This work in progress presents the structure and results of one part of an ongoing faculty development program in a large private university in Chile. The entire development program consists of six steps; in this paper, we focus on the fifth step, sharing, for two reasons: 1) some of the previous steps have been already presented and 2) the authors are interested in receiving feedback on the step in which sharing and spreading experiences on active learning implementations occur. For this presentation, we focus on the structure, materials shared and products that resulted from the 2-day workshop, the fifth step of the program. All participants work collaboratively in small groups, by the engineering subject, to design an active learning activity that will challenge students and convey the learning objectives of the course/unit selected. In this workshop, there were about 80 participants, 20 of those had continually participated in the previous steps. The authors are interested in receiving feedback on the program, particularly of the step in which sharing and spreading experiences on active learning implementations occur.


Objective. Clopidogrel is a common antiplatelet used as secondary prevention of ischemic stroke, known to have better efficacy than aspirin, with a equivalent safety profile. However, clopidogrel resistance is not uncommon but has not been widely studied in Asia. This study will further assess clopidogrel resistance and its risk factors. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Rumah Sakit Universitas, Indonesia, and Rumah Sakit Cipto Mangunkusumo, Indonesia in 2020-2021. All patients had had at least one episode of ischemic stroke. Clopidogrel resistance was assessed using a VerifyNow assay. Results. 57 subjects were enrolled in this study. We found 15.8% of subjects were clopidogrel resistant. Gender was significantly associated with clopidogrel resistance, with males having 80% lower clopidogrel resistance (OR 0.2 (95% CI 0.022 – 0.638); P=0.006). Meanwhile, smoking was not associated with clopidogrel responsiveness (P=0.051). We found no association between haemoglobin, blood glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol, liver enzymes, serum urea concentration or creatinine levels and clopidogrel resistance. Conclusion. Clopidogrel remains an effective treatment to prevent recurrent ischemic stroke in Indonesia. Further studies are needed to assess gene polymorphism and clopidogrel resistance, which may explain the findings of this study.


The effects of microwave (MW) pretreatment were investigated by six anaerobic digesters operated under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions at high organic loading rates (4.9–5.7 g volatile solids/L/d). The experiments and analyses were mainly designed to reveal the impact of MW pretreatment and digester temperatures on the process stability and microbial community structure by correlating the composition of microbial populations with volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations. A slight shift from biogas production (with a reasonable methane content) to VFA accumulation was observed in the thermophilic digesters, especially in the MW-irradiated reactors. Microbial population structure was assessed using a high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene on the MiSeq platform. Microbial community structure was slightly affected by different MW pretreatment conditions, while substantially affected by the digester temperature. The phylum Bacteroidetes proliferated in the MW-irradiated mesophilic digesters by resisting high-temperature MW (at 160 °C). Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (mostly the genus of Methanothermobacter) was found to be a key route of methane production in the thermophilic digesters, whereas aceticlastic methanogenesis (mostly the genus of Methanosaeta) was the main pathway in the mesophilic digesters.


OBJECTIVE We examined the association between retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4), a novel adipokine, and prediabetes (isolated impaired fasting glucose [i-IFG], isolated impaired glucose tolerance [i-IGT], and combined IFG and IGT) in men and women aged 32–81 years. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The analysis was based on 2,614 participants without previously diagnosed diabetes and those with newly diagnosed diabetes of the Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA) F4 Study, conducted from 2006 to 2008 in southern Germany. Plasma RBP4 was analyzed by immunonephelometry. RESULTS In logistic regression analysis, RBP4 levels in the fourth quartile versus the first quartile were significantly associated with prediabetes (i-IGT, i-IFG, and IFG/IGT; reference normal glucose tolerance) independent of known metabolic risk factors and lifestyle variables (odds ratio 1.63 [95% CI 1.17–2.27] after multivariable adjustment). Stratification by sex showed generally similar results. CONCLUSIONS RBP4 levels were associated with prediabetes in individuals from the general population. Prospective studies investigating the impact of RBP4 on the development of glucose intolerance are needed.


This research analyzed freight performance to
determine the groupings of attributes that influence carrier
performance. Binary logistic regression and hierarchical clustering
were used to identify individual and groupings of freight
attributes that impacted performance success in terms of on time
delivery, on time pick up, and first tender acceptance rate. From
the analysis, three main performance groups of carriers were
identified and their subsequent underlying attributes and
strategies were analyzed. This research confirmed industry belief
that differing strategies and freight profile roles result in
different performance, specifically that more focused carriers tend
to provide better service than unfocused carriers. Insights for
shippers were gleaned from the analysis and comparison of a
different shippers' carrier portfolios. From this, diversified
portfolios with a higher proportion of more focused carriers were
shown to have stronger performance. The significance of this
research is that it offers a strategic review of groups of freight
attributes that contribute to performance outcome. Within this
strategic review, carriers were shown to have different underlying
roles within shippers' portfolios which may suggest the need of
different ways of measuring their performance.


Based on the theory of the partial Paschen-Back effect a quantitative explanation is given of the fact, recently discovered by the authors, that an atomic energy level of Mn I, namely z F6°112, has two different values for the Lande splitting-factor g: one for each pair of the magnetic levels M=±112 and ±012.Attention is called to the fact that g-values, in cases such as those observed in Mn I, experience important alterations when the magnetic field is increased from about 40,000 oersteds, which is the magnitude of fields used in the past, to about 80,000, as actually used in observing Zeeman patterns at M.I.T. for the purpose of analyzing spectra.It is pointed out that if g-values accompany a list of term-designations and term-values, it is desirable to specify the magnitude of the magnetic field to verify the correctness of the designations given in the analysis of the spectrum. Otherwise any alterations which the g-values may undergo will not be correctly interpreted.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a risk factor for cancer development. However, the role of DM induced hyperglycemic stress (HG) in the development of blood cancer is poorly understood, largely due to lack of appropriate animal models. Epidemiologic studies show that individuals with DM are more likely to possess higher rate of mutations in genes found in pre-leukemic stem and progenitor cells (pre-LHSC/Ps) including in the epigenetic regulator TET2. TET2-mutant pre-LHSC/Ps require additional hits to evolve into a full-blown leukemia and/or aggressive myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN). Cell intrinsic mutations have been shown to cooperate with Tet2 to promote leukemic transformation. However, the role of extrinsic factors is poorly understood. Utilizing a novel mouse model bearing haploinsufficiency of Tet2, to mimic the human pre-LHSC/P condition and HG stress, in the form of an Ins2Akita/+ mutation, which induces HG and Type-1 DM, we show that the compound mutant mice develop a lethal form of MPN and/or acute myeloid leukemia (AML). RNAseq revealed that this is in part due to upregulation of pro-inflammatory pathways, thereby generating a feedforward loop, including the expression of an anti-apoptotic lncRNA Morrbid. Loss of Morrbid in the compound mutants rescues the lethality and mitigates the development of MPN/AML. Our results describe a novel mouse model for age-dependent AML/MPN and suggest that HG stress acts as an environmental driver for myeloid neoplasm, which could be effectively prevented by reducing the expression of inflammation-related lncRNA Morrbid.


Old age today is a contentious topic. It can be seen as a demographic timebomb or as a resource of wisdom and experience to be valued and exploited. There is frequent debate over how we value the elderly, and whether ageing is an affliction to be treated or a natural process to be embraced. Karen Cokayne explores how ancient Rome dealt with the physical, intellectual and emotional implications of the ageing process, and asks how the Romans themselves experienced and responded to old age. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary material - written sources, inscriptions, and visual evidence - the study brings into focus universal concerns, including geriatric illness, memory loss and senility; the status and role of the old, sexuality and family relationships. The book's unique emphasis on both the individual and society's responses to ageing makes it a valuable contribution to the study of the social history of Rome.


OBJECTIVE
To study the relative contributions of insurance product (commercial, Medicaid, Medicare), health plan, and physician group to quality of diabetes care.

STUDY DESIGN
Cross-sectional observational study using data reported by Minnesota Community Measurement (MNCM) on care provided in 2005.

METHODS
Individual performance rates for glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) level <7%, lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level <100 mg/dL, blood pressure <30/80 mm Hg, documented tobacco-free status, and aspirin use, as well as an all-or-none composite measure (Optimal Diabetes Care), were obtained from MNCM for 57 physician groups. Results included 7169 patients connected with 1 of 8 health plans and 1 of 3 types of insurance product.

RESULTS
All factors studied had a relationship to quality results. Of the factors, insurance product has the strongest relationship to A1C, LDL-C, and Optimal Diabetes Care. Health plan had the strongest relationship to tobacco-free status and daily aspirin, and physician group had the strongest relationship to blood pressure control. Physician group results varied more than those for health plan or insurance product on most measures.

CONCLUSIONS
All factors studied contribute to diabetes quality results. Reporting both physician group performance and health plan performance may offer a greater opportunity to improve care than reporting only health plan or only physician group results.


Robotics has become a common subject in many engineering degrees and postgraduate programs. Although at undergraduate levels the students are introduced to basic theoretical concepts and tools, at postgraduate courses more complex topics have to be covered. One of those advanced subjects is Cognitive Robotics, which covers aspects like automatic symbolic reasoning, decision-making, task planning or machine learning. In particular, Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a machine learning and decision-making methodology that does not require a model of the environment where the robot operates, overcoming this limitation by making observations. In order to get the greatest educational benefit, RL theory should be complemented with some hands-on RL task that uses a real robot, so students get a complete vision of the learning problem, as well as of the issues that arise when dealing with a physical robotic platform. There are several RL techniques that can be studied in such a subject; we have chosen Q-learning, since is a simple, effective and well-known RL algorithm. In this paper we present a minimalist implementation of the Q-learning method for a Lego Mindstorms NXT mobile robot, focused on simplicity and applicability, and flexible enough to be adapted to several tasks. Starting from a simple wandering problem, we first design an off-line model of the learning process in which the Q-learning parameters are studied. After that, we implement the algorithm on the robot, gradually enlarging the number of states-actions of the problem. The final result of this work is a teaching framework for developing practical activities regarding Q-learning in our Robotics subjects, which will improve our teaching.


The main purpose of this study was to collect data on how traditional modes of communication, preserve disseminate and conserve information on African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs). Data were collected through Focus Group Discussion and a pre-tested questionnaire. This research on AIVs indicates that they are highly valuable. However, this has not been disseminated to rural farmers and consumers. This research findings revealed among other things that OraMedia can be utilized to disseminate scientific themes on AIVs. Hence, public enlightenment campaign should be conducted for the inhabitants of the study area. Also, qualitative awareness on the important of the African Indigenous Vegetables should be encouraged while government on their part should grant loan to interested farmers and encourage them to cultivate these vegetables in commercial quantity.


Using different kinds of media to seek information can affect the ways consumers engage in political participation. The expansion of Internet use across the world has given rise to the idea that television is nearing its end, and thus new participatory behaviors may be expected. However, there is no global perspective concerning such claims. This study tests such claims by analyzing actual media use around the globe for information seeking. Using data from Wave 6 of the World Values Survey (WVS) across 56 countries, this study finds that more people use television daily for information-seeking purposes compared to the Internet. This is also true for individuals who use the Internet daily; however, the reverse is not true―even for developed countries. Therefore, it appears that television still takes the lead across many countries when it comes to seeking information regarding everyday political life. This study also includes a commentary on the type and content of questions included in global surveys. Implications for research and policy are also discussed.


Perhaps the most important corporate law debate over the last several years concerns whether directors and executives should manage the corporation to maximize value for investors or also take into account the interests of other stakeholders and society. But, do investors themselves wish to maximize returns, or are they willing to forgo returns for social purposes? And more broadly, do market participants, such as investors and consumers, differ from donors in the ways in which they prioritize monetary gains and the promotion of social goals? This project attempts to answer these questions with evidence from an experiment conducted with 279 participants that involved real monetary gains for participants. Our empirical analysis provides four main results: First, investors are generally willing to forgo some monetary gains to promote social interests. Second, individuals are willing to forgo greater amounts when consuming and making donations than when investing. Third, whereas most investors are willing to forgo gains to promote social interests, a significant percentage of investors (thirty-two percent in our study) have a strong preference for maximizing monetary gains and are unwilling to forgo even very small amounts to advance any social goals. Fourth, there is significant heterogeneity in individuals' willingness to forgo in each of the three channels (investment, consumption, and donation), which is related to their political affiliation, gender, and income. Our evidence suggests that Democrats, women, and higher-income participants tend to forgo more frequently and in greater amounts compared to Republicans, men, and lower-income participants, though these relationships vary with the cause in question. These findings have important implications for the current debate regarding corporate social responsibility and for the actions of corporate executives and investment managers.


Over the last 30 years, a number of programs in Russia, Europe, Japan, and the United States have sought to introduce monolithic ceramic components into gas turbines with the goals of increasing efficiency and lowering emissions. High performance silicon nitride and silicon carbide ceramics typically have been leading candidates for use in these applications. Recent field tests involving silicon nitride vanes and blades have shown that these materials can experience significant recession due to the loss of the normally protective silica scale. This paper first summarizes key findings from these field tests and then describes a relatively simple method for evaluating environmental effects in a laboratory environment.


The CERRE Report makes recommendations to make the Digital Markets Act, recently proposed by the European Commission to regulate large digital platforms, more resilent and effective. To do so, the report, recommends (1) more clarity on the objectives of the DMA, specifically the meaning of contestability and fairness: (2) focus scope to minimise the risks of over and under inclusiveness; (3) a better balance between the 'administrability' and flexibility of the DMA; (4) more room and mechanisms within the DMA for learning-by-doing in order to optimise regulation of digital markets in the long run and (5) a role for national authorities in supporting the Commission through their knowledge of local conditions, proximity to businesses and expertise in designing remedies.


There remained only the window, the large Bloomsbury-lodging house window, the tiresome, the troublesome, and rather melodramatic business of opening the window and throwing himself out. It was their idea of tragedy, not his. --Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (226) Suicide is difficult to read and to mourn. It unsettles fundamental assumptions, most emphatically the assumption that life, however painful, is worth living. More precisely than any other act, it illustrates the tensions between freedom and determinism, between being an agent and being a victim. (1) The body turns against itself, becoming murderer and victim simultaneously. Already these words--"murderer" and "victim"--fail to work, to signify properly. What is the outside of suicide? The inside? Andre Breton offers an understandable complaint--"Suicide is a badly composed word: the one who kills is never identical with the one who is killed" (qtd. in Boym 151). And yet, suicide brings the body terribly together: a hand cuts a wrist, legs push off a bridge, a palm lifts pills into a mouth. The appalling hurt of self-destruction seems to lie in this instant of consolidation. She died by her own hand. He took his own life. In this essay, I examine what happens when suicide, this almost indecipherable action, is incorporated into three twentieth-century US American novels. With "incorporated," I allude to Sigmund Freud's theory of melancholy and mourning as well as to the depathologizing approach to melancholy taken by David Eng and Shinhee Han. According to Freud, the melancholic person psychically incorporates the lost object into the ego, rather than accepting and grieving the loss. Consequently, anger that would have been directed outward turns inward, shattering a solid sense of self. Eng and Han make an important intervention into this theory, drawing on Asian-American literature and their experiences with Asian-American students: "While the ambivalence, anger, and rage that characterize this preservation of the lost object threaten the ego's stability, we do not imagine that this threat is the result of some ontological tendency on the part of the melancholic; it is a social threat" (695). Nella Larsen's Passing (1929), Mary McCarthy's The Group (1963), and James Baldwin's Another Country (1960) dramatize the force of this "social threat" and do so through what I call the queer textuality of suicide. Suicide appears unreadable because, like other queer texts and acts, it is abundantly open, liminal, transgressive. It generates a multiplicity of interpretations and silences. (2) It does not fit into conventional narrative. This adjectival "queer" requires some inital explanation. There is clearly no essential or causal connection between queer sexualities and acts of suicide. (There is legitimate concern, however, about a causal connection between homophobia and acts of self-destruction, attempted and completed.) (3) By naming suicide a "queer textuality," I do not want to contribute to an elision between queerness and death that bolsters claims by some on the religious right. Suicidal bodies, like queer ones, remain a site of surveillance and the subject of contentious debate about choice, morality, legality, mortality, and reproduction. Rather, with Sue-Ellen Case, Sharon Patricia Holland, and Peggy Phelan, I want to explore how subjectivities positioned by heteronormative culture as "the dead" (or as "the undead," as always opposed to "the living") do, in fact, survive--and how this survival prompts a reconsideration of "death" (4) itself. Margaret Higgonet compares suicide to a kind of photography, named "foto-kadry" by Aleksandr Rodchenko in 1930, that does not aim to capture the whole but to fragment the scene: "so the suicidal cut creates an oblique point of view directed toward an understanding that resides beyond the social maxim, and perhaps beyond narrative itself" ("Frames" 229-30). Both Higonnet and Elisabeth Bronfen have articulated the ways that femininity and suicide have been similarly socially constructed--as the Other, the uncanny, the scandalous, the unrepresentable. …


PURPOSE
To describe a new model to passive smoking for rodents.

METHODS
Twenty rats were distributed into two study groups (N=10): control group (CG), that was not exposed to tobacco smoke and used as normal standard for biochemical and histological analysis; Experimental Group (EG), that Animals were exposed to the passive smoking; Euthanasia was performed after 14 days of exposure. The serum level of nicotine and histological analysis were performed.

RESULTS
There was a statistical difference on the nicotine serum levels between Experimental and Control group, with level of 286 ± 23 nanograma/mL in the EG and undetectable on CG (p<0.01). The histological study suggested the model efficacy producing alveolar destruction and emphysema in the EG compared with the insignificant lesions in the CG's lung.

CONCLUSION
The model of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke for rodents induced easily the changes related to secondhand smoke.


WiMAX provides a mechanism for creating Multi-hop mesh, which can be deployed as high speed wide-area wireless network. Because multiple-access interference is a major limiting factor for the WiMAX mesh network, Multi-channel transmission can eliminate the interference and improve the throughput of the network. The efficiency of Multi-channel transmission can be affected by the scheduling and channel assignment algorithm. To reap the full performance potential of WiMAX architecture, we propose a new combined centralized scheduling and channel assignment algorithm called ALS-DSATUR (Active Link Scheduling-Degree of SATURation) for use in a Multi-channel Single-transceiver WiMAX mesh network. The proposed scheme can reduce the length of scheduling, particularly for insufficient channels with high network node density, and considerably improve the base station's ggregate throughput to improved mobile magement effacy.


While X-ray microtomography has become indispensable in 3D inspections of materials, efficient processing of such volumetric datasets continues to be a challenge. This paper describes a computational environment for HPC to facilitate parallelization of algorithms in computer vision and machine learning needed for microstructure characterization and interpretation. The contribution is to accelerate microstructural analytics by employing Dask high-level parallel abstractions, which scales Numpy workflows to enable multi-dimensional image analysis of diverse specimens. We illustrate our results using an example from materials sciences, emphasizing the benefits of parallel execution of image-dependent tasks. Preliminary results show that the proposed environment configuration and scientific software stack deployed using JupyterLab at NERSC Cori enables near-real time analyses of complex, high-resolution experiments.


As there is currently no cure for dementia, providing psycho-social support is imperative. Counselling and psychotherapeutic interventions offer a way to provide individualised support for people with dementia and their families. However, to date, there has not been a systematic review examining the research evidence for these interventions. This review aimed to examine the following research questions: (1) Are counselling/psycho-therapeutic interventions effective for people with dementia?, (2) Are counselling/psycho-therapeutic interventions effective for care-givers of people with dementia? and (3) Which modes of delivery are most effective for people with dementia and care-givers of people with dementia? A systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE (via PubMed), PsycINFO and CINAHL in March 2019. Keyword searches were employed with the terms ' dement* ' , ' counsel* ' , ' psychotherapy ' , ' therap* ' , ' care ' and ' outcome ' , for the years 2000 – 2019. Thirty-one papers were included in the review, from seven countries. Twenty studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or adopted a quasi-experimental design. The remaining studies were qualitative or single-group repeated-measures design. The review identified variation in the counselling/psychotherapeutic approaches and mode of delivery. Most interventions adopted either a problem-solving or cognitive behavioural therapy approach. Mixed effectiveness was found on various outcomes. The import-ance of customised modifications for people with dementia was highlighted consistently. Understanding the dyadic relationships between people with dementia and their caregivers is essential to offering effective interventions and guidance for practitioners is needed. Information about the cognitive impairment experienced by participants with dementia was poorly reported and is essential in the development of this research area. Future studies should consider the impact of cognitive impairment in developing guidance for counselling/psychotherapeutic intervention delivery for people with dementia.


In this study, 87 partners of deployed National Guard service members completed daily diaries in which they recorded for up to 7 consecutive days the channels (e.g., phone) by which they communicated with their service member, the communication activities (e.g., support provision) they and their service member engaged in, and how connected they felt to their service member. Multilevel modeling was used to explore two types of associations between couples' communication activities and partners' feelings of connection for partners who communicated with their service member via phone and/or video during the week. Findings indicated that, across the week, partners who reported that their service member provided them with higher levels of support and who made decisions together more often as a couple felt more connected to their service member (between-person associations). Additionally, on days when partners reported they provided support during phone calls more than they did on average, or their service member provided them support during video calls more than their service member did on average, they reported greater feelings of connection (within-person associations). Future research should explore how daily fluctuations in deployment communication may reinforce or challenge existing relationship processes, thus impacting how couples maintain their relationships after, as well as during, deployment.


Dissatisfaction will process and results of teaching literature in schools is a classic problem which until now has not fully resolved. As a system, problems occurred in the teaching of literature can be approached from the factors that shape the teaching of literature itself. Forming factors that are teachers, students, curriculum, methods, facilities and infrastructure, and materials. External elements such as the demands of even the people (both laymen and literary society) and policy makers of formal education (starting from the formulation of the Guidelines to guide the implementation of curriculum tennis) helped contribute to the emergence of problematic. Kata Kunci : bahan ajar sastra, pembaca


Photoelectron (PE) impact on ground‐state O(3P) atoms is well known as a major source of twilight 844.6 nm emission in the midlatitude thermosphere. Knowledge of the PE flux can be used to infer thermospheric oxygen density, [O], from photometric measurements of 844.6 nm airglow, provided that PE impact is the dominant process generating the observed emission. During several spring observational campaigns at Arecibo Observatory, however, we have observed significant 844.6 nm emission throughout the night, which is unlikely to arise from PE impact excitation which requires solar illumination of either the local or geomagnetically conjugate thermosphere. Here we show that radiative recombination (RR) of O+ ions is likely responsible for the observed nighttime emission, based on model predictions of electron and O+ ion density and temperature by the Incoherent Scatter Radar Ionosphere Model. The calculated emission brightness produced by O + RR exhibits good agreement with the airglow data, in that both decay approximately monotonically throughout the night at similar rates. We conclude that the conventional assumption of a pure PE impact source is most likely to be invalid during dusk twilight, when RR‐generated emission is most significant. Estimation of [O] from measurements of 844.6 nm emission demands isolation of the PE impact source via coincident estimation of the RR source, and the effective cross section for RR‐generated emission is found here to be consistent with optically thin conditions.


A fast response three dimensional garment drape shape prediction system has been developed. A human body model generator has been established for the garment draping on it. For the mass production of different size of garments for the various sized body models, the cross‐sectional value from the anthropometric data was used as the standard for the size accommodation to make a resizable human body model. To construct the cloth drape shape prediction system, the finite element analysis method has been utilized. The designed garment pieces were divided into fine quadrilateral elements using a specially coded mesh generating program, then some appropriate sewing conditions were assigned to transform two dimensional patterns into three dimensional shapes. The final drape shape of the garment was determined from the solutions of the contact condition with human body, deformations, and the weights of the elements constituting the garment pieces, as well as the surface texture of the cloth.


ABSTRACT Artificial water storage, originated by the construction of dams, is essential for the sustainable health and welfare of civilizations since it supplies water for human consumption, irrigation and energy production. Furthermore, dam reservoirs are used for recreation, navigation and they provide safety in the downstream valleys against extreme flood events and droughts. All reservoirs are subjected to sedimentation which, without adequate prevention and mitigation counter-measures, threatens their sustainability. As well as the evident loss of storage capacity, the adequate and safe operation of water intakes and bottom outlets belonging to the vital outlet structures can be affected by the deposition of sediments in the reservoir. This Vision Paper first addresses the state-of-the-art and the main scientific advances in terms of prevention and mitigation measures against sedimentation in reservoirs. Then, the main research challenges, which result from the assessment of what are the remaining open questions, are pointed out. The emerging research methodologies to study sedimentation processes are also discussed.


This paper discussed the advantages of using RFID technologies in Hongkong. Our strength is overcrowding as most of our populace of 8 million are residing in an urban area of less than 100 km2; thus, Hong Kong is an ideal beta site for field-testing new products. Furthermore, as one of financial centers in the world, a regional shipping hub, an international media center, a must-visit tourist/shopping center, and an emerging center of higher education, research and development, Hong Kong is a western city on Chinese soil that is strong in diversity and tolerance. The results obtained in Hong Kong are applicable everywhere. All in all, we are well prepared to play a role in the RFID-led mini-revolution. For illustration, you are welcome to visit the Science and Engineering Fair on Level 7 where you will find many new RFID applications developed in Hong Kong, including a UHF RFID system for libraries and a system for tracing-and-tracking a vehicle in a jungle of high rising buildings. Also shown are research projects in local institutions.Simply put, RFID will affect all aspects of life in urban and rural dwellings and we are, perhaps, witnessing the dawning of a new "era of artificial perception.


How did the nucleosome, the fundamental building block of all eukaryotic chromatin, evolve? This central question has been impossible to address because the four core histones that make up the protein core of the nucleosome are so highly conserved in all eukaryotes. With the discovery of small, minimalist histone‐like proteins in most known archaea, the likely origin of histones was identified. We recently determined the structure of an archaeal histone‐DNA complex, revealing that archaeal DNA topology and protein‐DNA interactions are astonishingly similar compared to the eukaryotic nucleosome. This was surprising since most archaeal histones form homodimers which consist only of the minimal histone fold and are devoid of histone tails and extensions. Unlike eukaryotic H2A–H2B and H3–H4 heterodimers that assemble into octameric particles wrapping ~ 150 bp DNA, archaeal histones form polymers around which DNA coils in a quasi‐continuous superhelix. At any given point, this superhelix has the same geometry as nucleosomal DNA. This suggests that the architectural role of histones (i.e. the ability to bend DNA into a nucleosomal superhelix) was established before archaea and eukaryotes diverged, while the ability to form discrete particles, together with signaling functions of eukaryotic chromatin (i.e. epigenetic modifications) were secondary additions.


My young client, Steven, has told me that he committed a homicide. Another man has been wrongly convicted of the crime and faces a sentence of up to 30 years. "What should I do?" Steven asks. "What would you say?" asks the hypothetical. "Would you give moral advice?" As Steven's lawyer I would feel bound, as a matter of professional obligation, to provide some forms of moral advice to Steven. Under my conception of my professional obligations, however, I would be reluctant to tell Steven, what, in my personal view, is the morally correct course of action for him, and would do so only if it were clear to me both that Steven wanted to hear that view and had no better sources of moral advice available to him. Let me explain why.


With the development of recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology, the metabolic potentials of microorganisms are being explored and harnessed in a variety of new ways. Today, genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs) have found applications in human health, agriculture, and bioremediation and in industries such as food, paper, and textiles. Genetic engineering offers the advantages over traditional methods of increasing molecular diversity and improving chemical selectivity. In addition, genetic engineering offers sufficient supplies of desired products, cheaper product production, and safe handling of otherwise dangerous agents. This chapter delineates several molecular tools and strategies to engineer microorganisms; the advantages and limitations of the methods are addressed. The final part of this chapter reviews and evaluates several applications of GMMs currently employed in commercial ventures.


Active learning reduces the labeling cost by actively querying labels for the most valuable data points. Typical active learning methods select the most informative examples one-at-a-time, their batch variants exist which select a set of most informative points instead of one point at a time. These points are selected in such a way that when added to the training data along with their labels, they provide maximum benefit to the underlying model. In this paper, we present a learning framework that actively selects optimal set of examples (in a batch) within a given budget, based on given utility and cost functions. The framework is generic enough to incorporate any utility and any cost function defined on a set of examples. Furthermore, we propose a novel utility function based on the Facility Location problem that considers three important characteristics of utility i.e., diversity, density and point utility. We also propose a novel cost function, by formulating the cost computation problem as an optimization problem, the solution to which turns out to be the minimum spanning tree. Thus, our framework provides the optimal batch of points within the given budget based on the cost and utility functions. We evaluate our method on several data sets and show its superior performance over baseline methods.


: The growth of dehydrated and original cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae 0-14 was studied in the conditions of reactivation. The identical amount of biomass having the economical growth coefficient of 58-59 percent was accumulated in both variants after 6 hours of growth. The composition and quantitative proportions between free amino acids were studied in the cells of the two cultures. Dehydrated cells lost up to 10 per cent of free amino acids in the course of rehydration. The dynamics of changes in the composition of the amino acid pool in rehydrated dry cells differed from that in pressed yeast cells. By the end of reactivation however, the qualitative composition and the level of the amino acid pool were similar in the cells of the two variants. The yield of growth of reactivated cells in the course of following cultivation was by 16 per cent higher than that of pressed yeast cells grown under the same conditions.


With the emergence of the concept of industrial ecology (IE) and the first discovery of its practice in an existent park in Kalundborg, the interest from the scientific community as well as from the public and private stakeholders has increased significantly. For more than a decade, a handful of national programs and private initiatives have been initiated worldwide to implement industrial ecology into existent or newly built industrial parks. To date, more than hundreds of eco-industrial parks (EIPs) have been established. However, the relationship between the context and the origin of EIP initiatives with its methodology of development and management is still not clearly defined. Therefore, the aim of this article is to contribute to filling this knowledge gap. The return of experiences of 19 EIPs worldwide, based on bibliographical and empirical research through literature review and field interviews, allows the definition of a trend in the creation and the management of EIPs according to the context of implementation. This investigation exposes the exclusive relationships between trigger factors to develop an EIP either economic, environmental, or a mix according to the bottom-up, top-down, or mixed approach of creation, respectively. Moreover, it highlights the association dependence between the natures of the approach with the coordination structure and consequently the influence of the social context and the presence of a certain gap of cohabitation of the two extreme systems, i.e., public and private. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4034438]


The study was aimed to explore a qualitative analysis addressing the situation of prostitution of boys and assessing the vulnerability of boys relating to sexual abuse and exploitation. It has covered the areas in Bangladesh of Rajshahi city and land port areas of Chapai Nawabgonj District which purposely intends to explore the situation of vulnerabilities of prostitution of boys in sociocultural settings. The study is an analytical framework exploring the extent and dynamic of sexual abuse and exploitation of boys. It is also aim to determine the community cares towards the victims of sexual abuse and exploitation and boys who are at risk like situation to be victimized to such violations. A numbers of research methods have been brought into play to scrutinize the study findings and reach its purposes. (excerpt)


The application of a geometrical constraint equation for lipid bilayer vesicles is investigated. First, both the physical meaning and the mathematical formulation for the spontaneous curvature of vesicles are clarified. Second, the geometrically permissible conditions and phase diagrams for vesicles, from which the criteria for the formation, existence and disintegration of vesicles may be determined, are revealed.


The leading cause of breast cancer-associated death is metastasis. During metastasis, tumor cells metastasize from primary tumors to distant organs via the circulatory and lymphatic systems. However, in 80% of solid tumors, metastasis via the lymphatic system precedes metastasis via the vascular system. There is a lot of information about metastasis through the circulatory system. However, not much information is available about the tumor cell dissemination through the lymphatic system or the lymphatic microenvironment that aids in this process in breast cancer metastasis. In addition, the molecular properties of tumor cells as they exit the primary tumor into the afferent lymphatics en route to the sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) are not yet known.This project aims to determine why and how tumor cells metastasize to the lymphatic system. The proposal is based on the hypothesis that active migration is needed for tumor cells to spread via the lymphatic vessels. Thus, finding and understanding the molecules that contribute to this can be a breakthrough for breast cancer metastasis therapy.The goals of this thesis are to 1) Examine the molecular, genetic, and proteomic characteristics of circulatory tumor cells and compare these to the primary tumor and lung metastasis, 2) Examine the role of Toll-like receptors in tumor cell migration to the lymph node, and 3) Identify the difference in protein expression among two different types of breast cancer (Triple-Negative and Luminal A) and understand their aggressive biology.


A brand-new floating-point Digital Speech Signal Processor VLSI (DSSP), intended for a wide range of applications in speech processing, is developed. For speech applications, a wide dynamic range vector operation that includes FFT and complex arithmetic is necessary in executing a highly-complicated coding algorithm that treats a large amount of windowed data collectively. To meet this requirement, the floating-point data format and hardware architecture is extensively studied. The DSSP, which is fabricated using 2.5um CMOS technology, completes almost all the floating-point operations within a 150ns machine-cycle.


The most common assumption made in statistical learning theory is the assumption of the independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) data. While being very convenient mathematically, it is often very clearly violated in practice. This disparity between the machine learning theory and applications underlies a growing demand in the development of algorithms that learn from dependent data and theory that can provide generalization guarantees similar to the independent situations. This thesis is dedicated to two variants of dependencies that can arise in practice. One is a dependence on the level of samples in a single learning task. Another dependency type arises in the multi-task setting when the tasks are dependent on each other even though the data for them can be i.i.d. In both cases we model the data (samples or tasks) as stochastic processes and introduce new algorithms for both settings that take into account and exploit the resulting dependencies. We prove the theoretical guarantees on the performance of the introduced algorithms under different evaluation criteria and, in addition, we compliment the theoretical study by the empirical one, where we evaluate some of the algorithms on two real world datasets to highlight their practical applicability.


Transitions from bound atomic Rydberg Stark states in a static electric field to autoionizing Rydberg states above the electric-field-induced ionization threshold are studied using a broadband, tunable free-electron laser (photon energy 160-1400 cm(-1), pulse duration similar to 1 ps) and compared with multichannel quantum defect theory calculations. An atomic streak camera is used to record the time-resolved electron emission transients of the autoionizing atoms. For Stark states located on the downfield side of the potential, the far-infrared ionization spectrum is found to be smooth and the electron emission prompt (<2 ps), whereas for Stark states located on the upfield side, the far-infrared spectrum has sharp resonances, and the lifetime of the quasicontinuum states is considerably longer. The electron-emission transients from optical ionization of ground-state atoms are compared to transients from far-infrared ionization of Rydberg atoms, showing that the angular motion of the wave packet is responsible for the ionization dynamics for both cases, but different coherent superpositions of angular momentum states are excited depending on the initial state. Finally, we discuss the feasability of using Rydberg atoms as an ultrafast far-infrared detector, starting from a downfield state, or as a wavelength-selective detector, starting from an upheld state.


Parental leave policies across the globe have become much more generous than they used to be. This is also true for prenatal maternal leave. While this may be costly in the short run, little is known about the effect of maternal employment during pregnancy on newborn health. In this paper, I exploit three sharp policy changes on the duration of paid parental leave in Austria that strongly affected the share of mothers who work up to the 32nd week of pregnancy. I use administrative data from Austria on the working history of women linked to the full Austrian birth register and coupled with a regression discontinuity framework to identify the effect of prenatal employment on their offspring. Maternal employment during pregnancy with the second child reacts strongly to these policy changes. The share of employed mothers sharply declined in 1990 by 19.1 percentage points, increased in 1996 by 7.2 percentage points and declined again by 6.4 percentage points in 2000. None of these changes in prenatal employment translated into effects on newborn health measured via birth weight, gestational length, and Apgar scores. This result holds true for mothers of different socioeconomic backgrounds and across industries. The effect is precisely estimated, which suggests that prenatal employment prior to the 32nd week of pregnancy does not causally affect the fetus for measures visible at birth.


Objective: to found the dyslipidemia in patients with psoriatic arthritis and to study the connection between dyslipidemia and cardiovascular risk factors, atherosclerosis and inflammation activity. 40 persons with PsA without cardiovascular diseases were involved in the study, 25 healthy people were examined like controls. Activity of PsA was learned by DAS, Likert index, Ritchie Arthicular Index, Number of swelling joints (NSJ), ESR, C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, low and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension, body mass index, individual cardiac history were performed like cardiovascular risk markers. The ultrasound measuring the thickness of intima-media layer (IML) in carotid arteries was performed to subclinical atherosclerosis study. Increase of total cholesterol, triglycerides and low density lipoprotein cholesterol level was found in patients with PsA comparative with controls. There was prevalence of high and moderate increase of total cholesterol in patients with PsA, and in controls only low increase was measured. Correlation between total cholesterol and NSJ, fibrinogen, hypertension and IML was found. Low density lipoproteins were tingly interrelated with ESR, hypertension and IML. Very low density lipoproteins were connected with age of disease beginning, hypertension and IML, and triglycerides-with hypertension, enthesitis and dactilitis. Dyslipidemia in patients with PsA characterizes by total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein cholesterol increase, but not high density lipoprotein decrease. There is the connection between dyslipidemia in PsA and inflammation activity, arterial hypertension and IML


As experiments have shown, a closed ecological life support system based on a biological material exchange is fully realizable and contains possibilities for further improvement. This kind of closed human ecosystem can become a model not only of an earthly noosphere, but also of daughter noospheres that can be used to help humanity render space inhabitable without threatening other bodies of the solar system through the intrusion of earthly substances and biological autocatalytic processes. As such, it will allow humans to exist in space or on other solar bodies, while requiring only the input of energy and not allowing the release of metabolites into the surroundings. Partially closed technologies for regenerating the atmosphere, water, and vegetable nutrients can radically enhance the quality of life in extreme regions—in the Arctic, Antarctica, in deserts, and in high mountain settlements. Another aspect of closed life support technologies is that they enable the minimizing of the environmental pollution that results from human waste products and those of their domestic animals. That these technologies can find applications on Earth before human settlements appear on Mars or the Moon. The transition to essentially closed nonpolluting, non-deadlock life support technologies will be a noticeable step on the path toward the sustainable development of the noosphere.


Author(s): Berenstein, A; Greenstein, J | Abstract: © 2016 Mathematical Sciences Publishers. In the present paper we show that Hall algebras of finitary exact categories behave like quantum groups in the sense that they are generated by indecomposable objects. Moreover, for a large class of such categories, Hall algebras are generated by their primitive elements, with respect to the natural comultiplication, even for nonhereditary categories. Finally, we introduce certain primitively generated subalgebras of Hall algebras and conjecture an analogue of "Lie correspondence" for those finitary categories.


Despite significant progress in melanoma survival, therapeutic options are still needed in case of progression under immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), and resistance to targeted therapies (TT) in BRAF-mutated melanomas. This study aimed to assess the safety of combined ICI and TT as a rescue line in real-life clinical practice. We conducted a study within the prospective French multicentric MelBase cohort, including patients treated with a combination of anti-PD1 (pembrolizumab/nivolumab) and BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi: dabrafenib/vemurafenib) and/or MEK inhibitors (MEKi: trametinib/cobimetinib) for BRAF mutated or wild-type advanced melanoma. Fifty-nine patients were included: 30% received the triple combination, 34% an anti-PD1 and BRAFi, and 36% an anti-PD1 and MEKi. Grade 3–4 adverse events occurred in 12% of patients. Permanent discontinuation or dose reduction of one of the treatments for toxicity was reported in 14% and 7% of patients, respectively. In the BRAF wild-type subgroup, treatment with MEKi and anti-PD1 induced a tumor control rate of 83% and median progression-free survival of 7.1 months. The combination of anti-PD1 and BRAFi and/or MEKi was a safe rescue line for advanced melanoma patients previously treated with ICI/TT. The benefit of these combinations, specifically anti-PD1 and MEKi in BRAF wild-type melanoma patients, needs to be prospectively studied.


Kimura′s disease (KD) is a rare, unusual occurrence, predominantly seen in Asian men, and poses a diagnostic challenge, often manifesting with allergic, eosinophilic hyperplasia, and nonspecific lymphadenitis. A 39-year-old man presented with mobile, well circumscribed, facial and neck swelling. His earlier biopsy showed a reactive lymph node hyperplasia on ultrasound neck and was suggestive of lipomatosis. As definitive diagnosis could not be made, the patient was planned for excision and biopsy. Subsequent histopathology demonstrated eosinophilic infiltration of lymphoid follicles and expansion of interfollicular area with interfollicular eosinophilic abscess formation and capillary venule proliferation. This was quite interesting as the previously diagnosed case of nonspecific lymphadenitis based on biopsy later turned out to be a rare occurrence of KD. Furthermore, because of other systemic symptoms (pedal edema and eye irritation), which probably reflected generalized manifestations of KD, the patient was referred to a rheumatologist after diagnosis, where he was effectively managed with immunotherapy and steroids.


Toxicity of Silicon Compounds in Semiconductor Industries: Hiroshi Nakashima, et al. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Keio University—The toxicities of silane (SiH4), tetraethoxysilane (Si(OC2H5)4, TEOS) and dichlorosilane (SiH2CI2, DCS) were reviewed in order to compare the toxicological properties of silicon compounds used in the semi‐conductor industry. Silane and TEOS showed similar toxicities, characterized by nephrotoxicity. Mice subjected to silane (2500, 5000 and 10000 ppm) or TEOS (1000 ppm) acute exposure developed acute tubular necrosis. Tubulo‐interstitial nephritis was seen in mice which were subjected to an acute inhalation study and survived 2 wk of the observation period or those subjected to subacute inhalation studies of TEOS (100 and 200 ppm for 2 or 4 wk). Silane and TEOS, however, differed in the concentration at which they showed signs of toxicity. This may be due to their solubility in water and other metabolic factors, but their metabolic pathways have not yet been elucidated. TEOS injured nasal mucosa (1000 ppm for 2 h or more and 50, 100 and 200 ppm for 2 or 4 wk). It was observed at a lower concentration than nephrotoxicity in the 50 and 100 ppm subacute inhalation study. On the other hand, silane caused nasal mucosal lesions only at 5000 or 10000 ppm for acute inhalation, and those of subacute inhalation were mild (1000 ppm for 2 or 4 wk). DCS showed another type of adverse effect. It was an irritant and/or a corrosive agent to the respiratory tract in the acute (64 ppm for 1, 2, 4 or 8 h) and subacute (32 ppm for 2 or 4 wk) inhalation study. The fate of DCS in air was also studied and it was shown to form small particles including silicon and chlorine (Cl) atoms. Cl seems to play an important role in the toxicity of DCS.


Geographically distributed data centers are interconnected through provisioned dedicated WAN links, realized by circuit/wavelength–switching that support large‐scale data transfer between data centers. These dedicated WAN links are typically shared by multiple services through on‐demand and in‐advance resource reservations, resulting in varying bandwidth availability in future time periods. Such an inter‐data center network provides a dynamic and virtualized environment when augmented with cloud infrastructure supporting end‐host migration. In such an environment, dynamically provisioned network resources are recognized as extremely useful capabilities for many types of network services. However, the existing approaches to in‐advance reservation services provide limited reservation capabilities, eg, limited connections over links returned by the traceroute over traditional IP‐based networks. Moreover, most existing approaches do not address fault tolerance in the event of node or link failures and do not handle end‐host migrations; thus, they do not provide a reliability guarantee for in‐advance reservation frameworks. In this paper, we propose using multiple paths to increase bandwidth usage in the WAN links between data centers when a single path does not provide the requested bandwidth. Emulation‐based evaluations of the proposed path computation show a higher reservation acceptance rate compared to state‐of‐art reservation frameworks, and such computed paths can be configured with a limited number of static forwarding rules on switches. Our prototype provides the RESTful Web service interface for link‐fail and end‐host migration event management and reroutes paths for all the affected reservations.


Aims Ageing-related cardiac disorders such as heart failure and atrial fibrillation often present with intracellular calcium homeostasis dysfunction. However, knowledge of the intrinsic effects of ageing on cellular calcium handling in the human heart is sparse. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse how ageing affects key mechanisms that regulate intracellular calcium in human atrial myocytes. Methods and results Whole membrane currents and intracellular calcium transients were measured in isolated human right atrial myocytes from 80 patients with normal left atrial dimensions and no history of atrial fibrillation. Patients were categorized as young (<55 years, n = 21), middle aged (55–74 years, n = 42), and old (≥75 years, n = 17). Protein levels were determined by western blot. Ageing was associated with the following electrophysiological changes: (i) a 3.2-fold decrease in the calcium transient (P < 0.01); (ii) reduction of the L-type calcium current (ICa) amplitude (2.4 ± 0.3 pA/pF vs. 1.4 ± 0.2 pA/pF, P < 0.01); (iii) lower levels of L-type calcium channel alpha-subunit (P < 0.05); (iv) lower rates of both fast (14.5 ± 0.9 ms vs. 20.9 ± 1.9, P < 0.01) and slow (73 ± 3 vs. 120 ± 12 ms, P < 0.001) ICa inactivation; and (v) a decrease in the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium content (10.1 ± 0.8 vs. 6.4 ± 0.6 amol/pF, P < 0.005) associated with a significant decrease in both SERCA2 (P < 0.05) and calsequestrin-2 (P < 0.05) protein levels. In contrast, ageing did not affect spontaneous sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release. Conclusion Ageing is associated with depression of SR calcium content, L-type calcium current, and calcium transient amplitude that may favour a progressive decline in right atrial contractile function with age.


Curriculums are planned for groups rather than for individuals, and that fact may as well be recognized at the outset. To be sure, the student of education, asked to define curriculum, is likely to respond in some such terms as, "all the experiences a child has under the guidance of the school." In all truth, this is what any curriculum inevitably becomes to the individual child who "takes" it. And, by extension, it is perfectly valid to argue that, since each person's experiences are always unique, subjectively speaking, then each child's curriculum is unique.


In 2016, the news media in the United States widely reported the case of Brock Turner, a young white college athlete from Stanford who was convicted of sexual assault but spared the mandatory term of imprisonment. The American public was outraged at the leniency of the sentence imposed. A campaign was launched to remove from the bench the judge who rendered the sentence, and commentators accused him of racial and gender bias. However, this case was hardly an isolated incident of apparent privilege in criminal justice. In this Article, I argue that the problem resides primarily in the tradition of the law, not the fairmindedness of the judge. I specifically argue that the way in which courts weigh offender characteristic factors in sentencing is unfair and unjust. That court practice emerged in the late nineteenth century with a call to punish offenders according to their individual character. During that historical period, the word "character" was commonly understood to refer to inherent traits that were often associated with race. The assertion that non-white people had inferior character was cited as justification for their social oppression. The law about offender characteristic factors developed in accordance with that understanding of what constitutes good character. Thus, good character was assessed largely in terms of intrinsic (racial) superiority and material success. I argue that white cultural values are deeply embedded in the practice of weighing offender characteristic factors at sentencing, such that judges often cite the incidents of privilege in mitigation, e.g., educational attainment and employment status. Similarly, judges often cite the incidents of disadvantage in aggravation. I reject that logic under both retributive and utilitarian perspectives, arguing that fair sentencing requires dismantling the logic of privilege in sentencing. * Litigation Associate, Kutak Rock LLP, M.Sc., University of Oxford, J.D., University of Colorado. I am thankful for the excellent editorial feedback of Professor Julian V. Roberts, University of Oxford, and Patrick T. O'Rourke. I am also thankful for insightful discussions about some of the issues discussed herein with Dr. Alpa Parmar and Teresa M. Stout. © 2019, Lisa M. Saccomano.


An integral transport equation based deterministic approach has been developed to compute individual specific absorbed dose distributions and photon flux distributions on a detector for image formation studies. An algorithm has been designed to take advantage of parallel processing platforms capable of processing large amounts of data imposed by the small pixel sizes of CT images. CT images have been used to form voxels that would represent both tissue variations and body geometry. Absorbed dose distributions calculated using the Visible Human dataset are provided.


The fitness of an individual can be simply defined as the number of its offspring in the next generation. However, it is not well understood how selection on the phenotype determines fitness. In accordance with Fisher's fundamental theorem, fitness should have no or very little genetic variance, whereas empirical data suggest that is not the case. To bridge these knowledge gaps, we follow Fisher's geometrical model and assume that fitness is determined by multivariate stabilizing selection toward an optimum that may vary among generations. We assume random mating, free recombination, additive genes, and uncorrelated stabilizing selection and mutational effects on traits. In a constant environment, we find that genetic variance in fitness under mutation‐selection balance is a U‐shaped function of the number of traits (i.e., of the so‐called "organismal complexity"). Because the variance can be high if the organism is of either low or high complexity, this suggests that complexity has little direct costs. Under a temporally varying optimum, genetic variance increases relative to a constant optimum and increasingly so when the mutation rate is small. Therefore, mutation and changing environment together can maintain high genetic variance. These results therefore lend support to Fisher's geometric model of a fitness landscape.


The re-badging of social activity in terms of social entrepreneurship and the rhetoric used to promote the concept can neglect the ideological and political influences at its roots. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, this paper looks at the meanings that are central to individuals labelled as social entrepreneurs, as constructed by them, in order to understand the appropriateness of the entrepreneurship paradigm. It questions whether a discourse analysis approach to studying social entrepreneurship, through looking at meaning in context, is a useful means of understanding the concept as a social phenomenon.


Over the past ten years, standard diagnostics for cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-infected persons have evolved from culture to India ink to detection of cryptococcal antigen (CrAg), with the recent development and distribution of a point-of-care lateral flow assay. This assay is highly sensitive and specific in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), but is also sensitive in the blood to detect CrAg prior to meningitis symptoms. ABSTRACT Over the past ten years, standard diagnostics for cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-infected persons have evolved from culture to India ink to detection of cryptococcal antigen (CrAg), with the recent development and distribution of a point-of-care lateral flow assay. This assay is highly sensitive and specific in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), but is also sensitive in the blood to detect CrAg prior to meningitis symptoms. CrAg screening of HIV-infected persons in the blood prior to development of fulminant meningitis and preemptive treatment for CrAg-positive persons are recommended by the World Health Organization and many national HIV guidelines. Thus, CrAg testing is occurring more widely, especially in resource-limited laboratory settings. CrAg titer predicts meningitis and death and could be used in the future to customize therapy according to burden of infection.


The extensive literature on participative budgeting has paid little attention to the interaction among managers as they discuss and resolve budget-related issues. This study employs goal interdependence theory to explore the impact of team dynamics on budgeting. How managers believe their goals are related affects the dynamics and outcomes of participation. In a large utility in Hong Kong, 64 managers were interviewed on specific budget participation incidents. Results of structural equation analyses found support for the study's three main hypotheses. Budget team members who had cooperative goals were found to engage in more open-minded discussion in conflict situations. This resulted in improved group productivity and strengthened relationships which, in turn, led to higher-quality budgets. Results were interpreted as suggesting that the benefits of budget participation depends upon establishing strongly cooperative goals among team members and developing the skills to discuss opposing views open-mindedly. The antecedents of goal interdependence are also explored.


Our understanding of how novel color traits evolve in aposematic taxa is based largely on studies of reproductive stages and organisms with endogenously produced pigmentation. In these systems, genetic drift is often required for novel alleles to overcome strong purifying selection stemming from frequency-dependent predation and positive assortative mating. Here we show that the importance of these mechanisms can differ if selective processes are considered in larval stage instead. By integrating population genomic data, predation experiments and phenotypic measurements of larvae and their host plants, we show that novel white alleles in Neodiprion lecontei (pine sawfly) larvae spread via selection rather than drift. The cost of being rare was not offset by an enhanced aposematic display or immune function. Instead, bottom-up selection via host plants may drive divergence among populations as white larvae were disproportionately abundant on a pine species with a reduced carotenoid content relative to other pine hosts.


A numerical framework to simulate dispensing of fluids with different types of complex rheology is presented. The framework is based on an incompressible flow solver that uses immersed boundary methods and an automatically generated octree grid. It therefore supports simulation with arbitrary geometry and of moving application with various injection models with minimum setup time. The framework also supports rheology models spanning from purely viscous models to more advanced viscoelastic stress models. Three examples of applications are given, namely for seam sealing in automotive bodies, swirled adhesive extrusion and wire fed additive manufacturing of metal. The wide range of applications shows the potential of the framework and indicates that many more possible applications are conceivable.


For Paul, 'nature' works differently for free Jewish men (torah-observers) and others (slaves, Gentiles, women), so that in Paul 'nature' is a differentiated rather than universal philosophical concept. Paul so differentiates natures according to theological considerations we might call narrative. Stories about God's relations with Israel set the context in which Paul's use of 'nature' makes sense. 'Nature' is a character in a story of captivity observed in the light of release (Rom 1:17–18). The eucharist mobilizes the related concept of 'body' to enact a parallel story of captivity and release – the binding of Isaac and the crucifixion of Jesus – in which God exposes the worst that human beings can do (child sacrifice, execution of innocents) so that it can be healed. Nature is a character in a story liturgically enacted in baptism, eucharist, marriage. The character's changing circumstances are plotted by the Spirit in traditions Syriac, Latin, Greek, German, and Russian. (Nature is perfected by grace.) No mere scenery, nature is dynamic. A creature of the Spirit, it is to grow. Ontologies of nature depend on the narrative for which they seek conditions. This narrative requires a dynamic and differentiated account so that nature can serve the promise of blessing.


A decline in the prevalence of accelerated hypertension and hypertensive emergencies has been due, in part, to increased awareness, improved detection, and more aggressive therapy. Yet, such emergencies continue to present a challenge to the emergency-room and primary-care physician. This compendium reviews the agents currently available for parenteral administration to manage the hypertensive emergency. Those conditions most commonly associated with such emergencies and a plan for initial management are also presented. The indications, advantages, and disadvantages of each agent, as well as dosage recommendations and available preparations, are considered. The management of urgent hypertension with selected orally administered drugs is also discussed.


The paper presents a class of approximation algorithms that extend the idea of bounded-complexity inference, inspired by successful constraint propagation algorithms, to probabilistic inference and combinatorial optimization. The idea is to bound the dimensionality of dependencies created by inference algorithms. This yields a parameterized scheme, called mini-buckets, that offers adjustable trade-off between accuracy and efficiency. The minibucket approach to optimization problems, such as finding the most probable explanation (MPE) in Bayesian networks, generates both an approximate solution and bounds on the solution quality. We present empirical results demonstrating successful performance of the proposed approximation scheme for the MPE task, both on randomly generated problems and on realistic domains such as medical diagnosis and probabilistic decoding.


This article presents a new continuous-time modelling framework for multivariate time series of counts which have an infinitely divisible marginal distribution. The model is based on a mixed moving average process driven by Levy noise - called a trawl process - where the serial correlation and the cross-sectional dependence are modelled independently of each other. Such processes can exhibit short or long memory. We derive a stochastic simulation algorithm and a statistical inference method for such processes. The new methodology is then applied to high frequency financial data, where we investigate the relationship between the number of limit order submissions and deletions in a limit order book.


We consider optimal numeric planning with numeric conditions consisting of linear expressions of numeric state variables and actions that increase or decrease numeric state variables by constant quantities. We build on previous research to introduce a new variant of the numeric hmax heuristic based on the delete-relaxed version of such planning tasks. Although our hmax heuristic is inadmissible, it yields a numeric version of the classical LM-cut heuristic which is admissible. Further, we prove that our LM-cut heuristic neither dominates nor is dominated by the existing numeric heuristic hmax(hbd). We show that admissibility also holds when integrating the numeric cuts into the operator-counting (OC) heuristic producing an admissible numeric version of the OC heuristic. Through experiments, we demonstrate that both these heuristics compete favorably with the state-of-the-art heuristics: in particular, while sometimes expanding more nodes than other heuristics, numeric OC solves 19 more problem instances than the next closest heuristic.


Abstract In a democracy, citizens are expected to have political opinions. Previous research has shown that citizens, in part, form their opinions by following cues from political parties. Building on this literature, this article argues that these cueing effects are the result of individuals identifying with political parties, leading to parties as credible sources and alignment of attitudes to maintain in-group coherence (motivated reasoning). However, party cues can only be successful when individuals are actually exposed to these cues, which previous research has not explicitly studied. Using survey data (N = 20,893) collected from 21 EU member states, this study shows that cueing effects indeed depend on the strength of party identification and the degree of exposure. These results demonstrate the contingent nature of party cueing effects which are also changing as party loyalties decrease.


The content and composition of lipids in Calanus euxinus females were studied in cyclonic and anticyclonic regions in the southern Black Sea during the period of persistent density stratification (September 1996). The lipid content of C. euxinus from cyclonic regions was greater than of individuals from anticyclonic regions (average 101.9 and 58.8 μg ind. -1 , respectively). Total lipid content (mainly wax esters, 70 to 72 %, and triacylglycerols, 8 to 13 %) of female C. euxinus was correlated with chlorophyll a (chl a) (mean integrated concentration) (r = 0.92, p < 0.005). The high correlation with chl a was shown also for wax ester content, used as a long-term index of food supply (r = 0.89, p < 0.05). The correlation between triacylglycerol content (a short-term index) and chl a was not significant (r = 0.66, p < 0.2). In cyclonic regions the mean integrated chl a concentration (0.38 mg m -3 ) (as an indicator of phytoplankton food biomass) was 1.7-fold higher than in anticyclonic areas. The same trend occurred for mean integrated concentrations of nitrate and phosphate (0.996 and 0.299 μM in cyclonic and 0.438 and 0.061 μM in anticyclonic regions, respectively) in the chl a containing layer. Thus, conditions for total primary productivity in cyclonic regions were more favorable than in anticyclonic ones. This was consistent with lipid levels in female C. euxinus.


Inflammation represents an important factor leading to metabolic imbalance within the intervertebral disc (IVD), conducive to degenerative changes. Therefore, a thorough knowledge of the IVD and endplate (EP) cell behaviour in such pathological environments is essential when designing regenerative therapeutic strategies. The present study aimed at assessing the molecular response of the IVD constitutive nucleus pulposus (NPCs)-, annulus fibrosus (AFCs)- and endplate (EPCs)-derived cells to interleukin (IL)-1β treatment, through large-scale, high-throughput microarray and protein analysis, identifying the differentially expressed genes and released proteins. Overall, the inflammatory stimulus downregulated stemness genes while upregulating pro-inflammatory, pro-angiogenic and catabolic genes, including matrix metalloproteases, which were not balanced by a concomitant upregulation of their inhibitors. Upregulation of anti-inflammatory and anabolic tumour necrosis factor inducible gene 6 protein (TNFAIP6), of IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) (at gene and protein levels) and of trophic insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) was also observed in all cell types; IGF1 particularly in AFCs. An overall inhibitory effect of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) signal was observed in all cell types; however, EPCs showed the strongest anti-inflammatory behaviour. AFCs and EPCs shared the ability to limit the activation of the signalling mediated by specific chemokines. AFCs showed a slightly senescent attitude, with a downregulation of genes related to DNA repair or pro-mitosis. Results allowed for the identification of specific molecular targets in IVD and EP cells that respond to an inflammatory environment. Such targets can be either silenced (when pathological targets) or stimulated to counteract the inflammation.


Problem description:
This research is done in the general hospital Reinier de Graaf Groep (RdGG). RdGG, just
like many hospitals, has to deal with the problem of bed blocking: patients who need no
further medical treatment are waiting in the hospital for aftercare.
The congestion of departments by bed blocking has a negative impact on both costs and
service level of the provided care. Contradicting financial objectives of nursing homes and
hospitals make this a continuous problem. Nursing homes aim at maximising bed
occupation, while hospitals aim for maximum bed availability at nursing homes.
Increased availability of nursing home beds allows patients who do not require further
medical care to go to a nursing home, so it becomes possible to admit new patients in
the hospital. The impact of every extra day spent in the hospital increases with the trend
of decreasing lengths of stay in hospital care.
Bed blocking can be caused by lack of transparency and bad communication processes
between the hospital and cooperating nursing homes. On the other hand, lack of
available nursing home beds causes bed blocking. Fluctuations in demand and patient
preferences for specific nursing homes, in turn, hinder balancing occupation. In the
literature, little research is available on how to integrate care needs that span over
different care providers. We study the dynamics of a smooth and timely flow of patients
from a hospital towards nursing homes.
Objective:
To design a tool that allows analysis of various configurations of transmural networks, in
order to minimise bed blocking.
The study explores interventions of bed reservation by hospitals and of (temporary)
reallocating capacity to other patient categories. The main performance indicators we use
are waiting time (bed blocking days), occupation of nursing home departments and
throughput of nursing homes.


To obtain graphite/copper composites with excellent microstructures, preparation process including mechanical milling, compact compressing, vacuum hot pressed sintering and hot extrusion had been put forward. Effect of milling time and hot extrusion on microstructures of composites had been analyzed and investigated by optical microscope. The results show that after mechanical milling, refined and uniform distributed graphite phase could optimize microstructures of composites. While increasing extrusion ratio, graphite particles and graphite fibers in longitudinal cross-section of composites could be refined effectively. Under of the same conditions, grain size of copper in graphite/copper composites is larger when raising extrusion temperature.


Facial caricature is an art form of drawing faces in an exaggerated way to convey humor or sarcasm. In this paper, we propose the first Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) for unpaired photo-to-caricature translation, which we call "CariGANs". It explicitly models geometric exaggeration and appearance stylization using two components: CariGeoGAN, which only models the geometry-to-geometry transformation from face photos to caricatures, and CariStyGAN, which transfers the style appearance from caricatures to face photos without any geometry deformation. In this way, a difficult cross-domain translation problem is decoupled into two easier tasks. The perceptual study shows that caricatures generated by our CariGANs are closer to the hand-drawn ones, and at the same time better persevere the identity, compared to state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, our CariGANs allow users to control the shape exaggeration degree and change the color/texture style by tuning the parameters or giving an example caricature.


In this paper, I study risk-neutral probability densities regarding future Libor rates denominated in British pounds, euros, and US dollars as implied by option prices. I apply Breeden and Litzenberger's (1978) result regarding the relationship between option prices and implied probabilities for the underlying to estimate full probability density functions for future Libor rates. I use these estimates in case studies, detailing the evolution of probabalistic expectations for future Libor rates over the course of several important market events. Next, I compute distributional moments from density functions estimated for fixed horizons and test for Granger causality across the three Libor rate distributions considering their mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis. I further break these relationships down by various fixed horizon lengths, as well as the slope and curvature in the term structure of moments over different horizons. The results show a rich interconnectedness among these three Libor rates that extends well beyond levels of future mean expectations.


Revised and updated - a detailed but straightforward explanation of the law relating to compulsory purchase and compensation in Scotland. The author also considers the wider area of compensation for depreciation in the value of property caused by government actions and decisions falling short of expropriation. He sets out not only to state the law, but to explain how it has emerged in its present form and to consider where change is desirable.


With Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN 2015) ushering market integration, including free exchange of human resources among member countries, employer expectations from university graduates adapt to the increasingly competitive demands of the global workplace. Such development makes more urgent the alignment of academic and professional prioritization of work-related skills. Specifically, this study compares the oral communication skills deemed essential by accounting supervisors and the proficiency of entry-level accountants based on their self-assessment. To achieve this research objective, two questionnaires were prepared and administered through electronic mail-one for 100 accounting supervisors and another for 100 entry-level accountants, both randomly selected from the Big Four Audit Firms in the Philippines. Respondents rated each oral communication skill based on essentiality and proficiency, respectively. The results suggest that listening is the most essential oral communication skill in the work of new accountants. Also, entry-level accountants perceive themselves as "very proficient" in four out of five oral communication skills which accounting supervisors consider "highly essential." The ability to "describe situations accurately and precisely to superiors" is the only highly essential skill that the entry-level accountants need to improve. Generally, the findings reflect positively on the work-readiness of the entry-level accountant respondents in relation to oral communication skills.


It is well established that the benefits obtained from exercising are enhanced if a sufficiently strong cardiovascular response is achieved as result of the exercise sessions. Frequently, the achievement of that critical exercise level is gauged by estimation of the subject's heart rate and comparison to an appropriate "target rate". This paper explores the use of computerized algorithms to assess the changes in the Blood Volume Pulse (BVP) waveform recorded using an infrared finger photoplethysmograph (PPG) at different points in an exercise session, as an alternative (and more comprehensive) evaluation of the cardiovascular response due to physical exercise. The paper focuses on the quantification of a feature of the BVP waveform called the "Dicrotic Notch", which has been observed to reduce its depth as exercise progresses. This paper reports on the comparison of three computerized approaches designed to reflect the BVP waveform changes through a single parameter, which could be obtained automatically from the digitized BVP signal. Key-Words: Exercise Evaluation, Photoplethysmograph, PPG, Blood Volume Pulse, BVP, Dicrotic Notch, Non-invasive monitoring


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of dynamic capability (DC) of organizations on international expansion and further investigate the moderating role of environmental dynamism in the same context.

Design/methodology/approach
Based on the dynamic capability view (DCV) theory and related literature on international business strategy, a theoretical model is developed. This model is subsequently validated with the structural equation modelling technique through a survey of 324 respondents from Indian organizations. The study also examines the moderating impacts using the multigroup analysis method.

Findings
The study finds that organizations' sensing, seizing and transformational capabilities impact positively and significantly on international marketing capability, as well as on technological innovation capability, which positively and significantly impacts organizations' international expansion ability. The study also finds that there is a significant moderating impact of environmental dynamism on organizations' international expansion.

Research limitations/implications
This study has provided a unique theoretical model which can explain the factors impacting organizations' ability toward international expansion. The study also provides vital insights and directions to practitioners, researchers and academicians on the international business strategy for the expansion of organizations. The theoretical model, however, cannot be generalized, as data was taken only from Indian firms.

Originality/value
The study adds to the body of knowledge of international business strategy, international marketing strategy and technological innovation, adding to the scant research on the relationship between organizations' DC and the international expansion strategy through a unique and tested model with an explanative power of 73%.


Boys identified as hard-to-manage at age 4 and age-matched controls were assessed on laboratory measures of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity at ages 4, 6, and 9. Hard-to-manage boys still exhibited some behavioral difficulties at age 9, but were not more inattentive or impulsive than controls. Boys with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) at age 9 showed performance deficits in each symptom-related domain relative to problem boys without ADD and controls. However, hard-to-manage problem boys with and without ADD did not differ on most earlier measures of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, suggesting that symptoms specific to ADD emerged more clearly between ages 6 and 9.


Abstract Electron microproble X-ray analysis was used to determine the origin and composition of particulate matter found in hailstones produced during severe storms in the midwestern and central United States. Ratios of aluminum, potassium, calcium, sodium and chlorine X-ray counts to silicon counts were measured for soil samples collected on the ground and compared with ratios for aerosols collected by aircraft and for the particles found in hailstones. Hailstones had higher ratios of K/Si and Ca/Si and lower ratios of Al/Si than the ratios found in soils. Chlorine (absent in dry soil particles) and sodium were found in the hailstones, suggesting that these elements may belong to a compound that is marine in origin.


This paper presents a general framework for solving the low-rank and/or sparse matrix minimization problems, which may involve multiple nonsmooth terms. The iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLSs) method is a fast solver, which smooths the objective function and minimizes it by alternately updating the variables and their weights. However, the traditional IRLS can only solve a sparse only or low rank only minimization problem with squared loss or an affine constraint. This paper generalizes IRLS to solve joint/mixed low-rank and sparse minimization problems, which are essential formulations for many tasks. As a concrete example, we solve the Schatten-p norm and ℓ2,q-norm regularized low-rank representation problem by IRLS, and theoretically prove that the derived solution is a stationary point (globally optimal if p, q ≥ 1). Our convergence proof of IRLS is more general than previous one that depends on the special properties of the Schatten-p norm and ℓ2,q-norm. Extensive experiments on both synthetic and real data sets demonstrate that our IRLS is much more efficient.


https://doi.org/10.25891/5e14-nf34 ABSTRACT SUMMIT-P consists of nine participating institutions working toward common goals but from unique perspectives. Evaluating such a large-scale project with diverse stakeholders has presented challenges. For one, evaluation on this scale necessitates a team effort rather than a single evaluator. Communication is key among the evaluators as well as among the project players at large. Participation and reliable, timely feedback from participants are perhaps the most important issues while also posing some of our greatest challenges. We present strategies we developed to counteract these challenges. In particular, we discuss the development of an assessment tracking system used to not only monitor responses but to also promote an increase in on-time responses. We conclude with a discussion of some lessons learned about evaluating largescale, multi-site projects to share with other evaluators and PIs alike.


Mad weave (anyam gila) is a type of basketry originating in Indonesian area. There is very little literature on the technique, and it is not widely used, but it produces a very pleasing fabric, with a symmetry (p6, or 632 in orbifold notation) that makes it suitable for the construction of polyhedra with triangular and hexagonal faces. Unlike baskets (which cannot be used if they have no opening) woven polyhedra are closed structures, and the weaving elements form closed loops. If the polyhedron is woven on the skew to the edges of the faces the weaving elements in general follow complicated paths that are difficult to predict, but on the tetrahedron they are quite straightforward. A skew mad weave tetrahedron with a non-trivial colour pattern is described.


We use three general equilibrium frameworks with jobs and unemployed workers to study the effects of government mandated unemployment insurance (UI) and employment protection (EP). To illuminate the forces in these models, we study how UI and EP affect outcomes when there is higher 'turbulence' in the sense of worse skill transition probabilities for workers who suffer involuntary layoffs. Matching and search-island models have labour market frictions and incomplete markets. The representative family model with employment lotteries has no labour market frictions and complete markets. The adverse welfare state dynamics coming from high UI indexed to past earnings that were isolated by Ljungqvist and Sargent (1998) are so strong that they determine outcomes in all three frameworks. Another force stressed by Ljungqvist and Sargent (2005), through which higher layoff taxes suppress frictional unemployment in less turbulent times, prevails in the models with labour market frictions, but not in the frictionless representative family model. In addition, the high aggregate labour supply elasticity that emerges from employment lotteries and complete insurance markets in the representative family model makes it impossible to include generous government-supplied unemployment insurance in that model without getting the unrealistic result that economic activity virtually shuts down.


To apply nano-structured materials in micro/nano system, understanding of the mechanical properties of nano-structured materials is required. In order to perform the mechanical test of nano-structured materials, the mechanical testing system was installed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The nano-manipulator was set up in the SEM, and the force sensor formed as a cantilever was mounted on the nano-manipulator. Then, the force sensor can be controlled by using the nano-manipulator. The nano-structured materials were dispersed on the transmission electron microscope (TEM) grid, and both end of the nano-structured materials were welded on the TEM grid and the tip of force sensor by exposing E-beam of the SEM. The tensile tests for carbon nanotubes, ZnO nanorods and ZnS nanowires were carried out in the SEM, respectively. The load response during the mechanical test was obtained by force sensor. The dimension of nano-structured materials was obtained by determining the configuration measured from the TEM. And, strain-stress curve was obtained after mechanical test. The elastic modulus of the nano-structured materials after the tensile tests were calculated and compared. The elastic modulus for multi-walled carbon nanotubes, ZnO nanorod and ZnS nanowire were ~0.98 TPa, ~59 and ~39 GPa, respectively.


We investigate whether households trade off spending on food and spending on heating. We use a large sample of households from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland over the period 1974-2007. We find evidence that low-income households reduce food expenditure during periods of colder than average weather. In contrast, wealthier households increase spending on food during colder than average weather. Further we investigate the efficacy of the Winter Fuel Payment, a social program designed to mitigate the effects of energy costs.


Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a chronic disease which causes visual impairment in industrialized countries. Automatic detection of DR early markers can contribute to the diagnosis and screening of the disease. The aim is to automatically detect early signs of red lesions. So the need arises for fast and efficient system which detect whether the patient is suffering from diabetic retinopathy or not. Structure and location of blood vessels and optic disk play important role in accurate detection and classification of dark and bright lesions for early detection of DR. The developed method detect only the red lesions, by using Gabor filter, morphological Top-hat transformation, and entropy filter for the same then by combining the value of Gabor filter response and entropy filter response the red lesions can be obtained and from the subtraction of top-hat value from the obtained red lesions the spurious regions can be removed. Then its performance is evaluated, the same is done by the matched filter instead of Gabor filter for the blood vessel segmentation since the matched filter has been widely used in the detection of blood vessels of the human retina digital image.


We develop a unified approach to classical, quantum and post-quantum steering. The framework is based on uncharacterised (black-box) parties performing quantum measurements on their share of a (possibly unphysical) quantum state, and its starting point is the characterisation of general no-signalling assemblages via non-positive local hidden-state models, which will be defined in this work. By developing a connection to entanglement witnesses, this formalism allows for new definitions of families of assemblages, in particular via (i) non-decomposable positive maps and (ii) unextendible product bases. The former proves to be useful for constructing post-quantum assemblages with the built-in feature of yielding only quantum correlations in Bell experiments, while the latter always gives certifiably post-quantum assemblages. Finally, our framework is equipped with an inherent quantifier of post-quantum steering, which we call the negativity of post-quantum steering. We postulate that post-quantum steering should not increase under one-way quantum operations from the steered parties to the steering parties, and we show that, in this sense, the negativity of post-quantum steering is a convex post-quantum-steering monotone.


OBJECTIVE
Evidence shows that defensins are involved in the pathogenesis of SLE and ANCA-associated small vasculitis (AASV). The copy number variation of DEFB4 has been proposed to be susceptible to inflammatory disorders. This study aims to investigate whether the DEFB4 genomic copy number variations associate with the susceptibility to these two autoimmune diseases.

METHODS
A total of 1178 Chinese people were enrolled, including panel 1 comprising 240 SLE patients and 275 matched controls, panel 2 comprising 303 SLE patients and 248 matched controls and panel 3 with 112 AASV patients. The DEFB4 copy number was typed by a paralogue ratio test (PRT), and all the subjects in panel 1 were also typed using the restriction enzyme digest variant ratio (REDVR) for validation.

RESULTS
The results from PRT and REDVR were highly concordant (R = 0.911, P = 3.85 × 10(-199)) and allowed copy numbers to be assigned into integer classes with high confidence. Comparison of mean DEFB4 copy number revealed a small increase in cases with SLE both in Panel 1 (P = 0.063) and Panel 2 (P = 0.017). When pooling panels 1 and 2 together, the association was reinforced (P = 0.002) in SLE. Such association was also observed in AASV (P = 0.009).

CONCLUSION
We found that a higher DEFB4 gene copy number was associated with both SLE and AASV.