Big data technologies have attracted much attention in recent years. The academia and industry have reached a consensus, that is, the ultimate goal of big data is about transforming 'big data' to 'real value'. In this article, we discuss how to achieve this goal and propose five-layer architecture for big data processing and analytics (BDPA), including a collection layer, a storage layer, a processing layer, an analytics layer, and an application layer. The five-layer architecture targets to set up a de facto standard for current BDPA solutions, to collect, manage, process, and analyse the vast volume of both static data and online data streams, and make valuable decisions for all types of industries. Functionalities and challenges of the five-layers are illustrated, with the most recent technologies and solutions discussed accordingly. We conclude with the requirements for the future BDPA solutions, which may serve as a foundation for the future big data ecosystem.


Aspect-level sentiment classification is a fine-grained task in sentiment analysis. Since it provides more complete and in-depth results, aspect-level sentiment analysis has received much attention these years. In this paper, we reveal that the sentiment polarity of a sentence is not only determined by the content but is also highly related to the concerned aspect. For instance, "The appetizers are ok, but the service is slow.", for aspect taste, the polarity is positive while for service, the polarity is negative. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore the connection between an aspect and the content of a sentence. To this end, we propose an Attention-based Long Short-Term Memory Network for aspect-level sentiment classification. The attention mechanism can concentrate on different parts of a sentence when different aspects are taken as input. We experiment on the SemEval 2014 dataset and results show that our model achieves state-ofthe-art performance on aspect-level sentiment classification.


Volta Region, one of Ghana's ten administrative regions, has the
highest prevalence of malaria in the country. The present paper
assesses the patterns, levels, and trends of malaria prevalence among
inhabitants in the 12 districts of the region, and examines whether
those at risk of malaria have assess to protective measures and have
effective treatment for malaria in Volta Region. The study focused on
secondary analysis of data from the Volta Regional bio-statistical
office, Ho, the region's capital, supplemented by the 2003 Ghana
Demographic and Health Survey. The results show that malaria cases are
prevalent in the Jasikan, Hohoe, Kpando, Ho and Keta Districts.
Districts that lie within the middle and southern belts enjoy two rainy
seasons that are conducive to the vector that causes malaria.
Overwhelming majority of the in-patients (41.5%) are children aged 0
– 4 years, while the number of the in-patient cases generally
decreases with advancing age. The majority of children who had fever in
the last two weeks (34.8%) were aged 12 – 23 months, followed by
34.4% for age group 0 – 11 months. The highest malaria cases in
the region are from the Hohoe district (24.2%) in year 2003, followed
by Ho 20.1% in 2000 and 2002, and Keta (17.2%) also in 2003. The least
recorded is the North Tongu with 0.9% for 2 different years (2000 and
2002). It is anticipated that with a considerable reduction in poverty
levels, households and communities would become increasingly
responsible for the improvement of their health status and quality of
life.


The objectives of this study are to examine the current state of risk and risk management disclosures in annual reports in Malaysia and also to examine the association between risk and risk management disclosures and agency variables (namely size, profitability, leverage, risk, board composition and audit committee). This study used data from 97 main board companies for the year 2005.
This study found that the highest risk disclosure is information for decision making and the lowest is environment risk. In terms of industry, property industry reported the highest volume of risk and risk management disclosures while, the lowest disclosure is displayed by technology companies. The risk and risk management characteristics occurring most frequently is of 'qualitative/past' type and the least disclosed is of
'quantitative/future' type. It is also found that there is greater disclosure of past information as compared to future information. This study also found that there is a positive and significant association between size and risk disclosure, and between size and overall risk and risk management disclosures. It is also found that there is a positive and significant association between firm profitability and audit committee with the extent of risk management disclosures. In contrast, other variables (namely, risk, leverage and board composition) are found to be statistically insignificant and have no association with the extent of risk and risk management disclosures.


The monoamine noradrenaline (NA) can initiate and/or modulate locomotion in a variety of vertebrates. Here we report that exogenous NA application can facilitate two completely different fictive behaviours in embryos of the common frog Rana temporaria, depending on whether spinal networks are connected to supraspinal centres. When the nervous system is intact, NA elicits a non‐rhythmic coiling motor response, reminiscent of a spontaneous behaviour appropriate to drive hatching movements, but has only minor effects on evoked swimming activity. After the spinal cord has been severed from the brain, spontaneous coiling is no longer observed, nor can NA elicit it, but the amine can 'release' swimming rhythm generation in response to electrical skin stimulation. The rhythm is similar, but relatively inflexible when compared to fictive swimming recorded from intact animals. Our pharmacological tests indicate that α1‐adrenoreceptors are involved in the permissive role of NA during spinalised rhythmic swimming and that the fictive coiling response to NA in intact animals involves descending inputs and the activation of β1‐adrenoreceptors. Furthermore, the subtle effects of NA on evoked swimming in intact animals were mimicked by either α1‐ or α2‐adrenoreceptor activation, reversibly decreasing motor burst durations and increasing their frequency. We discuss our results with reference to the known synergistic actions of NA with another aminergic neuromodulator, serotonin, and raise the possibility that these amines may actively regulate the release of one another during locomotion, in addition to their respective post‐synaptic targets in the spinal cord.


SSDH is an ongoing digitization project devoted to the history of acoustics, developed in collaboration with members of the research group "Epistemes of Modern Acoustics" at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. The digital archive provides access to and context for unique sources in the history of acoustics, such as texts, images, sound, film, and historical reenactments, along with entries on the people, places, instruments, and technologies that have shaped this history. The database is a multimedia resource for historians of science, culture, and technology, along with students and other researchers. It aims to explore the relationship between historical innovations in the study of sound and the scientific, artistic, religious, and political practices that make up their context. How did acoustic knowledge travel between a science of sound and the practice of musicians, engineers, or everyday listeners? How is that knowledge itself a product of sonic strategies, from skilled listening and musical composition to advanced audio engineering?


1965 was a watershed year in the life of Steve Reich. Following numerous experiments with magnetic tape, he had, while creating his tape piece It's Gonna Rain, identified a fascinating process that would serve as the basic compositional tool of his output until about 1971, and as a foundational component of his output thereafter. l Reich's preoccupation with processoriented music in turn helped define a musical trend that shifted the standard historical narrative of twentieth -century concert music away from the reigning high modernist serialism of the 1950s toward minimalism. Defenders of the new style emphasize the cultural triumph of minimalism. For Susan McClary, minimalism is "perhaps the single most viable extant strand of the Western art-music tradition;" for K. Robert Schwarz, a specialist in this style, minimalism is "a potent force ... its influence is pervasive and enduring;" and for the composer John Adams, minimalism is "the only really interesting, important stylistic development in the past 30 years" (McClary 2004:289-98; Schwarz 1997:1-17; Adams quoted in Schwarz 1996a:177). These writers often attend to minimalism's programmatic reaction to the perceived structural complexities of high modernism with its ametric rhythms and pervasive intervallic dissonances. In contrast to high modernism, minimalism offered musical structures dearly audible to the listener; its rhythms were pulse-based, often elaborated in the context of extended repetition of short musical figures, and its pitch structures were simple, usually associated with, though not identical to, traditional diatonic constellations. Commentators may differ on the relationship minimalism takes to modernism-McClary argues in terms of a qualified Oedipal "reaction formation" to modernism; Wim Mertens argues in terms of a negative dialectical "final stage" of high modernism-but few commentators fail to situate high modernism as the central referent in describing the emergence of minimalism in music (McClary 2004:292; Mertens 2004:308). Whether the argument hinges on a theory of history beholden to Freud or one beholden to Hegel, modernism under these readings remains minimalism's basic condition of possibility. Most minimalist composers have themselves been outspoken about their aversion to certain forms of modernism, especially institutionalized


Chemical enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) relies on the interactions of the injected chemicals with the surface-active components (SACs) of the oil-in-place and the rock surface to induce favorable physico-chemical changes. In this study, we investigate the effect of oil composition on the performance of low salinity waterflooding (LSWF) in carbonate rocks using an integrated experimental approach. In addition, we assess the extent of usefulness of total acid number (TAN) as an oil screening criterion for LSWF application in carbonate reservoirs by using model oils that have different SACs, but the same TAN.A variety of characterization techniques including thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), attenuated total reflectance (ATR-FTIR) and zeta potential (ζ) are performed to investigate the molecular-scale effect of oil chemistry on rock-oil-brine interactions during LSWF. Sessile drop contact angle measurements are also performed to quantify the influence of different SACs on the wettability of carbonate rock samples. Concurrently, coreflood experiments are performed to evaluate the effect of oil composition on the performance of LSWF in carbonate rocks in terms of Darcy-scale oil recovery.Results of this study show that oil chemistry significantly influences the performance of LSWF at all scales. Different molecular-scale interactions are observed in the presence of different SACs owing to differences in their affinity to the rock surface, strength of adsorption, solubility in brine, as well as their distinct pore-scale wetting abilities. These differences translate into significant variation in Darcy-scale oil recovery. In addition, carboxylic acid chain length is found to affect the amount of SACs adsorbed onto carbonate rocks during aging. Carboxylic acid chain length also affects the strength of adsorption, which in turn impacts the magnitude of wettability alteration during LSWF. Further, partitioning of SACs in brine is observed to influence the type of interactions taking place in the rock-oil-brine system, where carboxylate salts (soaps) generated in-situ are detected only in the presence of certain oil-brine pairs but not in the presence of others. Solubility of SACs in brine is also found to promote water-wetness. As a result, significant differences in the rate of oil recovery and ultimate recovery are observed when displacing four oils by the same low salinity brine at similar experimental conditions. Finally, the value of TAN is found to be insensitive to the type of acidic SACs present in the oil phase as long as they are monoprotic and their molar concentration in the oil is the same. Even within the same class of SACs, namely carboxylic acids, the usefulness of TAN is limited in differentiating between the type and molecular structure of the acid (i.e.: straight chain versus aromatic).


This exhibition, held at the Cornerstone Gallery, Liverpool Hope University, between 24th October – 24th November 2016, pairs the work of painters Enzo Marra and Tom Palin. Both artists engage with the materiality of paint, which is at times rooted within figuration, yet neither painter's work is overtly representational. Marra's work looks toward the art world and the art historical for key references, and he appropriates motifs, whilst Palin's work evidences a gradual layering of paint and tends to eschew the figure and narrative readings in favour of a concern for the fundamental constituents of the painted object: surface, vehicle, support and time. Additionally, both tend, at least in more recent times, to work on a small scale, which assists in generating interesting dialogues around with the relationship of the subject to the surface, the particularity of the temporal conditions of making, the grouping and re-grouping works, and methods of reception. 2016, Marra's work was included in the John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and Palin exhibited two works at the Royal Academy, as part of the Summer Exhibition; both of which are included here. The exhibition was curated by Tony Smith, and arranged by Smith, Palin and Paul Kelly.


We combine theory and empirics to (i) show that some buyers in online advertising markets are financially constrained and (ii) demonstrate how to design auctions that take into account such financial constraints. We use data from a field experiment where reserve prices were randomized on Google's advertising exchange (AdX). We find that, contrary to the predictions of classical auction theory, a significant set of buyers lowers their bids when reserve prices go up. We show that this behavior can be explained if we assume buyers have constraints on their minimum return on investment (ROI). We proceed to design auctions for ROI-constrained buyers. We show that optimal auctions for symmetric ROI-constrained buyers are either second-price auctions with reduced reserve prices or subsidized second-price auctions. For asymmetric buyers, the optimal auction involves a modification of virtual values. Going back to the data, we show that using ROI-aware optimal auctions can lead to large revenue gains and large welfare gains for buyers.


The essays collected in Music Education in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance show a wide diversity of approaches to musical pedagogy, which they illuminate in new and often suggestive ways; they make a significant contribution to the history of music pedagogy and will amply repay careful study. Collectively, the essays address five questions. What pedagogical methods were used? What did students learn? Who were the teachers, and who the students? Where and when was music learned? Why was music learned? Readers led by the book's title to assume that the Middle Ages and the Renaissance will receive equal treatment may be disappointed: only three of the book's seventeen essays are devoted to medieval topics. "Early Modern" would have served the later period more appropriately than "Renaissance," as publications addressed include those as late as Mace (1676) and Playford (1683). A comprehensive bibliography would have been a service to readers.


We demonstrate that a biphasic shock is more effective than a monophasic shock at eliminating reentrant electrical activity in an ionic model of cardiac ventricular electrical activity. This effectiveness results from early hyperpolarization that enhances the recovery of sodium inactivation, thereby enabling earlier activation of recovering cells. The effect can be seen easily in a model of a single cell and also in a cable model with a ring of excitable cells. Finally, we demonstrate the phenomenon in a two-dimensional model of cardiac tissue.


Background: Demand for imported sawn timbers in New Zealand has increased over the last decade, reflecting the lack of New Zealand-grown, naturally durable timber in the domestic market. Therefore, a market opportunity exists for sustainably grown, naturally durable timbers in New Zealand for specialty applications. Kowhai (Sophora spp.) are New Zealand native tree species, known for their bright, yellow flowers and reported to produce coloured, naturally durable heartwood.Methods: Information on kowhai was collated from literature, focusing on their potential for commercial forestry. The taxonomic relationships, species descriptions, establishment, and growth rates of kowhai were examined, along with timber properties and historical uses, as well as medicinal applications. The review identified potential market opportunities for kowhai and key areas for further research.Results: Kowhai refers to eight different Sophora species that are endemic to New Zealand. Kowhai is easily established and the different species hybridise readily. While growth and form of kowhai varies with species, site, and management, examples of straight single-stemmed trees and annual diameter increments exceeding 20 mm have been found. Kowhai timber properties might be comparable to those of teak (Tectona grandis L.f.). Kowhai contains alkaloids, a class of compounds used in pharmaceutical applications. The species have been used for timber and traditional medicine by Maori in the past, while European settlers used kowhai for their durable and flexible timber.Conclusions: Kowhai could be established as a sustainable, domestic source of high-quality timber and substitute imported specialty timbers in New Zealand on account of their natural durability, strength, stiffness, colour, and density properties. The residues could support a secondary industry, as a source of alkaloids for pharmaceutical applications or natural dyes. Key areas that require further study include growth rates and silviculture, mechanical timber properties, machining/processing characteristics, natural durability and cytisine levels in kowhai, as well as the cultural, economic, and ecological framework required for a commercial kowhai forestry industry. Lack of literature on, and expertise in the use of native timbers in general are barriers to promoting native species for commercial forestry in New Zealand.


Introduction: As a procedure, simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SB-TKA) has not received its acceptance into routine clinical practice yet; perhaps, due to concerns regarding higher rates of perioperative complications associated with it as compared to the conventional unilateral procedure. The objective of the current study is to assess the safety of SB-TKA in relation to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score and to assess the incidence of postoperative complications. Materials and Methods: In a prospective study, 25 patients underwent SB-TKA between January 2011 and April 2014. The inclusion criteria comprised patients with bilateral end-stage primary osteoarthritis of knees interfering with daily activities. A well-defined pre-determined protocol for pre- and postoperative care was adhered. Results: The study included 8 male and 17 female patients. Mean age of the patients was 66.4 ± 8.3 years. Five cases were classified as ASA-1 (20%), 11 cases as ASA-2 (44%) and 9 cases as ASA-3 (36%). No death, deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism or neurological injury was reported in any of our patients postoperatively. One patient developed chest congestion on day 2 and was treated conservatively. One patient suffered from non-ST-segment elevation myocardial ischaemia on day 3 and was treated uneventfully. Two patients had a minor complication in the form of wound infection. No statistical relation was found between ASA risking score and postoperative complications. Conclusion: SB-TKA is a safe procedure if done after careful selection of patients in addition to a proper pre- and postoperative management protocol.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

The functional interaction between integrin α6β4 and growth factor receptors has been implicated in key signaling pathways important for cancer cell function. However, few attempts have been made to selectively target this interaction for therapeutic intervention. Previous studies showed that curcumin, a yellow pigment isolated from tumeric, inhibits integrin α6β4 signaling important for breast carcinoma cell motility and invasion, but the mechanism is not currently known. To address this issue, we tested the hypothesis that curcumin inhibits the functional interaction between α6β4 and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). In this study, we found that curcumin disrupts functional and physical interactions between α6β4 and EGFR, and blocks α6β4/EGFR dependent functions of carcinoma cells expressing the signaling competent form of α6β4. We further demonstrated that curcumin inhibits EGF dependent mobilization of α6β4 from hemidesmosomes to the leading edges of migrating cells such as lammelipodia and filopodia, and thereby prevents α6β4 distribution to lipid rafts where functional interactions between α6β4 and EGFR occur. These data suggest a novel paradigm in which curcumin inhibits α6β4 signaling and functions by altering intracellular localization of α6β4, thus preventing its association with signaling receptors such as EGFR.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1610. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1610


We present an approach for remote operation of instruments in the Internet environment. We have applied this approach to in-situ electron microscopy experiments that require dynamic interaction with the specimen under observation, as it is excited with external stimuli, i.e., temperature variation, EM field variation, etc. The dynamic operations include control of the sample's position and orientation under the electron beam, the illumination conditions and focus, etc. Remote control via wide area networks like the Internet that do not offer real time data and command delivery guarantees is not practical for the finely tuned adjustments that dynamic studies require. We suggest that an effective approach to remote operation for this class of dynamic control applications must involve automated control operations performed near the instrument in order to eliminate the wide area network real-time delivery requirement. Our approach to this problem is based on advanced computer vision algorithms that permit instrumentation adjustments to be made in response to information extracted from the video signal generated by the microscope imaging system. We have determined the type of servo loops needed to enable remote operation and collaboration, and have introduced a novel partitioning of the control architecture for implementing this approach. In this partitioning, the low frequency servo loop functions that require direct human interaction are performed over the wide area network, and those functions that require low latency control are performed locally using the automated techniques. This approach hides the latencies in the wide area network and permits effective remote operation. The result is telepresence that provides the illusion of close geographical proximity for in-situ studies. Our testbed is a 1.5 MeV transmission electron microscope, which can now be used on-line via the global Internet.


We measured the effects of dietary selenium (Se) on pancreatic cancer induced in Syrian golden hamsters by N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine (BOP). The animals were fed six experimental diets that contained different combinations of the following: 0.1, 2.5, or 5.0 ppm Se from sodium selenite or 2.5 ppm Se from D,L-selenomethionine in either a low (6.0%)- or high (24.4%)-fat diet. Se treatment was begun four weeks before BOP treatment, and the high-fat diet was fed from one week after the last BOP treatment. No evidence for inhibition of pancreatic cancer by Se was observed; in fact, with some experimental conditions, high-Se diets increased the pancreatic carcinoma yield. However, the dietary conditions needed for enhancement differed between the sexes. The male hamsters that received the high-fat diet containing 2.5 ppm Se had more carcinomas than did males given the 0.1 ppm Se level. Carcinoma yields in females did not differ between these diets. Females that received 2.5 ppm Se from D,L-selenomethionine had a greater pancreatic carcinoma yield that did those given 0.1 ppm Se diet. However, carcinoma yields did not differ in males fed these diets. Acinar cell nodule yields were generally reduced in hamsters given the high-Se diets, especially when Se levels in the high-fat diets were compared. Prefeeding 0.1 or 2.5 ppm Se did not influence the elution constants of pancreatic DNA from ductal cells, indicating no effect of Se on the repair of BOP-induced, single-strand breaks in DNA from these cells. Measurements in acinar cells suggested a more rapid repair of single-strand breaks in hamsters prefed 2.5 ppm Se than in those prefed 0.1 ppm Se.


Background: The miRNA miR-106b-5p has been previously reported to be increased in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues compared to cirrhotic tissues. The purpose of this study was to detect its expression in HCC cell lines with distinct metastatic potentials and to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying HCC stemness and migration. Methods: miR-106b-5p expression was studied in HCC tissues and cell lines. In vitro cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties, cell migration and invasion were compared between HCC cell lines with upregulation or downregulation of miR-106b-5p. In vivo tail vein injection models were established to evaluate the role of miR-106b-5p in lung metastasis. Bioinformatics programs, luciferase reporter assay and rescue experiments were used to validate the downstream targets of miR-106b-5p. The relationship between the expression of the targeted gene and clinicopathological parameters was also analyzed. Results: miR-106b-5p expression was higher in HCC tissues and cell lines than that in non-tumor tissues and hepatocyte Chang liver, respectively. Upregulation of miR-106b-5p exhibited a promoting role in CSC properties, cell migration and activation of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling in vitro, as well as in lung metastasis in vivo. However, downregulation of miR-106b-5p exhibited the opposite effect. Furthermore, PTEN was verified as a direct target of miR-106b-5p. Upon clinicopathological analysis, lower level of PTEN was significantly associated with more aggressive characteristics. Patients with high PTEN expression had longer overall survival and disease-free survival. Conclusion: miR-106b-5p promotes HCC stemness maintenance and metastasis by targeting PTEN via PI3K/Akt pathway. Inhibition of miR-106b-5p might be effective therapeutic strate-gies to treat advanced HCC. as a control and were normalized to the level of chang liver cells. Abbreviations: csc, cancer stem cell; PTen, phosphatase and tensin homolog; nc, negative control.


In this paper, a new single-phase voltage sag/swell compensator using direct power conversion is proposed. A new compensator consists of input/output filter, series transformer and direct ac-ac converter, which is a single-phase back-to-back PWM converter without dc-link capacitors. Advantages of the proposed compensator include: simple power circuit by eliminating dc-link electrolytic capacitors and thereby, improved reliability and increased life time of the entire compensator; simple PWM strategy or compensating voltage sag/swell at the same time and reduced switching losses in the ac-ac converter. Further, the proposed scheme is able to adopt simple switch commutation method without requiring complex four-step commutation method that is commonly employed in the direct power conversion. Simulation and experimental results are shown to demonstrate the advantages of the new compensator and PWM strategy. A single-phase compensator based on the digital signal processor is built and tested.


Ageing is accompanied by a general decline in the function of many cellular pathways, with metabolic alterations, epigenetic modifications, and stem cell exhaustion representing three important hallmarks of the ageing process. However, whether these pathways are causally or functionally related at a molecular level remains poorly understood. Here, we use bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from young and old mice to address how age-dependent changes in metabolism and epigenetics are linked and how they impact on the ageing transcriptome and differentiation potential. Given that MSCs maintain specific age-associated properties even under prolonged culture conditions, such as the age-dependent decrease in osteogenic differentiation, they are an excellent model to investigate in vitro the connection of ageing hallmarks on a mechanistic level. In this study, we demonstrate that upon ageing, osteogenic potential of MSCs declines as a consequence of deregulated mito-nuclear communication, mediated by decreased levels of the citrate carrier (CiC). Age-dependent down-regulation of CiC results in acetyl-CoA trapping within mitochondria, hypo-acetylation of histones and chromatin compaction. Together, these changes lead to an altered transcriptional output and are responsible for the reduced differentiation capacity into osteoblasts. Strikingly, short-term supplementation of aged cells with acetate, an exogenous source for cytosolic acetyl-CoA production, rescues not only the age-associated reduction of histone acetylation, but also the osteogenesis defect, representing a potential target for in vitro MSC rejuvenation.


Would you like to start your own business but don't know where to start? Need to answer some questions for your business plan? This LibGuide is a good place to start!


The splitting processes of bremsstrahlung and pair-production in a medium are coherent over large distances in the high energy limit leading to a suppression known as the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect. Avoiding soft-emission approximations and working in the large-Nc limit, we consider corrections to the LPM effect from cases where the coherence lengths of two consecutive splittings overlap. In this work, we present (i) complete results for the case of two overlapping gluon splittings (e.g. $g\rightarrow g g\rightarrow g g g$ and virtual corrections to single splitting $g\rightarrow g g^{*}\rightarrow g g g^{*}\rightarrow g g$) and (ii) confirm that earlier leading-log results for these effects are reproduced by our more-complete results in the appropriate soft limit. We also discuss how to combine the effects of overlapping real double splitting with the corresponding virtual corrections to single splitting in order to calculate IR-safe quantities such as in-medium energy loss.


The critical minimum size of stable precipitate in the vicinity of edge of miscibility gap is experimentally determined for the Ni3Si precipitate particle in Ni-Si, Ni3Al in Ni-Al, Cu4Ti in Cu-Ti and Co in Cu-Co binary alloy systems by utilizing the macroscopic composition gradient method recently proposed. The results obtained are as follows: The critical nucleus size shows a rapid increase to several tens of nm in a very narrow composition region less than 0.3at% from the phase boundary. Such a big critical size of nucleus is statistically rationalized by the conventional nucleation theories.


Abstract In Distance education, learning depends on the ability of the learner to manage his/her learning process, both through the creation of appropriate objectives, and by adopting strategies to achieve them. The role of the teacher is to develop an efficient methodology with flexibility over the learners' special characteristics and to create conditions to enable the learners to manage their learning process. This research aims to investigate the parameters which are involved in synchronous teleconference and which lead to effective learning through the support of an autonomous environment. The research was conducted with students of the Annual Training Program for Teachers of Higher School of Pedagogical and Technological Education Department in Patras. The results show that teleconference as teaching tool can support the autonomous learning and can enhance personalisation as this process can help students to learn and develop skills by receiving efficient support.


The system was developed using software applications such as Joomla 1.5.22, Apache, Mercury, Filezilla, Mysql, PHP, 7-zip and Adobe Photoshop. The authors used the descriptive, creative and library methods together with observation and Internet resources for the research. Other data were subjected to statistical treatment of analysis. It was concluded in the study that the existing system is manually operated. The users need to go to the library and look for theses/dissertations section one by one basis to do their research. The proposed system has a lot of salient features like the search keyword page, news and info page and login phase. The level of performance of the proposed system evaluated by the respondents in terms of efficiency, functionality, reliability and usability were interpreted overall as "Very Good". It means that the system is highly acceptable and usable. The proposed system is to serve as online repositories of researches for De La Salle Araneta University. It is to provide online information for students and teachers who wish to work on their researches. Based on the conducted study, there is a significant difference between the users' and IT professionals' evaluations because IT professionals already know how the system runs, and they also have knowledge regarding computer matters while users are generally not that familiar with such a system and its components.


Background/Objectives: This study focuses on the increase of materialization of real events from the sports history and tries to draw the sociocultural undertone from the sports movies produced after the 2000s. Methods/Statistical analysis: This study is conducted by discourse analysis of domestically produced sports movies based on true stories after the 2000s. This study is based on mythology, post-modernism and post-colonialism as the theoretical evidence to bring out the mythological discourse of the sports movies as historical description. Findings: Recent sports movies show a narrative strategy for a good box-office performance. They are attracted on the basis of true stories. They focus and foreground the epic tale of the main character and the simple and fierce life of sportsmen as subalterns with their accomplishments. Movies about the most influential sports games emotionally stimulate the collective memory of the audience and firmly take the role of promoting high self-esteem of the nation and feeling of solidarity among public. These factors could increase fun and emotional aspects in 'factional' sports movie. Restructured true events in sports movies build up the Korean hybrid narrative with true and sincere genre and dramatic emotional feeling of appellation of anonymous individual as historical agent. Improvements/Applications: Precedent studies about sports movies are still insufficient, while discussions about the media and sports have been increasing. This study tried to draw the subaltern mythology from the sports movies which will contribute to broadening the spectrum of filmic discourse.


Organ cultures of sexually differentiated gonads were studied in order to determine the role played by the gonadotropic hormones LH and FSH in the development of chick embryo testes and ovaries. The groups of gonads examined were: A) gonads of normal 18-day-old embryos; B) gonads explants on standard medium; C) standard medium + LH (60 microgram/ml); D) standard medium + FSH (60 microgram/ml); E) standard medium + LH (20 microgram/ml) + FSH (20 microgram/ml). After culture for eight days, the testicular explants from the control group B demonstrated gonocytes in the cortical epithelium, which was stratified and contained no connective tissue, together with a reduction of the diameter of the medullary cords and stromal tissue in relation to 18-day-old embryos. In groups C, D, and E, the cortical epithelium contained no gonocytes and there was differentiation into an albugineous type of connective tissue. The diameter of the cords and the extent of the stroma was similar to that of normal embryos in groups C and D, but were reduced in group E. The cortex in the control group B ovarian explants was thicker than in normal living embryo's ovaries and somatic cells were rarely seen: cords containing gonocytes and lacunae had developed in the medulla. True ovotestes were sometimes observed. The thickness of the cortex and the morphology of the medulla in group C were similar to those of the control group explants. The FSH in the culture medium in groups D and E, caused a reduction in the thickness of the cortex and the development of lacunae.


Eight cases of sporadic acquired primary osteoma cutis have been reported in the literature. Age at onset varies from 16 to 55 years with a mean of about 35 years. The sex ratio is 1 and a wide range of localizations have been reported. There is no known treatment. We report a new case of primary osteoma cutis observed in an adult. The monomelic feature of this case has not been reported previously. The patient was 76 years old and had multiple painless, stone-like formations at several sites on the left thigh and leg since the age of 40. Histological examination of skin biopsies showed a perfectly differentiated bone tissue in the dermal layer. There was no similar family history nor abnormal morphotype. Likewise, the absence of laboratory signs of pseudohypoparathyroidism, together with the late and spontaneous onset allowed us to eliminate hereditary Albright's osteodystropy or secondary osteomatosis due to a local pathological process. Despite the late onset, the monomelic character of the osteomas observed and the association of hemicorporeal hypertrophy and linear basocellular naevi reported in the literature would suggest a hamartomatous origin rather than a metaplasic process in this patient.


Due to the popularization of the touch screen devices, nowadays people are used to conduct the human-computer interactions with touch gestures. However, limited by current studies, users can use only simple multi-touch gestures to execute only simple manipulations such as rotation, translation, scaling, with most of time one user even if adapted devices are now available. The work reported here concerns the expanding usage of multi-touch gestures, that make them available at the same time for more shortcut commands (called indirect commands, as copy, past, ... ), more manipulation commands (called direct commands like zoom or rotation) and in the context of multiple users on the same screen. For this purpose, we analyze the shape of the gesture's motion trajectories and the temporal and spatial relations between trajectories in order to characterize a multi-touch gesture. We propose a graph modeling to characterize these motion features and develop a graph based analysis and recognition system. To resolve the conflict between interface manipulation and shortcut command inputs, we study and validate an early recognition strategy for multi-touch gesture. We built a reject option based multi-classifier early recognition system to recognize multi-touch gestures in early stage. To set-up, train and validate our systems, we built MTGSet, a multi-touch gesture dataset formed by 7938 gestures from 41 different classes collected in isolated contexts and MUMTDB a dataset of gestures collected in a real multi-user usage case of diagram drawing. The experimental results prove that our system can well recognize multi-touch gestures in these different situations.


With the ever increasing pace of change in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry, universities need to be more aware of the skill set that employers are seeking in graduates. These skills often include risk taking, creative thinking and entrepreneurship; skills that are not naturally associated with chemistry-related curriculums. This research focusses on the authors' experiences of applying for strategic grants which underpin the dissemination of such skills, and explores how these were used as the basis for creating specific learning content for final year students. Students' experiences after completing assignments were gathered through an online survey and subsequent analysis identified areas for improvement in chemistry curriculums. Keywords:  Entrepreneurship, Chemical & Pharmaceutical industry, innovation


Background: Physical activity has not only been proven to enhance health in the general population but is also related to the severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Studies reporting physical activity level in persons with OSAS often use questionnaire but none has described the physical activity pattern using accelerometer.

Aim: The aim of the study was to measure physical activity and sedentary behaviours in a sample of persons with OSAS and obesity.

Methods: 35 persons (7 women) with moderate/severe OSAS (AHI ≥15) and obesity (mean BMI: 36.3) were enrolled in the study. They wore a three-axis accelerometer (Sensewear Armband) for five days. Measurements used were daily median for number of steps, minutes of physical activity above 3.0 METs (i.e moderate and vigorous intensity) and amount of time spent in sedentary (<1.0 METs). A visual analysis was made regarding number of 10-minute bouts of physical activity above 3.0 METs.

Results: Participants were sedentary for a daily median of 11 h 25 min (IQR 5:08). They took a median daily amount of 7121 steps (IQR 4945) and were physically active above 3.0 METs for a median of 54.4 min (IQR 63). The median number of 10-minute bouts of physical activity above 3.0 METs was 2.4 (IQR 3) and when calculating these bouts, only a median of 29.6 min (IQR 39) of physical activity above 3.0 METs was identified.

Conclusions: The participants' daily median of steps and minutes spent on at least moderate-intensity physical activity fairly well match the general recommendations. However, the results do not meet the recommendations set for physical activity in weight reduction, i.e 300 minutes/week of moderate-intensity physical activity.


The world of education is mainly presented in the form of bilingual learning, such as in universities. Furthermore, some departments prepare majors with international class programs. This research focuses on analyzing the chemistry students' perceptions and the practice of the subject on the use of content language Integrated learning. The samples were seven students who learned and one lecturer who taught chemistry major for an international class in Universitas Negeri Makassar. The researcher took them by using purposive sampling. The research instruments were interview protocol for semi-structured interviews, observation checklist, and documentation. Based on data analysis by using thematic analysis, it gathered results; first, from the chemistry students' perceptions towards the use of the content and language integrated learning, the researcher found several themes for each aspect: perception of content was content material, language use, medium of instruction, and teaching style; perception of cognitive were classroom condition, critical thinking, problem-solving, and learning motivation; perception of communication was learning difficulties, English use, learning style, and reason for learning style; perception of culture were code-mixing use and learning-interaction. The perceptions are also mainly influenced by factors of expectations and experiences. Second, from the learning process of the Analytic Chemistry subject that practiced the CLIL, the researcher found that in all of the stages in the learning process: pre-activity, main-activity, and post-activity. English and Indonesian also play a role in this learning process. The lecturer actively combines these two languages to deliver the material, and the students respond to the lecturer. Therefore, it is recommended that in using and developing content and language integrated learning, the university may consider the perceptions of these students and difficulties for lecturers and students in the learning process, especially in bilingual online classes at the university level.


In this paper, we investigate the hop distance optimization problem in ad hoc networks where cooperative multiinput-single-output (MISO) is adopted to improve the energy efficiency of the network. We first establish the energy model of multihop cooperative MISO transmission. Based on the model, the energy consumption per bit of the network with high node density is minimized numerically by finding an optimal hop distance, and, to get the global minimum energy consumption, both hop distance and the number of cooperating nodes around each relay node for multihop transmission are jointly optimized. We also compare the performance between multihop cooperative MISO transmission and single-input-single-output (SISO) transmission, under the same network condition (high node density). We show that cooperative MISO transmission could be energyinefficient compared with SISO transmission when the path-loss exponent becomes high. We then extend our investigation to the networks with varied node densities and show the effectiveness of the joint optimization method in this scenario using simulation results. It is shown that the optimal results depend on network conditions such as node density and path-loss exponent, and the simulation results are closely matched to those obtained using the numerical models for high node density cases.


Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of cintredekin besudotox (CB) was compared with Gliadel wafers (GW) in adult patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) at first recurrence. Patients were randomized 2:1 to receive CB or GW. CB (0.5 microg/mL; total flow rate 0.75 mL/h) was administered over 96 hours via 2-4 intraparenchymal catheters placed after tumor resection. GW (3.85%/7.7 mg carmustine per wafer; maximum 8 wafers) were placed immediately after tumor resection. The primary endpoint was overall survival from the time of randomization. Prestated interim analyses were built into the study design. Secondary and tertiary endpoints were safety and health-related quality-of-life assessments. From March 2004 to December 2005, 296 patients were enrolled at 52 centers. Demographic and baseline characteristics were balanced between the 2 treatment arms. Median survival was 36.4 weeks (9.1 months) for CB and 35.3 weeks (8.8 months) for GW (P = .476). For the efficacy evaluable population, the median survival was 45.3 weeks (11.3 months) for CB and 39.8 weeks (10 months) for GW (P = .310). The adverse-events profile was similar in both arms, except that pulmonary embolism was higher in the CB arm (8% vs 1%, P = .014). This is the first randomized phase III evaluation of an agent administered via CED and the first with an active comparator in GBM patients. There was no survival difference between CB administered via CED and GW. Drug distribution was not assessed and may be crucial for evaluating future CED-based therapeutics.


A classifier that incorporates both preprocessing and postprocessing procedures as well as a multilayer feedforward network (based on the back-propagation algorithm) in its design to distinguish between several major classes of radar returns including weather, birds, and aircraft is described. The classifier achieves an average classification accuracy of 89% on generalization for data collected during a single scan of the radar antenna. The procedures of feature selection for neural network training, the classifier design considerations, the learning algorithm development, the implementation, and the experimental results of the neural clutter classifier, which is simulated on a Warp systolic computer, are discussed. A comparative evaluation of the multilayer neural network with a traditional Bayes classifier is presented.


Additional prognostic stratification of colorectal cancer patients is needed to improve management of patients. Visual microscopic assessment of tumor samples remains the standard method for disease subtyping. However, visual analysis of samples is subjective and weakly reproducible due to inter- and intra-observer variations. Recent progress within machine learning, especially its novel branch called deep learning, enables accurate evaluation of complex patterns observed in microscopic tissue images. Here, we combined deep learning techniques to evaluate a set of digitized formalin fixed paraffin embedded hematoxylin-eosin stained tumor tissue microarray (TMA) samples from 420 randomly selected patients with colorectal cancer. For each patient a set of clinicopathological characteristics including histological grade, Dukes stage and age at diagnosis are available as well as outcome data. Using convolutional neural networks and Long Short-Term Memory networks we validated the predictive power of the colorectal TMAs with regards to patient outcome. Univariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis demonstrated that the prognostic accuracy of the deep learning algorithm on TMAs (hazard ratio 2.3; CI 95% 1.79-3.03) outperforms visual histological grading performed by a certified pathologist on a whole slide level (hazard ratio 1.65; CI 95% 1.30-2.15). In multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression, the deep learning based model was a prognostic factor, independent of histological grade, Dukes stage and age at diagnosis (Wald p-value Citation Format: Dmitrii Bychkov, Riku Turkki, Caj Haglund, Nina Linder, Johan Lundin. Outcome prediction in colorectal cancer using digitized tumor samples and machine learning [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5718. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5718


When labor incomes approach subsistence levels, the labor supply curve slopes outward, because the fight for survival mandates households to look for longer work hours in response to falling wage rates. We explore conditions under which near-subsistence scenarios may imply wage traps, labor market failures that can be the cause of undernourishment, illiteracy, and child labor. After stating general conditions under which wage traps occur, we look at specific production functions typically employed in quantitative analyses of growth and development. We find that standard Cobb-Douglas production functions do not permit wage traps, whereas CES functions do. Beyond that it turns out that when subsistence requirements increase with work hours, and when work effort rises with the wage rate, up to the efficiency-wage threshold, wage traps become more likely. Measures such as bans on child labor, implementation of minimum wage laws, or the establishment of labor unions may quite effectively improve conditions in wage-trapped labor markets.


In this work, the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) method is used to design and analyze a refractive index sensor based on a slotted photonic crystal nanobeam cavity. These type of cavities support a high quality-factor and a small volume, and therefore is attractive for optical sensing. We demonstrate that when immersing our proposed sensor in water it can possess a high-quality factor of 2.0×10^6, high sensitivity of 325 nm/RIU, and a detection limit of 2.4×10^(-7) RIU. We believe that our proposed sensor is a promising candidate for potential applications sensing like in optofluidic- and bio-sensing. Full Text: PDF ReferencesE. Chow, A. Grot, L. Mirkarimi, M. Sigalas, G. Girolami, "Ultracompact biochemical sensor built with two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity", OSA Trends Opt. Photonics Ser. 97 909 (2004). CrossRef S. Kim, H-M. Kim, Y-H. Lee, "Single nanobeam optical sensor with a high Q-factor and high sensitivity", Opt. Lett. 40 5351 (2015). CrossRef D-Q, Yang, B Duan, X, Liu, A-Q, Wang, X-G, Li, Y-F, Ji, "Photonic Crystal Nanobeam Cavities for Nanoscale Optical Sensing: A Review", Micromachines 11 (2020). CrossRef P.B. Deotare, M.W. McCutcheon, I.W. Frank, M. Khan, M. Lončar, "High quality factor photonic crystal nanobeam cavities", Appl. Phys. Lett. 94 121106 (2009). CrossRef P. Seidler, K. Lister, U. Drechsler, J. Hofrichter, T. Stöferle, "Slotted photonic crystal nanobeam cavity with an ultrahigh quality factor-to-mode volume ratio", Opt. Express 21 32468 (2013). CrossRef H. Choi, M. Heuck, D. Englund, "Self-Similar Nanocavity Design with Ultrasmall Mode Volume for Single-Photon Nonlinearities", Phys. Rev. Lett. 118 223605 (2017). CrossRef M. Al-Hmoud, S. Bougouffa, "Simultaneous high Q/V-ratio and optimized far-field emission pattern in diamond slot-bridge nanobeam cavity", Results Phys. 26 104314 (2021). CrossRef Q. Quan (2014). CrossRef M.A. Butt, C. Tyszkiewicz, P. Karasiński, M. Zięba, D. Hlushchenko, T. Baraniecki, A. Kaźmierczak, R. Piramidowicz, M. Guzik, A. Bachmatiuk, "Development of a low-cost silica-titania optical platform for integrated photonics applications", Opt. Express 30 23678 (2022). CrossRef D-Q. Yang, B. Duan, X. Liu, A-Q. Wang, X-G. Li, Y-F. Ji, ""Photonic Crystal Nanobeam Cavities for Nanoscale Optical Sensing: A Review", Micromachines 72, 11 (2020). CrossRef Y.N. Zhang, Y. Zhao, R.Q Lv, "A review for optical sensors based on photonic crystal cavities", Sens. Actuators A: Phys. 233 374 (2015). CrossRef P. Lalanne, S. Mias, and J.P. Hugonin, "Two physical mechanisms for boosting the quality factor to cavity volume ratio of photonic crystal microcavities", Opt. Express 12 458 (2004). CrossRef C. Sauvan, G. Lecamp, P. Lalanne, J.P Hugonin, "Modal-reflectivity enhancement by geometry tuning in Photonic Crystal microcavities", Opt. Express 13 245 (2005). CrossRef J.T. Robinson, C. Manolatou, L. Chen, M. Lipson, "Ultrasmall Mode Volumes in Dielectric Optical Microcavities", Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 143901 (2005). CrossRef S. Olyaee, M. Seifouri, R. Karami, A. Mohebzadeh-Bahabady, "Designing low power and high contrast ratio all-optical NOT logic gate for using in optical integrated circuits", Opt. Quantum Electron. 51 1 (2019). CrossRef


The present thesis, entitled Chemotherapy-induced cognitive changes, is being submitted in the alternative format, by Oana Calina Lindner to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, School of Psychological Sciences. The thesis consists of five empirical studies, written in article formats and three connecting chapters. The General introduction in Chapter 1, places the thesis in the context of late effects research in cancer survivors. I describe the prevalence of physical and emotional late effects, before going into more details on cognitive late effects. Chapter 2 provides a meta-analytical summary of cognitive impairments following chemotherapy in adult patients. It has already been published in Neuropsychology in 2014. Chapter 3 describes the general objectives and hypotheses of the empirical studies, and Chapter 4 provides more details on the General methods utilized in all the studies. The studies focus on pre- and post-treatment young adult cancer patients who were compared to age-, sex-, and education-matched controls. The instruments include a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, a newly designed memory task, and a complex battery of self-assessment questionnaires. Chapter 5 is the first empirical study, which will be submitted to Journal of Clinical Oncology. It describes the pattern of neuropsychological status of young adult cancer patients following treatment for lymphoma, sarcoma, breast cancer, and germ cell tumour. The impairments were specific to executive functioning, verbal memory, and visuospatial abilities. Uniquely, the chapter depicts differences between cancer groups. Because chemotherapy may not be the primary factor triggering such effects, Chapter 6 details the neuropsychological profile of a group of young adult pre-treatment patients diagnosed with the same malignancies. This chapter will be submitted to Journal of Neuropsychology. Impairments were observed on tests of attention, executive functioning and visuospatial abilities. Both Chapters 5 and 6 emphasize the importance of matching on full scale IQ in cross-sectional studies and they provide evidence that patients' performance on tests of verbal memory and executive functioning may vary as a function of age. Chapter 7 will be submitted to Psycho-Oncology and it suggests the presence of acute memory deficits after the first treatment. Finally, Chapter 8, which will be submitted to Psychosomatic Medicine, provides an in-depth description of the psycho-emotional status of cancer survivors. It describes higher levels of anxiety, depression, fatigue, and cognitive complaints, which mediated the relationship between illness perceptions and quality of life. The complex interaction between these psycho-emotional factors is interpreted within the framework of cognitive-behavioural therapies, which may provide a method to decrease the emotional burden of survivorship in clinical practice. Finally, Chapter 9 summarizes all the empirical findings whilst connecting them to previous literature and specifying future research direction.


SETTING
County tuberculosis (TB) dispensaries are the basic health care unit for the provision of TB services in China. In the rural hills of the western provinces of China, however, county centres are often far from patients' homes.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether decentralisation would result in improvements in patient access to TB services while maintaining the quality of the DOTS strategy.

METHODS
The present study compared TB services that were decentralised to township hospitals with two comparable control groups where township hospitals continued to routinely refer suspects to the county TB dispensaries. Training and supervision of quality control were provided. Routine TB reporting data were reviewed. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted for 171 new TB patients enrolled from 1 April 2005 to 31 July 2006.

RESULTS
Patients in the decentralised group spent less on travel and treatment for TB. The TB case notification rates increased significantly in the decentralised group, but remained unchanged in the control groups. Compared with the control groups, the decentralised group had improved treatment outcomes after 16 months. A higher quality of care was also observed in the decentralised group.

CONCLUSION
The decentralised model showed better patient access and quality of care. The study demonstrated that decentralising TB services to the township level, especially vital in China's poorly accessible areas, was feasible.


Endodontic sealers are used to fill the gap between the root filling material and canal walls. Retrievability is an important requirement for sealers and root filling materials in non-surgical endodontic retreatment. This study sought to assess the retreatability of fluoride varnish, AH 26 and Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA)-based sealers using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT).

 This in vitro, experimental study evaluated 45 extracted single-rooted, single-canal human mandibular premolars. Teeth with cracks or fracture were excluded. The root canals were prepared using ProTaper Universal rotary system up to size F4 according to the manufacturer's instructions. The teeth were then randomly divided into three groups of 5% fluoride varnish, AH 26 and MTA Fillapex. CBCT scans were obtained of the teeth with 200 μm voxel size. MATLAB R2012 software was used to quantify the amount of sealer remaining in the canal. Two observers evaluated the images. Data were analyzed using SPSS via the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney tests.

 The amount of sealer remaining in the root canals was significantly different among the three groups (P<0.05). The amount of AH 26 sealer remaining in the root canals (1.91±1.46) was significantly greater than MTA Fillapex (0.62±0.26) and fluoride varnish, but the latter two were not significantly different in this respect (P>0.05).

 Considering the adequate adhesion of fluoride varnish to dentin, its cariostatic effect and low cost, it seems to be a suitable alternative to the commonly used endodontic sealers.


This paper addresses neural architectures based on coupled nodes that exhibit chaotic dynamics, and it establishes the relationship between these networks and bifurcating spiking model neurons based on the integrate and fire model neuron. The nodes of the studied networks are mathematically described through recursive maps, also named recursive processing elements - RPEs, which interact through parametric coupling, i.e., through dynamic modulation of the bifurcation parameters. We have the definition of two macro states that are exercised by the RPEs networks during operation: (a) stable spatio-temporal collective patterns, and (b) high complexity dynamical activity for the search in the state space. The relationship between these macro states and the configurations of assemblies of spiking model neurons is established, as well as the mechanisms of sustainability and dissolution of these macro states are discussed.


In this work, a room temperature study of ballistic deflection transistors (BDTs) is performed. By applying various processing steps such as hard mask deposition, e-beam lithography, reactive ion etching, etc., BDTs were fabricated, and the interplay between the geometry and their performance is analyzed. The importance of the top drain terminal is also examined. The application of the BDT for different logic configurations on the basis of its asymmetric biasing behavior is studied. Using this concept, even a single BDT can be used as a logic gate.


Real estate is a crucial sector with a crucial role in promoting national economy's development because of its close connection with other sectors of national economy and its high contributed value for economic growth. So macro-controlling regulations made for real estate's long-term development should be suitable and efficient. The quantitative measurement of factors pushing real estate's rapid growth and industry's related effect can help people make a scientific analysis of real estate. Based on basic information about China's real estate, we have measured in detail the industry's related effect and analyzed real estate's influence on economic expansion and employment, combining with industry's dynamic development since 1997. In spite of analyzing real estate's macroeconomic efficiency, this paper also provide some suggestions for regulating real estate to restraint its irregular development, promoting national economy's development.


In September 1995 relations between the United States, Japan, and Okinawa were transformed when three U.S. servicemen brutally gang-raped a twelve-year-old schoolgirl. Okinawan feminists called public attention to the rape, but it wasn't long before the media and political leaders shifted their focus to concerns about Okinawa's colonial history and its postwar occupation by the United States. A crisis of sovereignty replaced the crisis for women and a particular girl, which gradually faded from view, as did the agenda of feminist activists. Through an examination of Okinawa's contentious identity politics, the author traces the political trajectories of Okinawa's component groups and asks why this particular crime, in a long list of crimes against Okinawans by U.S. personnel since 1945, resonates so strongly both in Okinawa and in mainland Japan. The author argues that the rape has been enlisted for its powerful symbolic capacity: Okinawa as sacrificed schoolgirl/daughter. As such it is emblematic of past, prior narratives of Okinawan victimhood, most notably the Himeyuri students in the Battle of Okinawa. Feminists' cooperation in a patriarchal language that posits Okinawa as daughter within a national Japanese family is problematic but necessary as a strategy in the fight for women's human rights.


ABSTRACT Candida albicans, an important pathogenic yeast, activates all three pathways of the complement system. To understand how this yeast evades the effects of the activated system, we have analyzed the binding of the classical pathway inhibitor C4b-binding protein (C4BP) by C. albicans. Purified native as well as recombinant C4BP bound dose dependently to the yeast and hyphal forms, as shown by multiple methods, such as confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, a novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, absorption from human serum, and direct binding assays with purified proteins. A prominent binding site was identified at the tip of the germ tube, a structure that is considered important for tissue penetration and pathogenesis. The binding site in C4BP was localized to the two N-terminal complement control protein domains by using recombinant deletion constructs and site-specific monoclonal antibodies. As the alternative pathway inhibitors factor H and FHL-1 also bind to C. albicans, the binding of all three plasma proteins was compared. Simultaneous binding of the classical regulator C4BP and the alternative pathway regulator factor H was demonstrated by confocal microscopy. In addition, FHL-1 competed for binding with C4BP, suggesting that these two related complement regulators bind to the same structures on the yeast surface. The surface-attached C4BP maintains its complement regulatory activities and inactivates C4b. The surface-attached human C4BP serves multiple functions relevant for immune evasion and likely pathogenicity. It inhibits complement activation at the yeast surface and, in addition, mediates adhesion of C. albicans to host endothelial cells.


| Research consistently demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. It has also become common for universities to encourage their faculty to engage in interdisciplinary and collaborative research. However, there are several challenges and disincentives to this type of work. In this article, we draw on a single case study of a project employing interdisciplinary collaborative event ethnography (CEE) to demonstrate the benefits, challenges, and disincentives of this approach to research. We highlight the enhanced and nuanced outcomes achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration that would likely not have been achieved through an intradisciplinary approach to the research questions. The case study also highlights the challenges and disincentives associated with this research strategy, including longer work times, difficulty in publishing due to editorial and reviewer criticism about violating methods preferences or disciplinary boundaries, and issues related to publications outside of one's field. We conclude with a call to enhance the incentives associated with interdisciplinary collaborative research.


The report by Shapiro et al 1 in this issue of theArchivesraises a number of issues regarding multicenter collaborative studies and their analyses. Our general comments pertain primarily to publicly funded collaborative trials. Multicenter studies sponsored by pharmaceutical companies or other private sources raise a different set of issues that are discussed elsewhere. 2 See also pp 397 and 401. The report by Shapiro et al 1 stemmed from a request from the authors to reanalyze data from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (Rockville, Md) Collaborative Study on Maintenance Drug Therapy in Affective Disorders 3 by using a life-table regression model. The authors had not participated in the collaborative study or in the preparation of earlier reports of findings. Their results demonstrate that large collaborative studies can benefit from infusion of different analytic approaches from outside the collaborative study group. Unfortunately, some multicenter collaborative projects often


Recently, interactive surfaces with multi-touch sensors based on frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) have seen increased attention in research and commerce. In this paper, we present a new method of gathering data about the users? gestures on an interactive table beyond simple binary touch information.\\ \\ In addition to the infrared light emitters at the rim of the interaction surface, a second infrared light source is placed above an interactive table to create shadows of hands and arms. By tracking these shadows with the same rear-mounted camera, several consecutive and disjoint surface contacts can be traced back to the same user, thereby enabling new interaction techniques. We demonstrate this approach at the example of a virtual whiteboard with persistent color assignments for each participant.


Abstract—Cognitive Infocommunications involve a combination of informatics and telecommunications. In the future, infocommunication is expected to become more intelligent and life supportive. Privacy is one of the most critical concerns in infocommunications. Encryption is a well-recognized technology that ensures privacy; however, it is not easy to completely hide personal information. One technique to protect privacy is by finding confidential words in a file or a website and changing them into meaningless words. In this paper, we investigate a technology used to hide confidential words taken from judicial precedents. In the Japanese judicial field, details of most precedents are not made available to the public on the Japanese court web pages to protect the persons involved. To ensure privacy, confidential words, such as personal names, are replaced by other meaningless words. This operation takes time and effort because it is done manually. Therefore, it is desirable to automatically predict confidential words. We proposed a method for predicting confidential words in Japanese judicial precedents by using part-of-speech (POS) tagging with neural networks. As a result, we obtained 88% accuracy improvement over a previous model. In this paper, we describe the mechanism of our proposed model and the prediction results using perplexity. Then, we evaluated how our proposed model was useful for the actual precedents by using recall and precision. As a result, our proposed model could detect confidential words in certain Japanese precedents.


With strong support from Chinese government bodies such as the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Basic Research Program of China, the field of applied superconductivity in China has been developed in different areas. Especially in the fusion application area, the first fully-superconducting tokamak, EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak), has been successfully constructed and commissioned in the last two years. Based on the requirement from the ITER project, high performance Bi-2223 HTS tape, and Nb3Sn and NbTi strands have been developed as well. In the area of HTS applications for electric power systems, R&D has been focused on superconducting power cable, superconducting magnetic energy storage, superconducting transformer, superconducting fault current limiters. In this paper, the recent progress in applied superconductivity in China is reported.


: Four hundred and fifty dental graduates from the Free University (VU), the University of Amsterdam (UvA) or the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) between 1982 and 1990 were asked by questionnaire to give their opinion about the undergraduate dental training they received. Most respondents felt that their undergraduate education prepared them reasonably well for general practice. Yet imperfections in the education were noticed. These imperfections show resemblance to conclusions from similar surveys in other countries.


It is widely accepted that the devastating consequences of spinal cord injury are due to the failure of lesioned CNS axons to regenerate. The current study of the spontaneous tissue repair processes following dorsal hemisection of the adult rat spinal cord demonstrates a phase of rapid and substantial nerve fibre in‐growth into the lesion that was derived largely from both rostral and caudal spinal tissues. The response was characterized by increasing numbers of axons traversing the clearly defined interface between the lesion and the adjacent intact spinal cord, beginning by 5 days post operation (p.o.). Having penetrated the lesion, axons became associated with a framework of NGFr‐positive non‐neuronal cells (Schwann cells and leptomeningeal cells). Surprisingly few of these axons were derived from CGRP‐ or SP‐immunoreactive dorsal root ganglion neurons. At the longest survival time (56 days p.o.), there was a marked shift in the overall orientation of fibres from a largely rostro‐caudal to a dorso‐ventral axis. Attempts to identify which recognition molecules may be important for these re‐organizational processes during attempted tissue repair demonstrated the widespread and intense expression of the cell adhesion molecules (CAM) L1 and N‐CAM. Double immunofluorescence suggested that both Schwann cells and leptomeningeal cells contributed to the pattern of CAM expression associated with the cellular framework within the lesion.


Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we characterize the atomic-scale details of ultrathin films of iron carbide (FexCy) on Au(111) synthesized as a potential model system for the active iron carbide phase in iron Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts. The experiments show that room-temperature exposure of Fe islands gas to C2H4 deposited on the clean Au(111) surface results in partly converted Fe/FexCy islands. Multistep flash-heating treatment of the partly converted Fe/FexCy islands at 523 and 773 K results in pure highly crystalline FexCy islands with in-plane nearest-neighbor distances of 0.315 ± 0.005 nm. On the basis of the atom-resolved STM data, we propose that C2H4 dissociates at Fe island edges, after which the carbon diffuses inward into the interstitial region between the Fe and the Au substrate to form an FexCy surface that may be a good starting point for the investigation of iron carbide surfaces present under FTS conditions.


The advent of emergent SoCs and MPSocs opens a new era on the small mobile devices (Smartphones, Tablets, ...) in terms of computing capabilities and applications to be addressed. The efficient use of such devices, including the parallel power, is still a challenge for general purpose programmers due to the very high learning curve demanding very specific knowledge of the devices. While currently are being made some efforts, mainly in the scientific scope, the scenario is still quite far from being the desirable for non-scientific applications where very few applications take advantage of the parallel capabilities of the devices. We propose ParallDroid (Framework for Parallelism in AndroidTM), a parallel development framework oriented to general purpose programmers for standard mobile devices. Paralldroid allows the rapid development of Native Android applications. The user just implements a Java class and introduces Paralldroid annotations. The Paralldroid system automatically generates the C/C ++/OpenCL native code for this class. Paralldroid is provided as a plugin integrated in the eclipse IDE, and it works transparently to the user. The ParallDroid transformation model involves source-to-source transformations and skeletal programming. A proof of concept is presented to test the feasibility, productivity and efficiency of the approach on synthetic applications. Keywords— SoC, Android, source-to-source transformation.


In this paper we deal with inter-domain routing management from an economical point of view. We present a game theory based costing model that maps BGP peers (autonomous systems belonging to different operators) into a strategic (selfish) agents competing for transit traffic as a service provided and charged to their peers. Indeed, in our model each operator fixes a price to each neighbor for each transit traffic unit. Then, BGP routing choice is made based on a minimum cost criterion where the goal of each operator is to minimize its costs. We investigate some particular strategies of updating prices that operators can use locally in order to minimize their costs. We focus on BGP stabilization properties related to such strategies from a simulation point of view.


Purpose: To assess the association between tobacco use and selected protective/ risk factors in the youth of Quito. Procedures: The 2007 Quito Global School based Student Health Survey database is now available from the CDC website and was used for the purpose of this study. A secondary data analyses was conducted using SPSS to compute inferential statistics. A total of2,215 students participated in the Ecuador (Quito) GSHS. Students self-reported their responses to each question on a computerized answer sheet. Findings: Our study found that more than 1 in 10 Ecuador youth reported smoking cigarettes in the past 1 month. Out of these smokers, almost 1 in 10 initiated smoking when they were 13 years of age or younger. Males were more likely to report tobacco use than females . In addition, there were several risk factors for youth tobacco use in the youth of Ecuador that relate to inadequate parental supervision and parenting, parental smoking or tobacco use, school attendance, and peer support. Conclusions: Schools and parents should work in close collaboration to alleviate the problem of youth tobacco use in Ecuador. Specifically, schools should conduct periodic assessments of school attendance, academic performance, and prevalence of youth tobacco use. Also, parents should be educated on how to develop effective parenting skills to monitor the academic performance, well-being, and concerns of the youth.


This thesis investigates methods for implementing an intrusion detection system (IDS) in a high-speed backbone network. The work presented in this report is run in cooperation with Kripos and Uninett. The popular IDS software, Snort, is deployed and tested in Uninett's backbone network. In addition, the monitoring API (MAPI) is considered as a possible IDS implementation in the same environment. The experiments conducted in this report make use of the programmable DAG card, which is a passive monitoring card deployed on several monitoring sensors in Uninett's backbone. As a limitation of the workload, this report only focuses on the detection of botnets. Botnets are networks consisting of infected computers, and are considered to be a significant threat on the Internet as of today. A total of seven experiments using Snort are presented. These experiments test 1) the impact the number of rules have on Snort, 2) the importance of good configuration, 3)the importance of using well written rules, 4) Snort's ability to run in an environment with minimum external traffic, 5) the impact the size of the processed packets have, 6) the impact the TCP protocol has on packet processing and 7) Snort's ability to run as a botnet detection system for a longer period of time. Based on the results from these experiments, it is concluded that Snort is able to run as a botnet detection system in a high-speed network. This report also discusses some strategies for handling high-speed network data and some future aspects. In addition, ideas for further work and research are given in the end of the report.


Introduction: It is estimated that 55,000 people have dementia in Ireland. This is projected to increase significantly in Ireland and globally. People with dementia (PWD) have a wide range of health, social, psychological, emotional and other needs which change over time, therefore many health and social care professionals from different settings can be involved in their care. Many PWD wish to remain living at home for as long as possible and maintaining personhood and social connection is key to the person living well with dementia. Resource constraints, gaps in community-based services and a fragmented health and social care system presents a significant challenge to meet the variety of needs of people with dementia in a personalised, responsive way.   Policy context and objective of initiative: Ireland's National Dementia Strategy recognises these challenges and proposes an integrated partnership approach to the development and delivery of services for PWD including all stakeholders in providing a range of person-centred, flexible and responsive services. The HSE & Genio Dementia Programme is a collaborative initiative whose objective is to develop innovative, integrated and personalised services and supports for PWD in their local community so that they can remain living well at home. The target population was PWD, including early onset dementia, family carers as well as the wider health and social care ecosystem. Highlights: The mechanism used to address the integration of services was a Dementia Consortium. This is a locally based, multi-stakeholder group of organisations and individuals who brought together varied expertise and resources to develop innovative and personalised supports to enable PWD to live well at home. Consortia included people with dementia, family carers, health and social care professionals, other statutory organisations, voluntary and community groups, hospitals, nursing homes and others. Nine Dementia Consortia, with 160 members developed a range of personalised supports for PWD and carers to maintain ability and connection, including respite supports and assistive technology (AT). To date, over 74,000 hours of personalised supports have been provided to 1,474 PWD plus carers. Learning points to the need for supports to be responsive and flexible; the importance of timely engagement with the person and carer and the usefulness of tailoring supports to the person and their interests.  Evaluation findings indicate a greater degree of integrated working and that personalised supports enable PWD to remain living at home for longer, resulting in significant cost avoidance. Transferability: A Dementia Consortium builds on what is locally available and is an easily localised and transferable model. The learning from this programme is now supporting a further four sites to develop integrated working, with a focus on implementing Intensive Home Care Packages for PWD. Conclusions: This programme has demonstrated that multi-stakeholder consortia are a useful mechanism for supporting a profound change in the development and delivery of dementia services, enabling the central involvement of people with dementia and family carers, a focus on personhood through personalised supports and meaningful integration across a wide range of stakeholders.


Abstract We explore methods for approximating the commute time and Katz score between a pair of nodes. These methods are based on the approach of matrices, moments, and quadrature developed in the numerical linear algebra community. They rely on the Lanczos process and provide upper and lower bounds on an estimate of the pairwise scores. We also explore methods to approximate the commute times and Katz scores from a node to all other nodes in the graph. Here, our approach for the commute times is based on a variation of the conjugate gradient algorithm, and it provides an estimate of all the diagonals of the inverse of a matrix. Our technique for the Katz scores is based on exploiting an empirical localization property of the Katz matrix. We adapt algorithms used for personalized PageRank computing to these Katz scores and theoretically show that this approach is convergent. We evaluate these methods on 17 real-world graphs ranging in size from 1000 to 1,000,000 nodes. Our results show that our pairwise commute-time method and columnwise Katz algorithm both have attractive theoretical properties and empirical performance.


Background The Asia-Pacific consensus guidelines for the management of chronic hepatitis B state that the principal indicators for starting therapy are increased HBV DNA levels (≥20,000 IU/ml for hepatitis B e antigen [HBeAg]-positive status and >2,000 IU/ml for HBeAg-negative status) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels >2x the upper limit of normal. We aimed to determine whether clinicians in the Asia-Pacific region are treating patients with chronic hepatitis B according to the Asia-Pacific consensus statement on the management of chronic hepatitis B. Methods An online survey of chronic hepatitis B treatment practices was prepared, consisting of 14 questions grouped into seven categories: patient statistics, treatment statistics, treatment decision, first-choice treatment, treatment duration, future directions and patient preference. Results In total, 124 respondents from 12 countries completed the survey. Most respondents indicated that detectable HBV DNA was either the first or second most important factor when deciding whether to initiate therapy. Many physicians were unsure about initiation of treatment in patients >40 years of age when ALT levels were within the normal range. Oral antiviral drugs were the most frequently used medication because of their effectiveness, safety and ability to provide sustained viral suppression. Conversely, the most important reasons for selecting interferon therapy were effectiveness, fixed duration of treatment and lack of drug resistance. Criteria for stopping treatment generally followed the recommendations included in the guidelines. Conclusions These data suggest that clinicians from the Asia-Pacific region use criteria beyond those advocated in treatment guidelines when deciding whether to initiate treatment in HBV-infected patients.


This Article examines the implications of the Google Spain case as well as the full-blown impact of the proposed GDPR that is estimated to go into effect in the European Union in 2017. The central problem with the right to be forgotten as conceptualized by the CJEU and the Commission is that the expansiveness of the right threatens to cannibalize free expression. Thus, this Article calls for a shrinking of the right to be forgotten to appropriately balance the right of data subjects to control personal information about themselves with free expression and the public interest in preserving history. We propose that the EU Commission operationalize free expression by narrowing the right to be forgotten for private persons, public officials, and public figures. Private persons will have the right to delete links to their own postings and repostings by third parties. They will have a right to delete links to postings created by third parties upon proof that the information serves no legitimate purpose other than to embarrass or extort payment from the data subject. Public officials and public figures will have a right to remove links to their own postings and repostings by third parties, but not postings about them by third parties, unless the third party was acting with actual malice and the posting does not implicate the public's right to know. In addition, all right to be forgotten requests will be subject to a general exemption for the public's right to know.


Background:Emphysema is a progressive and irreversible disease for which there is no cure to date. The patients experience debilitating shortness of breath with repetitive exacerbations and poor quality of daily life. At present, patients with severe emphysema have limited treatment options. Endoscopic lung-volume reduction with valve implantation or using lung sealant is a treatment option for patients with severe emphysema. By our patients, we detected collateral channels, which allow airflow into the target lobe and prevent atelectasis and significant lung-volume reduction. Thus, we decided to treat the advanced emphysema of our patients with endoscopic volume reduction using lung sealant (AeriSeal). Lung-volume reduction surgery reduces hyperinflation and improves lung function by removal of emphysematous lung tissue. However, lung-volume reduction surgery is also associated with significant short-term morbidity and mortality. Results from recently published Endobronchial Valve for Emphysema Palliation Trail (VENT) and Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema (EASE) trial showed that treatment was substantially less effective and did not consistently reduce hyperinflation or improve lung function mostly likely due to collateral ventilation present in majority of patients. There is a volume reduction therapy in case of detection of collateral flow; use of a lung sealant is a possible alternative. Methods:A novel endoscopic tissue sealant (AeriSeal; Aeris Therapeutics, Woburn, MA) is a liquid foam sealant that collapses hyperinflated lung areas destroyed by emphysema. The foam of lung sealant AeriSeal is instilled into the peripheral airways and alveoli where it polymerizes and functions as tissue glue, forming a film of material on the lung surface that seals the target region to cause durable absorption atelectasis. Results:Two patients with advanced emphysema and hyperinflation underwent endoscopic volume reduction with endoscopic tissue sealant (AeriSeal); collateral flow was confirmed by using the Chartis System. Both patients experienced transient fever, malaise, chest discomfort, and shortness of breath for about 3 days after the procedure. Over a period of 8 and 12 weeks, the air within the sealed region was absorbed and the treated area showed atelectasis on computed tomography scan. The follow-up evaluations of those 2 patients showed improved lung function (increased FEV1, and a reduction of TLC and RV) with improved quality of life of both patients. Conclusions:Correlation and comparisons between changes in primary and secondary outcome measures in the lung function parameters and 6-minute walking test before and after the application of AeriSealant revealed significant reduction of hyperinflation and improvement both in the flow rates and physical capacity of our patients.


Aims. The goal of this work is to characterize the millimeter and centimeter properties of intermediate/high mass young stellar objects (YSOs) to search for any evolutionary trends. Methods. We carried out observations at 1.2 mm with the IRAM 30 m telescope, and at 3.6 and 1.3 cm with the VLA toward a sample of 11 luminous (>10 3 L� ) IRAS sources classified as high mass protostellar object candidates. The most promising regions additionally were observed at 7 mm with the VLA. Results. The 1.2 mm emission, tracing the dust core in which the massive YSO is forming, shows a clear peak surrounded by some substructure in most cases, while in others it is very extended and weak. The masses from the 1.2 mm data range from 10 to 140 M� . For all (but one) of the sources, we detected centimeter emission associated with the IRAS source, with spectral indices between 3.6 and 1.3 cm typical of optically thin emission, and deconvolved sizes from <0.01 to 0.3 pc, suggesting that the emission comes from compact or ultra-compact (UC) H ii regions. The physical parameters of the UCH ii regions indicate that the ionizing stars are early B-type. The 7 mm emission is partially resolved for the four regions observed at this wavelength, and we estimated the contribution of the dust emission to the 7 mm flux density, ranging from negligible to 45%. By combining our data with infrared surveys, we built the spectral energy distribution and fitted a modified blackbody law. We found dust temperatures between 25 and 35 K, dust emissivity indices between 1.5 and 2.2, and masses similar to the masses derived from the 1.2 mm continuum emission. In addition, we found a correlation between the degree of disruption of the natal cloud, estimated from the fraction of dust emission associated with the centimeter source relative to the total amount of dust in its surroundings, and the size of the centimeter source. Conclusions. From the correlation found, we established an evolutionary sequence in which sources with compact millimeter emission clearly associated with compact centimeter emission are younger than sources with the millimeter emission dispersed and with the centimeter emission extended. Such a sequence is consistent with the evolutionary stage expected from maser/outflow/dense gas emission reported in the literature, and with the infrared excess of the 2MASS sources associated with the centimeter source.


We show in this work that reinforcement learning can be successfully applied to decoding short to moderate length sparse graph-based channel codes. Specifically, we focus on low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, which for example have been standardized in the context of 5G cellular communication systems due to their excellent error correcting performance. These codes are typically decoded via belief propagation iterative decoding on the corresponding bipartite (Tanner) graph of the code via flooding, i.e., all check and variable nodes in the Tanner graph are updated at once. In contrast, in this paper we utilize a sequential update policy which selects the optimum check node (CN) scheduling in order to improve decoding performance. In particular, we model the CN update process as a multi-armed bandit process with dependent arms and employ a Q-learning scheme for optimizing the CN scheduling policy. In order to reduce the learning complexity, we propose a novel graph-induced CN clustering approach to partition the state space in such a way that dependencies between clusters are minimized. Our results show that compared to other decoding approaches from the literature, the proposed reinforcement learning scheme not only significantly improves the decoding performance, but also reduces the decoding complexity dramatically once the model is learned.


Chineseness at the crossroads examines how Chineseness is negotiated by diasporic Chinese women in Australia. I question the essentialist notions of Chineseness by deploying Homi Bhabha's theory of liminality. This concept of being neither here nor there helped me examine the women's ambiguous experiences of acceptance and rejection, within and across marginal and dominant Australian circles. My position disrupts the binaric frames that divide the old from the new, and the eastern from the western practices for cultural appropriation. It recognises instead the past and the present in the creation of new but familiar versions of Chineseness.

I argue that essentialist norms are commuilicated through cultural semantics to inform how Chineseness is rehearsed. I assert that liminality exposes the power structures that inform these cultural semantics by disrupting the naturalised norms. I posit that the diasporic women's awareness of these interdependent processes enables them to question their practices and ideologies.

I used an autoethnographic technique to collapse the divide between the researcher and the researched. It created a liminal space between the researcher and the researched. This subverted norms of the researcher as the archaeologist of knowledge by enabling the other women's narratives to tell their stories alongside mine. This methodological frame also serves as a prism to examine the intersections of gender, sexuality, family, relationships, language, education, class, age, and religion with Chineseness in the lives of the 39 Malaysian and Singaporean women interviewed.

My results indicate that Chineseness is precarious and indeterminate, and specific to the particular moments of articulation at the crossroads of geopolitical and socioeconomic factors. The versions of Chineseness rehearsed are complexly influenced by the various cultural semantics that impact on the women's negotiations of who they are as diasporic Chinese women in Australia. I conclude with a discussion of how these results challenge current curriculum and pedagogical practices in English classrooms. I argue that a re-examination of these practices will contribute to a more inclusive Australia.