Maritime labour convention (MLC), adopted by International Labour Organization in 2006, is one of the latest contemporary issues in the maritime industry. Since the convention entered into force after August 2013, maritime administrations and ship management companies have great responsibilities to control and verify the socio-technical requirements within the shipboard environment. The convention principally organized along with several key considerations such as minimum requirements for seafarers to work on-board ships, conditions of employment, accommodation, recreational facilities, health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection. At this insight, the compliance and enforcement matters are another concern to fulfil the requirements. This paper provides a model-based approach integrating balanced scorecard (BSC) with analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate compliance with the MLC requirements at the operational level. The research is expected to provide original contributions to monitor the MLC 2006 compliances level in ship fleet operation and management.


This paper describes an intelligent mirror adjustment system that rotates a pair of side mirrors and the room mirror of a car to the optimal position for a driver by using the location of the driver's pupils. A stereo vision system measures the three-dimensional coordinates of a pair of pupils by analyzing the input images of stereo B/W CCD cameras mounted on the instrument panel. This system determines the position angle of each mirror on the basis of information about the location of the pupils and rotates each mirror to the appropriate position by mirror actuators. The vision system can detect the driver's pupils regardless of whether it is daytime or nighttime by virtue of an infrared light source. Information about the pair of nostrils is used to improve the correctness of pupil detection. This system can adjust side mirrors and the room mirror automatically and rapidly by a simple interface regardless of driver replacement or driver's posture. Experiment has shown this to be a new mirror adjustment system that can make up for the weak points of previous mirror adjustment systems.


Using the Job Demands-Resources model literature and the life-span theory as scholarly frameworks, we examined the effects of job demands and job resources as mediators in the relationship between bundles of used HRM practices and employee outcomes. In addition, we tested for age differences in our research model. Findings confirmed the hypothesized original 2-factor structure representing maintenance and development HRM practices. Structural Equation Modeling analyses showed that the maintenance HRM bundle related directly and negatively to employee outcomes, without moderating effects of age. However, job resources appeared to mediate this relationship in a positive way as it also did for the development HRM bundle. Whereas this study showed the 'driving power' of the actual use of HRM bundles through job resources, regardless of the employee's age, this study also suggests a 'dark side' of HRM. In particular, we found that development HRM bundles may also increase job demands, which, in turn, may result in lower levels of beneficial employee outcomes. These empirical outcomes demonstrate the strength of the driving power eliciting from job resources preceded by any HRM bundle. Moreover, this effect appears to apply to employees of all ages. Our moderated-mediation model appeared robust for several control variables. Overall, this study provides an extension of the well-known Job Demands-Resources model by including maintenance and development bundles of HRM practices used by employees that have a differential effect on job demands and job resources which in turn have an impact on employee outcomes.


RATIONALE
It is postulated that in patients with severe tracheobronchomalacia (TBM), airway stabilization with stents may relieve symptoms.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the effect of silicone stents (tracheal, mainstem bronchus, or both) on symptoms, quality of life, lung function, and exercise capacity in these patients.

METHODS
A prospective observational study in which baseline measurements were compared to those obtained 10 to 14 days after stent placement.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Of 75 referred patients, 58 had severe disease and underwent therapeutic rigid bronchoscopy with stent placement. Mean age was 69 years (range, 39 to 91 years), 34 were men, 33 had COPD, and 13 had asthma. Almost all patients (n = 57) had dyspnea as a sole symptom or in combination with cough and recurrent infections; four patients required mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure. In 45 of 58 patients, there was reported symptomatic improvement; quality of life scores improved in 19 of 27 patients (p = 0.002); dyspnea scores improved in 22 of 24 patients (p = 0.001); functional status scores improved in 18 of 26 patients (p = 0.002); and mean exercise capacity improved from baseline, although not significantly. The 49 complications included mainly 21 partial stent obstructions, 14 infections, and 10 stent migrations. Most patients with concomitant COPD also improved on most measures.

CONCLUSIONS
In the short term, airway stabilization with silicone stents in patients with severe TBM can improve respiratory symptoms, quality of life, and functional status. Coexisting COPD is not an absolute contraindication to a stenting trial in this population. Stenting is associated with a high number of short-term and long-term but generally reversible complications.


Successful treatment of the anterior cruciate ligament tear in the young, active population can be reliably achieved with an arthroscopic bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) autograft reconstruction. Although some contraindications exist, the BTB autograft has been proven to provide for a durable, stable, and highly functional knee. Complications associated with the use of BTB can occur, but measures can be taken to minimize these risks. In addition to appropriate graft selection, meticulous surgical technique is required. This article outlines the step-by-step surgical technique including graft harvest, tunnel placement, graft preparation and passage, and interference screw fixation. Potential complications and the surgical decision-making options incurred are also discussed in detail.


This study aims to examine and analyze the effect of the proxied ratio of activities with Total Asset Turnover and Leverage proxied by the Debt to Equity Ratio on Corporate Values proxied with Price to Book Value with Profitability proxied with Return On Assets as an intervening variable through Annual Financial Reports That Have Been Compiled By Plantation Subsector Companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The Population In This Study Is Obtained By Using Purposive Sampling Methods In Plantation Companies Listed On The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) During the 2015-2017 Period and based on the criteria that have been determined, a sample of 14 plantation companies is obtained. The analysis method used is Path Analysis, the development of multiple linear regression. By using multiple regression analysis, TATO has a significant positive effect on ROA. While DER has a significant negative effect on ROA. The TATO variable has a significant positive effect on PBV. DER variable has a significant negative effect on PBV and ROA has a significant positive effect on PBV. Based on path analysis and Sobel Test, it can be concluded that ROA mediates the effect of TATO on PBV. However, ROA does not mediate the effect of DER on ROA.


States, where the emphasis continues to be on the provision ofnursing homes and other forms of "warehousing." I would suggest to Dr Pickering that had we not had this more advanced system of comprehensive care of the elderly the crisis in cardiology would be much worse. Dr Pickering described himself as one who has worked in cardiology and in geriatric medicine. He declares that in the latter specialty his most effective procedures were "syringing ears and debriding bedsores." In a modem geriatric unit the latter activity ought to be extremely rare because, however much we may debate about the preventability of cardiac disease, we know for certain that the vast majority of pressure sores are readily prevented. The suggestion that we should now restrict our medical interest in solving the problems of our aging population in order to encourage cardiology is akin to suggesting that we ought to reduce our public transport system so that we can provide more Concordes and thus help a few more people to emigrate to North America at supersonic speeds.


Newborns respond poorly to certain antigens and produce mainly IgM antibodies. By flow cytometry we analyzed on neonatal and adult B cells the expression of CD22, a B cell receptor (BCR)‐associated membrane molecule, known as negative modulator of BCR signaling. After T cell‐independent (TI‐)stimulation with anti‐μ F(ab')2 fragments we found a dramatic decrease in the percentage of neonatal CD22+ B cells and CD22 mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) shift, whereas adult B cells remained unaffected. Survival and proliferation rates of neonatal B cells were higher compared to adult B cells whereas the degrees of apoptosis and necrosis were comparable. Surprisingly, after stimulation with lower doses of anti‐μ apoptosis as well as proliferation increased significantly in contrast to adult B cells. T cell‐dependent (TD)‐stimulation with anti‐CD40 monoclonal antibody and IL‐4 resulted in a dramatic increase in the percentage of CD22+ neonatal B cells in contrast to unaffected adult B cells. CD22 MFI shifts showed no significant changes, respectively. The survival rate was higher for adult B cells, whereas apoptosis and cell death were comparable. These results suggest that TI antigens lower the neonatal BCR signaling threshold via down‐regulation of CD22, resulting in hyperresponsive B cells apt to premature apoptosis. On the other hand, up‐regulation of CD22 after TD stimulation may allow increased inhibiting influence of CD22 on neonatal BCR signaling, impairing B cell activation and differentiation.


PURPOSE
To investigate whether there is a relationship between dietary iron intake and body iron store in hospitalised elderly.

METHODS
During a three months period, 163 consecutive patients older than 70 years and irrespective of their medical diagnosis participated in this study. Eight patients were excluded because of a lack of co-operation or a too bad general condition. Total food intake data were collected at admission by using a 7 days food-intake and nutrient-supplement record. The average daily dietary intake of each of the nutrients (total energy intake and potential inhibiting or enhancing factors such as calcium, dietary fibres and vitamin C) were calculated. Serum levels of ferritin, iron, transferrin, haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume were also measured in the 155 study patients.

RESULTS
A depleted iron store, defined as a serum ferritin level < 50 microg/L, was found in 23 patients (15%) of whom 17 were anaemic. The mean daily intake of iron (9.5 mg for the total group, 10 mg and 9.2 mg for men and women, respectively), vitamin C, calcium an dietary fibre was not significantly different between patients with depleted and adequate iron stores. The serum iron, transferrin, MCV, haemoglobin and ferritin levels were comparable between patients with a low (< 9 mg, n = 64) and normal (> or = 9 mg, n = 91) iron intake. We found no correlation between the dietary iron intake and the serum ferritin level (r = 0.06, p = 0.45), even not after exclusion of the patients with a serum ferritin level > 300 microg/L (r = 0.005, p = 0.95).

CONCLUSION
We found no relationship between the dietary iron intake and biochemical indicators of the iron status in an elderly population. If no gastrointestinal or another organ-related cause might be found, iron deficiency can hardly be attributed to an impaired iron intake without a nutritional investigation. Other parameters may also play an important role in its multifactorial pathogenesis.


Stable isotope analysis has increasingly been used to answer ecological questions. However, despite their potential, stable isotopes have rarely been used to assist with managing invasions. Here we discuss some of the principles behind the use of stable isotope analyses. We also review how stable isotopes can aid our understanding of the threats posed by invasive species, and the mechanisms by which some species successfully invade new environments. We then show how information from stable isotopes can be used to evaluate and refine ongoing management actions from an early stage in eradication attempts. We highlight the potential for such approaches to rapidly and simply provide detailed ecological information. We conclude that this technique can be used not only to inform our understanding of the problems caused by invasive species, but also to facilitate conservation and resource management objectives for wildlife populations.


This work studies the success probability of key recovery attacks based on using a single linear approximation. Previous works had analysed success probability under different hypotheses on the distributions of correlations for the right and wrong key choices. This work puts forward a unifying framework of general key randomisation hypotheses. All previously used key randomisation hypotheses as also zero correlation attacks can be seen as special cases of the general framework. Derivations of expressions for the success probability are carried out under both the settings of the plaintexts being sampled with and without replacements. Compared to previous analysis, we uncover several new cases which have not been considered in the literature. For most of the cases which have been considered earlier, we provide complete expressions for the respective success probabilities. Finally, the full picture of the dependence of the success probability on the data complexity is revealed. Compared to the extant literature, our work provides a deeper and more thorough understanding of the success probability of single linear cryptanalysis.


Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) has a poor prognosis with a five-year survival rate of less than 20%. Barrett9s esophagus (BE), often consequent to chronic acid reflux, contributes to a 15-fold increased risk for EA. BE is a multi-stage condition that may progress through metaplasia and increasingly severe dysplasia to EA. The progression from normal squamous epithelium through BE to EA is characterized by genetic and nuclear structure aberrations. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are becoming increasingly popular as anticancer therapeutics. Vorinostat (Zolinza) is a pan-HDAC inhibitor currently approved to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. It is under investigation in at least 81 actively recruiting clinical trials for various other cancer types including gastrointestinal cancers. We investigated the effects of vorinostat treatment on cell lines representative of normal squamous (EPC2), metaplasia (CPA) and adenocarcinoma (Flo1) of the esophageal epithelium. We assessed variations in viability and three-dimensional (3D) nuclear morphology upon drug treatment, comparing the results against vehicle (DMSO) control and untreated cells of all three types. A 12-point, three-fold, serial dilution drug-dose-response (DDR) experiment performed at 24, 48 and 72 hour time points indicated a differential response among the cell types. Flo1 cancer cells were most sensitive to the drug, with an IC50 value at 48 hours of 0.7928 micromolar, versus 7.536 micromolar for CPA and 21.49 micromolar for EPC2. After 24 hours of vorinostat exposure, assessment of apoptotic activity with the Caspase 3/7 Glo assay revealed increased apoptosis in Flo1 but not the other cells. To understand the morphological correlates of vorinostat treatment, we used micro-optical computed tomography to acquire 3D images of 200 individual, hematoxylin-stained, untreated and treated (48 hours at the Flo1 IC50 dose) cells of each cell type with sub-micron, isotropic spatial resolution. We applied computer vision techniques to quantify 3D nuclear morphology and coarse chromatin organization. Treatment with vorinostat normalized the nuclear structure of cancer and metaplastic cells, reverting them to a more nearly-normal phenotype: Flo1 cells showed reduced cell and nuclear volumes and decreased chromatin clumpiness after vorinostat treatment. The same morphological trends were present but less pronounced in CPA cells. EPC2 cells showed minimal changes in response to treatment. These results support further exploration of vorinostat for the treatment of patients with BE and EA. Our data indicate that vorinostat sensitivity increases, with a corresponding increase in apoptosis, as cells progress from normal to esophageal adenocarcinoma. This increased sensitivity to the drug is accompanied by a normalization of nuclear architecture in surviving abnormal cells. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5668. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5668


There is considerable evidence for the role of carboxyl-terminal serines 355, 356, and 364 in G protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK)-mediated phosphorylation and desensitization of β2-adrenergic receptors (β2ARs). In this study we used receptors in which these serines were changed to alanines (SA3) or to aspartic acids (SD3) to determine the role of these sites in β-arrestin-dependent β2AR internalization and desensitization. Coupling efficiencies for epinephrine activation of adenylyl cyclase were similar in wild-type and mutant receptors, demonstrating that the SD3 mutant did not drive constitutive GRK desensitization. Treatment of wild-type and mutant receptors with 0.3 nm isoproterenol for 5 min induced ∼2-fold increases in the EC50 for agonist activation of adenylyl cyclase, consistent with protein kinase A (PKA) site-mediated desensitization. When exposed to 1 μm isoproterenol to trigger GRK site-mediated desensitization, only wild-type receptors showed significant further desensitization. Using a phospho site-specific antibody, we determined that there is no requirement for these GRK sites in PKA-mediated phosphorylation at high agonist concentration. The rates of agonist-induced internalization of the SD3 and SA3 mutants were 44 and 13%, respectively, relative to that of wild-type receptors, but the SD3 mutant recruited enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-β-arrestin 2 to the plasma membrane, whereas the SA3 mutant did not. EGFP-β-Arrestin2 overexpression triggered a significant increase in the extent of SD3 mutant desensitization but had no effect on the desensitization of wild-type receptors or the SA3 mutant. Expression of a phosphorylation-independent β-arrestin 1 mutant (R169E) significantly rescued the internalization defect of the SA3 mutant but inhibited the phosphorylation of serines 355 and 356 in wild-type receptors. Our data demonstrate that (i) the lack of GRK sites does not impair PKA site phosphorylation, (ii) the SD3 mutation inhibits GRK-mediated desensitization although it supports some agonist-induced β-arrestin binding and receptor internalization, and (iii) serines 355, 356, and 364 play a pivotal role in the GRK-mediated desensitization, β-arrestin binding, and internalization of β2ARs.


Abstract In phylogenetically diverse bacteria, the conserved protein RapZ plays a central role in RNA-mediated regulation of amino-sugar metabolism. RapZ contributes to the control of glucosamine phosphate biogenesis by selectively presenting the regulatory small RNA GlmZ to the essential ribonuclease RNase E for inactivation. Here, we report the crystal structures of full length Escherichia coli RapZ at 3.40 Å and 3.25 Å, and its isolated C-terminal domain at 1.17 Å resolution. The structural data confirm that the N-terminal domain of RapZ possesses a kinase fold, whereas the C-terminal domain bears closest homology to a subdomain of 6-phosphofructokinase, an important enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. RapZ self-associates into a domain swapped dimer of dimers, and in vivo data support the importance of quaternary structure in RNA-mediated regulation of target gene expression. Based on biochemical, structural and genetic data, we suggest a mechanism for binding and presentation by RapZ of GlmZ and the closely related decoy sRNA, GlmY. We discuss a scenario for the molecular evolution of RapZ through re-purpose of enzyme components from central metabolism.


Changes in the social, political and economic development of society contribute to the development of sciences. Criminology is not an exception. The genesis and the current state of scientific views on the nature of inter-scientific links of criminology, the essence of its nature, its place in the system of sciences have been considered. The attention has been focused on the fact that these problems are interrelated and remain ones of the most debatable in the general theory of criminology. It has been established that domestic criminology is developing gradually, has logical change of the system, transits from one state to more perfect state. It has been stated that throughout the history of the development of criminology, different views were expressed regarding its nature. At the same time, not only scientific concepts, but also personal views of individual scientists changed repeatedly. Attention is drawn to the fact that, so far, criminologists have not reached an agreed position on these issues. Criminology implies using of the creative approach, situation conditionality, presence of alternatives when choosing certain ways, means, methods or techniques. It has been established that efficiency of investigation of robberies and brigandage depends on correct determination of an investigative situation; proposing and refining of all possible versions; organisation of interaction of an investigator with operational units. Therefore, she is associated with different sciences. Currently, two basic concepts coexist regarding the nature of criminology, according to one of them criminology is recognised as a special science of law, and according to the other – a science of synthetic (integral) nature. It has been concluded that criminology, based on the subject of the study, its nature and objectives, integrates the knowledge of legal, technical and natural sciences. At the same time, criminology is a unified fusion of knowledge, not an aggregate of sciences, since it is not possible to single out purely legal, natural or


Throughout American history, schools and educational leaders have been in the spotlight because ofthe eminent task of preparing the young of our nation for competition within a global economy and themarketplace of ideas. Educational leaders have moved through the stages of management, industrialefficiency, and cultural leadership finally concluding that school management requires more thanefficiency and organization (Brickham, 1996). With the advent of tough-minded management and therealization of the difference between a leader and a manager, combined with an increase in the highschool dropout rate, awareness developed that something was not working in American Schools(Batten, 1989). Changes in the organizational landscape of America gave rise to the idea of theprincipal as the cultural leader (Rollins and Roberts, 1998). This plan also, was doomed to demise. Thebeginning of accountability spurred the popularity of the idea of the principal as the instructional leader.This initiative was the basis for holding someone accountable when the school failed.


This article focuses on methodological issues arising in a study of character development, using illustrations of 'sharing behaviours.' Based primarily in six early years settings in southeast England the research records naturalistic observations of peer interactions for 55 children aged three to six years. Applying grounded theory to the processes of observing, analysing and interpreting evidence required a cautious and collectively reflective approach. The methodology sought to moderate the influence of the researchers' prior knowledge of 'grand theories' of moral development and assumptions about relevance to the observation records. The study's originality lay in the exploration of moral development without reference to any particular grand theory as an explanatory framework; and in the reluctance to be drawn to potentially simplistic rationalisations of the children's intentions on the basis of their observed behaviours. Exploring young children's subjective experiences, this research provides insights into the intricacy of this process, steering away from 'neat' findings and attempting to reflect the sophistication of the children's skilful and sometimes surprising negotiations of moral dilemmas. Implications for practice relate to the complexities involved in attempts to unravel the developing moral characters of young children and the practice through which this may be nurtured.


Delirium was first described in the 1800s as acute, fluctuating confusion. Recent studies note an incidence of 15% in adult intensive care unit patients. Here we present the first prospective study to evaluate the incidence and risk factors for delirium in patients admitted to the trauma surgeon (TS) in non-critical care areas (NCCAs). Patients 18 years or older admitted to any TS in the designated NCCA were evaluated and consented for participation over a 3-month period. Participants were screened with the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) every 12 hr. Those positive for delirium (CAM+) were administered the CAM-Severity. In addition, 69 other previously identified risk factors were evaluated. Over 3 months, 148 patients were evaluated, 12 of whom were CAM+ (8%). Of patients 65 years or older, 21% screened positive for delirium. Age, education level, presence of Foley catheter, respiratory distress, orthopedic operation, and lack of ambulation were risk factors associated with delirium (p < .05). Among all TS patients in the NCCA, we found delirium to be present in 8%. Our nurses identified a 21% incidence of delirium in patients 65 years or older. Given this significant incidence, screening at-risk patients in the NCCA should be considered.


A novel single-stage isolated high power factor correction (HPFC) converter operating in the discontinuous conduction mode is proposed in this paper. It is an integration of a buck-boost converter with a flyback converter by means of components placement and synchronous switching technology. It can achieve HPFC, tight output voltage regulation and lower voltage stress of the bulk capacitor, which is independent of the loads. The small-signal mathematical model for the proposed converter is derived separately by the averaging method and the current injected equivalent circuit approach. The IsSpice simulations and experimental results successfully verify the dynamics and performances of the proposed converter.


We defined diagrams called Web transition diagrams to represent overall behavior of Web applications. Using these diagrams, we can generate server program type Web applications such as CGI-based Web applications, and server page type Web applications such as ASP-based Web applications. The purpose of this paper is to design Web transition diagrams to represent wider class of Web applications based on JavaServer Pages (JSP)/Servlet architecture. Then we present an automatic generation method of JSP/Servlet Web applications from these diagrams. We implement a software system called T-Web system which enables Web application designers to visually compose Web transition diagrams and generate Web applications from these diagrams without any manual programming. T-Web system can generate both HTML-based Web pages and XMLbased Web pages for Web applications. Generated Web applications support standard level of security against attacks, the use of HTTP cookies, user authentication, and session management.


Fluorescent dyes butyl rhodamine B were assembled via a DL-cystenine intermediate onto quartz wafers whose surface had first adsorbed gold nanoparticles. Hence self-assembled sandwich bilayers with nanocomposite structure were constructed which can be used as a biosensor for bovine serum albumin. The biosensor-based self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are regenerable and have high sensitivity, five orders of magnitude higher than that of bulk solution phase sensing. The effects of existing forms of dyes on the fluorescence spectra of bilayers in the presence of bovine serum albumin were investigated.


Nowadays, automatic defect detection in Breast images which obtains from mommogram is very important in many diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This paper introduces a Novel automatic breast abnormality detection method that uses mammogram images to determine any abnormality in breast tissues. Here, has been tried to give clear description from breast tissues using Gabor wavelets, Geometric Moment Invariants(GMIs), energy, entropy, contrast and some other statistic features such as mean, median, variance, correlation, values of maximum and minimum intensity. It is used from a feature selection method to reduce the feature space too. This method uses from neural network to do this classification. The purpose of this project is to classify the breast tissues to normal and abnormal classes automatically, that saves the radiologist time, increases accuracy and yield of diagnosis.


Although the active and passive strength of the human body has been of interest for many medical and ergonomic problems, it was the emergence of aerospace medicine which required the fundamental and practical studies that provide today's body of data in this field. After the early pioneering years of the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's, the last 25 years brought a maturing of the field of biodynamics, its methods, tools, and theoretical foundations. This overview discusses some of these advances, their contributions to aerospace safety, as well as their applications to the broader areas of traffic safety, orthopedic biodynamics, medicine and ergonomics. To meet future aviation as well as societal challenges, steady efforts by a few centers of excellence are required to integrate operational, experimental, and theoretical advances into sophisticated prediction capabilities.


This paper proposes a novel approach for multi-view multi-pose object detection using discriminative shapebased exemplars. The key idea underlying this method is motivated by numerous previous observations that manually clustering multi-view multi-pose training data into different categories and then combining the separately trained two-class classifiers greatly improved the detection performance. A novel computational framework is proposed to unify different processes of categorization, training individual classifier for each intra-class category, and training a strong classifier combining the individual classifiers. The individual processes employ a single objective function that is optimized using two nested AdaBoost loops. The outer AdaBoost loop is used to select discriminative exemplars and the inner AdaBoost is used to select discriminative features on the selected exemplars. The proposed approach replaces the manual time-consuming process of exemplar selection as well as addresses the problem of labeling ambiguity inherent in this process. Also, our approach fully complies with the standard AdaBoost-based object detection framework in terms of real-time implementation. Experiments on multi-view multi-pose people and vehicle data demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.


This paper deals with the evaluation of the uncertainties involved in the measurement of conducted emissions from adjustable speed drives. Besides the measurement uncertainty due to all the components of the measurement chain, the uncertainties arising from nonrepeatability and from both the configuration setup and the operating conditions were investigated. Following the test arrangements suggested by the electromagnetic compatibility standards, a detailed analysis and quantification of the effects of the reciprocal position of the power and of the motor cables, of the motor cable lengths, and of the pulse width modulation switching frequency used in the test were carried out.


We describe here an energy based computer software suite for narrowing down the search space of tertiary structures of small globular proteins. The protocol comprises eight different computational modules that form an automated pipeline. It combines physics based potentials with biophysical filters to arrive at 10 plausible candidate structures starting from sequence and secondary structure information. The methodology has been validated here on 50 small globular proteins consisting of 2–3 helices and strands with known tertiary structures. For each of these proteins, a structure within 3–6 Å RMSD (root mean square deviation) of the native has been obtained in the 10 lowest energy structures. The protocol has been web enabled and is accessible at .


Previous studies have reported gender differences in emoji use and attitudes toward emoji. Here we ask whether, and if so, to what extent, females and males also interpret emoji use differently. We conducted an online survey to assess how different genders interpret the pragmatic functions of emoji in their local discourse contexts, based on [HD17's] taxonomy of functions. Responses (N=523; 352 females, 121 males, 50 'other') showed few overall differences in how females and males interpreted emoji functions, but the 'other' gender differed from the females and males. Based on responses to demographic and social media use questions, these differences appear related to platform norms (e.g., Facebook vs. Tumblr). We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for automating emoji interpretation.


Brucellosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease that has important veterinary and public health consequences as well as economic impact in sub Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in four selected districts of Borena Pastoral setting in Southern Ethiopia from October 2017 to February 2018 to estimate the prevalence of brucellosis and assess associated risk factors in cattle, sheep, goats and occupationally associated humans. A total of 750 cattle, 882 sheep and goats and 341 human subjects were screened for evidence of brucellosis using the Rose Bengal Test (RBT) with positive results confirmed by Competitive-ELISA(c-ELISA). Structured questionnaires were used for collection of metadata from individual animals, herders and animal attendants to test the association between explanatory and outcome variables. The overall animal level prevalence was 2.4% (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.4–3.7) in cattle, 3.2% (95% CI: 2.1–4.6) in sheep and goats, and 2.6% (95% CI: 1.2–5) in humans occupationally linked to livestock production systems. Herd size, parity, and history of abortion were risk factors associated with Brucella seropositivity (P<0.05) in cattle whereas in sheep and goats the results showed that district, age group, flock size, and history of abortion were significantly associated risk factors with Brucella seropositivity (P<0.05). Assisting calving and presence of seropositive animals in a household (P<0.05) were significantly associated with Brucella seropositivity in humans. Evidence of brucellosis in various animal species and the associated human population illustrates the need for a coordinated One Health approach to controlling brucellosis so as to improve public health and livestock productivity.


Tropical cyclone easily causes inundation damage to low-lying coastal area and the damage may be amplified due to tide motion, sea-level rise, riverine discharges. Specifically, typhoons are accompanied by intensive rainfall, which will of course raise the river water level and thus enhance the flooding damages. If the tidal cycle coincides the high water, flooding will be even aggravated. In the present study, we simulated storm surge motions at the coastal area considering combined effects of tidal and river discharge with aim to improve the accuracy of flooding prediction. The quasi 3-dimension ocean circulation model, Delf3D was used which solves the unsteady shallow water equation in the 2D and 3D. Since Delft3D is much applicable to accommodate the indirect flooding factors such as riverine discharge and short waves, outer-coupled modeling system was established to account for combined tide-surge-riverine discharge effects. In such integrated system, 11 tidal constituents were input as open boundary condition using TPXO 7.2 model, while the water level per unit time was preliminary calculated by HEC-HMS model and input as the upstream boundary conditions for river inside the domain. Typhoon MAEMI which attacked Masan city located at southern coast of South Korea and caused severe inundation damages in 2003 was selected for the study event. Basic information for typhoon such as path, wind speed, atmospheric pressure every 3 hours was provided by the Korea Meteorological Agency and was adopted. The simulation was implemented with tide and storm surge boundary conditions focusing on the target area, Masan, while the additional consideration on the discharge of the river inside the domain was also made. Simulated water level at the fixed location was compared to the observation for its verification and the extent of inundation areas of Masan were compared between observed and calculated. The marginal contribution of riverine discharge on the flooding area(or depth) was assessed by comparing tide-surge with tide-surge-riverine discharge simulations. Finally, the importance of the specific consideration on the riverine discharge during storm surge modeling can be addressed.


Familial melanoma (FM) is a dominantly heritable cancer that is associated with mutations in the tumor suppressor CDKN2A/p16. In FM, a single inherited "hit" occurs in every somatic cell, enabling interrogation of cultured normal skin fibroblasts (SFs) from FM gene carriers as surrogates for the cell of tumor origin, namely the melanocyte. We compared the gene expression profile of SFs from FM individuals with two distinct CDKN2A/p16 mutations (V126D-p16 and R87P-p16) with the gene expression profile of SFs from age-matched individuals without p16 mutations and with no family history of melanoma. We show an altered transcriptome signature in normal SFs bearing a single-hit inherited mutation in the CDKN2A/p16 gene, wherein some of these abnormal alterations recapitulate changes observed in the corresponding cancer. Significantly, the extent of the alterations is mutation-site specific with the R87P-p16 mutation being more disruptive than the V126D-p16 mutation. We also examined changes in gene expression after exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation to define potential early biomarkers triggered by sun exposure. UV treatment of SFs from FM families induces distinct alterations in genes related to cell cycle regulation and DNA damage responses that are also reported to be dysregulated in melanoma. Importantly, these changes were diametrically opposed to UV-induced changes in SF from normal controls. We posit that changes identified in the transcriptome of SF from FM mutation carriers represent early events critical for melanoma development. As such, they may serve as specific biomarkers of increased risk as well as molecular targets for personalized prevention strategies in high-risk populations.


Radiotherapy is in the era of image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) in which imaging procedures are routinely performed for patient positioning, and target localization. The additional imaging dose delivered may increase risk to the patient and therefore needs to be managed. This lecture provides an overview of the AAPM TG-180 which is charged with: providing an overview on imaging dose including megavoltage electronic portal imaging (MV EPI), kilovoltage digital radiography (kV DR), Tomotherapy MV-CT, megavoltage cone-beam CT (MV-CBCT) and kilovoltage cone-beam CT (kV-CBCT) as well as providing general guidelines for commissioning and managing imaging dose calculations. The dose to radiotherapy (RT) patients resulting from different image guidance procedures is reviewed and recommendations for managing the imaging dose are provided. Different techniques for reducing the image guidance dose are summarized. A recommended threshold beyond which imaging dose should be considered in the treatment planning process is discussed. This lecture also discusses kilovoltage imaging dose determination by calculation and estimation, and inclusion in treatment planning as well as accounting for MV imaging dose and the future of MV imaging.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Learn the different image guidance modalities, typical organ doses resulting from different image procedures, and techniques to reduce the imaging dose; 2. Understand the imaging dose threshold and rationale for accounting for the imaging dose; 3. Learn how to account for kV imaging dose 4. Learn how to account for MV imaging dose and understand the future of MV imaging.


The aims of this study were to shed light on the role of G-protein-coupled membrane oestrogen receptor (GPER) and oestrogen-related receptor (ERR) in mouse testis function at the gene expression level, as well as the involvement of GPER and ERR in cellular and molecular processes. Male mice were injected (50µg kg-1,s.c.) with the GPER antagonist G-15, the ERRα inverse agonist XCT790 or the ERRβ/ERRγ agonist DY131. Next-generation sequencing (RNA-Seq) was used to evaluate gene expression. Bioinformatic analysis of read abundance revealed that 50, 86 and 171 transcripts were differentially expressed in the G-15-, XCT790- and DY131-treated groups respectively compared with the control group. Annotated genes and their protein products were categorised regarding their associated biological processes and molecular functions. In the XCT790-treated group, genes involved in immunological processes were upregulated. In the DY131-treated group, genes with increased expression were primarily engaged in protein modification (protein folding and small protein conjugation). In addition, the expression of genes recognised as oncogenes, such as BMI1 proto-oncogene, polycomb ring finger (Bmi1) and nucleophosphin 1 (Npm1), was significantly increased in all experimental groups. This study provides detailed information regarding the genetic changes in the testicular transcriptome of the mouse in response to modulation of non-canonical oestrogen receptor activity.


The bulk conductivity at room temperature of Ca-doped BiFeO3 ceramics is p-type and increases reversibly by up to 3 orders of magnitude under the influence of a small dc bias voltage in the range ∼3 to 20 V mm(-1). The effect occurs in both grain and grain boundary regions, is isotropic and does not involve creation of filamentary conduction pathways. It is proposed that, by means of capacitive charging and internal ionisation processes under the action of a dc bias, hole creation leads to a more conductive excited state. This gradually returns to the ground state when the dc bias is removed and the holes recombine with electrons trapped at the sample surface. The holes are believed to be created on oxygen, as O(-) ions.


The automatic control of the spacing of Fabry-Perot interferometers to transmit at a given wavelength is discussed, and an interferometer is described in which the plates are maintained parallel to within the accuracy of the plates themselves and at a preset spacing. The variation in mean spacing over test periods of several hours has not exceeded +/- 0.7 nm despite temperature fluctuations and other uncontrolled environmental conditions.


Symptoms of 60 operated patients having acute subdural hematoma have been clinically reposited with the help of computed tomography. Not only the influence of hemorrhage bleeding on the patients' state but also the degree of suffering of not injured parenchyma was examined. At worst the volume brain hypertrophy with white substance hardness hypertrophy was found during first 24 hours after trauma.


Magnetorheological (MR) fluids are materials that respond to an applied magnetic field with the change of their yield and rheological behaviors. In this paper, the yield and rheological behaviors of MR fluids are discussed. Based on the microstructure of magnetic chain a theoretical model is developed to analyze the effect of an applied magnetic field on the yield stress of MR fluids. Bingham model is used to describe the rheological behaviors of MR fluids subject to an applied magnetic field. The results show that altering the strength of an applied field can control the yield stress of MR fluids. The shear stress increases as the strength of an applied magnetic field increases, and it hardly changes with the increase of shear strain rate. MR fluids exhibit Bingham plastic model.


Period divorce measures can misrepresent the underlying behavior of birth cohorts as changes in cohort timing produce changes in period probabilities of divorce. Building on methods used to adjust period fertility and marriage measures, we adjust U.S. period divorce rates for timing effects, calculating a timing index for every year between 1910 and 2000. The adjusted probability of divorce, PMED*, increases nearly linearly from 1910 through 1990, remaining at about that level through 2000. Period measures greatly exaggerate divorce risks from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, but understate them at other times. Adjusted values for recent years do not suggest a decline in the likelihood of divorce, with year 2000 values indicating a divorce probability of 0.43 - 0.46.


A recent criticism that the biological species concept (BSC) unduly neglects phylogeny is examined under a novel modification of coalescent theory that considers multiple, sex-defined genealogical pathways through sexual organismal pedigrees. A competing phylogenetic species concept (PSC) also is evaluated from this vantage. Two analytical approaches are employed to capture the composite phylogenetic information contained within the braided assemblages of hereditary pathways of a pedigree: (i) consensus phylogenetic trees across allelic transmission routes and (ii) composite phenograms from quantitative values of organismal coancestry. Outcomes from both approaches demonstrate that the supposed sharp distinction between biological and phylogenetic species concepts is illusory. Historical descent and reproductive ties are related aspects of phylogeny and jointly illuminate biotic discontinuity.


Abstract: Intensification and expansion of agriculture is one of the most pressing concerns for biodiversity conservation. Amphibian and reptile communities can be particularly sensitive to land-use change; therefore, understanding how land use and agricultural practices influence these communities in areas under increasing agricultural pressure is prudent. Over 10 yr, we sampled amphibian and reptile communities in and around 18 man-made ponds set within an agricultural/forest matrix on a military installation in western Tennessee. Ponds had either cattle access or were cattle restricted and had different surrounding land uses (forest, pasture, row crops, and industrial development). We used Akaike information criterion, corrected (AICc), model selection and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) to assess how land-cover and pond characteristics influence amphibian and reptile richness, diversity, and community structure. Our results indicate that, despite reduced water quality, amphibian diversity was higher in ponds with cattle access, though this is likely influenced by surrounding forest, pasture, and row-crop cover. Pond permanence was important in shaping amphibian community structure and is a key factor in determining amphibian richness. We did not find any link between land cover and cattle access on reptile richness or diversity, though reptile community structure was influenced by cattle access, pasture, and row-crop cover.


CADTH recommends that Perseris should be reimbursed by public drug plans for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults if certain conditions are met.
Perseris should be covered by public drug plans in a similar manner to other long-acting injectable atypical antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia.
Perseris should only be reimbursed if the total monthly dose is not more than 120 mg and is not used in combination with other long-acting injectable antipsychotic drugs. Perseris should not cost more than other long-acting injectable (LAI) atypical antipsychotic drugs.


: This survey research investigated the perception of primary school teachers on the efficacy of MTB-MLE in SLU-LES, Baguio City. SLU-LES has a total of 21 primary school teachers who served as the respondents of this study in an attempt to answer three major questions regarding the efficacy of MTB-MLE among primary school teachers. A questionnaire was used in collecting the data which were analyzed using weighted mean and ANOVA. The questionnaire was validated by a statistician and it was administered to a school which does not differ from the intended respondents for further validation of the items. Findings revealed from the intended respondents that they perceive MTB-MLE as effective; however, they do not prefer the use of Mother Tongue as medium of instruction. A research of the same topic was conducted in Ibadan, Nigeria by Dr. David O. Fakeye and although his respondents were students; the results came out that the respondents do perceive MTB-MLE to be efficacious. The results of this study also showed that years of teaching experience and number of languages spoken by the teachers have no bearing on the preference of the respondents between MT medium and English medium given that the respondents are in a melting pot community. Comparative studies between rural schools and urban schools are encouraged. Future researches should include questions that elicit reasons of the respondents on the efficacy of mother tongue as well as their preference between mother tongue medium and English.


A memory system usually consumes a significant amount of energy in many battery-operated devices. In this paper, we provide a quantitative comparison and evaluation of the interaction of two hardware cache optimization mechanisms (block buffering and sub-banking) and three widely used compiler optimization techniques (linear loop transformation, loop tiling, and loop unrolling). Our results show that the pure hardware optimizations (eight block buffers and four sub-banks in a 4K, 2-way cache) provided up to 4% energy saving, with an average saving of 2% across all benchmarks. In contrast, the pure software optimization approach that uses all three compiler optimizations, provided at least 23% energy saving, with an average of 62%. However, a closer observation reveals that hardware optimization becomes more critical for on-chip cache energy reduction when executing optimized codes.


As time goes on, computers become more and more powerful. However, as processing time becomes less of a limiting factor for computing tasks, power consumption takes its place for many tasks. This paper proposes and tests a new method for sorting analog signals. This new sorting method converts analog signals into Pulse Width Modulated(PWM) signals of varying duty cycle , which are then sorted by a simple network of combinational logic, and then converted to a normal binary representation. In order to implement this new method, multiple circuits had to be designed and and tested to ensure their functionality and power efficiency. Three circuits total were designed to convert analog voltages into variable duty cycle PWM signals, to sort the PWM signals, and to convert the PWM signals into a binary representation. Simulations of these circuits were tested in LTspice and Vivado to confirm their functionality and determine their power consumption. The simulation data was compared with power dissipation data for a standard Analog to Digital conversion and comparison-based sorting algorithm. The new method proposed in this paper provides an improvement in energy efficiency over the latter method, and can be used as a more efficient method of converting and sorting data received from analog sensors.


ABSTRACT The promoter most strongly induced upon activation of the Cpx two-component envelope stress response is the cpxP promoter. The 3′ untranscribed region (UTR) of the cpxP transcript is shown to produce a small RNA (sRNA), CpxQ. We investigated the role of CpxQ in combating envelope stress. Remarkably, the two effectors specified by the transcript are deployed to combat distinct stresses in different cellular compartments. CpxP acts in both a regulatory negative-feedback loop and as an effector that combats periplasmic protein misfolding. We find that CpxQ combats toxicity at the inner membrane (IM) by downregulating the synthesis of the periplasmic chaperone Skp. Our data indicate that this regulation prevents Skp from inserting β-barrel outer membrane proteins (OMPs) into the IM, a lethal event that likely collapses the proton motive force. Our findings suggest that Skp can fold and directly insert OMPs into a lipid bilayer in vivo without the aid of the Bam complex. IMPORTANCE Skp is a well-characterized periplasmic chaperone that binds unfolded OMPs. Surprisingly, we find that Skp can catalyze the folding and mistargeting of OMPs into the inner membrane without the aid of the other cellular proteins that normally assemble OMPs. Several OMPs function as diffusion pores. Accordingly, their mistargeting is lethal because it depolarizes the inner membrane. We show that the most highly expressed transcript of the Cpx stress response produces an sRNA from the 3′ UTR, CpxQ, which combats this potential toxicity by downregulating Skp production. Defects in OMP assembly trigger the σE response to upregulate factors, including Skp, that promote OMP folding. The Cpx response downregulates σE. Our findings reveal that this heretofore puzzling hierarchy exists to protect the inner membrane. Skp is a well-characterized periplasmic chaperone that binds unfolded OMPs. Surprisingly, we find that Skp can catalyze the folding and mistargeting of OMPs into the inner membrane without the aid of the other cellular proteins that normally assemble OMPs. Several OMPs function as diffusion pores. Accordingly, their mistargeting is lethal because it depolarizes the inner membrane. We show that the most highly expressed transcript of the Cpx stress response produces an sRNA from the 3′ UTR, CpxQ, which combats this potential toxicity by downregulating Skp production. Defects in OMP assembly trigger the σE response to upregulate factors, including Skp, that promote OMP folding. The Cpx response downregulates σE. Our findings reveal that this heretofore puzzling hierarchy exists to protect the inner membrane.


Abstract: Centipedes extend to the Silurian yet have a relatively poor fossil record. Many species of extant centipedes are semi-fossorial to fossorial and contribute to soil processes, suggesting that their trace fossils should be common in paleosols. The goal of this project was to document the types of biogenic structures produced by two species of large, semi-fossorial centipedes, Hemiscolopendra marginata and Scolopendra polymorpha, to aid in the recognition of fossil centipede burrows. Ten specimens of each species were placed in large, sediment-filled terrariums and observed over periods of 14 days. The centipedes burrowed via intrusion, compression, and excavation, moving throughout the enclosure both near the surface and deep within the sediment. Open burrows produced by the centipedes were cast with plaster and the ichnofabric produced was observed through the enclosure walls. The centipedes primarily produced J-, U-, and Y-shaped burrows as well as complexes of linked burrows. The burrows were elliptical in cross section and possessed thin, intermittent, compressional linings. The centipede burrows were compared to burrows of other extant soil arthropods including millipedes, spiders, and scorpions as well as Pennsylvanian to Permian ichnofossils. The centipede burrows were distinct from those of other soil arthropods and many aspects of the ichnofossils were similar to those produced by the centipedes. Description of burrows produced by centipedes can aid in the interpretation of continental ichnofossils and improve our understanding of the composition of ancient soil ecosystems. This knowledge is especially important given the poor preservation potential of centipedes in the environments they inhabit.


In this study, a single‐stage and three‐stage Dickson rectifier circuits that would be able to perform RF energy harvesting were proposed. Operating frequency was selected as 1 GHz. The highest efficiency value was obtained at 7 dBm input power. The load resistance values for the input power were parametrically analyzed and the power conversion efficiency and output voltage were calculated. In the cases where the best performance was obtained, while a maximum power conversion efficiency of 70.5% was obtained in the single‐stage Dickson circuit, maximum 77% efficiency was obtained in the three‐stage circuit. In addition, in the cases where the highest efficiency was observed, the load resistance values were calculated as 5590 and 14 610 Ω at the single stage and three stages, respectively. The load resistance value used to obtain higher efficiency values in the three‐stage circuit is increasing. Moreover, it was observed that as the number of stages increased, the output voltage also increased linearly. The maximum output voltage which was 1.8 V in the single‐stage was measured as ~5.16 V in three‐stages.


Abstract Field experiments conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during 1972–73 and 1973–74 showed that post-emergence application of oxadiazon at 1 kg a.i./ha in transplanted onion gave remarkable weed control and maximum crop yield. Other treatments which performed well include pre-planting alachlor at 2.5 kg a.i./ha plus post-emergence propanil at 1.8 kg a.i./ha and also pre-planting nitrofen at 1.25 kg a.i./ha plus post-emergence nitrofen at 1.25 kg a.i./ha. Herbicides did not significantly influence the bulb quality, soil microflora or the emergence and yield of following crops of okra, bitter gourd and radish.


Ex vivo culture has been proposed as a means to augment and repair autologous cells in patients with chronic diseases, but the mechanisms governing improvement in cell function are not well understood. Although microRNAs (miRs) are increasingly appreciated as key regulators of cellular function, a role for these factors in CD34+ cell‐mediated angiogenesis has not been elucidated. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was previously shown to induce expression of certain miRs associated with angiogenesis in endothelial cells and promote survival and number of vascular colony forming units of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We sought to evaluate the role of VEGF in expansion and angiogenic function of CD34+ cells and to identify specific miRs associated with angiogenic properties of expanded cells. Umbilical cord blood CD34+ cells were effectively expanded (18‐ to 22‐fold) in culture medium containing stem cell factor (SCF), Flt‐3 ligand (Flt‐3), thrombopoietin (TPO) and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) with (postEX/+VEGF) and without VEGF (postEX/noVEGF). Tube formation in matrigel assay and tissue perfusion/capillary density in mice ischaemic hindlimb were significantly improved by postEX/+VEGF cells compared with fresh CD34+ and postEX/noVEGF cells. MiR‐210 expression was significantly up‐regulated in postEX/+VEGF cells. MiR‐210 inhibitor abrogated and 210 mimic recapitulated the pro‐angiogenic effects by treatment of postEX/+VEGF and postEX/noVEGF cells respectively. Collectively, these observations highlight a critical role for VEGF in enhancing the angiogenic property of expanded cells, and identify miR‐210 as a potential therapeutic target to enhance CD34+ stem cell function for the treatment of ischaemic vascular disease.


In an open study with 16 angina pectoris patients with concomitant chronic obstructive bronchitis, the effect of single oral doses of the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist bisoprolol (5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40 mg) on blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), airway resistance (AWR), and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was investigated. In the dose range between 5 and 20 mg, no increase in AWR and no decrease in FEV1 was observed. Thirty and 40 mg of bisoprolol produced an increase in AWR and a decrease in FEV1. A reduction in BP and HR was observed even after the lowest bisoprolol dose.


This paper presents a method of realizing flexible assembly work cooperation where the assembler is free to carry out the work, without constraints in the process. To realize such systems, there exists an issue of identifying work states during the assembly and to determine when and what kind of support is necessary. As an approach to solve such issues we took a self-organizing approach in constructing a work model, as an abstract model describing typical work states during the assembly. The necessity of support is judged by detecting uncommon work states occurring, and the type of support is determined by detecting the work state. Examples of work state identifications by the self-organized map are shown. We carried out experiments to evaluate the judgment of situational necessity of support and to verify the correct identification rate of typical work states. Finally a robotic support system was constructed that gives supports of autonomously holding and handing out assembly pieces by the judging of situational necessity of support.


Future mobile networks providing multitude of services with large range of QoS requirements has made the importance of Radio Resource Management (RRM) ever more significant. Traditional scheduling schemes have approached resource allocation mainly from a cell point of view to large extent ignoring effects of multi-cell architecture. Recently, Load Matrix (LM) concept has been proposed which facilitates joint management of interference within and between cells for allocation of radio resources. In this paper, we assess the Load Matrix scheduling performance when combined with traditional schedulers. In addition, a new LM algorithm for efficient RRM, called Global Proportional Fair (GPF) is proposed. The results show that GPF algorithm with an appropriate window size outperforms traditional scheduling schemes in terms of both throughput and fairness. It combines the throughput advantage of Max C/I and the fairness advantage of Proportional Fair scheduler.


The ability to learn new tasks and generalize performance to others is one of the most remarkable characteristics of the human brain and of recent AI systems. The ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously is also a signature characteristic of large-scale parallel architectures, that is evident in the human brain, and has been exploited effectively more traditional, massively parallel computational architectures. Here, we show that these two characteristics are in tension, reflecting a fundamental tradeoff between interactive parallelism that supports learning and generalization, and independent parallelism that supports processing efficiency through concurrent multitasking. We formally show that, while the maximum number of tasks that can be performed simultaneously grows linearly with network size, under realistic scenarios (e.g. in an unpredictable environment), the expected number that can be performed concurrently grows radically sub-linearly with network size. Hence, even modest reliance on shared representation strictly constrains the number of tasks that can be performed simultaneously, implying profound consequences for the development of artificial intelligence that optimally manages the tradeoff between learning and processing, and for understanding the human brains remarkably puzzling mix of sequential and parallel capabilities.


A primordial cosmic microwave background B mode is widely considered a 'smoking gun' signature of an early period of inflationary expansion. However, competing theories of the origin of structure, including string gases (SG) and bouncing cosmologies, also produce primordial tensor perturbations that give rise to a B mode. These models can be differentiated by the scale dependence of their tensor spectra: inflation predicts a red tilt (nT 0), while a non-singular matter bounce gives a zero tilt (nT = 0). We perform a Bayesian analysis to determine how far |nT| must deviate from zero before a tilt can be detected with current and future B-mode experiments. We find that Planck in conjunction with Q/U Imaging Experiment II will decisively detect nT � 0i f |nT| > 0.3, too large to distinguish either single-field inflation or SG from the case nT = 0. While a future mission like CMBPol will offer improvement, only an ideal satellite mission will be capable of providing sufficient Bayesian evidence to distinguish between each model considered.


Recently, various policies have been implemented in Saudi Arabia to reform science teaching at K-12 levels in order to focus on critical thinking, inquiry-based learning, and problem solving. Research is needed to explore the adequacy of teacher preparation programs to determine whether these programs sufficiently prepare Saudi science teachers to teach according to these new reforms. This study explores the challenges that Saudi pre-service science teachers face in these higher education programs. Results indicated that graduates of the programs studied were satisfied with their experiences; however, various concerns were expressed by some pre-service teachers regarding the theory-practice gap between their university coursework and field experiences, and the supervision structures and functions in place for the professional experiences component. Modifications to the teacher preparation programs are suggested in order to address these concerns and to successfully enact reforms in science education in Saudi Arabia.


We address an unbiased finite impulse response (FIR) filter for discrete-time state-space models with polynomial representation of the states. The unique l-degree polynomial FIR filter gain and the estimate variance are found for a general case. The noise power gain (NG) is derived for white Gaussian noises in the model and in the measurement. The filter does not involve any knowledge about noise in the algorithm. It is unstable at short horizons, 2 les N les l, and inefficient (NG exceeds unity) in the narrow range l < N les Nb, where Nb is ascertained by the cross-components in the measurement matrix C. With N GtNb, the filter NG poorly depends on C and fits the asymptotic function (l +1)2/N . With very large N Gt>1, the estimate noise becomes negligible and the filter thus optimal in the sense of zero bias and zero noise. Having such properties, the proposed unbiased FIR filter fits well slowly changing with time models. An example is given for a two-state system.


Multiple distinct cell types of the human lung and airways have been defined by single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq). Here we present a multi-omics spatial lung atlas to define novel cell types which we map back into the macro- and micro-anatomical tissue context to define functional tissue microenvironments. Firstly, we have generated single cell and nuclei RNA sequencing, VDJ-sequencing and Visium Spatial Transcriptomics data sets from 5 different locations of the human lung and airways. Secondly, we define additional cell types/states, as well as spatially map novel and known human airway cell types, such as adult lung chondrocytes, submucosal gland (SMG) duct cells, distinct pericyte and smooth muscle subtypes, immune-recruiting fibroblasts, peribronchial and perichondrial fibroblasts, peripheral nerve associated fibroblasts and Schwann cells. Finally, we define a survival niche for IgA-secreting plasma cells at the SMG, comprising the newly defined epithelial SMG-Duct cells, and B and T lineage immune cells. Using our transcriptomic data for cell-cell interaction analysis, we propose a signalling circuit that establishes and supports this niche. Overall, we provide a transcriptional and spatial lung atlas with multiple novel cell types that allows for the study of specific tissue microenvironments such as the newly defined gland-associated lymphoid niche (GALN).


The increase in refugee numbers is an important concern globally. Since the mid-twentieth century, many countries in different regions have been accommodating refugees by providing shelters. Recently, this response has been evident particularly in Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan, where these countries have faced political and economic obstacles whilst accommodating such large increases in refugees caused by the unstable political situation in the region. Despite the abundance of examples of temporary shelters that various countries offer, previous studies have not shown adequate solutions for social and cultural diversity, as well as building and dismantling an appropriate shelter that is suitable for several environment conditions and particularly in hot-dry climates. There is an absence of studies that discuss refugees' settlements as a global interest. Furthermore, there are very few examples in the literature that discuss shelters suited to hot-dry conditions, whether provided by government or other international institutions. Existing shelters that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other institutions and donors provide do not satisfy refugees' needs; specifically, suitable design factors and urban organization aspects. The main aim of this study is to develop the specifications for refugee shelters that meet user requirements in hot-dry climates. The design science method provides a theoretical framework to develop a specification that incorporates the design, structural aspects, layout, and to address the particular social and cultural challenges that are presented in refugee camps in hot-dry climates. The research develops specifications, in terms of shelter performance, and contemplates environment challenges and local context conditions besides adding value through a specifications list which incorporates differences of social and cultural aspects, which are not currently provided in humanitarian organizations' specifications and guidelines. The result of the specification list gives an opportunity to illustrate infinite alternatives of shelter design which consider not only the users' needs, but also the local context conditions of being located in the hot-dry climate of Jordan. These designs may also be applicable in other environments with similar climatic conditions. In so doing, the findings presented in the research help form a provisional view of peoples' needs that can be acted on by humanitarian organizations, which could lead to better standardized shelter solutions.


The Mars Observer Camera (MOC) is one of several instruments aboard the Mars Observer Spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch in September 1992, and begin monitoring the Martian surface (from Martian orbit) in December 1993. The MOC is the only instrument, however, that will record visual images of the surfe of Mars. The MOC comprises three separate optical systems: the Narrow-Angle system, for relaying high-resolution images of the Martian surface to Earth; the Red Wide-Angle system, for relaying limb-to-limb images in the 575 to 625 nanometer spectral range; and the Blue Wide-Angle system, for relaying limb-to-limb images in the 400 to 450 nanometer spectral range. The Mars Observer Project is conducted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), while the MOC experiment is conducted by the Arizona State University (ASU). Responsibility for the MOC instrument design, fabrication, integration, and test lies with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Perkin-Elmerts Applied Optics Operations (now OCA Applied Optics) and Composite Optics' involvement in the MOC program began in Iate-1986 when Caltech awarded this team a contact to fabricate the MOC Engineering Model and, later, two Right Models (one being a spare) based on the novel approach of utilizing graphite/epoxy composites for a majority of the MOC structure to achieve minimum weight. Since a majority of the structure is made of graphite/epoxy, including the sensitive metering structure between the pnmary and secondary mirrors of the Narrow-Angle system, charterizing the MOC structure became mandatory. Major concerns during the design of the MOC were not only structural integrity (designing the MOC such that its lightweight strucwre would withstand the shock and vibration of launch) and thermal stability (maintaining focus during the extreme thermal environment in Martian orbit), but also hygroscopic issues (paphite/epoxy absorbs atmospheric moisture and expands, causing defocus). This paper also briefly addresses the methods employed to reduce stray light from the walls of the graphite/epoxy structure.


Despite a preeminent role of epidermal Langerhans cells (LC) in inducing primary immunity, application of gene-based modification to LC function is limited by lack of well-defined transcription regulatory units that can direct LC-specific gene expression. Previously we reported that the promoter activity of a 5'-flanking region of the dectin-2 gene (Dec2FR) is highly targeted to epidermal LC of transgenic mice bearing a Dec2FR-driven Luc gene. Using the mice, in which transcription activity of Dec2FR is measured by Luc assays, presently we characterized regulation of Dec2FR activity in leukocyte subpopulations under resting and activation status. Luc activity was highly variable in LC isolated from different skin areas and detected in other DC subset (dermal DC) but the levels were much lower than in resting LC. Activation of leukocytes markedly up-regulated Luc activity in all four subpopulations (CD11c+ splenic DC, Mac-1high peritoneal macrophages, splenic B220+ B cells, and CD3+ T cells). However, these levels remained lower than those in the resting and activated LC. These findings indicate that dectin-2 promoter activity remains targeted to epidermal LC even after activation of leukocytes, suggesting a high potential of Dec2FR to engineer LC-targeted gene expression to heighten efficacy of genetic vaccination and to manipulate phenotypes of preexisting immunity (Th1 vs. Th2).


The purpose of this article is to concretize the main strategic goals formulated by the President of the Russian Federation in order to accelerate the country's economic development in terms of creating new production capacities in priority areas of economic and social development — national projects, as well as to substantiate a methodological approach to calculating the required volume of their resource provision. In addition to literary sources and official statistical reporting, normative and legal documents (strategies and government programs) in the field of strategic planning of the activities of the domestic defense industry branches were also used as an information base for the paper. The article addresses the following issues: 1) ranking according to the level of capital investments efficiency in various sectors of the Russian economy is made; 2) methodological approach to forming a forecast assessment of the required volumes of capital investments and labor resources to ensure the established rates of the country's economic development is proposed; 3) mechanism for identifying the volume of production depending on the capital investments amount is developed.


In the history of humankind, no matter how far back we look into the past, peaceful relations between people and nations have always been the ideal, and yet this history abounds in wars and bloodshed. The documentary evidence, oral tradition and the mute testimony of archaeological sites tell an incontrovertible tale of man's cruelty and violence against his fellow man. Nevertheless, manifestations of compassion, mercy and mutual aid have a no less ancient record. Peace and war, goodneighbourly attitudes and aggression, brutality and humanity exist side by side in the contemporary world as well.


The European Commission funded Tropical Ecosystem Environment Observation by Satellite (TREES) project aims to assess the forest cover and its changes within the pan- tropical belt. Statistics for the monitoring target periods 1990, 2000 and 2010 are derived from analyzing a systematic sample set of satellite imagery mainly from the Landsat TM and ETM+ sensors. To reach full coverage of all sample sites for the year 2010 epoch and to ensure data continuity for possible future epochs the usage of alternative satellite data is inevitable. In this study the replacement of Landsat data with ALOS AVNIR-2 data was tested. Adaptations of the existing processing chain are presented as well as the results of an accuracy assessment. The results show that AVNIR-2 data are generally suitable to substitute Landsat data in this context.


"The Royal Treasuries of the Spanish Empire in America" provides records of Spanish colonial treasuries of various New World administrative centers. In this volume, the fourth in the series, the authors have compiled quantitative date on the fiscal structure of the presidency of Quito that will be an invaluable source for reconstructing the economic, political, and social history of eighteenth-century Ecuador.


The number of COVID 19 infections worldwide by the end of September 2020 rose to more than 34 million cases. At the same time number of fatalities caused by the same virus exceeds one million. In the year 2020 about ten per cent drop of economic growth was experienced compared to the previous year due to COVID 19 crisis and with probably the biggest impact on tourism industry. The results of global tourist international arrivals in April, May and June 2020 with drop of 95-98 per cent are self-explanatory. Thus, stabile and continuing growth from the beginning of 21st century has been suddenly brutally interrupted returning the tourism industry on level of at least 30-40 years back, maybe even more. The consequences of COVID 19 on touristic results have been analysed in the paper. The analysis is based on four different geographical areas – global, European, Southeast European and Croatian, based on the last 20 years of tourism results. Since similar dramatic situation has also affected air transport industry, the correlation between the tourism and air carriers' results in the last two decades is also considered in this paper. Different scenarios of the future recovery of tourism industry are considered in the paper.


The background study of this research was based on the lack of mathematical understanding and students' learning independency of Class X at one of the senior high schools in Aceh Besar. The test results on the trigonometry subject showed that only 3 out of 10 students (30%) passed the minimum score. This condition was also found during the observation of student activities in their learning process. Students tended to rely on teachers and friends to cope with the problems, such as lack of initiative, have poor learning management and easy to feel discouraged. The main objectives of this research were (1) to improve students' mathematical comprehension, and (2) to improve students' learning independency through discovery learning model on the trigonometry subject. This is a classroom action research. The subjects of this study were ten students at Class X of science class. The research instruments consisted of a set of mathematical comprehension test and students independent learning questionnaire. The technique of data collection used was a qualitative approach, and the collected data was described in descriptive form. The results show that there was an improvement of the learning process through the discovery of learning model, based on the mathematical comprehension test results (from 68.3% in cycle I to 71.7% in cycle II), and the improvement of student's independent learning (from 42.2% in cycle I to 47.1% in cycle II). Therefore, Discovery learning model effectively improves students' understanding ability, encourage student-learning independency and enlarge students' mathematical comprehension. Keywords: mathematical comprehension, learning independence, discovery learning.


Background Myeloid cells represent an abundant yet heterogeneous cell population in the colorectal cancer microenvironment, and their roles remain poorly understood. Methods We used multiplexed immunofluorescence combined with digital image analysis to identify CD14+ monocytic and CD15+ granulocytic cells and to evaluate their maturity (HLA-DR and CD33), immunosuppressive potential (ARG1) and proximity to cytokeratin (KRT)-positive tumor cells in 913 colorectal carcinomas. Using covariate data of 4465 incident colorectal cancers in two prospective cohort studies, the inverse probability weighting method was used with multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models to assess cancer-specific mortality according to ordinal quartiles (Q1–Q4) of myeloid cell densities. Immune cell–tumor cell proximity was measured with the nearest neighbor method and the G-cross function, which determines the likelihood of any tumor cell having at least one immune cell of the specified type within a certain radius. Results Higher intraepithelial (Ptrend=0.0002; HR for Q4 (vs Q1), 0.48, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.76) and stromal (Ptrend <0.0001; HR for Q4 (vs Q1), 0.42, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.63) densities of CD14+HLA-DR+ cells were associated with lower colorectal cancer-specific mortality while, conversely, higher intraepithelial densities of CD14+HLA-DR− cells were associated with higher colorectal cancer-specific mortality (Ptrend=0.0003; HR for Q4 (vs Q1), 1.78, 95% CI 1.25 to 2.55). Spatial analyses indicated that CD15+ cells were located closer to tumor cells than CD14+ cells, and CD14+HLA-DR+ cells were closer to tumor than CD14+HLA-DR− cells (p<0.0001). The G-cross proximity measurement, evaluating the difference in the likelihood of any tumor cell being colocated with at least one CD14+HLA-DR+ cell versus CD14+HLA-DR− cell within a 20 µm radius, was associated with lower colorectal cancer-specific mortality (Ptrend <0.0001; HR for Q4 (vs Q1), 0.37, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.57). Conclusions Myeloid cell populations occur in spatially distinct distributions and exhibit divergent, subset-specific prognostic significance in colorectal cancer, with mature CD14+HLA-DR+ and immature CD14+HLA-DR− monocytic phenotypes most notably showing opposite associations. These results highlight the prognostic utility of multimarker evaluation of myeloid cell infiltrates and reveal a previously unrecognized degree of spatial organization for myeloid cells in the immune microenvironment.


K. Lyublyanovics 2016, Cuman integration and animal husbandry in 13th –16th century Greater Cumania, Hungary, AAC 52:259–287. Tribal fragments of the Cumans, a people of the Eurasian steppe region, appeared in the medieval kingdom of Hungary in the early 13th century, on the eve of the Mongol Invasion. Many of them permanently settled in the Great Hungarian Plain, and their community had to undergo profound transformations both in terms of social and economic strategies. Mobile pastoralism, often associated with the Cuman communities of the steppe, was definitely impossible in their new homeland. However, animal husbandry remained the most important economic activity in this part of the Carpathian Basin in the centuries after the Cumans' arrival. This paper provides a case study on the region called Greater Cumania in the Great Hungarian Plain, and especially on one Cuman village, Orgondaszentmiklós, where 14th–16th-century habitation layers were brought to light. Archaeological and written evidence for animal husbandry is analyzed in order to establish patterns of integration or specialization in terms of animal herding. The results show that although some preferences that may have been rooted in steppe tradition were retained, the main factor in economic orientation was the position in the settlement network and the connection to markets. Swine keeping, a tradition virtually non-existent in the steppe area, was adapted relatively quickly as a response to available natural resources (marshlands) in the area. It seems, on the other hand, that horses preserved their high social value and their flesh was also consumed. K e y w o r d s: Middle Ages; Early Modern Period; Great Hungarian Plain; Cumans; animal husbandry Received: 4.05.2016; Revised: 26.06.2016; Revised: 11.08.2016; Revised: 15.08.2016; Accepted: 22.05.2017


Cross section of diffractive J / ~ production in deep inelastic scattering in the Born and the leading-log approximations of perturbative QCD are calculated.


This essay treats the field of philosophy and the study of disability such that each may be conceived of in terms of the other, perhaps to the extent that they may be thought of as one. First, it examines the bases and methods of various documents in the study of disability, finding that such study may be conceived of as essentially philosophical, even as the philosophical nature of disability studies threatens such studies' practice. Then philosophy is depicted as that discourse which necessarily interrogates its bases and methods -that is, as discourse that engages its own ability. The two fields are presented as exemplary of the interrogation of ability, particularly of discursive ability. The essay's primary influence is Emmanuel Levinas, mainly for the emphasis he places on the nature of language in his approach to philosophical critique. Developing the notion of im/possibility -the simultaneous emergence of a discourse's conditions of possibility with those of its impossibility -the essay focuses on "dis/ability" as the central notion in the convergence of philosophy and disability studies.


The postnatal differentiation of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of rabbit skeletal muscles (the slow-twitch soleus and the fast-twitch adductor muscles) was monitored between Days 1 and 12 by following on Western blots the expression and accumulation of molecular markers specific not only for the muscle endomembrane system, i.e., calsequestrin (CS) and the ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ release channel, but also for the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) at large, i.e., BiP, calnexin (CN) and calreticulin. Our results demonstrate that SR development, documented by the increase of the SR fractional volume, terminal cisternae proliferation, and reorientation of triads, is accompanied by the accumulation of the SR-specific proteins and also of CN, with no change of the other ER general markers. Moreover, the distribution of two of the markers, BiP and CS, was investigated by immunocytochemistry at both the light and the electron microscope level. At Day 1 CS was found to be concentrated both within the few recognizable triad terminal cisternae and within the lumen of numerous, apparently discrete cisternae and tubules, widely scattered throughout both the contractile and the subplasmalemmal areas of the cytoplasm. These structures remain evident until Day 12, when most triad junctions have acquired proper configuration, composition and orientation. BiP, on the other hand, appears widely distributed within the ER/SR of the fibers. From the early stages of postnatal development it does colocalize with the Ca2+ binding protein in the lumen of the CS-rich structures and appears also within the longitudinal SR and the conventional ER cisternae.


Membrane-associated Leishmania Ags (MLA) or soluble Leishmania Ags were used in vitro to stimulate cord blood or PBMC from healthy donors noninfected by Leishmania parasites. MLA, but not soluble Leishmania Ags, constantly induce strong proliferation of cord blood mononuclear cells and PBMC from noninfected individuals. Responding cells are CD3+, CD4+, TCRαβ+, CD45RO+, and CD45RA+ and secrete IFN-γ and IL-10, but not IL-4. MLA do not activate NK cells nor NKT cells. Membrane Ags also induce purified macrophages from noninfected individuals to secrete IL-10 and TNF-α, but have no effect on IL-1α or IL-12 secretion. The effects of MLA are proteinase K-sensitive and resistant to lipid extraction. The lymphoproliferative responses are inhibited by anti-HLA-DR Abs and require Ag processing by APCs, excluding that the biological effect of MLA could be attributed to a superantigen. Finally, TCR repertoire analysis shows that the T cell expansion induced by MLA uses TCR with various variable β segment rearrangements and CDR3 lengths, features much more characteristic to those observed with a polyclonal activator than with a conventional Ag. These results suggest a particular mechanism developed during the host's natural response to Leishmania parasites that allows direct activation of naive CD4 lymphocytes by parasite membrane-associated Ags.


The professional cycling market began to take shape in the late nineteenth century within a network of interests between the industrial world and the press. Until the Second World War, the working conditions and pay of bicycle racers were largely subject to the rationales imposed by these two sectors. The post-War economic transformation changed employment conditions by contributing to a liberalisation of professional cycling. Beginning in the 1950s, the arrival of sponsors from business sectors outside the bicycle sector increased the competition between organisers and deregulated market practices. This led to inflation in the pricing framework and the contracts offered to racers. Then, in the 1980s, the massive capital inflows from industrial bosses seeking high media visibility transformed the pay practices and configuration of the employment market. Although racers benefited from this liberalisation of employment, it also brought to bear new constraints. Thus, this article shows that the business practices of the new players in cycling beginning in the 1950s did not really improve professional cyclists' employment conditions (i.e. employment status, contracts, etc.), and even introduced new forms of domination and precariousness.


Employee-owned businesses have recently enjoyed a resurgence of interest as possible 'alternatives' to the somewhat tarnished image of conventional investor-owned capitalist firms. Within the context of global economic crisis, such alternatives seem newly attractive. This is somewhat ironic because for more than a century academic literature on employee-owned businesses has been dominated by the 'degeneration thesis'. This suggested that these businesses tend towards failure – they either fail commercially, or they relinquish their democratic characters. Bucking this trend and offering a beacon especially in the UK has been the commercially successful, co-owned enterprise of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) whose virtues have seemingly been rewarded with favourable and sustainable outcomes. This paper makes comparisons between JLP and its Spanish equivalent Eroski – the supermarket group which is part of the Mondragon cooperatives. The contribution of this paper is to examine in a comparative way how the managers in JLP and Eroski have constructed and accomplished their alternative scenarios. Using longitudinal data and detailed interviews with senior managers in both enterprises it explores the ways in which two large, employee-owned, enterprises reconcile apparently conflicting principles and objectives. The paper thus puts some new flesh on the 'regeneration thesis'.


The causal agents of postharvest berry rot during transportation, storage and marketing were investgated in the major grape producing areas of Xinjiang of China. Some filamentous phytopathogenic fungi were isolated and identified as Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium spp., Guignardia bidwelli and Trichotecium roseum. R. stolonifer and A. niger were found to be most common fungi causing berry shutter and putrefaction dunring the normal temperature transportation and marketing process. Penicillium spp., B. einerea, Alternaria spp., Cladpsporum sp. and Sternphylium sp. also caused frequent dropping and putrefaction of berries during the low temperature transportation and storage. Furthermore, conditions for the outbreak of postharvest phytopathogenic fungi in the grape cultivars grown in Xinjiang were clarified in this study, providing an important clue for the control of these pathogens.


Abstract Background: Exercise interventions in physical therapy (PT) are often not well described in research reports. Omitting details of the intervention hampers the transfer to daily clinical practice. Objective: To develop a framework for describing goals and content of exercise interventions, in order to provide structured and detailed information for use in research reports. Methods: A framework was developed in three steps using a mixed method approach. First, the scientific literature was systematically searched for available methods to describe PT interventions. An inventory of these methods was made and relevant elements were extracted. Second, based on the results of the literature search, a global framework was developed by a focus group of experts in the field of PT. Third, the framework was field tested by describing four different exercise interventions, leading to a final version. Results: In the developed framework intervention goals at the level of body functions and activities/participation were listed using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. To guide the description of the content of the exercise intervention a list of intervention details was developed, which was derived from an existing classification of PT interventions. Goals and content of exercise interventions were linked. Field testing of the framework led to adequate descriptions of exercise interventions. Conclusion: The developed framework is a promising first step in offering a feasible guide for a structured and detailed description of goals and content of exercise interventions within research reports.


Hospitalists, or specialists of hospital medicine, have long been practicing in Canada and Europe. However, it was not until the mid-1990s, when hospitals in the U.S. started widespread adoption of hospitalists. Since then, the number of hospitalists has grown exponentially in the U.S. from a few hundred to over 50,000 in 2016. Prior studies on hospitalists have well documented benefits hospitals gain from adopting this innovative staffing strategy. However, there is a dearth of research documenting predictors of hospitals' adoption of hospitalists. To fill this gap, this longitudinal study (2003–2015) purposes to determine organizational and market characteristics of U.S. hospitals that utilize hospitalists. Our findings indicate that private not-for-profit, system affiliated, teaching, and urban hospitals, and those located in higher per capita income markets have a higher probability of utilizing hospitalists. Additionally, large or medium, profitable hospitals, and those that treat sicker patients have a higher probability of adoption. Finally, hospitals with a high proportion of Medicaid patients have a lower probability of utilizing hospitalists. Our results suggest that hospitals with greater slack resources and those located in munificent counties are more likely to use hospitalists, while their under-resourced counterparts may experience more barriers in adopting this innovative staffing strategy.


Background and aims: Understanding the concerns of cancer patients in the last stages of life in Islamic and Iranian context can be helpful to improve culturally sensitive care towards them. The present study was aimed to explore the concerns for Muslim patients suffering from cancer in the last stages of life.
Methods: This was a descriptive explorative qualitative research which was conducted in 2016. The participants consisted of Iranian Muslim patients suffering from cancer in the last stages of life and the family members. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with
15 patients and their families hospitalized in a hematology oncology center in Isfahan using purposeful sampling. In order to understand more deeply the spiritual concerns of patients, patients' collected data and their families in a palliative care center in Isfahan were also analyzed.
Results: In this research, results associated with the nature of spiritual and religious concerns in patients will be discussed that consisted of three sub categories: "relationship to God", "relationship to self" and "relationship to other people". "Relationship to God" included following sub categories: "challenge in God justice", "spiritual theology", and "fear of death". "Relationship to self" included subcategories: "decrease in self-esteem" and "impatience". "Relationship to other people" consisted of subcategory: "impaired interpersonal relationship".
Conclusion: One of the main concerns of cancer patients in the last stage of life is spiritual and religious challenges. Having cancer might make the patients becomes closer to God and might promote their trust and theology. For a few people this long trip might bring to them different concerns like fear of death, challenge regarding God justice and interpersonal relationship problems. These concerns must be considered and is planned culturally sensitive implementations to improve them.