models and vary only slightly in extent. Despite these similarities there are clear morphological differences in ion behavior in other regions such as the tail and southern hemisphere. These differences are observable in ion escape loss maps and are necessary to understand in order to accurately use models in aiding our understanding of the Martian plasma environment.


Health experts and scientists have been reacting to today's news that the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union.

Scientists and researchers, who have been among the strongest supporters for remaining in the EU, have been reacting with dismay at the news.

Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute and former president of the Royal Society, described the referendum result as a "poor outcome for British science."

"Science thrives on the permeability of ideas and people and flourishes in environments that pool intelligence, minimise barriers, and are open to free exchange and collaboration. British scientists will have to work hard in the future to counter the isolationism of Brexit if our science is to continue to thrive," he said.

Robert Lechler, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said that …


Since 1980 most social scientists have found little evidence in support of popular and recurring commentaries that identify religion (and evangelical Protestants, in particular) as a major source of conservative political trends in the United States. But in the past several years a new line of research has reported results suggesting that earlier studies underestimated evidence that partisan change among specific religious groups has contributed to an emerging Republican electoral advantage. We assess this latter body of research, presenting the most comprehensive analysis to date of the effects of religious group memberships on political outcomes in national elections from 1972 through 2000. We address the limitations of past studies by incorporating advances in the measurement of religious denomination, adjudicating competing statistical models of the changing interrelationship of religion and voter alignments and extending previous investigations by simultaneously considering the impact of religion on (1) voting behavior, (2) partisanship, and (3) the representation of religious groups within the Democratic and Republican parties' electoral coalitions. Our results refine and extend past studies of religion and political change, providing evidence of limited changes in group-specific voting coupled with much larger changes in religion-based partisanship and party coalitions.


Abstract. In 2012, the mausoleums of Timbuktu were destroyed by members of the armed forces occupying the North of Mali. After liberation in January 2013, a joint process was launched by the Ministry of Culture of Mali, UNESCO, and the local stakeholders for the gradual reconstruction of these mausoleums, completed in 2016. This has been a long process for heritage structures which, at first glance, appear rather simple and small. However, based on the observations made during the first evaluation mission undertaken in May 2013, it appeared that this question is quite complex. In fact, most of the mausoleums – some at least five hundred years old – had been subjected to numerous changes during their history. This provided a large amount of very interesting new information on the mausoleums, leading to a complete revision of the interpretation of their physical nature and that of their surroundings, as well as of their associated intangible heritage and values. This has also led to numerous questions and discussions concerning the way they should be re-built, including the argument that some of the building techniques had not been used for several decades, and there was a potential need for regular maintenance in the long term. After the description of the process, and discussing the findings and decisions made in the various phases, this paper presents a series of lessons learnt before concluding with some remaining questions.


An integrated modelling approach is developed to simulate ecological economics processes of mountainous watershed of Heihe river basin, northwest China. The objectives are 1) a hydrologic unit model HLM_HMU was developed; 2) the impacts of LUCC on the hydrological processes based on different scenarios were simulated respectively; and 3) the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) curve of prohibition grazing is given. The hydrological results show that the observed and simulated data have a good fit, in which the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, balance error, and explained variance are 0.69, -0.13, and 0.62, respectively; the model can simulate the majority of peaks well; the source code of Spatial Modelling Environment (SME) needs to be deeply understood to improve the algorithms of interpolation and conflux; the PES result shows that prohibition grazing will occur completely when the price of PES reached to 17.42 yuan, and the increased amount of ecosystem services is 2.13 × 108 m3.The main purpose of this paper is to build a better understanding of developing a meaningful integrated model in the study area to solve its ecological and economic problems.


OBJECTIVES: The results of aortic commissurotomy, as the first step in the treatment of aortic valve stenosis in children, have been estimated after a medium-term follow-up. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-two patients were operated at a mean age of 7.3 +/- 3.6 years of age. Surgery was performed under cardiopulmonary bypass and moderate hypothermia. Twenty patients underwent cardiac catheterization (the systolic gradient pressure was 67.9 +/- 24.7 mmHg and the end diastolic pressure was 17 +/- 7.1 mmHg). We evaluated 10 patients with Doppler flow echocardiography (the valvular area was 0.8 +/- 0.2 cm2/m2). After surgery, we made a follow-up of 8.6 +/- 5.4 years. RESULTS: The aortic valve was bicuspid in 13 cases and tricuspid in 9 cases. There was no mortality. Before the age of 7, 7 patients developed restenosis. The mean pressure gradient was 92.5 +/- 16.6 mmHg, so six of them underwent valvuloplasty and the other one was operated with an aortic valvulated homograft. The pressure gradient, which was estimated in 20 patients, was lowered to 43.5 +/- 17.5 mmHg and the aortic area was increased to 2.4 cm2/m2. Six patients had a pressure gradient above 40 mmHg. Six patients had previous aortic regurgitation and this reappeared in 3 patients after valvulotomy. At this time, 12 patients have aortic regurgitation, being mild in 9 patients, mild to moderate in 1 and moderate in 2 patients. CONCLUSION: Valvulotomy is a palliative therapeutic method. We had no mortality. Restenosis appeared in 7 patients, before the age of seven years, and it can be easily corrected. The aortic regurgitation is usually mild. Valve replacement can be avoided in childhood.


The objective of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of cross-border higher education with emphasis on quality assurance. Cross-border higher education is one of the dimensions of the internationalization of higher education, a phenomenon that includes a variety of higher education issues. Interest in internationalization, particularly in cross-border higher education, has increased over the last decade, demonstrating the need for developing quality assurance systems. It is therefore necessary to check the quality of the programs offered and the services provided. To address possible problems, guidelines have been issued by UNESCO. The purpose of the guidelines is to promote international cooperation and make the importance of quality in cross-border higher education understood. In 2015, the OECD published the results of a survey conducted on the degree of implementation of the guidelines for each of the actors involved in cross-border higher education.According to the results, the majority of those involved comply fairly well with the UNESCO guidelines, however, a lot of effort is still required either by specific countries or by those involved in this process. The existence of the guidelines appears to be necessary as does control over their implementation.


In this paper, we present a new algorithm for statistical speech feature enhancement in the cepstral domain. The algorithm exploits joint prior distributions (in the form of Gaussian mixture) in the clean speech model, which incorporate both the static and frame-differential dynamic cepstral parameters. Full posterior probabilities for clean speech given the noisy observation are computed using a linearized version of a nonlinear acoustic distortion model, and, based on this linear approximation, the conditional minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimator for the clean speech feature is derived rigorously using the full posterior. The final form of the derived conditional MMSE estimator is shown to be a weighted sum of three separate terms, and the sum is weighted again by the posterior for each of the mixture component in the speech model. The first of the three terms is shown to arrive naturally from the predictive mechanism embedded in the acoustic distortion model in absence of any prior information. The remaining two terms result from the speech model using only the static prior and only the dynamic prior, respectively. Comprehensive experiments are carried out using the Aurora2 database to evaluate the new algorithm. The results demonstrate significant improvement in noise-robust recognition accuracy by incorporating the joint prior for both static and dynamic parameter distributions in the speech model, compared with using only the static or dynamic prior and with using no prior.


Workflows are used in scientific, engineering, industrial, legal, and business applications to process many kinds of data, such as genomes, supply chains, and mailing lists. Workflows that involve thousands to millions of files and up to terabytes of data are a challenge that grid computing is tackling. Another challenge is how to automate the specification of large workflows to avoid human error - AI planning techniques can help. In this paper, we sketch how we're addressing these problems with the prototype workflow planning system we're developing at the University of Arkansas


Unacceptably high rates of micronutrient deficiencies persist mostly among resourcepoor communities who rely on subsistence farming. In these communities, consumption of vegetables and fruits is the most sustainable way of reducing micronutrient deficiencies. Apart from enhancing dietary diversity, indigenous vegetables and fruits are often easier to grow, resistant to pests, acceptable to local tests, rich and cheap sources of micronutrients. Despite this, they are mostly associated with poverty. This paper gives results on accessibility to and consumption of indigenous vegetables and fruits by rural households obtained from a crosssectional surveys carried out in Matungu division, western Kenya. Accessibility was measured by; availability at local markets, own production and obtaining from natural habitats while consumption was measured using a food frequency questionnaire. Two local markets were purposively selected and 120 households drawn from the population. Data was collected using market surveys and questionnaires and summarized using tables and charts. Of the 372 market stalls only 23.5% and 13.8% of them had indigenous vegetables (9 varieties) and fruits (4 varieties)  respectively. Indigenous vegetables were only cultivated by 11.8% of the households; these included only six varieties and cowpea leaves (Vigna unguilata) were the most popular. Five indigenous fruit varieties were being gathered, and guavas were the most popular. Consumption of up to 9 varieties of indigenous vegetables was observed, with cow peas, jute mallow and amaranths reporting more than 50% consumption. Six varieties of indigenous fruits had been consumed. The low accessibility to and consumption of indigenous vegetables and fruits observed posses a major nutrition problem likely to lead to poor dietary diversity and micronutrient deficiencies. Caregivers, mothers and small-holder farmers should be educated on the role of indigenous vegetables and fruits in food security, nutrition and health. They should also be encouraged and supported to sustainably grow and utilize these fruits and vegetables.


A systems econometric model of the livestock (beef and pork), poultry (broiler), and corn sectors was estimated to evaluate cross-sector relationships. The equilibrium multipliers and comparative statics indicate unequal cross-effect of market disturbances, e.g., shocks in the livestock and poultry markets impact corn demand and supply more than shocks in the corn market impact livestock and poultry demands and supplies. Recent 2003 mad cow disease (BSE) problems in Canada and the United States display nontrivial cross-effects. For example, the BSE occurrences reduce real corn revenue in the United States by $0.62 billion, or 5.0% of its 2003 revenue.


We have previously cloned two distinct regions of the Shigella sonnei form I plasmid pSS120, a 37-kilobase-pair DNA region and a virF region, which were found to be essential for cell invasion in Escherichia coli K-12 (J. Kato, K. Ito, A. Nakamura, and H. Watanabe, Infect. Immun. 57:1391-1398, 1989). The 37-kilobase-pair DNA region was randomly inserted by use of transposon Tn3-lac. At least eight genes were found to be located within the region, as determined by analysis of Tn3-lac-generated lac fusions. Expression of six genes, ipaB, ipaC, invE, invG, invJ, and invK, was apparently regulated by the positive regulator virF. IpaB and IpaC proteins could not found in invE mutants even if the virF gene was present. This observation suggested that the invE region encoded a positive regulator different from the virF gene. The functional relationship between the invE and virF genes was then examined. Translational fusions ipaB::Tn3-lac and invJ::Tn3-lac were used as indicators for gene expression, and the following results were obtained. Full expression of the ipaB and invJ genes required the presence of both the invE and virF regions. virF positively regulated the expression of invE at the transcriptional level. An increase in the copy number of invE enhanced the expression of ipaB and invJ in the absence of virF. These findings strongly indicate that the invE gene product, whose expression is regulated by virF, acts positively on the invasion-associated genes. InvE is a 35,407-dalton protein and has significant homologies with ParB of plasmid P1 and SopB of plasmid F, which are DNA-binding proteins involved in plasmid partitioning.


In acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, using granulocyte colony-stimulating
factor (G-CSF) to support hematologic recovery in induction
and consolidation treatment reduces the number of febrile episodes and the
duration of neutropenia and hospitalization. However, the benefit and safety of
administering G-CSF to enhance hematologic recovery in AML patients after
autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) have not been reported so far. At
our center, it was our policy to administer G-CSF after ASCT in all AML patients.
In June 2015, increasing economic pressure prompted us to omit G-CSF after
ASCT. In this retrospective study, we assessed the effects of changing our
strategy from applying G-CSF for hematologic recovery after ASCT (in 103
AML patients) to omitting G-CSF (12 patients). We found that administering
G-CSF shortened the median duration until neutrophil recovery was >0.5 G/l
after ASCT by four days (P=.0001), and patients with G-CSF tended to have
fewer bacteremias (38.3% versus 66.6%; P=.0654). The median duration of
hospitalization was two days longer in patients without G-CSF support (25
versus 23 days; P=.0603). According to the Swiss in-patient reimbursement
system, the shorter hospitalization of +G-CSF patients resulted in decreased
total costs per patient of 3305 CHF (48 Mio U of G-CSF), and 3367 CHF (30 Mio
U). Finally, no differences were observed in disease free (P=.0938) and overall
survival (P=.7999) rates between +G-CSF versus –G-CSF patients. Our data
suggest that G-CSF support after ASCT is safe and associated with shorter time
until neutrophil recovery, fewer bacteremia episodes, shorter hospitalization,
and lower costs.
Keywords: Autologous; Transplant; AML; Leukemia; Recovery; Prognosis;
Survival; Granulocyte-colony Stimulating factor; G-CSF; Consolidation


Speech rhythm has been proposed to be of crucial importance for correct speech perception and language learning. This study investigated the influence of speech rhythm in second language processing. German pseudo-sentences were presented to participants in two conditions: `naturally regular speech rhythm' and an `emphasized regular rhythm'. Nine expert English speakers with 3.5±1.6 years of German training repeated each sentence after hearing it once over headphones. Responses were transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet and analyzed for the number of correct, false and missing consonants as well as for consonant additions. The over-all number of correct reproductions of consonants did not differ between the two experimental conditions. However, speech rhythmicization significantly affected the serial position curve of correctly reproduced syllables. The results of this pilot study are consistent with the view that speech rhythm is important for speech perception.


Background The bladder's regulatory function is influenced by central serotonergic modulation. T102C polymorphism of the serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor gene is associated with urinary incontinence (UI) that has been reported by older community dwellers. We analyzed the association between 5-HT2A receptor gene polymorphism and urodynamic tests for UI in older women. Methods A case-control study was performed with 68 older women submitted to urodynamic evaluation and 162 older women without urinary problems (self-reported), all community dwellers enrolled in the Gravataí-GENESIS Project, Brazil. Clinical interviews, complete urodynamic evaluation following the International Continence Society Report on Good Urodynamic Practice (case group), and molecular analyses were performed (case and control groups). Serotonin 2A receptor gene genotyping was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism using the restriction enzyme HpaII. We excluded patients with diabetes mellitus, neurologic damage, and diuretic intake. Results The subjects' mean (SD) age was 68.1 (6.5) years (range, 60-92 years). We found an association between the TT genotype versus CC + CT genotypes and UI (P = 0.013; odds ratio, 2.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.37-5.29) and, in addition, an association with urgency UI, maximal cystometric capacity (TT, 349 mL; CC + CT, 429.5 mL [P = 0.047]), detrusor pressure at maximum cystometric capacity (TT, 11 cm H2O; CC + CT, 6.75 cm H2O [P = 0.032]), and detrusor compliance (TT, 34 mL/cm H2O; CC + CT, 61.25 mL/cm H2O [P = 0.006]). Conclusions We confirmed our previous findings of a genetic influence of the TT genotype on UI involving the serotonergic pathway among older women. Further investigations including 5-HT2A expression in the bladder, pelvic floor, and striated sphincter muscle must be performed.


In this paper, we introduce a radio resource optimization model for Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) access networks. We propose a mixed integer programming model to minimize the network cost while providing service to all mobile users. The proposed architecture arranges cells in a multi-layer fashion, with cells in each layer providing different coverage radius. The optimization algorithm performs dynamic cell splitting to improve network capacity in congested areas and cell merging in areas with low demand to save resources. The computational demand of the proposed model increases proportionally to the number of layers of RAUs in the infrastructure. Results indicate that two layers of RAUs give the best trade-off between network cost reduction and computational demand.


BACKGROUND
An interdisciplinary health promotion module, using the community-based teaching approach, is offered by the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Schools in Delft, a poor socio-economic area with high unemployment, crime and a range of social problems, are used as the teaching site.

AIM
To assess the status of the health promotion initiatives in schools where students were placed.

METHOD
A self-administered structured questionnaire for teachers and principals. Variables included were demographic data, views of health promotion, health promotion activities at the school, barriers and opportunities to implement health promotion activities.

RESULTS
A response rate of 68.75 % (n = 55) for teachers and 100 % (n = 4) for principals was obtained. Most (87%) teachers felt that health promotion has a place within the curriculum. They reportedly focused on topics related to health within the school curriculum. Partners, such as public health nurses, university students, and a pharmaceutical company, offer additional health promotion initiatives. These include general health checks, HIV/AIDS information, adolescent health and dental health. Barriers to initiate and sustain programmes include lack of resources, insufficient staff training, lack of commitment by both teaching staff and the community, insufficient time, the heavy workload of teachers, and communication problems as a result of language barriers. Only 36% of teachers felt the school environment was conducive to learning.

CONCLUSION
Health promotion initiatives in the schools concerned are uncoordinated, erratic, based on the resources that the school has access to at a given time and the demands of the curriculum.


The stability of gas injection in a layered reservoir drilled with lateral wells, is studied using a generalized pressure distribution-dependent mobility ratio expression. Stable injection guarantees clean oil production. The mobility ratio compared layers' fluid velocities across a common permeable interface. Studies were based on injected gas compressibilities and viscosities only. Results show that injection stability is affected by (1) injected gas properties, and (2) injection layer; i.e., whether gas cycling (bottom layer injection) or gas injection (top layer injection). Gas cycling tends to exhibit more instability than gas injection operation.


Cathode design is a difficult problem must be faced and solved in electrochemical machining (ECM). In ECM process, various parameters, such as applied voltage, current density, gap distribution, machining rate and electrolyte composition and concentration, can affect ECM machining process and therefore cathode design. Among all these machining parameters, gap distribution is the most vital. Regard some type of aero-engine compressor blade as research object, this paper concentrates on the effects of the normal gap distribution of 2-dimension and 3-dimension on cathode design based on the cathode design method of , moreover the errors between two and three dimension normal gap also can be compared and analyzed in detail. To verify the accuracy of the designed cathode, the machining experiments were conducted on an industrial scale ECM machine and the experimental results demonstrates that the cathode designed utilizing 3-dimension normal gap exhibits more machining accuracy and therefore valuable.


We propose TD-GEN, a graph generation framework based on tree decomposition, and introduce a reduced upper bound on the maximum number of decisions needed for graph generation. The framework includes a permutation invariant tree generation model which forms the backbone of graph generation. Tree nodes are supernodes, each representing a cluster of nodes in the graph. Graph nodes and edges are incrementally generated inside the clusters by traversing the tree supernodes, respecting the structure of the tree decomposition, and following node sharing decisions between the clusters. Finally, we discuss the shortcomings of standard evaluation criteria based on statistical properties of the generated graphs as performance measures. We propose to compare the performance of models based on likelihood. Empirical results on a variety of standard graph generation datasets demonstrate the superior performance of our method.


Opinion of Justice of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine V.M. Kampo Regarding the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the Case of the Constitutional Petition of the President of Ukraine with Regard to an Official Interpretation of the Provisions of Article 83.8 of the Constitution of Ukraine in Systematic Interconnection with the Provisions of Articles 83.6, 83.7, 106.1.9, 114.3, and 114.4 of the Constitution of Ukraine." Available at www.ccu.gov.ua/ uk/doccatalog/list?currDir=51928/. Translated by Robert J. Valliere.


This book provides an overview of different ethical views on animal experimentation. Special attention is given to the production and experimental use of genetically modified animals. It proposes a middle course between those positions that are very critical and those very positive. This middle course implies that animal experiments originating in vital human research interests are commonly justified, provided that animal welfare is taken seriously. Some animal experiments are not acceptable, since the expected human benefit is too low and the animal suffering too severe. This position is supported by an argument from species care according to which we have special obligations to our children and other humans due to special relations. The book tries to bridge the gap between animal ethics and animal welfare science by discussing various conceptions of animal welfare: function-centered, feeling-based, and those focusing on natural living. The theoretical starting-point is "imaginative casuistry." This approach stresses the role of moral imagination and metaphor in ethical deliberation, accepts a plurality of values, and recognizes the importance of case-by-case balancing. In the discussion of genetically modified animals, both intrinsic ethical concerns and animal welfare concerns are addressed.


The objective of this paper is to study and try to understand the main causes that determine innovative duality in the Argentine tradable sector with a radically different approach. First, it will not employ econometrics to find out innovation's macroeconomic and microeconomic main obstacles, picking the latter up from published studies and, fundamentally, from Innovation Surveys. Secondly, this paper will analyze how the most innovative dynamic local sectors have surpassed mentioned hurdles, scheme in which the different farming activities' experiences shall become significantly illuminating. Consequently, this methodology will sacrifice econometric robustness in order to gain, hopefully, explanatory richness. This study's main result states that least innovative activities, like (medium)high-tech industrial branches and apple and beef productions, have had neither the size nor the articulation with other agents necessary to surpass macro and micro barriers. In this regard, successful studied local experiences reveal that a strategy to increase innovation in the former should have two components. On the one side, a macroeconomic context that affects favorably Argentine tradable firm's profit margins constitutes a necessary (although not sufficient) condition for a strong innovative dynamics in mentioned firms. On the other side, the study of the soybean case, in particular, and other successful innovative activities, in general, provide evidence regarding microeconomics factors required to complement macroeconomics in order to boost innovative investment within domestic agriculture and industry. Specifically, the former reveal that innovation is usually not an individual behavior's result, but a collective processes' consequence. In studied experiences, the own agents' (farmers, suppliers, clients and private organizations) coordination was enough to promote innovation. Contrarily, in (medium)high-tech manufacturing activities and beef and apple production, firms have not been able to surpass obstacles by themselves and, therefore, State's presence becomes imperative to tackle the most severe innovative restrictions. ∗ Researcher at Fundación CREAR [Callao 868 2° "A" / Buenos Aires / Argentina / Tel: 4811-0408 / email@example.com ] and Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. ∗∗ Researcher at Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES) [Sánchez de Bustamante 27 / Buenos Aires / Argentina / Tel: 4861-2126 / email@example.com ] and Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Paper presented in the VI Globelics Conference at Mexico City, September 22-24 2008


The balance of lipogenesis and lipolysis in fat tissue is regulated both by the interaction of blood born factors and by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The sympathetic branch stimulates lipolysis, whereas its antagonist, the parasympathetic branch, promotes lipogenesis. Here, by applying two different strains of the retrograde transneuronal tracer Pseudorabies Virus (PRV), we describe a hypothalamic network proximal to the two branches of the ANS. After an injection of PRV-Bartha-80 (PRV-B-80) into the right, sympathetically denervated, retroperitoneal fat pad and a simultaneous injection of PRV-Bartha-GFP (PRV-B-GFP) into the left, parasympathetically denervated, retroperitoneal fat pad we could trace both branches of the ANS up to the hypothalamus within the same animal. We found that pre-autonomic neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and the lateral hypothalamus (LH) are specialized to project either to sympathetic or to parasympathetic motor neurons. Interestingly, the neurons projecting to these separate autonomic systems share the same brain nuclei. This dual hypothalamic pathway enables hypothalamic centers, such as the biological clock together with temperature and feeding centers, to coordinate metabolic and endocrine functions of adipose tissue.


The Bass Diffusion Model (BDM) is one of the most successful models in marketing research in particular and management science in general. Since publication in 1969, it has guided marketing research on diffusion. This paper illustrates the limitations of the BDM, using mobile diffusion as a context. We fit the BDM to two large developed markets, the USA and Germany, and the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. We show that the parameters of the classical BDM may change substantially if the time period considered is changed by a single year. The diffusion of mobile communication does not follow an S-curve in some cases. We do not formulate an empirical alternative, but we suggest the structure of an integrated diffusion mode that treats adoption as one of five phase changes of the diffusion process. We trace the diffusion of mobile communications in India, and show that the integrated diffusion model provides a framework for understanding this case. We show that diffusion is a complex phenomenon, and that simplistic approaches are not equal to the task of explaining it.


OBJECTIVE
Gender- and age-specific mortality rates were calculated to determine the role of behavioral and biologically based differences in health.

DESIGN
Changes in age-specific mortality rates were calculated for males and females across select time periods, in addition to gender- and cause-specific mortality age trajectories for birth cohorts for heart disease, stroke, and lung and breast cancer. Differences between cohort mortality age trajectories and the age pattern of mortality rates were related to socioeconomic differences between genders and to biological risk factors.

SUBJECTS
U.S. males and females aged 30 to 95+ over the 34-year period 1962 to 1995.

METHODS
Gender- and age-specific mortality rates were computed and displayed using the logarithmic transform of the rates for five-year age categories.

RESULTS
Major gender cross-sectional mortality differences were found for heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer, with males being disadvantaged except for stroke. Less variation was found for lung cancer in recent male cohorts compared to large rates of change for recent female cohorts. Female breast cancer mortality showed modest variation, with most of the cohort differential in risk in postmenopausal breast cancer risk. Relative risk of lung cancer with age was greater for females.

CONCLUSION
Differences in male and female cohort mortality rates underlie many of the period changes for heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. Cohort differences were largest for lung cancer, although the cohort-specific smoking patterns these rates imply could also be responsible for some of the heart disease and mortality differences. The breast cancer mortality rates showed consistency with the concept of two distinct etiologies for breast cancer: premenopausal and postmenopausal. Large cohort increases in female lung cancer mortality may be alterable by behavioral measures and education.


The paper tries to describe the social consequences of changes in the cognitive strategies that are taking place under the influence of information and communication technologies diffusion. Author reviews the latest sociological and psychological research in the human brain evolution caused by the explosion of digital technology. Review of the dominant scientific approaches and making profit and loss account in humans' basic cognitive processes allows answering the question, about the changes in social relation forms and cultural participation patterns. Social aspect refers to the problem of social bonds atrophy based on loss of empathy in electronic communication. The cultural aspect of the problem is based on coexistence between two knowledge systems: expert system and system of dispersed knowledge. These issues are described in the context of generational gap, which exist between people, for whom digital world is the only known environment (digital natives) and those who immersed in it during their adult life (digital immigrants). Key words: knowledge, cognizance, information society, internet, new media, digital natives, digital immigrants.


Purpose of review Early diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) infections is crucial given high morbidity and mortality. Neuroimaging in CNS infections is widely used to aid in the diagnosis, treatment and to assess the response to antibiotic and neurosurgical interventions. Recent findings The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines have clear recommendations for obtaining a computerized tomography of the head (CTH) prior to lumbar puncture (LP) in suspected meningitis. In the absence of indications for imaging or in aseptic meningitis, cranial imaging is of low utility. In contrast, cranial imaging is of utmost importance in the setting of encephalitis, bacterial meningitis, ventriculitis, bacterial brain abscess, subdural empyema, epidural abscess, neurobrucellosis, neurocysticercosis, and CNS tuberculosis that can aid clinicians with the differential diagnosis, source of infection (e.g., otitis, sinusitis), assessing complications of meningitis (e.g., hydrocephalus, venous sinus thrombosis, strokes), need for neurosurgical interventions and to monitor for the response of therapy. Novel imaging techniques such as fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (FIESTA), susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), and chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) contrast are briefly discussed. Summary Though the radiological findings in CNS infections are vast, certain patterns along with clinical clues from history and examination often pave the way to early diagnosis. This review reiterates the importance of obtaining cranial imaging when necessary, and the various radiological presentations of commonly encountered CNS infections.


The Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group oil sands of northern Alberta have an estimated 270.3 billion m3 (BCM) (1700 billion bbl) of in-place heavy oil and tar. Our study area includes oil sand accumulations and downdip areas that partially extend into the deformation zone in western Alberta. The oil sands are composed of highly biodegraded oil and tar, collectively referred to as bitumen, whose source remains controversial. This is addressed in our study with a four-dimensional (4-D) petroleum system model. The modeled primary trap for generated and migrated oil is subtle structures. A probable seal for the oil sands was a gradual updip removal of the lighter hydrocarbon fractions as migrated oil was progressively biodegraded. This is hypothetical because the modeling software did not include seals resulting from the biodegradation of oil. Although the 4-D model shows that source rocks ranging from the Devonian–Mississippian Exshaw Formation to the Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group coals and Ostracode-zone-contributed oil to Mannville Group reservoirs, source rocks in the Jurassic Fernie Group (Gordondale Member and Poker Chip A shale) were the initial and major contributors. Kinetics associated with the type IIS kerogen in Fernie Group source rocks resulted in the early generation and expulsion of oil, as early as 85 Ma and prior to the generation from the type II kerogen of deeper and older source rocks. The modeled 50% peak transformation to oil was reached about 75 Ma for the Gordondale Member and Poker Chip A shale near the west margin of the study area, and prior to onset about 65 Ma from other source rocks. This early petroleum generation from the Fernie Group source rocks resulted in large volumes of generated oil, and prior to the Laramide uplift and onset of erosion (58 Ma), which curtailed oil generation from all source rocks. Oil generation from all source rocks ended by 40 Ma. Although the modeled study area did not include possible western contributions of generated oil to the oil sands, the amount generated by the Jurassic source rocks within the study area was 475 BCM (2990 billion bbl).


Summary The synthesis and potential H1 receptor antagonistic activity of two novel series of condensed 2-arylaminoethylpyrimid-in-4(3H)-ones (4, 5) and 4-amino-2-aryl-aminoethyl pyrimidines (6) have been reported. All the novel compounds were found to antagonize histamine in a competitive and reversible manner. When tested on guinea-pig ileum, compounds exhibited H1-antagonistic activity, (pA2 values) in the range of 8.6 to 9.7. Some of the lead compounds were evaluated by an in vivo method and were found to protect the guinea pigs against the hist-amine induced asphyxic shock at the doses comparable to or lower than those of the standard drugs, cetirizine (CAS 83881-51-0) and terfenadine (CAS 50679-08-8). The pA2 acetylcholine values of some of the lead compounds reflect about 1000-fold selectivity for histamine (H1) receptors. The 4-aminopyrimidines (6) were found to be more selective than their 4-one analogs (4, 5). In the radioligand binding study, one of the lead compounds, 6e, was found to bind reversibly at the histamine H1 receptor with the Ki value of 1.3 µmol/l and IC50 of 3.8 µmol/l. The lead compounds were found to have negligible sedative potential when tested in vivo. An indirect type of molecular modeling approach, using temelastine (CAS 86181-42-2) as the standard ligand, indicates that the potent activity of 4, 5 and 6 may be due to the increased spacer chain length between the pyrimidine nucleus and the sidechain aromatic ring.


The gregarious caterpillars of Heortia vitessoides Moore is a major defoliator of agar trees. The pest seriously threatens the existing agar tree plantation that has been widely cultivated in the community. Pest attacks began to occur in Indonesia since 2005, resulting in the damage and death of agar tree plants in various regions.To determine the impact of pest attack, a study was conducted through periodic monitoring at agar plantation in Carita Forest Research Station (CFRS), Banten Province, from April 2012 to March 2015. Monitoring was conducted in three plots of agar plantations. Each plot consists of six permanent subplots and in each subplot 15 samples of agar tree were randomly choosen. Data were collected and analyzed on monthly basis according to the intensity of defoliation and the mortality of agar trees. Defoliation intensity was determined by the percentage number of trees suffering defoliation in four damage categories, i.e.: light (10-25%), moderate (25-50%), heavy (50-75%), and severe (75-100%). Tree mortality was calculated as the annual percentage of dead trees. The study showed that the defoliation occurred throughout the year in varying degrees of damage. The monthly percentage of defoliated trees is about 30-70% annualy. The high percentage of tree defoliation mainly occurs during dry and early rainy season (June-December). Higher percentage of heavy and severe defoliations were found mostly at seedling. Repeated heavy defoliation causes stunted growth and tree mortality. Early monitoring and control of pests are very important to be done regularly to prevent the damage wider and heavier.


Historically, the northern Russian regions have been an object of a special socio-economic policy, united by extreme climate conditions, geographical isolation and rich natural resources reserves. Northern investment risks in human capital formation are proposed in the paper, as an indicator of investment conditions, which can be employed to improve policy of human development in the northern regions of Russia. Northern investment risks encompass uncertainties associated with extreme northern climate conditions, historically determined allocation of resources in the Russian northern regions and restrictions on labour mobility caused by geographic isolation and administrative rules. Investment risks in human capital, its measurement, methods of estimation are considered. Empirical estimation illustrates higher investment risks in the northern regions. Method of estimation can be employed widely to compare investment conditions in imperfect economies. Policy of insurance of private investment risks and current restrictions on it's implementation in the northern regions of Russia are discussed.


A reciprocal relationship between insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance has been reported in some mouse models and humans with isolated changes in growth hormone (GH) production and signaling. To determine if this could be explained in part by tissue-specific changes in insulin sensitivity, hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps were performed in mice with adult-onset, isolated GH deficiency and in mice with elevated endogenous GH levels due to somatotrope-specific loss of IGF-I and insulin receptors. Our results demonstrate that circulating GH levels are negatively correlated with insulin-mediated glucose uptake in muscle but positively correlated with insulin-mediated suppression of hepatic glucose production. A positive relationship was also observed between GH levels and endpoints of hepatic lipid metabolism known to be regulated by insulin. These results suggest hepatic insulin resistance could represent an early metabolic defect in GH deficiency.


The engineering design was developed by Arup in collaboration with architect Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP). The architecture is guided by the principles of openness, flexibility and legibility, which were the hallmark of early Rogers and Arup projects, most notably the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyd's building in London. A key aspiration from the outset was for the building to clearly express its engineering systems. Stability is provided by a fully exposed, external braced tube. Temperature loadings had to be considered carefully and led to some unusual design features. Several construction-led innovations were employed, including a solid precast floor system and a core built from volumetric prefabricated steel modules with integrated services. Significant permanent horizontal movements occurring during construction were successfully reversed using an innovative 'active alignment' approach. The multidisciplinary engineering systems, and the collaborative digital methods used to deliver the project, have been described previously. This paper presents a more detailed description of the structural design, with a focus on some of the more unusual engineering solutions.


Introduction: The change of sexual activity on menopausal not only be affected by the reduction of reproductive function but also be affected by the lack of information and knowledge related to the impacts of reduction of the reproductive function on the decreasing of the menopausal sexual response. In attempts to improve the knowledge, attitude, and changing of the action related to sexual activity on menopause women can be conducted by providing counseling for the spouse. Method: Design used in this study was quasy experiment. The population were spouse who wife had been menopause, in Mei 2012. The sample was taken by purposive sampling technique. Twenty four respondents matched with the inclusion criteria and divided into treatment and control groups. Data were collected by using questionnaire and interview sheet to action value. Then analyzed by using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Mann Whitney U Test with significance level of α ≤ 0.05. Result:   The results of this research showed that spouse knowledge in treatment group had significance level of p= 0,003, while in control group was p=0,011, for spouse attitude p=0,002, while in control group was p=0,021, for spouse  action p=0.002, and p= 0,071 in control group. The result of Mann Whitney U test was p = 0.001 of the knowledge, p = 0,000 of the attitude and action. It means there was different in knowledge, attitude and action of sexual activity between treatment and control groups. Discussion and recommendation: It can be concluded that there are significant effects of spouse counseling about sexual activity of women menopause to improve spouse's knowledge, attitude and action of sexual activity.


Model agnostic feature attribution algorithms ( e.g ., SHAP and LIME) are ubiquitous techniques for explaining the decisions of complex classification models, such as deep neural networks. However, since complex classification models produce superior performance when trained on low-level (or encoded) features, in many cases, the explanations generated by these algorithms are neither interpretable nor usable by humans. Methods proposed in recent studies that support the generation of human-interpretable explanations are impractical, because they require a fully invertible transformation function that maps the model's input features to the human-interpretable features. In this work, we introduce Latent SHAP, a black-box feature attribution framework that provides human-interpretable explanations, without the requirement for a fully invertible transformation function. We demonstrate Latent SHAP's effectiveness using (1) a controlled experiment where invertible transformation functions are available, which enables robust quantitative evaluation of our method, and (2) celebrity attractiveness classification (using the CelebA dataset) where invertible transformation functions are not available, which enables thorough qualitative evaluation of our method.


Introduction: in Colombia, persisting post-endodontic disease has been reported by up to 45%, validating the use of secondary alternative therapies, like endodontic microsurgery (EM). The aim of this study was to systematically—and with reliable scientific evidence—develop de Novo Clinical Practice Guidelines for the surgical endodontic management of post-treatment periapical disease (PPD), with more accurate recommendations for therapeutic decisions and preferences consulted with both practitioners and patients. Method : the guidelines developers team identified EM as a topic in the literature and established the scope, objective, questions, and outcomes, which were analyzed using the scientific evidence reported in secondary or primary clinical studies. A first screening identified titles and abstracts for each question asked. The validity of the selected studies was quantified with tools like AMSTAR or SIGN. Finally, the strength of recommendations and the quality of evidence were confirmed with GRADE. Results: concepts like PPD, EM indication, use of local anesthetics, antibiotics and presurgical anti-inflammatory drugs, effect of magnification, implementation of cone beam computed tomography, hemostasis, retrograde filling


: In genome of Drosophila melanogaster, various families of retrotransposons with different combination of functional domens and mechanisms of transposition are present. However only retrotransposons of gypsy family are retroviruses related to errantiviruses. Other families seemingly appeared as intermediate forms of retroviruses evolution. Despite the fact that the question on origin of retroviruses remains unclear, now the hypothesis of their origin from retrotransoposons can be considered the most consistent. Infectious properties of errantiviruses are linked to the presence of the third open reading frame (the env gene). Acquisition of the env gene conversed retrotransposons into retroviruses. So, origin of this gene is of special interest. Homologues of the env gene of errantiviruses are discovered in genomes of D. melanogaster, as well as in baculoviruses and in bacteria Wolbachia pipientis, the endosymbiont of Drosophila. It was shown that homologue of the env gene come to Wolbachia genome from Drosophila genome by horizontal transfer of the gypsy group retrotransposon. Thus, Wolbachia was not a donor of the env gene for errantiviruses. Seemingly, errantiviruses captured the baculoviral homologue of the env gene (f). However origin of the f gene is not clear. At the same time the env gene homologue in D. melanogaster genome exist (Iris). It must not be ruled out that the Iris gene was the source of the env gene of errantiviruses and baculoviruses.


● Context.—The international normalized ratio (INR) is widely used to monitor oral anticoagulation and to evaluate patients with coagulation disorders. Objective.—To examine the variability of the performance and reporting of the INR and to evaluate laboratory calculation of the INR. Design.—Between 1993 and 2003, laboratories participating in proficiency testing were surveyed. Participants provided the international sensitivity index and the mean normal prothrombin time used to calculate the INR. The INR was calculated from the data provided and compared with the INR reported to determine if the calculation was correct. Results.—Survey data regarding the INR collected between 1993 and 2003 demonstrate an improvement in reporting, using appropriate anticoagulant, using lower international sensitivity index reagents, and matching international sensitivity index and prothrombin time method. The all-method coefficient of variation of the INR improved from 18% to 5.8%. Among 3813 laboratories studied in 2002 and 2003, 4.1% miscalculated INR. Of 29 laboratories that reported investigation of the INR miscalculation, 11 (38%) reported correcting an INR that was being reported in patient results and that this error was corrected as a result of the study. Since beginning grading of the INR calculation, miscalculation of the INR has fallen to less than 1%. Conclusions.—Recommendations for change in laboratory practice made by consensus conferences are implemented during the course of many years. Difficulty calculating the INR was documented, and both the calculation and the variability in the reporting of the INR showed improvement. Proficiency testing, when closely evaluated and acted on, can have a direct impact on the quality of patient care. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2007;131:1641–1647)