In the current political climate, debate continues at the state and federal level over the role of government in containing health care costs and ensuring coverage for all Americans. Specifically, in a survey done in March 2019 by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a majority of Americans (56%) supported a national health plan.[1] Little consensus, however, exists on how to achieve national healthcare. Congress introduced eight different bills so far in 2019 proposing different plans for universal coverage. The Congressional Budget Office also issued a report on single-payer plans early this month (look for coverage of federal efforts toward universal coverage in future posts).


Electricity wholesale markets are undergoing rapid transformation due to the increasing share of distributed and variable renewable energy sources (vRES) penetrating the market. The increasing shares of stochastic wind generation bring along greater deviations between the real time power generation and the day-ahead forecasts of power supply. It is therefore reasonable to assume that trading activity is shifting more from the traditionally dominant day-ahead market into the intra-day and regulating power markets. This is because predicting vRES power generation closer to the actual delivery is more reliable and because power generators are motivated to avoid high imbalance costs. We study price spreads between day-ahead, intra-day and regulating power markets in three Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) during 2013-2017. We estimate vector autoregressive (VAR) models to study the interrelationships between the price spreads and the effects of wind forecast and demand forecast errors, and other exogenous variables, such as transmission congestions and hydrological conditions, on price spreads in different Nord Pool bidding areas. We use the variation in the shares of wind power between bidding areas to analyse the impacts of increased shares of wind power on different market places. We find that wind forecast errors do affect price spreads in areas with large shares of wind power generation. Moreover, demand forecast errors have an impact on almost all price spreads, except in areas with relatively low consumption. Our results indicate that increasing shares of wind power are, indeed, changing the relevance of different market places. Markets closer to real time are playing more important role than in the past.


This paper proposes two interference mitigation strategies that adjust the maximum transmit power of femtocell users to suppress the cross-tier interference at a macrocell base station (BS). The open-loop and the closed-loop control suppress the cross-tier interference less than a fixed threshold and an adaptive threshold based on the noise and interference (NI) level at the macrocell BS, respectively. Simulation results show that both schemes effectively compensate the uplink throughput degradation of the macrocell BS and that the closed-loop control provides better femtocell throughput than the open-loop control at a minimal cost of macrocell throughput.


From February 1974 through April 1975, ten patients have had a Scott urinary sphincter prosthesis implanted for the relief of urinary incontinence. In nine of the patients, incontinence was due to trauma of the sphincter, and in one patient, incontinence was due to a neurogenic bladder. Four patients have been totally continent following operation and, thus far, have not required additional operative procedures. Two additional patients were continent after the initial implant, but incontinence recurred because of mechanical failure of the device. Both patients are again continent following replacement of the defective portion of the prosthesis. Four patients have been classified as failures. Infection was the cause of failure in three of these patients, and in the fourth patient with a neurogenic bladder, failure was due to uncontrollable detrusor hyperreflexia.


We present the ADaptive Adversarial Imitation Learning (ADAIL) algorithm for learning adaptive policies that can be transferred between environments of varying dynamics, by imitating a small number of demonstrations collected from a single source domain. This is an important problem in robotic learning because in real world scenarios 1) reward functions are hard to obtain, 2) learned policies from one domain are difficult to deploy in another due to varying source to target domain statistics, 3) collecting expert demonstrations in multiple environments where the dynamics are known and controlled is often infeasible. We address these constraints by building upon recent advances in adversarial imitation learning; we condition our policy on a learned dynamics embedding and we employ a domain-adversarial loss to learn a dynamics-invariant discriminator. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated on simulated control tasks with varying environment dynamics and the learned adaptive agent outperforms several recent baselines.


The Model Graphs are used extensively to facilitate the communication and comprehension of quantitative information, perhaps because they seem to exploit natural properties of our visual system such as the ability to process large amounts of information in parallel. Rather than a holistic pattern recognition process, however, research has found that graph comprehension is a complex, interactive process akin to text comprehension. Viewers form a mental model of the quantitative information displayed in the graph through serial, iterative cycles of identifying and relating the graphic patterns to associated variables. Furthermore, graph comprehension is not only constrained by bottom-up perceptual features of the graphical display, but is also influenced by top-down factors such as the viewer's expectations about, or familiarity with, the graph's content. Finally, individual differences in graph comprehension skill interact with top-down and bottomup influences such that highly skilled graph viewers are less influenced by both the bottom up visual characteristics, and the top-down semantic content.


Social researchers have largely used the framework of self-surveillance to describe the experience of pregnant women within a social context characterised by risk avoidance for the sake of their baby. However, men's positions regarding the risk discourses surrounding alcohol use during pregnancy and their engagement in their partners' regulation of abstinence remain unclear. Using a socio-cultural approach to risk perception, this study contributes to the understanding of the lay management of health-related risk as a relational issue by considering the couple relationship as a significant context that shapes responses to risk in everyday life. In this article, I explore the woman's and her partner's management of the risks surrounding alcohol consumption during pregnancy. This study draws on joint interviews with 30 first-time expectant couples conducted in 2014 in Switzerland. I found that all the women's changes of their drinking had been their personal choice and had been seldom discussed with their partners. While women's responses to risk discourses reflected their engagement in self-surveillance, most of the men were actively involved in their partners' self-regulation, in terms of support for the transition to abstinence, endorsement of maternal responsibility, and monitoring the woman's behaviour. I show that the management of the risks related to alcohol consumption was a matter of co-surveillance, rather than of self-surveillance. Although co-surveillance was most often experienced as shared responsibility, some couples experienced conflicts that emphasised the moral meaning of risk related to alcohol consumption during pregnancy.


Restructuring representations in analogy making by children: the role of cognitive flexibility Jean-Pierre Thibaut LEAD Robert French LEAD Yannick Gerard LEAD Abstract: In classical A:B::C:D analogies, it is often assumed that participants first find a relation between A and B, which is then transferred to C and D. By contrast, we hypothesized that the first interpretation of A-B must sometimes be later revised, given the nature of C and the D available in the solution set. We hypothesized that young children (5-6 year-olds) would encounter difficulties when restructuring is necessary because restructuring requires cognitive flexibility which is less developed in young children. In an A:B::C:D task, we compared analogies requiring restructuring with analogies that did not. We also compared analogies based on weakly semantically associated pairs (e.g., child-bed) with analogies based on strongly semantically associated pairs (e.g., dog-bone). Results revealed an interaction in which the difference between restructuring and no restructuring was significant only for analogies based on weak semantic associations. They were discussed in terms of executive functions.


Microparticles (MPs), small membrane-derived vesicles, are derived from many cell types and released into the circulation. Microparticles can express antigens, and contain cell surface proteins, cytoplasmic contents, and nuclear components from their cell of origin that determines their composition, characterization, and transfer of biologic information. Certain prompts for this release include shear stress, complement activation, proapoptotic stimulation, cellular damage, or agonist interaction with cell surface receptors. Release can be physiologic or pathologic and is associated with proinflammatory and procoagulant effects and has been implicated in thrombotic states. Microparticles also contribute to systemic inflammation and cardiovascular, hematologic, and oncologic disease states. The study of MPs in human medicine is rapidly advancing and extends into the physiology of health, the pathophysiology of disease, and the role of MPs in transfusion medicine. In veterinary medicine, published work on MPs has been limited to the area of inherited disorders, blood storage, and leukoreduction (LR). Microparticle research is still in its infancy, and this review should be seen as a snapshot of what is currently known. As research continues important limitations, including variations in preanalytic variables such as collection, storage, or centrifugation, and limitations of quantitation are coming to the forefront. Correlation of quantitation of MPs with assays of activity will hopefully shed light on the true nature of MPs in health and disease. This review will focus on the role of cellular exocytic vesiculation in health, disease, and transfusion medicine.


Abstract The Nterminal propeptides of cysteine proteinases play regulatory roles in the folding and stability of their catalytic domains, as well as being potent and highly specific inhibitors of their parental mature enzymes. Cysteine proteinases play a major role in the biology of the parasitic trematode Fasciola hepatica; in particular, this organism secretes significant amounts of cathepsin L enzymes. The isolated propeptide of F. hepatica cathepsin L1 functioned as a chaperone for the mature enzyme in renaturation experiments. A double point mutation (N70I/F72I) within the GxNxFxD motif of the propeptide affected its conformation and markedly decreased its affinity for the mature enzyme. When this mutation was introduced into preprocathepsin L1 expressed in yeast, the secretion of active enzyme dropped dramatically. However, significant enzyme activity was recovered from the culture supernatants after denaturation and renaturation in the presence of native propeptide. Thus, the variant prosegment gave rise to an enzyme with altered conformation, which could be refolded to the active form with the assistance of the native propeptide.


Growing cities are increasing the demand for goods carrying traffic to function well with other traffic. The number of zones for unloading goods in the centre of Linkoping is small compared to the number of delivery addresses and the number of goods distributors. The attendant phenomena are congestion and costs of congestion. Therefore the local network for freight forwarders in Linkoping has taken the initiative to the SAMLIC project. SAMLIC stands for Coordinated Retail Distribution in Linkoping City. The aim of SAMLIC is to create an economically and logistically efficient system for goods distribution that is persistent and friendly to the environment. Economic profitability is neccessary for a system with a joint venture in coordinated distribution. The savings with coordinated distribution for the freight forwarders must be of such a dimension that they find it profitable to join instead of delivering the goods by themselves. During a trial period of nine weeks in the spring of 2004 there was a coordinated distribution to the centre of Linkoping. Three freight forwarders took part in this project. The experience of the trial shows that the needed number of trucks decreased by 33 %, the total time for the distribution decreased by 15-20 % and the total driving kilometers in the centre decreased by at least 50 %.


In 1988 American Express fully deployed for U.S. Personal and Gold Card Products, the Authorizer's Assistant (AA), a knowledge-based system complement on-line credit authorizations. Historically, the AA has gone through two major phases, the AA "Pilot" and the AA "Rollout". The goal of the AA Pilot was two fold: to prove that Artificial Intelligence has a place in American Express (not necessarily to prove any particular hardware or software product) and to develop the expertise associated with credit authorizations. Once the business case was proven based on the results of the AA Pilot, management i vested the funds required to initiate the AA Rollout phase, the goal being to fully deploy the AA in an IBM production setting. A significant component of the AA Rollout was the system integration into the IBM mainframe environment.


Recent studies have used import data to assess the impact of foreign varieties on prices and welfare for a home country. The reliance on import data has a number of limitations. First, these papers rely on goods categories defined by the Harmonized System. Second, they define varieties using the Armington assumption that all imports coming from a particular country are one unique variety. Third, they ignore variety changes that may occur through foreign affiliate activity. In this paper, we revisit this literature by employing a detailed market-based data set on the U.S. automobile market that allows us to define goods varieties at a more precise level, as well as discern location of production and ownership of varieties. We show that estimated variety changes and their impacts on U.S. prices and welfare differ markedly for automobiles depending on whether one uses the standard import data or our more detailed market-based data. The import data and Armington assumption hide significant net variety change leading to a downward bias in the effects of net variety change, with implied welfare benefits only half what we find with our market-based data. We also show that the welfare gains from all foreign-owned varieties (both imported and from foreign affiliates) are well over 50% larger than that stemming from imported varieties alone.


Typhoon Jongdari (2018) had an unusual looping path before making landfall in Japan, which posed a forecasting challenge for operational numerical models. The impacts of an upper-tropospheric cold low (UTCL) on the track and intensity of Jongdari are investigated using numerical simulations. The storm track and intensity are well simulated in the control experiment using the GFS analysis as the initial and boundary conditions. In the sensitivity experiment (RCL), the UTCL is removed from the initial-condition fields using the piecewise potential vorticity inversion (PPVI), and both the track and intensity of Jongdari change substantially. The diagnosis of potential vorticity tendency suggests that horizontal advection is the primary contributor for storm motion. Flow decomposition using the PPVI further demonstrates that the steering flow is strongly affected by the UTCL, and the looping path of Jongdari results from the Fujiwhara interaction between the typhoon and UTCL. Jongdari first intensifies and then weakens in the control experiment, consistent with the observation. In contrast, it undergoes a gradual intensification in the RCL experiment. The UTCL contributes to the intensification of Jongdari at the early stage by enhancing the eddy flux convergence of angular momentum and reducing inertial stability, and it contributes to the storm weakening via enhanced vertical wind shear at the later stage when moving closer to Jongdari. Different sea surface temperatures and other environmental conditions along the different storm tracks also contribute to the intensity differences between the control and the RCL experiments, indicating the indirect impacts of the UTCL on the typhoon intensity.


A facile low-temperature hydrothermal process to synthesize α-Fe/Fe(3)O(4) nanocomposite is reported. TEM and HRTEM revealed that the α-Fe/Fe(3)O(4) nanocomposite was composed of catenulate α-Fe and lamellar structured Fe(3)O(4). The weight ratio of α-Fe in the α-Fe/Fe(3)O(4) nanocomposite is 35.6%. The α-Fe/Fe(3)O(4) nanocomposite demonstrates an extremely high Congo red (CR) removal efficiency from waste water showing almost complete removal within 3 min. For 100 mg L(-1) of CR aqueous solution, the maximum CR removal can reach 1297.06 mg g(-1). The large saturation magnetization (80.5 emu g(-1)) of the nanocomposite allows fast separation of α-Fe/Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles loaded with CR from the liquid suspension. The synergistic effect of the nanocomposite may contribute to the enhanced CR removal ability, because the CR can be removed by reduction reaction and adsorption at the same time. Based on the degradation products identified by UV-Vis spectra, XRD and FTIR spectra, a possible degradation mechanism of CR on the α-Fe/Fe(3)O(4) composite was proposed. The significantly reduced treatment time required to remove the CR and the simple, low-cost and pollution-free preparation method make α-Fe/Fe(3)O(4) nanocomposite promising for highly efficient removal of dyes from waste water.


Abstract Late Jurassic sandstones form important potential reservoirs within the West Shetland Basin. These strata are thin (4–84 m) and broadly equivalent in age to the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. They were deposited predominantly in deep marine environments although subaerial and shallow marine facies are also present. The Rona Sandstone forms the lowermost of three sandstone units within the Upper Jurassic succession. Data from 23 exploration wells show, however, that it is a heterogeneous unit ranging from coarse-grained pebbly sandstones to mudstones and, because of this wide lithological variation, the Rona Member is considered a more appropriate name. The facies identified (cohesionless debris flow, high and low density turbidites, upper and lower shoreface) and their vertical transitions are considered typical of fan delta deposition, initially in a subaerial environment and later under progressively more marine conditions. Coarse-grained sediments (debris flow and high density turbidites) of the Rona Member are restricted to isolated topographic lows within Lewisianoid basement whereas finergrained sediments (low density turbidites) have a wide distribution across the basin and cover much of the Rona Ridge. Previous models have suggested that the coarse-grained sediments were derived from active fault scarps. However, to explain the facies distribution it is suggested that footwall uplift on the Rona and Judd Faults (Rona Ridge and associated basement highs) was responsible for the supply of coarse-grained material to isolated fan deltas. Transgression eventually resulted in: flooding of the basement highs, cut off of sediment supply and deposition of finer-grained sediments. Deposition of the Rona Member is interpreted to have been controlled by the gradual transgression of residual islands of Lewisianoid basement.


Earlier intervention improves outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but existing identification tools are at the limits of standardization with 18-month-olds. We assessed potential behavioural markers of ASD at 18 months in a high-risk cohort of infant siblings of children with ASD. Prospective data were collected using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) on 155 infant siblings and 73 low-risk controls at 18 months. Infants were classified into three groups (ASD sibs, non-ASD sibs, controls) based on blind best-estimate diagnosis at age 3. Fisher's exact tests, followed by discriminant function analyses, revealed that the majority of informative ADOS items came from the social and behavioural domains, and AOSI items measuring behavioural reactivity and motor control contributed additional information. Findings highlight the importance of considering not only social-communication deficits, but also basic dimensions of temperament including state regulation and motor control when assessing toddlers with suspected ASD.


A set of experiments on fast ion redistribution was carried out in recent JET campaigns, in which the new fast ion loss detectors were used for the first time [1]. This paper reports on the experiments carried out with low density plasmas and high ICRH power, a scenario that allow large populations of highly energetic fast ions to be built up and a variety of instabilities to be destabilized. Fast ion losses were successfully measured and it could be confirmed they were effectively associated to MHD activity. Losses occurred at considerably high energies (of the order of few MeV) and two types of fast ions were identified by the gamma-ray diagnostics [2]: fast protons with an energetic tail in excess of 4.5 MeV due to ICRH tuned to a fundamental H-resonance in the centre of the plasmas and D-ions accelerated with second harmonic heating whose energies exceeded 0.5 MeV. Three types of losses were identified, one associated with sawtooth crashes, one associated with TAE and high frequency fishbones and a third group that seems to correlate with tornado modes. When tornado modes became unstable, a significant increase in the number of losses was measured and a change in both the energy and pitch angle of the lost ions was observed. In addition, it was also observed that the number of losses increased significantly with the ICRH power.


The article describes the controversy about the question whether statutory social health insurances are obliged to reimburse the costs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Next to the question whether the 'Bundesausschuss der Arzte und Krankenkassen' was entitled to decide it was highly controversial whether erectile dysfunction is a disease according to the laws of social insurance. This enforces more general considerations regarding the possibility to define disease and the relevancy of a concept of disease for the justification and limitation of socially financed services in medicine.


Duplex scanning with a combination of real-time and Doppler ultrasound is a noninvasive procedure used for the detection of deep vein thrombosis. The technique is described, its use in orthopaedic patients is discussed, and a plan of treatment based on duplex results is reported.


Great demand exists for more efficient design to protect delicate and serious structures such as nuclear plants, Power plants, Weapon Industries, weapons storage places, water retaining structures, & etc, against impact of kinetic missiles generated both accidentally and deliberately such as dynamic loading, incident occurs in nuclear plants, terrorist attack, Natural disasters like tsunami and etc., in various impact and blast scenarios for both civilian and military activities. In many cases, projectiles can be treated as rigid bodies when their damage and erosion are not severe. Due to the intricacy of the local impact damages, investigations are generally based on experimental data. Conclusions of the experimental observations are then used to guide engineering models. Local damages studies normally fall into three categories, i.e. empirical formulae based on data fitting, idealised analytical models based on physic laws and numerical simulations based on computational mechanics and material models. In the present study, 2D asymmetrical numerical simulation have done on concrete slab against the impact of  ogive nose hard missile of 26.90mm and 76.20mm diameter with CRH ratio 2.0 and 6.0 respectively, for penetration by using Concrete Damaged Plasticity Model, and ABAQUS/Explicit dynamic analysis in ABAQUS. It is found that the strains/stresses are induced in the concrete slab and a very nicely propagation of the stresses inside the  concrete slab in the form of waves, which is a clear indication for vibrations of the concrete. The lack of failure criterion in concrete damaged plasticity model does not allow the removal of elements during the analyses. This means that spalling, scabbing, and perforation cannot be modelled with the Concrete Damage Plasticity Model. The penetration depth results shows that the deeper penetration requires higher critical impact kinetic energies, and comparison shows the simulation results are more accurate than other formulae predicted results.


The production of fingerlings is an important link in the production chain of fish farming in the state of RS, generating income and employment. The aim of this study was to characterize the units producing fingerlings state of Rio Grande of South (RS). To both, was drafted a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions and close-ended. Sixteen out of eighteen hatcheries answered the form between September 2011 and February 2012. The analysis shows that silver catfish fingerlings (Rhamdia sp.) and grass carp (Ctenophynigodon idella) are the most produced by hatcheries visited. It was observed that there is no control of the quality and origin of animals are used as breeding stock. Therefore, it is suggested to carry out a breeding program for the development of improved strains for increased productivity of the species that are used in fish farming in the state. These observations reinforce the need of joint efforts among research, extension and government, in order to contribute to the improvement of this productive sector of the state of RS. However, the application of new production technologies and management that seek to reduce the costs of production must take into account the local reality of hatcheries.


The geyerophyllid rugose corals comprise several genera broadly distributed during the Middle .and Upper Carboniferous. Their specific and generic variability is so great that some authors have recently considered most of the geyerophyllids as synonyms of the genera Geyerophyllum or Kionophyllum . The, present paper analyses the relationships between the solitary geyerphyllid genera in order to prove whether they constitute a simple genus or a. true family. In the author's opinion, fully justified is their family status, viz. the Geyerophyllidae MlNATO,1955.


[1] We revisit and extend the 50 MHz radar aspect angle study made in Peru by Kudeki and Farley in 1985, taking advantage of upgraded facilities at Jicamarca. We discuss here (1) type 1 and 2 echoes from the electrojet region, (2) early evening echoes from somewhat above the electrojet, and (3) daytime "150 km" echoes from the ∼145 to 170 km altitude region. Our electrojet data (1) confirm the earlier results for weak type 2 conditions, namely, that the rms aspect angle θ rms decreases from about 0.3° at 99 km to slightly less than 0.2° at 108 km, and (2) provide much more information about the aspect angles of type 1 echoes and the apparent nonlinear interaction between type 1 waves and slower waves. Type 1 waves, with phase velocities near the ion-acoustic velocity, have θ rms decreasing from about 0.15° near 104 km to about 0.10° near 110 km. There is strong evidence that horizontally traveling type 1 waves in the upper midday electrojet, where upward electron density gradients are absent, can sometimes nonlinearly couple to slow, vertically traveling waves with aspect angles sometimes larger than 0.5°. In the early evening we often observe echoes in the 125-135 km region with θ rms < 0.05°. During daytime the relatively weak "150 km" echoes have even smaller θ rms At the end of the paper we discuss ideas concerning the nonlinear coupling of the plasma waves.


Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramic is considered as an attractive matrix for nuclear applications, such as inert matrix for the destruction of excess plutonium or good host material for nuclear waste storage. Some actinide elements in high-level radioactive wastes can be simulated by cerium as tetravalent actinide, and gadolinium as trivalent actinide or neutron absorber. The present work is focused on the diffusion study of Ce and Gd in YSZ single crystal and high density polycrystals. A thin film of Ce or Gd was deposited either by spin-coating method or by physical vapour deposition on the surface of polished samples. The diffusion experiments were performed from 1173 to 1673 K under air. The Ce or Gd diffusion profiles were determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry. The experiments led to the determination of effective diffusion coefficient, Deff, bulk and grain boundary diffusion coefficients, DB and DGB. The dependence of these diffusion coefficients on temperature is described by means of Arrhenius equations and the diffusivity is compared with literature.


William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520-1598), was the closest adviser to England's Queen Elizabeth I and-as this revealing and provocative biography shows-he was the driving force behind the Queen's reign for four decades. Cecil's impact on the development of the English state was deep and personal. A committed Protestant, he guided domestic and foreign affairs with the confidence of his religious conviction. Believing himself the divinely instigated protector of his monarch, he felt able to disobey her direct commands. He was uncompromising, obsessive, and supremely self-assured-a cunning politician as well as a consummate servant. This comprehensive biography gives proper weight to Cecil's formative years, his subtle navigation of the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, his lifelong enmity with Mary Queen of Scots, and his obsession with family dynasty. It also provides a fresh account of Elizabeth I and her reign, uncovering limitations and concerns about invasions, succession, and conspiracy. Intimate, authoritative, and enormously readable, this book redefines our understanding of the Elizabethan period.


The influence of phase transformation cycle times on the plasticity and microstructure of FeMnSiCrNi alloy was researched in this paper. The results show that phase transformation cycling can significantly improve the plasticity of the alloy. Plasticity is improved with the increase of cycles. The elongation gets to 87.6% after 5 cycles, it increases 150% compared with non-treated. The more cycle times, the grain is smaller. During the inverse transformation the second phase directional precipitation significantly harden austenite and improve the reversibility of stress-induced martensite. Due to interaction of the second phase strengthening and grain refinement, the plasticity and strength of alloy are both increased significantly. This method provides a new way for the realization of transformation superplasticity.


The figure of Lope de Aguirre proves to be particularly suggestive when considering the aspects related to concepts of authority and power in America during the second half of the 16th century. With the present work, we pretend to analyze the way of constructing the image of power in Relacion de todo lo que sucedio en la jornada de Amaga y Dorado of Lope de Aguirre, one of the maranones that took part in the journey. This text is a principle source of what occurred in the expedition. The characterization of the personalities illustrates the ideas concerning authority and power that the author and the protagonists of the journey had in mind.


Administrative law in Germany is traditionally influenced by the 'juristic method' (juristische Methode). This method is shaped by the concept of a systemic legal order and by the distinction between legislation (legal politics) and law application (legal dogmatics). It concentrates on the legal protection perspective and the 'legal act' (Rechtsakt) standing for the formal, binding, and intervening decision of an authority. However, since the early 1990s of the last century, a large group of more progressive German scholars is working on a reform concept in order to substitute the one-sided approach of the juristic method by a new approach denoted as the 'new administrative law science' (Neue Verwaltungsrechtswissenschaft). The new administrative law science is based on a more open, interdisciplinary method and a steering approach (Steuerungswissenschaft) focusing on decision making and on results ('products'). The following article comprises the most significant assumptions and ideas of this new scientific stream and provides a differentiated evaluation.


Volcanic eruptions are key drivers of climate variability, with complex environmental consequences at regional and local scales that are rarely documented in high-resolution sedimentary records. In this work we present the results of a 15 m long paleolake core (Pla de les Preses core, Vall d'en Bas, Girona, NE Spain) covering the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Multiproxy analyses including chronostratigraphy, sedimentology, micropalaeontology and geochemistry are used to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental framework of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition and to detect the youngest Holocene volcanic eruptions in the Garrotxa Volcanic Field (GVF) and the Iberian Peninsula. The studied sedimentary record covers the last ca. 13.5 ka cal BP and was punctuated by several rapid climatic changes including the 9.3, 8.2 and 7.1 ka events, affecting the hydrological evolution of a barrier-lake formed due to the volcanic damming of the Fluvià river. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses unveil the environmental history of Vall d'en Bas valley; the formation of a lacustrine area within a fluvial environment around 13.5 ka cal BP and later a wetland phase between 9.3 and 8.2 ka cal BP. Abrupt sedimentary changes marking the onset and demise of the wetland phase were linked to hemispheric cooling and drying events (e.g. 9.3 and 8.2 ka cal BP), provoking a decline in the water table during these phases. In addition, 30 tephra layers are detected thorough the core, showing previously unknown intense volcanic activity from 13.5 to 8.3 ka cal BP in the GVF. In that sense, the Pla de les Preses sequence provides, for the first time, evidence for early Holocene volcanic activity in NE Iberia that should be taken into account in future tephra studies in the western Mediterranean realm.


Cells from the spleens of "normal" swine, which were pretreated with pronase to remove surface membrane-bound immunoglobulin, gave an enhanced hemolytic plaque-forming cell response to sheep red blood cells in vitro in comparison with untreated controls. The enhancement could be abrogated by preincubating pronase-treated spleeen cells in preparations containing antibody to sheep red blood cells. This effect was demonstrated by autologous sera, immune sera, and all three known classes of porcine serum immunoglobulins, including IgM, IgA, and IgG and could be removed by absorption with sheep red blood cells. Surface membrane-bound antibody exerted its effect by binding to the nonadherent cell population. The response of normal spleen cells was unaffected by antibody treatment. Pronase-treatment was not mitogenic, did not function as a polyclonal B cell activator, and did not selectively eliminate T or B cells. The results indicate that removal of antibody from the surface of lymphoid cells enhanced the humoral immune response invitro and confirm that membrane-bound antibody can inhibit response to antigen.


Previous studies demonstrated that fasting is accompanied with a reduction of liver protein and albumin synthesis. A protein-deficient diet also leads to a marked change in liver RNA and protein metabolism. Although the reduction of protein synthesis and the disaggregated polyribosomes during fasting can be corrected by a single feeding of protein or a complete amino acid mixture, no or little changes of amino acid concentrations were found in portal blood and liver cytosol of fasted animals as compared to those of the fed group. To determine the effect of glucose on the reduced rate of protein and albumin synthesis of fasted rats, free and membrane-bound polyribosomes were isolated quantitatively from liver of starved rats (42-66 h) at different intervals after a single feeding of glucose and after giving glucose ad libitum for 24 h. (1) The yield of polyribosomal RNA decreased dramatically after a 42- to 66-hour starvation. A glucose refeeding did not change the RNA content. However, the restoration of polyribosome size could be observed rapidly. (2) At various levels of RNA, there was a decreased protein synthesis in fasted animals. However, the synthesis was enhanced after glucose refeeding. The albumin synthesis was also proportionately increased (10-12% of total protein synthesis of membrane-bound polyribosomes). (3) Glucose refeeding had no influence on the content of albumin mRNA sequence and liver RNA. These findings suggest that the effect of glucose on the restoration of protein and albumin synthesis is a sole post-transcriptional event.


Robert A. Nelson, FACMPE, the new president of the American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE) and a principal with the Canon Group, Santa Barbara, Calif., took time to share his vision of the ACMPE and the state of group practice with the MGM Journal. A past president of MGMA. Nelson was honored in 1999 with the ACMPE's Harry J. Harwick Award--the College's highest recognition for health care executives.


Presenting the work of prominent researchers working on smart grids and related fields around the world, Security and Privacy in Smart Grids identifies state-of-the-art approaches and novel technologies for smart grid communication and security. It investigates the fundamental aspects and applications of smart grid security and privacy and reports on the latest advances in the range of related areasmaking it an ideal reference for students, researchers, and engineers in these fields.The book explains grid security development and deployment and introduces novel approaches for securing todays smart grids. Supplying an overview of recommendations for a technical smart grid infrastructure, the book describes how to minimize power consumption and utility expenditure in data centers. It also: Details the challenges of cybersecurity for smart grid communication infrastructures Covers the regulations and standards relevant to smart grid security Explains how to conduct vulnerability assessments for substation automation systems Considers smart grid automation, SCADA system security, and smart grid security in the last mile The books chapters work together to provide you with a framework for implementing effective security through this growing system. Numerous figures, illustrations, graphs, and charts are included to aid in comprehension. With coverage that includes direct attacks, smart meters, and attacks via networks, this versatile reference presentsactionable suggestions you can put to use immediately to prevent such attacks.


Author(s): Browning, Mark; Cleckler, John; Knott, Kayla; Johnson, Matthew | Abstract: Barn owls produce large numbers of young, will nest in close proximity, are easily attracted to nest boxes, and occasionally form dense colonies. Their diet consists largely of various species of rodent pests. These characteristics suggest barn owls could contribute to pest control in agriculture. Studies have been conducted in Israel and Malaysia, but little quantitative research has documented their effectiveness. This study measured the effect of a population of barn owls on a rodent population in a 40-ha vineyard near Sacramento, California. In 2011, 11 of 20 boxes were occupied by breeding pairs, fledging 40 young. In 2012, 18 of 24 owl boxes were occupied, fledging 66 young; and in 2013, three of 24 boxes were occupied, fledging nine young. Nocturnal observations revealed the owls hunted the study area heavily. Monthly pocket gopher surveys using the mound-count method indicated that gophers declined on the vineyard with barn owl boxes relative to a control vineyard without barn owl boxes. Pellet analysis showed diet was composed mainly of Botta's pocket gophers (70.4%) and California voles (26.2%). An infrared camera recorded 316 deliveries to a nest with three chicks (105.3 per chick) over the first eight weeks. Using these figures, and adding conservative estimates of adult consumption over the 165-day breeding season, and adult and fledgling consumption prior to dispersal, the total number of prey taken over the three breeding seasons was estimated to be 30,020 rodents. Cost comparison analysis showed an average cost of $8.11 per pocket gopher trapped versus $ 0.34 per rodent taken by barn owls.


Philasterides dicentrarchi is a scuticociliate that causes high mortalities in farmed fish. Although vaccination is an effective method to prevent scuticociliatosis caused by the homologous serotype, a universal vaccine has not been developed yet. Many compounds have been shown to be toxic to this ciliate species; moreover, most of them are toxic to aquatic life and cannot be used to prevent the disease. We have evaluated the toxicity to P. dicentrarchi of several compounds of natural origin to be used to reduce parasite levels in the seawater. Ciliates were exposed to several compound concentrations, and the mortality was determined at several incubation times. Tomatine, plumbagin and 2′,4′-dihydroxychalcone displayed the highest anticiliate activity, with a dose-dependent response. The effects of these compounds on the EPC cell line were also evaluated, finding that 2′,4′-dihydroxychalcone displayed the lowest toxicity to fish cells. At 7.54 μM, 2′,4′-dihydroxychalcone inhibited 50% parasite growth but only killed about 10% of EPC cells after 24 h incubation. Finally, we evaluated the toxicity of Pseudomonas H6 surfactant (PS) to P. dicentrarchi, finding that PS was toxic to the ciliate but showed lower toxicity to EPC cells. At a concentration of 7.8 μg/mL (LC50 for the ciliate after 3 h incubation), PS killed 14.9% of EPC cells. We conclude that 2′,4′-dihydroxychalcone, and PS could be used to reduce parasite levels in seawater, thus decreasing the risk of scuticociliatosis infection in cultured fish.


Learn best practices for describing your data to support sharing and reusability. Includes discipline specific metadata standards and best practices.


The life history of Oplostomus haroldi (Witte), a recently reported pest of honeybee colonies in East Africa, was studied for the first time under laboratory conditions. Adult O. haroldi collected from beehives in the coastal part of Kenya were reared on a mixture of moist sterilized soil and cow dung. At 25 ± 2 °C, 50 ± 5% relative humidity and a 10h light-14h dark photoperiod, the laid eggs took 11.9 ±1.3 days to hatch into a curved pear-shaped scarabaeiform larva with a well-developed head and thoracic legs. The first, second and third larval instars lasted 14.6 ± 2.6, 17.5 ± 2.4 and 34.6 ± 2.4 days, respectively. The pupal stage, which was marked by formation of a mud cocoon, lasted 31.1 ± 6.7 days with the adults surviving for 2–6 months under laboratory conditions, suggesting that the beetle is multivoltine. A detailed taxonomic description of the external morphology of the third instar larva is provided.


Charles University  This study deals with language policies in Africa with a special focus on multi-ethnic and multi-lingual states including Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Democratic Republic of Congo. The study will thus examine relations between state and minorities, the status of major and marginalized languages, the roles of European languages in politics as well as theoretical frameworks. Sub-Saharan Africa has undergone a remarkable process from linguistic imperialism to linguistic pluralism and revivalism. Until the 1960s the superior position of the European languages (English, French, and Portuguese) was evident, but after the Africanization of politics and society in many African countries, a strong accent on linguistic emancipation was initiated. Nowadays, many African countries follow the principle of linguistic pluralism where several languages enjoy the same rights and space in the media, administrative, education, etc. This study will discuss some important case studies and their specific language policies.


Using the configuration of an imprinted cholesteric elastomer immersed in a racemic solvent, the authors find the solution of the boundary-value problem for the reflection and transmission of incident optical waves due to the elastomer. They show a significant width reduction of the reflection band for certain values of nematic penetration depth, which depends on the volume fraction of molecules from the solvent, whose handedness is preferably absorbed. The appearance of nested band gaps of both handednesses during the sorting mixed chiral process is also obtained. This suggests the design of chemically controlled optical filters and optically monitored chiral pumps.


2 Abstract: The group nearest neighbor query uses group points to provide the optimal solution for the nearest group point in the dataset. The novel type of spatial keyword query called Group Nearest Group (GNG) query will be used to optimize the query. Given a data point set D, a query point set Q and an integer k, the Group Nearest Group query finds a subset of points from D, ω (|ω| ≤ k), such that the total distance from all points in Q to the nearest point in ω is no greater than any other subset of points in D. Each nearest point obtained matches at least one of the query keywords. For processing this query several algorithms are proposed. The processing of GNG query consists of Exhaustive Hierarchical Combination algorithm and Subset Hierarchical Refinement algorithm. A group nearest neighbor (GNN) query returns the location of a meeting place that minimizes the aggregate distance from a spread out group of users; for example, a group of users can ask for a restaurant that minimizes the total travel distance from them. The duplicates in the dataset can be identified to improve the search query from the given data. The dataset can be analyzed to find out the duplicates in the data set. The applications of group query come from location-based services, e.g., finding a meeting venue for a group of people such that the traveling distances is minimized. In order to prune large portion of query objects reducing the number of node accesses, this extensive experiments on spatial databases is effective in reducing group query response time which exhibits good scalability with the query objects and the number of query


Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel imaging modality that provides volumetric in-vivo high-resolution (1-15μm) images in real-time. Multi-channel OCT (MOCT) imaging utilizes many imaging channels simultaneously yielding several advantages over single-channel OCT. The benefits of MOCT are at the cost of the added requirement of several imaging beams, which demands high power output from the laser source. Dual-core Ytterbium (Yb) doped fiber was used in two configurations to demonstrate its use as a MOCT light source gain medium: 1) within a ring cavity resonator and 2) in a post-amplification regime with a low powered seed-laser. The amplification wavelength range was tailored to be centered at ~1060nm, where light absorption and scattering is at a minimum in water. In the post-amplification configuration, the output power was increased from 5mW to >200mW, with the axial resolution reducing from 10μm to 12μm. We also present initial in-vivo MOCT imaging of a tadpole.


The study area is located in North Eastern Iran, near Taknar copper deposit where exploration, extraction and processing operations are ongoing. The purpose of this study is to understand the geochemical effects of mining activities in Taknar area and to evaluate the contamination of soil and water resources with heavy metals. The results of pollution indices such as CF, Igeo and EF and multivariate (geo)statistical analysis indicate anthropogenic source for Cu and Se elements, mostly related to mining and mineral processing activities, natural origin of Cr, Ni and Co and both anthropogenic and natural origin for Zn, Pb, Cd, As, Sb and Mo elements. The results also indicate the water and soil of the flotation plant and mining tunnels can be harmful. Fortunately, the water resources used by the staff, downstream aqueduct of the mine and the water of the villages in the south of the mine are free of contaminated elements.


We use angle-dependent Mueller-matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry (MMSE) to determine Mueller matrices of Scarabaeidae beetles which show fascinating reflection properties due to structural phenomena in the exocuticle which are often depolarizing. It has been shown by Cloude [1] that a depolarizing matrix can be decomposed into a sum of up to four non-depolarizing matrices according to M= aM1+bM2+cM3+dM4, where a, b, c and d are eigenvalues of the covariance matrix of M. Using the same eigenvalues the matrices Mi can be calculated. This method provides the full solution to the decomposition with both the non-depolarizing matrices and the weight of each of them in the sum.An alternative to Cloude decomposition is regression decomposition. Here any Mueller matrix can be decomposed into a set of matrices Mi which are specified beforehand. Whereas in Cloude decomposition the only constraint on the matrices is that they are physically realizable non-depolarizing Mueller matrices, we can now limit the constraint and only use Mueller matrices representing pure optical devices having direct physical meaning, such as polarizers, retarders, etc. This leaves a, b, c, d as fit parameters to minimize the Frobenius norm Mexp -Mreg where Mexp is the experimentally determined Mueller matrix to be decomposed and Mreg is the sum of all Mi. Depending on Mexp an appropriate choice of Mreg matrices has to be made and different values of a, b, c and d are obtained through regression analysis.We have previously shown that regression decomposition can be used to show that the Mueller matrix of Cetonia aurata can be decomposed into a sum of a circular polarizer and a mirror [2]. Here we expand the analysis to include angle-resolved spectral Mueller matrices, and also include more species of Scarabaeidae beetles.One effect of the decomposition is that when depolarization is caused by an inhomogeneous sample with regions of different optical properties the Mueller matrices of the different regions can be retrieved under certain conditions. Regression decomposition also has potential to be a classification tool for biological samples where a set of standard matrices are used in the decomposition and the parameters a, b, c, d are used to quantify the polarizing properties of the sample.[1] Cloude S.R. 1989. Conditions for the physical realisability of matrix operators in polarimetry. Proc. SPIE 1166, Polarization Considerations for Optical Systems II, pp. 177-185[2] Arwin H, Magnusson R, Garcia-Caurel E, Fallet C, Jarrendahl K, De Martino A, Ossikovski R, 2015. Sum decomposition of Mueller-matrix images and spectra of beetle cuticles. Opt. Express, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 1951–1966


A fundamental problem for the development of P2P Distributed Virtual Environments is the definition of an overlay supporting interest management, i.e. determining all the entities of the virtual world that are relevant for a given peer. To this end, we propose a gossip-based approach that considers the coverage of the Area Of Interest of a peer as the guiding principle for the definition of the overlay and its maintenance. The resulting overlay provides a support for a besteffort resolution of interest management, so that it can be mostly supported through communications on the P2P overlay, with minimal intervention of a centralized entity. The paper presents a set of extensive simulations based on realistic mobility traces. The experimental results show the effectiveness of gossip for the construction of a best-effort Interest Management overlay.


Two types of radially symmetric three-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystals with the cylindrical structure and the egglike structure are proposed, from which the conical and the spherical quadratic harmonic waves can be produced, respectively, by three-dimensional quasi-phase matching. First, the cylindrical structures with periodic and aperiodic modulations of the nonlinear coefficient are both studied, showing their significant advantages compared to the corresponding two-dimensional structures. The dependencies of the transverse and the longitudinal phase-matching periods on harmonic propagating directions are also calculated and analyzed. Then, the egglike structure is designed by programming and the distribution of reciprocal vectors is presented, indicating its ability to generate the spherical harmonic as a point light source. The investigation of the intensity distribution on the spherical wavefront is also performed, showing its strong dependence on the harmonic polarization and the quadratic nonlinear coefficients.


Your students live in a world that is powered by petroleum and other energy resources to an unsurpassed degree. But do they know where all the energy that they readily use on a daily basis comes from? Will they know where to find it tomorrow? The United States today consumes more than 24% of all the energy used in the world--and about 60% of this energy is provided by petroleum (oil and natural gas). The availability of abundant, inexpensive energy is the main reason that our nation's standard of living leads the world. Americans can travel just about anywhere anytime, run all types of appliances and electronic gadgets, and remain comfortable regardless of the weather outside. It's a lifestyle shared by relatively few of the world's inhabitants. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But environmental issues and concerns accompany both the production and consumption of petroleum, as your students should understand. To help students explore this topic further, we have developed the poster insert in this issue of The Science Teacher. The poster is distributed with Petroleum and the Environment, part of the American Geological Institute's Environmental Awareness series of booklets covering major topics of environmental and societal concern and demonstrating the complexity and interconnection of natural systems (www.agiweb.org/environment/publications). Petroleum and the Environment provides an introduction to the major environmental concerns associated with petroleum exploration, production, transportation, and use. If today's students are to have a role in decisions to meet the energy demands of tomorrow, they must understand petroleum's importance, its sources, how it is processed and used, the policies and regulations designed to safeguard natural resources, and global energy needs. After all, the world's people demand more petroleum every day. Population continues to increase, and the economies of some highly populous countries are expanding. For example, China became the world's second-largest consumer of oil in early 2004, when this nation's demand passed six million barrels a day. China's increasing oil consumption is considered a major reason that oil prices (not corrected for inflation) recently reached all-time highs. From age to age Students should understand the history of energy resource use--and how one leading fuel historically has been replaced by another. The age of wood gave way to the age of coal, which in turn gave way to the age of oil. Around the world, the 20th century generally is considered the "Oil Age." How long will the Oil Age continue? The answer depends on when global oil production peaks and starts to decline. The decline occurs when a finite nonrenewable resource such as oil cannot be produced in the amounts needed to meet demand. There is just not enough of the resource left to continue producing the amounts that are needed. Estimates of the peak of global oil production range from periods as early as 2003 to sometime between 2010 and 2020. Regardless of which estimation is closest, you and your students are likely to live long past the end of the Oil Age. …


Sudoku, the popular logic puzzle, would have a greater artistic appeal if the final completed puzzle could be transformed into an image similar to nonogram outputs. To do this, we solve a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem (MINLP) to find the Sudoku configuration that most closely represents a target image via an integer-colour mapping. This alone produces inadequate results, so we relax the problem by adding transparent regions to the target image and removing certain MINLP constraints. To produce puzzles that are feasible and interesting to players, additional components are added to avoid tedious recounting and unnecessary colouring.


Many nuclear applications still require more computational power than the current computers can provide. Furthermore, some of them require dedicated machines, because they must run constantly or no delay is allowed. To satisfy these requirements, we introduce computer accelerators which can provide higher computational power with lower prices than the current commodity processors. However, the feasibility of accelerators had not well investigated on nuclear applications. Thus, we applied the Cell and GPGPU to plasma stability monitoring and infrasound propagation analysis, respectively. In the plasma monitoring, the eigenvalue solver was focused on. To obtain sufficient power, we connected Cells with Ethernet, and implemented a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. Moreover, we applied a hierarchical parallelization method to minimize communications among the Cells. Finally, we could solve the block tri-diagonal Hermitian matrix that had 1, 024 diagonal blocks, and each block was 128 × 128, within one second. On the basis of these results, we showed the potential of plasma monitoring by using our Cell cluster system. In infrasound propagation analysis, we accelerated two-dimensional parabolic equation (PE) method by using GPGPU. PE is one of the most accurate methods, but it requires higher computational power than other methods. By applying softwarepipelining and memory layout optimization, we obtained ×18.3 speedup on GPU from CPU. Our achieved computing speed could be comparable to faster but more inaccurate method.


Restaurant managers often do not have a comprehensive understanding of all of the costs involved in operating a successful restaurant, leading to inaccurate, and potentially unprofitable, menu item pricing. One trend in cost analysis is to explore techniques used in other industries, including activity-based costing. A body of work exploring the application of activity-based costing in the foodservice industry has gradually evolved. A review of previous research on activity-based costing in various restaurant segments validates it as a consequential approach that is capable of reducing waste, preserving employment, and producing maintainable profitability in the restaurant industry.


Cellular senescence is a cellular program that prevents the proliferation of cells at risk of neoplastic transformation. On the other hand, age‐related accumulation of senescent cells promotes aging at least partially due to the senescence‐associated secretory phenotype, whereby cells secrete high levels of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and matrix metalloproteinases. Emerging evidence, however, indicates that extracellular vesicles (EVs) are important mediators of the effects of senescent cells on their microenvironment. Senescent cells secrete more EphA2 and DNA via EVs, which can promote cancer cell proliferation and inflammation, respectively. Extracellular vesicles secreted from DNA‐damaged cells can also affect telomere regulation. Furthermore, it has now become clear that EVs actually play important roles in many aspects of aging. This review is intended to summarize these recent progresses, with emphasis on relationships between cellular senescence and EVs.


OBJECTIVE
In therapeutic trials for infant gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), ways to define GERD and measure and report study outcomes vary widely. The aim of this study was to develop a core outcome set (COS) for infant GERD.

METHODS
The COS was developed using the Delphi technique, adhering to the OMERACT 2.0 recommendations. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) (predominantly pediatric gastroenterologists and general pediatricians) and parents of infants (age 0-12 months) with GERD, listed up to five primary goals of therapy from their perspective and up to five persistent signs or symptoms that would signify inadequate treatment. Outcomes mentioned by >10% of participants were included in two shortlists. Next, HCPs and parents rated and prioritized outcomes on these shortlists. Outcomes with the highest rank formed the draft COS. The final COS was created after two consensus meetings between an expert panel and patient representatives.t In total, 125/165 HCPs (76%) and 139/143 parents (97%) of infants with GERD completed the first phase. The second phase was completed by 83/139 HCPs (60%) and 127/142 different parents (89%). Outcomes of these phases were discussed during the consensus meetings and a 9-item COS was formed: "Adequate Growth," "Adequate Relief," "Adverse events,", "Crying," "Evidence of Esophagitis," "Feeding Difficulties," "Hematemesis," "No Escalation of Therapy," and "Sleep Problems".

CONCLUSIONS
We developed a COS for infant GERD consisting of 9 items that should minimally be measured in future therapeutic trials to decrease study heterogeneity and ease comparability of results.


Background Laparoscopic techniques for placement of peritoneal dialysis catheters are becoming increasingly popular. In this paper, we report the results of one-port laparoscopic placement of Tenckhoff catheters in 79 patients in our center. Method Videoscopic monitoring was performed via a port inserted in the left upper quadrant and the catheter was placed via a pull-apart sheath through an incision near the umbilicus. The tip and the deep cuff of the catheter were placed into the true pelvis (on the urinary bladder) and into the rectus sheath respectively. A subcutaneous tunnel was created and a point midway on the umbilico-crestal line was selected as the exit site of the catheter. Catheters were capped for 2 weeks before initiation of peritoneal dialysis. Mean duration of the operation was 25 minutes. Results Four patients died during the follow-up period, all due to other medical problems, and 4 patients underwent renal transplantation. During a 48-month follow-up, catheter-related complications were catheter migration (1.3%; month 1), dialysate leakage (1.3%; month 1), port-site hernia (3.8%; after 6 months), exit-site infection (2.5%; months 1 and 9), and bacterial peritonitis (2.5%; after 6 months). Catheter survival was 97.2% in our series. Conclusion We obtained a low complication rate and a high catheter survival rate with this one-port laparoscopic technique.


BACKGROUND
Blood transfusion is often necessary in operations for total hip replacement (THR). This study was done to investigate the efficacy of three different methods of autologous blood conservation and transfusion in patients undergoing primary THR without cement.

STUDY DESIGN
One hundred fifty-five patients with osteoarthritis underwent unilateral cementless THR using normotensive general anesthesia performed by a single surgeon. The patients were divided into four groups depending on which conservation method was used. Ten different demographic and hematologic parameters were recorded and analyzed by using analysis of the variance and multiple regression methods.

RESULTS
All three methods were effective in reducing the need for homologous blood transfusions. The greatest benefit was realized when both preoperative autologous blood donation and intraoperative salvage using the Cell Saver were combined. The addition of postoperative salvage and retransfusion of wound drainage blood using the Solcotrans System did not significantly reduce further the chance of homologous blood transfusions.

CONCLUSIONS
The data from this study were similar to previously published reports. Regression analysis confirmed the correlation among the different variables studied. We currently offer preoperative donation and intraoperative salvage with the Cell Saver to patients undergoing cementless total hip replacement.


The effluents released from different agricultural fields into the local water bodies leads to pollution of the aquatic environment and it is one of the major concern to the present human civilisation. Pesticides, fertilisers and other components of agricultural runoff may adversely affect the metabolism of aquatic organisms by alternating the enzyme activities.  The main aim of the present study is to assess the comparative behavioural and physiological responses of Catla catla and Clarias magur exposed to agricultural runoff and also evaluating the toxicity of the agricultural runoff of the Burdwan district, West Bengal. The fingerlings were exposed to agricultural runoff of different concentrations (i.e. 0.0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%) for 72 hours and their behavioural and physiological changes were observed. Both fish species exhibited abnormal behavioural effects such as random surfacing and erratic movement as well as physiological responses such as increased opercular movement, particularly at higher concentration.  However, the adverse effects were more pronounced in Catla compared to Clarias. The present findings indicate that the agricultural runoff is highly toxic to the living organisms and the results could be used for better agricultural practices and in environmental legislation, respectively.


The datasets being produced by high-throughput biological experiments, such as microarrays, have forced biologists to turn to sophisticated statistical analysis and visualization tools in order to understand their data. We address the particular need for an open-source exploratory data analysis tool that applies numerical methods in coordination with interactive graphics to the analysis of experimental data. The software package, known as explorase, provides a graphical user interface (GUI) on top of the R platform for statistical computing and the GGobi software for multivariate interactive graphics. The GUI is designed for use by biologists, many of whom are unfamiliar with the R language. It displays metadata about experimental design and biological entities in tables that are sortable and filterable. There are menu shortcuts to the analysis methods implemented in R, including graphical interfaces to linear modeling tools. The GUI is linked to data plots in GGobi through a brush tool that simultaneously colors rows in the entity information table and points in the GGobi plots.


Abstract. Shadow is one of the basic features of remote sensing image, it expresses a lot of information of the object which is loss or interference, and the removal of shadow is always a difficult problem to remote sensing image processing. In this paper, it is mainly analyzes the characteristics and properties of shadows from the ghost image (traditional orthorectification). The DBM and the interior and exterior orientation elements of the image are used to calculate the zenith angle of sun. Then this paper combines the scope of the architectural shadows which has be determined by the zenith angle of sun with the region growing method to make the detection of architectural shadow areas. This method lays a solid foundation for the shadow of the repair from the ghost image later. It will greatly improve the accuracy of shadow detection from buildings and make it more conducive to solve the problem of urban large-scale aerial imagines.


Abstract. Projections of coastal storm surge hazard are a basic requirement for
effective management of coastal risks. A common approach for estimating
hazards posed by extreme sea levels is to use a statistical model, which may
use a time series of a climate variable
as a covariate to modulate the statistical model and account for potentially
nonstationary storm surge behavior (e.g., North Atlantic Oscillation index).
Previous works using nonstationary statistical approaches to assess coastal
flood hazard have demonstrated the importance of accounting for many key
modeling uncertainties. However, many assessments have typically relied on a
single climate covariate, which may leave out important processes and lead to
potential biases in the projected flood hazards. Here, I employ a recently
developed approach to integrate stationary and nonstationary statistical
models, and characterize the effects of choice of covariate time series on
projected flood hazard. Furthermore, I expand upon this approach by
developing a nonstationary storm surge statistical model that makes use of
multiple covariate time series, namely, global mean temperature, sea level,
the North Atlantic Oscillation index and time. Using Norfolk, Virginia, as a
case study, I show that a storm surge model that accounts for additional
processes raises the projected 100-year storm surge return level by up to
23 cm relative to a stationary model or one that employs a single covariate
time series. I find that the total model posterior probability associated
with each candidate covariate, as well as a stationary model, is about
20 %. These results shed light on how including a wider range of physical
process information and considering nonstationary behavior can better enable
modeling efforts to inform coastal risk management.


Limitations of space, diet, and social environment can impair the welfare of veal calves reared in intensive farms compared with those calves allowed to pasture with their dams. In intensive farms most of the animals are housed in tether stalls or in crates. Stalls that greatly restrict the behavior of calves are not an adequate housing system. If the crates are small enough to prevent calves from lying in a comfortable position, they also impair the welfare of calves and lower their growth rate and disease resistance. Social contacts are limited in crates with solid partitions, but even if this social isolation seems unnecessary, it does not have the long-term effects on social and maternal behavior previously described. Because mortality rate is lower in crates than in group pens, and considering the time a calf spends grooming itself and lying with its legs stretched, large crates with open partitions are an acceptable alternative to group housing. However, improving group pens by providing adequate floors and automated feeding systems should make that type of housing better than crates. Other types of veal production such as the rearing of the calves by their dams could also be promoted. Other factors interact with housing system to affect the welfare status of veal calves. Milk-only diets should be avoided, and it is necessary to provide calves with adequate roughage as a way to enrich their environment. Friesian calves adapt better to veal calf operations than do Salers calves, and this difference between breeds must be considered when designing housing systems. The age of veal calves at slaughter should be considered to avoid maintaining calves in a preruminant physiological state beyond the point of the naturally occurring transition.


While black queer educators could conceivably play a critical role in disrupting black queer marginality in educational settings, relatively little is known about their experiences. Drawing upon findings from a broader qualitative study on black male teachers in an urban school district in the United States, this article explores how five black queer male educators negotiated pressures to keep their queerness 'in the closet.' Although remaining in the closet left these men vulnerable to homophobic surveillance, it also enabled them to demonstrate racially mediated forms of agency within school settings. By complicating constructions of the closet as an abject social positionality for queer educators, this article considers the possible affordances of the closet for black queer teachers while also underscoring the need for institutionally sanctioned interventions against homophobia in urban educational settings.


What if young people at risk for developing schizophrenia could be identified early, via a fast, automated, non-invasive test of language, which could be administered remotely? These youths could then receive intervention which might mitigate course and possibly prevent psychosis. Timed word fluency tests, in which individuals name words starting with a designated sound (typically F/A/S) or represent a given concept category (commonly animals/fruits/vegetables), have been used in the assessment of schizophrenia and its risk states, and in many other mental health conditions. Typically, psychologists manually record the number and size of valid phoneme clusters and switches observed in the phonemic tests and count the number of valid words belonging to a given category in the categorical tests. We present a new technique for automating the analysis of category fluency data and apply it to the problem of detecting youths at risk of developing schizophrenia, with best results over 85% accuracy when applying phonemic analysis to categorical data. The technique supports the separate quantification of structural and sequential phonemic similarity measures, supports an arbitrary range of pronunciations and dialects in the analysis, and may be extended to the assessment of other mental and physical health conditions, and their risk states.


Background: The combination of rituximab (R, 375 mg/m2 intravenously [IV], day 1), bendamustine (B, 70 mg/m2IV, days 2 and 3), and cytarabine (800 mg/m2, IV on days 2 to 4) was highly active in patients with mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) in a phase 2 study [R-BAC; Visco et al, JCO 2013]. This regimen was well tolerated, but hematologic toxicity was quite relevant, especially in terms of transient grade 3 to 4 thrombocytopenia (76% of cycles). Aiming at reducing hematologic toxicity, the Fondazione Italiana Linfomi (FIL) designed a phase 2 trial adopting the R-BAC schedule, but lowering cytarabine dose to 500 mg/m2 (RBAC500). Materials and Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed MCL, aged 61 to 80 years, not eligible for autologous transplant and fit according to the comprehensive geriatric assessment, were enrolled. Patients presenting with non-nodal leukemic disease were excluded. The primary endpoints were complete remission rate (CR) measured by FDG-PET according to Cheson criteria 2007, and safety. Secondary endpoints included rate of molecular response (MR) by nested-PCR using patient specific IGH or BCL1 based targets, progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The study was conducted according to the Bryant and Day two-stage design. Results: From May 2012 to February 2014, 57 patients with MCL from 29 centers were recruited and treated. Central pathology revision was performed in 87% of cases. Median age was 71 years (range 61-79), 75% were males, and 91% had Ann Arbor stage III/IV disease. Mantle Cell International Prognostic Index (MIPI) was low in 15%, intermediate in 40%, high in 45%, Ki-67 was ≥30% in 31%, and 9% had the blastoid cytological variant. Overall, 53 patients (91%) received at least 4 cycles, while 36 (63%) had 6 cycles (median 5.3 cycles per patient). Fifteen patients (26%) discontinued treatment before reaching cycle 6 because of toxicity/adverse events, that mainly consisted of prolonged hemato-toxicity between cycles. Only one patient discontinued due to progressive disease. Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were observed in 49% and 52% of administered cycles, respectively. Febrile neutropenia occurred in 6% of cycles. Extra-hematologic toxicity was mainly cardiac (5%). Overall response rate was 96%, and CR was 93%. The MR rate at the end of treatment was 76% on peripheral blood and 55% on bone marrow (BM) samples. With a median follow-up of 34 months (28-52), the 2-years PFS (± confidence interval) was 81%±5% and the OS 85%±4%. Elevated Ki-67 (≥30%), and the blastoid variant were the strongest independent predictors of adverse PFS. Patients with either of these two features (33%), had a significantly inferior PFS (41% vs 97% after 34 months) compared to patients with classical/pleomorphic variants and low proliferative index (p Conclusions: The R-BAC500 regimen can be safely administered as first line therapy to elderly patients with MCL. Hematologic toxicity is substantially reduced compared to our previous experience. With 93% of FDG-PET negative CR, and a 2-years PFS of 81% without maintenance therapy, the R-BAC500 regimen is a highly effective treatment for patients with MCL, and compares favourably with previously reported regimens in this patient population, including R-bendamustine. Disclosures Visco:Gilead: Speakers Bureau; Lundbeck: Consultancy; Mundipharma: Research Funding; Celgene: Speakers Bureau. Spina:Mundipharma: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Speaker Fee; Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Speaker Fee. Di Rocco:Celgene: Honoraria. Carella:Millenium: Speakers Bureau; Genentech: Speakers Bureau. Vitolo:Roche: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria.


The usage of multiple antennas, both at transmitters and receivers (MIMO), has been identified as an optimal solution to the system design of wireless networks, mostly due to their major benefits and advantages. In contrast, the usage of MIMO in wireless systems can also increase the requirements for space, power and complexity. Therefore, as a solution to the above problems, the beamspace MIMO technique and the parasitic antennas ESPAR (Electrically Steerable Parasitic Array Radiator) were implemented. The parasitic antenna array ESPAR, is a single-feed-port array antenna, composed both of one active element and multiple parasitic elements, terminated by switched lumped circuits or variable reactors. The parasitic array can drastically decrease the number of expensive radio-frequency (RF) chains integrated with active elements. It has been proven that the number of parasitic elements must be increased for realizing full 360 azimuthal beam and null forming. On the other hand, whether the number of antenna elements increases the complexity and the demand for power will be increased too. Therefore, parasitic array antennas with multiple feed ports have been proposed in order to decrease the number of antenna elements by keeping the beam and null forming capability. This type of antenna is called MuPAR (Multiport Parasitic Array Radiator). A MuPAR antenna consists of K-IFA antennas in which a single IFA antenna can be regarded as two infinitesimal radiators, which are vertical to the ground plane. The first radiator is the element denoted by "a", which is connected to a feed circuit in case of the active element or of a parasitic element when connected to a variable reactor. The second radiator is the element denoted by "b", which is the short pin of the IFA. The main purpose of our thesis was to develop a genetic algorithm that can provide optimized values for our parameters such as the amplitude and the phase of active elements and the loads of variable reactances in case of parasitic elements of a MuPAR antenna aiming in an optimized formulation of MuPAR antenna radiation pattern.


This working paper introduces the key concepts and features of anticipatory innovation governance– i.e. the structures and mechanisms to allow and promote anticipatory innovation alongside other types of innovation in the public sector. This paper draws on academic literature and OECD work on a range of areas including public sector innovation, foresight, anticipatory governance and emerging technologies. The paper starts outlining an emerging framework to guide policy making in complex and uncertain contexts and sets out some questions for further research in the area of anticipatory innovation governance.


One of the key goals in museums is to register their collections. Ideally to register to a database everything known about each object. In natural history a typical dataset would include identification, date of collection, collector, location of collection, perhaps date of donation, identification history and name and date of whoever made the identification(s). The data may then be enhanced with things such as geolocation, altitude, biography, bibliography etc. This data is then available for researchers, can be uploaded to data aggregation sites and can be used to build maps etc. However, when faced with this enormous task many of us have to admit, not in my lifetime.
 We sometimes overlook that it is just as important for a catalogue to simply allow us to know what we have and where it is, as it is to record all of the details about each and every one these items. Obviously fully registering each specimen does both but time may mean that we won't have that catalogue for many years, decades or more even. This quick method provides no individual detail about the specimens but does record how many of each species (or lowest taxonomic group where this is unknown) there are and where in the collection they are located.
 Initial estimates suggest that this method can be up to 30 times quicker than full registration. It is being done in tandem with the more comprehensive registration process. Eventually the full registration program will catch up to the rapid program and items registered only by species and physical location will be re-registered fully and the old registration number retired.


This article deals with variation of insulation thickness with outdoor temperature in pipe insulation applications. Also, the exergetic cost savings, annual fuel consumptions, and air pollution resulting from different insulation thicknesses and outdoor temperatures are evaluated according to the exergetic life cycle cost analysis. In this study, it was used the coal as a fuel, the pipes with diameter of 50 and 100 mm, and the insulation materials such as rockwool, foamboard, and extruded polystyrene. As a comprehensive case study, the city of Afyonkarahisar/Turkey was considered for analysis. The results showed that the lower the outdoor temperature, the greater the optimum insulation thickness. For the same outside temperature, the optimum insulation thickness would become larger for higher pipe diameter. The exergetic cost saving decreases as the annual exergy losses depending on heat transfer decreases while increasing outdoor temperature. In addition, annual fuel consumption which is an important aspect of insulation materials and outdoor temperatures is shown to be decreasing with the use of optimum thickness. Finally, insulation means less fuel consumption therefore less emission. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 32: 784–789, 2013


We report an unusual case of Wegener's granulomatosis in a patient presenting with stridor and tracheal narrowing as the initial manifestation of the disease.


Begging signals given by nestling birds may advertise their condition or quality and parents may respond by allocating their resources in relation to begging intensity. In order for such signals to be honest, they must be costly to produce. The aim of this project was to investigate the role of nestling endogenous testosterone (T) as a potential mechanism to control begging signals in pied flycatchers, Ficedula hypoleuca. Androgen levels were analysed from invasive and non-invasive (faecal) samples using T radioimmunoassay. In the laboratory, nestling begging behaviour was measured as: 1) the duration of begging displays and 2) the maximum height of begging stretches. It was found that individual nestlings begging most intensively had the highest circulating levels of T immediately after testing. This relationship was tested experimentally by dosing nestlings with oral doses of T and assessing the effects on nestling begging signals. The results showed that the duration of begging displays by T-dosed nestlings were longer than controls, confirming the causal nature of T in controlling nestling begging signals. A field study investigated the effect of brood reduction on parental provisioning strategies, nestling behaviour and T levels. During brood reduction parents allocated food resources according to rules based more strongly on nestling begging behaviour compared with control days. A partial cross-fostering experiment tested whether nestling T and begging behaviour related to levels of relatedness within the nest. The begging duration of cross-fostered broods was longer than control broods and fostered nestlings increased their faecal androgen levels, although the reliability of this result should be further investigated. A biochemical validation study confirmed that excreted androgen metabolites were measured in the faeces of pied flycatchers. Overall, the results of this project confirmed that T is responsible in part for the control of begging intensity and may be a mechanism that controls begging behaviour in nestling birds.


Introduction T cell immune response c-DNA (TIRC7) is expressed in activated lymphocytes binding to its ligand HLA-class II protein in response to alloantigens. Notably, TIRC7 is mainly induced in activated lymphocytes at the site of the inflammation. Thus, unlike other immunosuppressive agents, treatment with an anti-TIRC7 does not interfere with an overall immune competency. Here, anti-TIRC7 antibody (mAb) treatment was compared with Cyclosporin A (CyA) treatment in a mouse cardiac transplant model. As currenty used therapeutics to prevent rejection act unspecifically with severe side effects including infections, we tested the overall immue competency in the presence of anti-TIRC7 mAb treatment and challanged mice with infectious antigens. Method Fully vascularized heterotopic allogeneic heart transplants were performed across a full-mismatch barrier (C57BL/10 into CBA). Recipients mice received anti-TIRC7 mAb (40mg/kg, day 0-7) and compared to treatments with CyA (10mg/kg for either 7 or 14 days or an untreated control n=5-7/group. In an additional experiment, two experimental model systems for viral infections - non-cytopathic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and acutely cytopathic vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in addition to Listeria monocytogenes (LM) infections were used to analyse fundamentally different types of antiviral and bacterial antibody responses in the presence or absence of anti-TIRC7 mAb. LCMV responses were examined after injecting 200pfu LCMV into the footpad of B6 mice and response was assessed by CTL assays. VSV triggers the production of IFN-I in mice leading to augmentation of specific B cell responses. IgG and IgM titer against VSV was analyzed up to 20d post infection. Listeria monocytogenes (LM) provides a means for introducing antigens into the class I pathway of antigen presentation and induces CD4 response. 1000cfu LM was injected i.v and LM-titers were assessed in spleen and liver (n=4/experiment). Results Mean cardiac allograft survival in anti-TIRC7 mAb treated mice was 52 days with some grafts working > 140 days, in sharp contrast to CyA treated mice and controls with a mean graft function of 8days. Morphology of allografts showed diminished lymphocyte infiltration in anti-TIRC7 mAb treated allografts. Mice cleared the LCMV infection within 15 d. Anti-VSV IgG and IgM antibody titers were highest at 15 d post infection. Mice liver and spleen infected with LM were protected in anti-TIRC7 mAb treated mice as assessed at day 4 post infection. Conclusion Ligation of TIRC7 regulates immune activation at the site of inflammation while the function of peripheral blood lymphocytes remains normal. Mice treated with anti-TIRC7 mAb mounted normal immune responses to infections. Thus, targeting TIRC7 may provide a novel therapeutic approach to specifically modulate alloimmune responses.


Purpose of review To provide an update on nonsurgical and nonpharmacologic strategies for the management of chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Recent findings Effective treatment of patients with CPP requires a multifaceted approach, with thoughtful consideration of surgical, pharmacologic, and nonpharmacologic strategies. Evidence for physical therapy and trigger point injections for treatment of myofascial components of CPP is increasing. Neuromodulation techniques, such as percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation and transcutaneous electrical stimulation, have limited but favorable preliminary data in patients with CPP. Behavioral strategies, such as exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mindfulness, have demonstrated significant improvements in pain, function and quality of life in patients with a variety of chronic pain conditions and are promising avenues for future research in CPP. Summary Nonpharmacologic therapies are important adjuncts to surgical and pharmacologic treatment for CPP and should be considered integral to a comprehensive treatment approach.


Mice with immunity defects caused by administration of cyclophosphane were inoculated with an inactivated vaccine or Langat virus (TP-21 strain) considered to be an approximate model of the vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis. In mice with depressed immune response, the asymptomatic infection caused by Langat virus turns into acute form and encephalitis with a fatal outcome develops in 86--100%. Pre-treatment with inactivated tick-borne encephalitis vaccine did not protect the animals with the immunity defect against neuroinfection induced by subsequent inoculation with Langat or tick-borne encephalitis virus. The experimental results suggest that the use of a live vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis in specimens with immunity defects is very dangerous because of the possibility of affection of the central nervous system.


The trends of design and development of information systems have undergone a variety of ongoing phases and stages. These variations have been evolved due to brisk changes in user requirements and business needs. To meet these requirements and needs, a flexible and agile business solution was required to come up with the latest business trends and styles. Another obstacle in agility of information systems was typically different treatment of same diseases of two patients: business processes and information services. After the emergence of information technology, the business processes and information systems have become counterparts. But these two business halves have been treated under totally different standards. There is need to streamline the boundaries of these both pillars that are equally sharing information system's burdens and liabilities. In last decade, the object orientation has evolved into one of the major solutions for modern business needs and now, SOA is the solution to shift business on ranks of electronic platform. BPM is another modern business solution that assists to regularize optimization of business processes. This paper discusses how object orientation can be conformed to incorporate or embed SOA in BPM for improved information systems.


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the host's immune system and affects millions of people globally. Due to the high mutation rate of HIV, it is of great importance that novel drugs are found to combat new strains. Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) are allosteric inhibitors that bind to the HIV reverse transcriptase and prevent replication. Indolyl aryl sulfones (IAS) and IAS derivatives have been found to be highly effective against mutant strains of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. Here, we analyzed molecules designed using aryl sulfone scaffolds paired to cyclic compounds (that have previously been found to be beneficial groups for NNRTIs) as potential NNRTIs through the computational design and docking of 100 novel NNRTI candidates. Moreover, we explored the specific combinations of functional groups and aryl sulfones that resulted in the NNRTI candidates with the strongest binding affinity while testing all compounds for carcinogenicity. We hypothesized that the combination of an IAS scaffold and pyrimidine would produce the compounds with the best binding affinity. Our hypothesis was correct as the series of molecules with an IAS scaffold and pyrimidine exhibited the best average binding affinity. Additionally, this study found 32 molecules designed in this procedure with higher or equal binding affinities to the previously successful IAS derivative 5-bromo-3-[(3,5-dimethylphenyl)sulfonyl]indole-2-carboxyamide when docked to HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. These findings contribute to the search for novel NNRTIs as well as expanding knowledge regarding the characteristics of the NNRTI pharmacophore.


Power plants that emit great amounts of nitrogen oxides are the key total mass control part of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan". SCR is widely used because the technology is mature and the denitrification efficiency is high. According to the problems of the application of SCR, this paper puts forward relevant suggestions: 1) Combine different flue gas denitrification technologies to raise the denitrification efficiency. 2) Urea is recommended as the reductant considering the safety factors. 3) Issue relevant policies and strictly control the emission of sulfur trioxide.


My article offers an overview of the role of the theory of education in John Locke's system of ideas. First and second sections outline main interpretations of Locke's educational work, from a religious point of view. Important interpretations of John Locke's work within the framework of history of education are discussed in the third section. In the section that follows, I present my hypothesis on the influence of John Locke's philosophical anthropology, as described in his educational writing, on his political philosophy. Coherency of Locke's ideas will be demonstrated at the end of this section on examples from his writings on epistemology, political philosophy, and theology. Locke's work on education is interpreted as a link between these three fields. In the last section, I present several examples of Locke's Central-European reception.


It is essential yet challenging for future home-assistant robots to understand and manipulate diverse 3D objects in daily human environments. Towards building scalable systems that can perform diverse manipulation tasks over various 3D shapes, recent works have advocated and demonstrated promising results learning visual actionable affordance, which labels every point over the input 3D geometry with an action likelihood of accomplishing the downstream task ( e.g. , pushing or picking-up). However, these works only studied single-gripper manipulation tasks, yet many real-world tasks require two hands to achieve collaboratively. In this work, we propose a novel learning framework, DualAfford, to learn collaborative affordance for dual-gripper manipulation tasks. The core design of the approach is to reduce the quadratic problem for two grippers into two disentangled yet inter-connected subtasks for efficient learning. Using the large-scale PartNet-Mobility and ShapeNet datasets, we set up four benchmark tasks for dual-gripper manipulation. Experiments prove the effectiveness and superiority of our method over three baselines. We will release code and data upon acceptance. Additional results and videos can be found at https://hyperplane-lab.github.io/DualAfford . Results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of our proposed approach.


An ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) measurement system is a complex collection of many elements such as the pulser/receiver, the cabling, the transducers, and the material configuration being tested. To completely model an ultrasonic measurement system, a system model, called the electroacoustic measurement (EAM) model, was developed. This model allows one to analyze the measurement system at many different levels, ranging from individual details to the entire system itself. The EAM model has been implemented in software using the MATLAB development environment such that one has control over the specification of the detailed system components. On the other hand, the practical use of the EAM model for commercial systems, whose explicit internal construction details are not known, requires that the model be expressed in terms of elements that can either be obtained experimentally or modeled. Thus, the EAM model has also been characterized in terms of a small number of system parameters that can either be explicitly modeled or obtained from purely electrical measurements. This advance is important, since it lays the foundation for new, quantitative transducer characterization procedures and new methods for evaluating and compensating for system variabilities.