Biometrics are widely used for authentication in several domains, services and applications. However, only very few systems succeed in effectively combining highly secure user authentication with an adequate privacy protection of the biometric templates, due to the difficulty associated with jointly providing good authentication performance, unlinkability and irreversibility to biometric templates. This thwarts the use of biometrics in remote authentication scenarios, despite the advantages that this kind of architectures provides. We propose a user-specific approach for decoupling the biometrics from their binary representation before using biometric protection schemes based on fuzzy extractors. This allows for more reliable, flexible, irreversible and unlinkable protected biometric templates. With the proposed biometrics decoupling procedures, biometric metadata, that does not allow to recover the original biometric template, is generated. However, different biometric metadata that are generated starting from the same biometric template remain statistically linkable, therefore we propose to additionally protect these using a second authentication factor (e.g., knowledge or possession based). We demonstrate the potential of this approach within a two-factor authentication protocol for remote biometric authentication in mobile scenarios.


ABSTRACT: Beginning with Anderson, Banker, and Janakiraman (2003), a rapidly growing body of literature attributes the short-run asymmetric cost response to activity changes (i.e., sticky costs) resulting from short-run managerial choices. In this paper, we are agnostic on the theory of sticky costs. Rather, we focus on empirical tests of cost stickiness. We show that past decisions on cost structure, which determine the magnitude of costs controllable in the short-term, induce non-stationarity in the elasticity of Sales, General, and Administrative costs, affecting the interpretation of estimates from the standard specification used in the literature. We develop suggestions for how future research might control for the effects of cost structure. Empirically, we find that cost structure confounds results usually interpreted as cost stickiness reflecting short-run managerial actions. After adjusting for the effects of fixed costs, we find that the results are unstable across alternate subsamples. Our resul...


This paper describes the integration of active and passive components to enable embedding analog circuits in an advanced digital CMOS technology developed for low standby power integrated circuits. Device design issues, device characteristics, and technology scaling are discussed in this context. The components include 1.5 V digital core CMOS, 1.5 V analog and 3.3 V I/O MOSFETs. In addition to these self-aligned MOSFETs we describe drain-extended transistors, DEnMOS and DEpMOS, where the drain extensions are formed using the well implants. A novel structure to improve the substrate collector, vertical pnp bipolar transistor is presented. The passive components described here are the n-poly on n-well capacitors and a polysilicon resistor with a low temperature coefficient of resistance, usually referred to as the zero-TCR resistor. The analog integration adds one extra mask used to block silicidation of the zero-TCR polysilicon resistor.


Silkworm pupae is immature stage of moth.  It is inner part of the silkworm cocoon shell which usually disposed from yarn silk production, and now has become a valuable ingredient of human food in many countries, however it is not common yet in Indonesia. The purpose of study is to develop a weaning food as nutritious basic formula of complementary food from pupae waste. A silkworm pupae was a major constituents used as materials. There are sixth  steps to get PURY properly: select a fresh, fine and clean pupae, steamed well about 10 seconds, grinded and sifted it  to get liquid, added 10% maize powder, dried in oven at 60oC for 6 hours, and refine on blender. A fine powder, so called "PURY", has a well balanced amount of moisture, protein, fat included PUFA, carbohydrate, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Through a simple processing, the dry product of fine PURY powder can be obtained and used as a basic formula of complementary food and snacks and has made great contribution to reduce pupae waste. Research is continued to scale up producing PURY based product for more food-technological uses in order to reduce prevalence of malnutrition in Indonesia.


Engaging students in the surrounding community is often the goal of nursing classes, especially those that focus on community. Although ethics may be one of the most important subjects in nursing education, teaching it is challenging. An exemplar is used to discuss how a service learning assignment was used to demonstrate and evaluate students' understanding of the ethical principle of beneficence. A properly designed service learning assignment provided students the opportunity to practice nursing as a caring art with each of Johnson's five distinctive practices. It gives them the occasion to do the right thing.


Cumulus cells are integral in oocyte growth, maturation, pronuclear formation as well as preimplantation development after fertilization. In this study, we investigated the effect of different cumulus morphology on maturation rates and pronuclear formation after parthenogenetic activation. Oocyte-cumulus cell complexes (OCCs) were classified into three grades: (A) over 3 layers, (B) 2–3 layers, (C) less than 1 layer or incomplete. Our results showed that group A and B achieved high maturation rates (84.4% and 82.5%) whereas group C were 45.7%. In a similar pattern, after parthenogenetic activation, the rate of pronuclear formation of group A and B were namely 65.5% and 52%, while that of group C was only 36.4%. Moreover, we also examined the impact of duration of in vitro maturation on the rate of nuclear formation after activation. We found that 25-hour would result in the highest rate (55.5%) while only 4.44% in group of 30-hour, which was possibly caused by the aging of oocytes. In conclusion, this study found that OCCs with more than 2 layers of cumulus cells could reach the high maturation rates, finally oocytes activated at 25 hours resulted in high rate of pronuclear formation in bovine.


ABSTRACT Background and objectives: Social interactions inevitably go along with repeated evaluations. Some individuals are particularly sensitive to social evaluations: Psychometric studies suggest stable and distinct individual differences on fear of negative evaluations (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE). However, little is known about day-to-day correlates of FNE and FPE, particularly their respective contribution to positive/negative affect level and affect reactivity to different stressor types. Design: Two studies naturalistically assessed the level of negative/positive affect and its reactivity to different stressor types (from distant or close social network, work and daily hassles, assessed daily) as a function of FNE/FPE. Method: Ecological Momentary Assessment employed five daily prompts during 12/10 days in convenience samples of 50/59 participants. Results: FNE predicted lower positive affect level only in Study 2. Consistent across studies negative affect reactivity to stressors emanating from the distant social network was increased in individuals high in FNE or FPE. Conclusions: Results document the relevance of both types of evaluation fears (FNE/FPE) for day-to-day affect and stress reactivity. They further specify whose evaluations are well tolerated (close network) or feared (distant network), thereby refining current psycho-evolutionary accounts of FNE/FPE.


We study numerically scattering and transport statistical properties of the one-dimensional Anderson model at the metal-insulator transition described by the Power-law Banded Random Matrix (PBRM) model at criticality. Within a scattering approach to electronic transport, we concentrate on the case of a small number of single-channel attached leads. We observe a smooth transition from localized to delocalized behavior in the average scattering matrix elements, the conductance probability distribution, the variance of the conductance, and the shot noise power by varying $b$ (the effective bandwidth of the PBRM model) from small ($b\ll 1$) to large ($b>1$) values. We contrast our results with analytic random matrix theory predictions which are expected to be recovered in the limit $b\to \infty$. We also compare our results for the PBRM model with those for the three-dimensional (3D) Anderson model at criticality, finding that the PBRM model with $b \in [0.2,0.4]$ reproduces well the scattering and transport properties of the 3D Anderson model.


In this paper we present a new approach to solving the false path problem. The method is based on our previous work on Timed Boolean Algebra [13]. Given a logic circuit, we first derive timed Boolean expressions to model its dynamic behavior. Then, for each term in the expressions, we compute its corresponding sensitizability function, expressed in conjunction normal form; and use an expression in product form to approximate the function. Finally we remove the redundant terms whose sensitizability functions are not satisfiable and determine the maximal delays from the terms remained. Complexity analysis shows that our method identifies false paths and computes delays for sensitizable paths in polynomial time, while experimental results on ISCAS benchmark circuits prove its better efficiency and effectiveness.


We propose a robust and accurate method for estimating the 3D poses of two hands in close interaction from a single color image. This is a very challenging problem, as large occlusions and many confusions between the joints may happen. Our method starts by extracting a set of potential 2D locations for the joints of both hands as extrema of a heatmap. We do not require that all locations correctly correspond to a joint, not that all the joints are detected. We use appearance and spatial encodings of these locations as input to a transformer, and leverage the attention mechanisms to sort out the correct configuration of the joints and output the 3D poses of both hands. Our approach thus al-lies the recognition power of a Transformer to the accuracy of heatmap-based methods. We also show it can be extended to estimate the 3D pose of an object manipulated by one or two hands. We evaluate our approach on the recent and challenging InterHand2.6M and HO-3D datasets. We obtain 17% improvement over the baseline. Moreover, we introduce the first dataset made of action sequences of two hands manipulating an object fully annotated in 3D and will make it publicly available.


Recent studies have identified routes to modularizing projectile penetration calculations. These, along with work to derive factors for behaviours such as nose erosion and wake separation, make a uniform modular penetration framework for the PALETTE terminal effects code desirable. This paper presents a modular approach, based on the Differential Area Force Law (DAFL) approach. In order to incorporate empirically based historical penetration routines a transform to a DAFL resistance function is required. Using this approach a conical nose penetration relation has been transformed and tested, showing results within 0.034% of the original model. This enables the transformed empirical relation to be used in DAFL analyses considering impact angles with respect to both the surface and velocity vector (which result in curved trajectories). We have also introduced an automated approach for the selection of appropriate models, which will form part of the PALETTE modular penetration approach in future versions.


Correlation alignment (CORAL), a representative domain adaptation (DA) algorithm, decorrelates and aligns a labelled source domain dataset to an unlabelled target domain dataset to minimize the domain shift such that a classifier can be applied to predict the target domain labels. In this paper, we implement the CORAL on quantum devices by two different methods. One method utilizes quantum basic linear algebra subroutines (QBLAS) to implement the CORAL with exponential speedup in the number and dimension of the given data samples. The other method is achieved through a variational hybrid quantum-classical procedure. In addition, the numerical experiments of the CORAL with three different types of data sets, namely the synthetic data, the synthetic-Iris data, the handwritten digit data, are presented to evaluate the performance of our work. The simulation results prove that the variational quantum correlation alignment algorithm (VQCORAL) can achieve competitive performance compared with the classical CORAL.


One of the most common and difficult problems to solve in distribution power systems is the location and elimination of the ground fault. For the study of an electrical distribution network in ungrounded system operating at 20 kV on the primary and 380 V on the secondary. The model uses smaller nominal voltages consisting of 380 V on the primary and the secondary. The Ground fault protection system scheme uses over voltage relays and open break delta transformers, whereas for fault location detection using voltage transformers in star star connections.The highest single line to ground fault value is used for consideration of ballast rating selection. The single line to lowest ground fault value is used for setting the threshold on the voltage relay (59N).  Referring to the result of the calculation of the highest single phase to ground voltage at point 1 is 144∠1800 volts, and the lowest point at 4 is 132∠1800 volts. A 200 ohm ballast impedance with 150 watts of power capacity, and an overvoltage threshold setting of 120 volts with TDS of 40. One phase fault protection mechanism works well at each point of interference, and voltage transformers are protected from overheating and damage.


textabstractAbstract In this paper we present the sigmapi coordination language, a core language for specifying dynamic networks of components. The language is inspired by the Manifold coordination language and by the pi-calculus. The main concepts of the language are components, classes, objects and channels. A program in sigmapi consists of a number of components, where each component is a collection of classes separable from its original context and re-usable in any other context. An object is an instance of a class that executes in parallel with the other objects active in the system. The sigmapi language differs from other models of object-oriented systems mainly in its treatment of communication and mobility: communication is anonymous via synchronous or asynchronous channels, while mobility is obtained by moving channels in the virtual space of linked objects. Thus, a channel is a transferable capability of communication, and objects are mobile in the sense that their communication possibilities may change during a computation. The language sigmapi itself does not impose exogenous coordination, meaning that the coordination primitives affecting each object can be executed within the computation of the object itself. However, only simple restrictions on the class-definitions of a sigmapi program suffice to enforce a separation between computation and coordination. Interaction typically occurs anonymously and under the full control of the objects involved. This make it easier to deal with Internet application where security policies must be enforced in view of the possibilities of attacks.


Although research has shown that media coverage of traumatic events can evoke intense fear in spectators, few studies have examined the mechanisms underlying this effect. Drawing from appraisal theories, this article investigates whether viewers' fear responses to traumatic reports are mediated by the appraisal of personal relevance, as well as whether positive framing of news stories is capable of dampening fear. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, participants watched one of two reports about mutilations caused by either an event with high signal potential (bacterial infection) or an event with low signal potential (explosion of land mines). Each of the reports could be either positively or negatively framed. Participants were asked to report their emotions in response to the news story and to answer questions concerning their cognitive appraisal. Results showed that the report with mutilations caused by bacterial infection elicited more fear than the report with mutilations caused by land mine explosions. This effect was mediated by the dimensions of suddenness, unpleasantness, personal relevance, and coping potential. Positively framed reports generated less fear than negatively framed reports, and this effect was mediated by the dimensions of coping potential and unpleasantness. The implications for media research are discussed.


We propose MnBi_{2n}Te_{3n+1} as a magnetically tunable platform for realizing various symmetry-protected higher-order topology. Its canted antiferromagnetic phase can host exotic topological surface states with a Möbius twist that are protected by nonsymmorphic symmetry. Moreover, opposite surfaces hosting Möbius fermions are connected by one-dimensional chiral hinge modes, which offers the first material candidate of a higher-order topological Möbius insulator. We uncover a general mechanism to feasibly induce this exotic physics by applying a small in-plane magnetic field to the antiferromagnetic topological insulating phase of MnBi_{2n}Te_{3n+1}, as well as other proposed axion insulators. For other magnetic configurations, two classes of inversion-protected higher-order topological phases are ubiquitous in this system, which both manifest gapped surfaces and gapless chiral hinge modes. We systematically discuss their classification, microscopic mechanisms, and experimental signatures. Remarkably, the magnetic-field-induced transition between distinct chiral hinge mode configurations provides an effective "topological magnetic switch".


Product dissection and benchmarking are processes commonly employed in industry to improve product design and produce superior performance and product quality. The process, when applied in an undergraduate academic setting, can improve the process of teaching design. It has been applied to teach undergraduate mechanical engineering students at the junior level. The students, working in teams, conducted a market study of hand-held kitchen mixers, selected an appropriate sample of product units and carried out a benchmarking study by dissecting each unit. A design database, with customer expectations as the reference variable, was assembled and the 'best in class' established for both a single product and each customer expectation. A re-design exercise was carried out on 'mid-performing' product units to bring their performance up to the 'best in class' or to exceed it.


A mobile Rayleigh Doppler lidar based on double-edge technique is developed for mid-altitude wind observation. To reduce the systematic error, a system-level optical frequency control method is proposed and demonstrated. The emission of the seed laser at 1064 nm is used to synchronize the FPI in the optical frequency domain. A servo loop stabilizing the frequency of the seed laser is formed by measuring the absolute frequency of the second harmonic against an iodine absorption line. And, the third harmonic is used for Rayleigh lidar detection. The frequency stability is 1.6 MHz at 1064 nm over 2 minutes. A locking accuracy of 0.3 MHz at 1064 nm is realized. In comparison experiments, wind profiles from the lidar, radiosonde and European Center for Medium range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) analysis show good agreement from 8 km to 25 km. Wind observation over two months is carried out in Urumqi (42.1°N, 87.1°E), northwest of China, demonstrating the stability and robustness of the system. For the first time, quasi-zero wind layer and dynamic evolution of high-altitude tropospheric jet are observed based on Rayleigh Doppler lidar in Asia.


Bacterial infections are becoming more difficult to treat. At the present time c. 70% of nosocomial infections are resistant to at least one antimicrobial drug that previously was effective for the causative pathogen. Pathogens that are notorious for their virulence and ability to develop resistance include Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus spp., members of the Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter species. Notable resistance patterns that have emerged include methicillin resistance in S. aureus, which started in the healthcare setting but has now moved into the community. Vancomycin resistance in enterococci is frequently seen, and vancomycin resistance in methicillin-resistant S. aureus is a public health threat. Resistance patterns seen in pseudomonal and Acinetobacter infections are rapidly shifting. The situation has become sufficiently serious for clinical opinion leaders to call upon governments for assistance in addressing the problem. In this worsening environment, in which patients are at progressively greater risk of untreatable infections, clear recommendations for prescribers are urgently needed. Severity of infection and underlying conditions are key issues, as patients with the most serious diseases are those in most urgent need, and improvements in our ability to predict likely infecting pathogens when empirical therapy is necessary are needed. Risk-factors and local resistance patterns must be accounted for, and initial empirical therapy should be adequately broad spectrum and adequately dosed. Agents must be highly active, able to penetrate adequately to the site of infection, safe, and well-tolerated.


Background and objective: Needle stick is one of the most causes that expose health care
workers to blood infectious diseases such as hepatitis B & C and also HIV. Operation rooms are
among working places for personnel to the risk of exposure with scalpel injuries. Therefore, this
study performed to assess the needle stick exposure in operation room's staff of Borujen and
Lordegan hospitals.
Material and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 77 operation room's staff of
Borujen Valiasr and Lordegan Seyedalshohada hospital. Data were obtained by needle stick
questionnaire that was designed by researchers. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and
chi square in spss15 software.
Results: Results showed that 42.85% of volunteers were male and 57.15% were female. the
needle stick exposure was not significantly differ between males and females. Of questioned
staff 45.45% had history of needle stick exposure at least for 1 occasion. Most common cause of
damage was needle of syringe, suture scalp and bistury. 100% of staff was agreed regarding
establishment of training courses about prevention of needle stick.
Conclusion: According to the high prevalence of needle stick in OR, it seems that establishment
and perform of courses about prevention of needle stick is very necessary.


Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an attractive choice for a variety of applications as no wired infrastructure is needed. Other wireless networks are not as energy constrained as WSNs, because they may be plugged into the mains supply or equipped with batteries that are rechargeable and replaceable. Among others, one of the main sources of energy depletion in WSN is communications controlled by the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols. An extensive survey of energy efficient MAC protocols is presented in this article. We categorise WSN MAC protocols in the following categories: controlled access (CA), random access (RA), slotted protocols (SP) and hybrid protocols (HP). We further discuss how energy efficient MAC protocols have developed from fixed sleep/wake cycles through adaptive to dynamic cycles, thus becoming more responsive to traffic load variations.


The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is used to assess risky decision making in clinical and nonclinical populations. Recent studies have begun to assess performance on the IGT not by number of advantageous and disadvantageous selections, but rather by the pattern of performance on each of the four individual decks (A, B, C, and D). The present study sought to further examine deck selection patterns among smoking and nonsmoking college students, as mixed results have been found on the IGT in nicotine and as a function of substance satiation level. Participants were 136 undergraduates (48 male; mean age 19.24 years), of whom 70 were nonsmokers. Thirty-one smokers abstained from smoking overnight. Performance on the IGT was broken into two blocks (Trials 1–40, Trials 41–100) for each of the four decks. Abstinent smokers selected more from Deck A on Block 2 than the ad libitum smokers. No group or block differences were found for Decks B or C. Selections from Deck D increased as the task progressed, regardless of smoking status. Ad libitum smokers preferred Deck B to Deck A on Block 2. The results provide some evidence that nicotine satiation level affects IGT deck selections among smokers.


In this paper, we present an approach to robotic assembly task scheduling which yields suboptimal solutions. The robotic assembly system involves two robot arms working in the same workspace. The collision free operation of the two robot arms is guaranteed by the use of the uniform cell decomposition approach. Timed Petri nets are used to model the assembly activities. The execution times of the assembly activities are determined during the generation of the reachability graph. Several approaches used to generate the reachability graph and determine the minimum-time paths are proposed.


This field study compares three techniques for estimating the vertical distribution of horizontal hydraulic conductivity Kr in a heterogeneous aquifer and evaluates possible support volume effects. The dipole flow test (DFT), multilevel slug test (MLST), and borehole flowmeter test (BFT) are based on different kinematic flow structures and the shape and the size of the support volumes. The experiment design employed an identical characteristic linear scale for all tests. Vertical profiles of Kr ranging up to 260 m/day from tested wells in an alluvial aquifer exhibit a strong correlation in spite of the differences between test hydraulics. Results suggest that tested screen length is an important indicator of the averaging mechanism for hydraulic tests. Correlation between the DFT and MLST is especially strong. Correlation between data from the BFT and other tests is not as strong due to the absence of a distinct physical vertical scale, among other factors. The differences between the tests are discussed using the concept of a weighting function associated with the magnitude of instantaneous local velocity.


Root-knot nematodes are major pests of field and vegetable crops in Turkey and worldwide. They cause damage to many economically important horticultural crops like potato, cotton and tomato. Tomato is one of the crops in which genetic resistance has been especially effective against root-knot nematodes. In the 1940s the root-knot nematode resistance gene (Mi) was introgressed into the cultivated tomato from the wild species Lycopersicon peruvianum. Today, many commercial tomato varieties carry the Mi gene, which has been mapped. This gene confers resistance to Meloidogyne incognita, M. javanica and M. arenaria. The short arm of chromosome 6 and many markers linked to Mi have also been identified. The Mi gene has been isolated, cloned and sequenced. In this study, plants were infected with M. incognita race 2 and resistant and susceptible lines were determined. According to nematode resistance assays, the root-gall index was determined as > 2 and £ 2 for susceptible and resistant plants, and reproduction factors were 0 and > 1 for resistant and susceptible plants, respectively. In conjunction with traditional screening Mi gene specific primers were used to differentiate between resistant and susceptible plants with a 1.6 kb DNA band being detected in resistant plants but absent in susceptible plants. The data showed a clear correlation between traditional screening and the use of markers and support the possibilities of using marker assisted selection for M. incognita resistance breeding.


With the rapid development of air transport, the issue of aircraft noise in the vicinity of airport is attracting more and more attention. Based on the research into population-related / spatial noise assessment, combining the absolute assessment scheme and the relative assessment scheme of aircraft noise, this paper develops a widely applicable comprehensive noise assessment scheme. With a case study of Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), through the use of its noise monitor system, the implementation and analysis process of the comprehensive assessment scheme is presented. With the justification of the scheme in making a thorough assessment on noise impact in the vicinity of airport, a better way to assess and control aircraft noise has been found for Civil Aviation Administration of China.


The three avian polyomaviruses budgerigar fledgling disease virus types 1 to 3 (BFDV-1 to -3) contain genomes of identical size, 4981 bp. With differences of up to only 15 bp between the three genomes, these viruses show distinct tropism for cultured cells of various avian species: infection of chicken embryo (CE) cells with BFDV-1 and -2 results in virus propagation, whereas BFDV-3 is not replicated; all three viruses replicate, with different efficiencies, in infected Muscovy duck cells. Transfection of CE cells with BFDV-3 DNA results in a single productive cycle. As shown by construction of hybrid virus genomes and site-directed mutagenesis, a single amino acid difference (glycine instead of valine or alanine) within the common region of the minor structural proteins VP2/VP3 is responsible for this type of abortive infection of CE cells. Further experiments indicate a defect in one of the early steps during infection, at or prior to uncoating.


SYNOPSIS This is a personal essay that contains my views on some of the recent history and evolution of the theory of financial accounting and disclosures. The essay starts by discussing how research on information economics by Hirshleifer and Akerlof combined with Demski's critique of academic assessments of accounting standards shifted theoretical research toward emphasizing the role of voluntary disclosures. Grossman's and Milgrom's "unravelling result" is reviewed, as are recent modeling efforts that provide a foundation for studying firms' incomplete voluntary disclosures. The paper also speaks to some contemporary financial reporting problems, such as fair value accounting, and also to an assessment of some recent financial innovations, such as so-called flash trading.


In this study, the evaluation of the catalytic behavior of several wild bacterial strains in the 1,3-selective ethanolysis of triglycerides with ethanol to produce a new type of biodiesel (Ecodiesel) that integrates glycerol as monoacylglycerols was carried out. The Ecodiesel production not only avoids the elimination of glycerol, which is largely generated as a by-product in the biodiesel industry, but also results in an increase in the biofuel yield. The wild microbial strain samples were obtained from several lipophilic organisms. In addition to evaluate the enzymatic extracts, the minimum grade of purification of the strains, necessary to obtain similar results to those attained with commercial lipases was studied. This purification treatment included a dialysis followed by a lyophilization process. Such extracts were directly used as biocatalysts in the transesterification reaction of sunflower oil with ethanol, attaining much better results (yield close to 100%) than those obtained with strains which were not submitted to the purification process (yields lower than 10%). Furthermore, the results here obtained are similar to those obtained with commercial lipases but were achieved under mild conditions and lower reaction time (2 h). In addition, the stability of the enzymatic extracts was corroborated by subsequent reactions, showing no loss of activity. Thus, this study brings to light that enzymatic extracts obtained by a very simple purification process can be economically competitive with the conventional biodiesel production methods.


High frequency sound wave, ultrasound, is widely used to facilitate chemical reactions, especially in the polymerization reactions. This paper reports a study which synthesized acrylic hydrogel in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation (20-kHz, power 80%, pulse 8) in a water/glycerol medium. Acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AAm) were used as acrylic monomers, and methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as the crosslinker. The experiments were performed at a constant temperature of 37 °C. It was found that hydrogel formation is faster in the presence of ultrasound than in its absence. In addition, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and SEM spectroscopy showed that the hydrogel synthesized ultrasonically has a higher swelling capacity and a more uniform and porous structure. It was also discovered that hydrogel formation speeds up at higher quantities of glycerol. However, an increase in crosslinker concentration proved ineffective, although it changed the appearance of the hydrogel. The method proposed in this research can be used in the synthesis of biomedical materials and in the development of drug delivery systems.


The evolution of biramous appendages in crustaceans is central to the debate on the origin of the arthropods. It is proposed that the biramous limb evolved through the basal fusion of adjacent pairs of ancestrally uniramous appendages. As a result, the existing system of homology, in which uniramous and biramous appendages are considered equivalent, may be invalid. Similarly, the homology of individual body segments between uniramians, such as insects and myriapods, and arthropod groups with biramous limbs is also called into question. Two uniramian segments, or a diplosegment, may be homologous to a single body segment in biramous groups.


In the last ten years, over 1,000 train derailments that occurred in the US railroad system were caused by undetected rail internal defects that suddenly and dramatically emerged as track breakages. The total cost of those accidents is quantifiable in a few hundred millions of dollars, without considering the associated tragic losses of life and bodily injuries. While there already exist a few methods for the detection of rail internal flaws, several well-known limitations prevent each of them from detecting all of the critical flaws. As a proposal to address this issue, the object of this dissertation has been the development of a novel rail inspection system based on ultrasonic guided waves propagating through rails. Both the generation and the detection of these waves are achieved in a non-contact manner through the use of piezoelectric air-coupled transducers. One of the advantages of employing such non-contact method is the potential to perform tests as the train or inspector car travels at high speed along the railroad. Nevertheless, the main drawback of using air-coupled transducers on steel rail is represented by the significant energy losses occurring at the interface between air and steel due to the large acoustic impedance mismatch between these media. As a result, the signal to noise ratio available when analyzing the data is severely penalized. In an attempt to overcome this limitation, very effective electrical impedance networks have been designed. In parallel, a statistical analysis method based on multivariate outlier detection has been implemented to enhance the defect- sensitivity of the system. Numerical analyses of the ultrasonic wave propagation and interaction with different types of rail internal defects have been carried out using both a finite difference method, based on the Local Interaction Simulation Approach (LISA), and a commercial finite element method software. The results of these analyses were instrumental in understanding salient aspects of the guided wave propagation phenomenon in rails and throughout the ever ending decision-making process for the definition of the many system operating parameters involved. prototype based on these technologies has been built and tested both in-house at the UCSD Rail Defect Test Facility located at Camp Elliott, and in the field at the Transportation Technology Center located in Colorado, in October 2014. Receiver Operating Characteristics curves were used to characterize the performance of the defect detection based on the trade-off between defect detection rate and false alarm rate. In particular, the results of the field test were found to be quite satisfactory and perfectly in line with the predictions of the numerical analyses. Future work should be aimed at improving the prototype performance, particularly in terms of test speed, based on the lessons learnt from the October 2014 field tests and in the laboratory


Various high-performance hardware architectures for Galois counter mode (GCM) in conjunction with various advanced encryption standard (AES) circuits and multiplier-adders are proposed. A total of 17 GCM-AES circuits were synthesized by using a 130-nm CMOS standard cell library, and the trade-offs between speed and hardware resources were evaluated. Our flexible architectures achieved a wide variety of performances from compact (2.56 Gbps with 34.5 Kgates) to high speed (62.6 Gbps with 979.3 Kgates). All of our architectures support key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits, while only one previous approach does. Even with variable-length key support, our architecture also achieved the highest hardware efficiency (defined as throughput per gate) among the designs using the same generation of process technology.


A finite-strain study in the central and northern Gran Paradiso massif of the Italian Western Alps has been carried out to elucidate whether ductile strain shows a relationship to nappe contacts and to shed light on the nature of the subhorizontal foliation typical of the gneiss nappes in the Alps. The Rf/φ and Fry methods were used on feldspar porphyroclasts from 98 samples of the Gran Paradiso unit (upper tectonic unit of the Gran Paradiso massif) and 12 samples from the underlying Erfaulet unit (lower unit of the Gran Paradiso massif). Microstructures and thermobarometric data show that feldspar ductility at temperatures higher than c. 450 °C occurred only during high-pressure metamorphism, when the rocks were underplated beneath the overriding Adriatic plate. Therefore, the finite-strain data can be related to high-pressure metamorphism in the Alpine subduction zone. The augen gneiss was heterogeneously deformed and axial ratios of the strain ellipse in xz sections range from 2.1 to 69.8. The long axes of the finite-strain ellipsoids trend west–WNW and the short axes are subvertical, associated with a subhorizontal foliation. The strain magnitudes do not increase towards the nappe contacts. The data indicate flattening strain type in the Gran Paradiso unit and constrictional strain type in the Erfaulet unit and prove deviations from simple shear. We conclude that nappe stacking occurred early during subduction probably by brittle imbrication and that ductile strain was superimposed on and modified the nappe structure during high-pressure underplating in the Alpine subduction zone. The accumulation of ductile strain during underplating was not by simple shear and involved a component of vertical shortening, which caused the subhorizontal foliation in the Gran Paradiso massif.


Abstract In high neutron flux environments where isomers can be strongly populated by nucleonic reactions, isotope abundances from reaction network chains can be affected by the population of nuclear isomers. At high temperatures and densities, there is the additional possibility of populating these isomers electromagnetically. Here, we examine the rates for electromagnetic excitation of the isotopes of several isomers of interest both in astrophysics and applied physics (e.g., 235U, 193Ir, and 87,88Y). We consider six possible electromagnetic processes, namely, photoabsorption, inverse internal conversion, inelastic electron scattering, coulomb excitation, and (γ,γ') and (e,e'γ) reactions. We find that for plasma temperatures kT ~ 1 to 10 keV, the electromagnetic reactions rates are negligible. Thus, we conclude that reaction network calculations do not need to include the possibility of electromagnetically exciting nuclear isomers. This is true in both stellar and terrestrial thermonuclear explosions, as well as in plasma conditions expected at the National Ignition Facility.


The number of students who are studying abroad has been consistently increasing throughout the last several decades. However, a majority of those students are still choosing to study abroad in traditional destinations such as Western Europe, while few choose to study in nontraditional destinations such as Africa, Latin America, or the Middle East. The U.S. Congressional Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program and others have recognized the value of study abroad experiences in nontraditional destinations, calling for an increase in the number of students going to diverse destinations. Through this research, I seek to understand which factors motivate students to choose nontraditional locations, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa, as their study abroad destination. Using Mazzarol and Soutar's (2002) push-pull model, I identify several motivating factors found in the existing literature that have encouraged students to choose specific study abroad destinations. I have conducted a survey of students who have previously studied abroad in Africa, and I have asked them to rank the importance of several of the motivating factors that were proposed in the literature. By understanding which of these motivating factors were most important to students who chose to study in Africa, we can better understand the decision-making process for students interested in nontraditional destinations.

The findings of this survey suggest that the students who are choosing to study abroad in Sub-Saharan Africa are academically focused students who want to do something unique that will set them apart from their classmates and peers. While some students may be initially motivated by touristic opportunities, these students are seeking immersion in a culture that is vastly different from their own, and they desire to engage with local people and learn local languages while abroad. In the Results and Discussion section of this paper, I outline several other factors that participants considered important, and I propose a list of recommendations for study abroad and African area studies professionals, identifying suggestions in order to increase enrollment in African study abroad programs.


The article considers the problems of formation and development of the rented housing segment in foreign countries. The impact of changing consumers generations on the residential real estate market, which have other formats of consumer behavior, a different lifestyle, an approach to planning the structure and directions of consumer spending, other plans for the future. It is noted that in almost all countries there are laws that protect the rights of tenants, and an effective judicial system guarantees the protection of landlords' rights.
The experience of foreign countries and their regions in the regulation of the rental housing segment is analyzed: USA, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Great Britain, Japan. Based on the analysis of international experience, it is concluded that in most countries the law regulates the organizational and legal aspects of rental relations, the legislative level also sets minimum standards and quality characteristics of rental housing, which are often the responsibility of regional authorities. state, province or land.
It is emphasized that there is an objective need to regulate the residential real estate market development, including in the rental segment, at the national, regional and local levels. It is noted that local governments of Ukraine should pay attention to this segment in the direction of developing "Regional standards of long-term lease", which will regulate relations, share responsibilities, responsibilities and rights, reconcile the interests of the tenant and the landlord.


Deep models have improved state-of-the-art for both supervised and unsupervised learning. For example, deep embedded clustering (DEC) has greatly improved the unsupervised clustering performance, by using stacked autoencoders for representation learning. However, one weakness of deep modeling is that the local neighborhood structure in the original space is not necessarily preserved in the latent space. To preserve local geometry, various methods have been proposed in the supervised and semi-supervised learning literature (e.g., spectral clustering and label propagation) using graph Laplacian regularization. In this paper, we combine the strength of deep representation learning with measure propagation (MP), a KL-divergence based graph regularization method originally used in the semi-supervised scenario. The main assumption of MP is that if two data points are close in the original space, they are likely to belong to the same class, measured by KL-divergence of class membership distribution. By taking the same assumption in the unsupervised learning scenario, we propose our Deep Embedded Clustering Aided by Measure Propagation (DECAMP) model. We evaluate DECAMP on short text clustering tasks. On three public datasets, DECAMP performs competitively with other state-of-the-art baselines, including baselines using additional data to generate word embeddings used in the clustering process. As an example, on the Stackoverflow dataset, DECAMP achieved a clustering accuracy of 79%, which is about 5% higher than all existing baselines. These empirical results suggest that DECAMP is a very effective method for unsupervised learning.


At the Supercomputing Research Center the authors have built a compute farm consisting of 16 SPARCStation ELCs. The ELCs all support the Mether distributed shared memory, which has primitives to support efficient synchronization and use of the network and processors. The first parallel application they ran on the farm was a Monte Carlo radiative heat transfer simulation. The performance they achieved on the farm was within an order of magnitude of the performance they would expect to achieve on a 16-processor model of the C90 supercomputer available from Cray Research. With this application, they found that the use of the Mether distributed shared memory allowed them to run the same code on the Cray as they ran on the SPARCStations.<<ETX>>


: This paper reports on a new 3D point cloud-based place recognition framework that uses SE(3)-equivariant networks to learn SE(3)-invariant global descriptors. We discover that, unlike existing methods, learned SE(3)-invariant global descriptors are more robust to matching inaccuracy and failure in severe rotation and translation configurations. Mobile robots undergo arbitrary rotational and translational movements. The SE(3)-invariant property ensures that the learned descriptors are robust to the rotation and translation changes in the robot pose and can represent the intrinsic geometric information of the scene. Further-more, we have discovered that the attention module aids in the enhancement of performance while allowing significant downsampling. We evaluate the performance of the proposed framework on real-world data sets. The experimental results show that the proposed framework outperforms state-of-the-art baselines in various metrics, leading to a reliable point cloud-based place recognition network. We have open-sourced our code at https://github.com/UMich-CURLY/ se3_equivariant_place_recognition .


Techniques of automation are applied to the problem of preflight check-out of airborne telemetry systems. The result is a test set that measures and analyzes key system parameters without operator participation. Operation of the subcarrier analyzer portion of the test set is described. Circuit details of pre-set binary counter chain, counter readout matrix, and GO/NO-GO voltmeter are given. An example of typical test set packaging is shown.


Today, about half of the world population lives in urban areas and in the coming 20 years, urbanization is expected to increase steadily, especially in the Developing World. Based on UN data and projections, about 4 out of the 5 billion world urban population will live in developing countries by 2030. Large cities in the Developing World face the problem of unplanned growth, coupled with the financial and operational inability to offer the public services needed to sustain a decent life in urban environments. Water is one of those essential commodities which is often short in supply and/or of low quality. Additionally, flood poses a threat to urban dwellers during rainy season. The water management challenges in tropical urban areas today and in the decades to come can be characterized by (1) fighting physical shortcomings in water resources, (2) coping with contamination of groundwater, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs by domestic, agricultural or industrial waste and waste water, (3) mitigating environmental impacts of water extraction (such as loss of wetlands, subsidence and seawater intrusion) , (4) preventing / mastering flood situations and (5) overcoming administrative and financial strains and operational incapacities. Solutions to the problems of urban water in 20 years time are to be found in supply side and demand side measures. The first group includes (1) optimal use of surface water and groundwater resources, (2) pollution protection, (3) watershed management and (4) more water storage. The second group includes (1) educational training, (2) technological innovation, (3) water conservation and (4) water pricing.


The management of large ungulates in southern Africa necessitates reliable monitoring programmes to direct management action. Monitoring programmes for large ungulates typically rely on spotlight survey methods, but do not address variation in detection rates between surveys or observers. In 2009, we used a multiple observer survey technique to estimate detection probabilities for large ungulates in lowveld savanna habitats in Swaziland. Spotlight detection probabilities for all ungulates ranged between 0.22 and 0.57. Species-specific spotlight detection rates for the two most detected species, impala (Aepyceros melampus) and blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), were 0.48 and 0.61, respectively. At our open savanna study site, detection rates were higher and abundance estimates were fairly consistent. In our more enclosed savanna habitat, both detection rates and resulting abundance estimates were variable. Our results suggest that when monitoring large ungulate populations, managers should conservatively assume they are missing approximately 50% of the population available for surveying. We recommend that managers consider methods which incorporate multiple observers into survey practices and consider using multiple data sources to assist with population management decisions.


Viruses express an arsenal of anti-inflammatory proteins that are being developed as immunotherapeutic drugs to treat cardiovascular disease. M-T7, a myxoma viral protein, has been shown to significantly block cell invasion and plaque growth after balloon angioplasty injury and transplantation. The binding target of M-T7 during a myxoma infection is IFNγ, however
 in vitro
 , M-T7 has been shown to bind a broad class of chemokines, C, CC, and CXC. To understand the mechanism by which M-T7 disrupts chemokine interactions and inflammatory cell responses, M-T7 mutants were generated and characterized
 in vitro
 for changes in cell activation and migration by the chemokine RANTES. Experiments with a balloon angioplasty model monitored changes
 in vivo
 . M-T7 mutants were generated to characterize the interactions with chemokines. Protein was expressed in a baculovirus mediated expression system and purified with a Cobalt affinity column. Changes in membrane fluidity were measured with BPP after RANTES activation. As expected, wildtype M-T7 decreased the I
 ex
 /I
 mon
 fluorescence ratio when compared to RANTES activated saline controls. However, mutants F137D, R171E, and E209I did not alter membrane fluidity. Interestingly, when cells were activated with PMA, F137D had a decreased I
 ex
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 mon
 ratio (P<0.04). M-T7 and mutants decreased cell migration of THP-1 cells (P<0.001) in an in vitro cell migration assay using RANTES as the chemoattractant. Treatment with heparin increased cell migration of M-T7 (P<0.001) and R171E (P<0.029) treated cells, suggesting inhibition of RANTES binding by heparin, but no change for F137D and E209I. With PMA activated cells, migration was disrupted with R171E and E209I (P<0.001) treatment, but not with M-T7 and F137D. Balloon angioplasty was performed on ApoE
 -/-
 mice, and treated with 100ng/g of M-T7/mutant. Change in the vascular architecture was monitored at the site of injury by measuring plaque size and the Internal Elastic Lamina. F137D and wildtype decreased plaque, but R171E treated mice had significantly increased plaque (P<0.018) and increased IEL (P<0.024). E209I treated mice trended toward an increase in plaque and IEL size.

 Of the three mutants, F137D was the most effective in vivo. It differed from the other mutants by reducing the I
 ex
 /I
 mon
 ratio of PMA activated cells and binding to RANTES was also inhibited when treated with heparin suggesting these two characteristics are important for its in vivo activity. In contrast, R171E, which does not reduce plaque formation, does not reduce PMA induced cell activation and activity is not altered by the addition of heparin.


To determine the distribution frequencies of prothrombin (factor II) G20210A, factor V Leiden, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T mutations in Tokat Province and the middle Black Sea area of Turkey. Materials and methods: The study group consisted of 243 patients who presented to our center with thrombosis and other complaints. Written permission from patients was obtained. DNA was isolated from the blood samples of these patients. Mutation analyses were conducted using the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. The data were subjected to statistical analyses. Results: According to the results of the study, factor V Leiden was detected in 37 patients, prothrombin G20210A was detected in 5 patients, and MTHFR C677T was detected in 146 patients. On the other hand, 79 patients carried none of these mutations. Conclusion: Factor V Leiden mutation was detected at a rate of 15.2%, which is much higher than the average in Turkey. The G20210A mutation rate in the prothrombin gene was determined as 2.1%. The MTHFR C677T mutation incidence was quite high (60%). The homozygous mutation rate was higher in diagnoses involving thrombosis, while the heterozygous mutation rate was higher in other diagnoses.


The losses arising from the scattering of SAW into bulk waves in the nonsynchronous areas of SAW devices are studied numerically using the boundary element method combined with the finite element method. As a reference structure, we use a typical one-port hiccup resonator on 42/spl deg/Y-LiTaO/sub 3/. Strong scattering into bulk wave occurs in the central gap due to an abrupt change in periodicity. To reduce the scattering, we replace the gap with electrodes having reduced pitches. We show that it is possible to significantly increase the Q-factor of the resonator while keeping the resonant frequency unchanged. Two types of structures are studied: the "distributed" gap and the "accordion" gap. To minimize the bulk-wave scattering in dual-mode SAW filters, we replace the metallized gaps in the traditional filter with distributed gaps. We find an optimal combination of pitch and metallization ratio in the gaps, reducing the insertion loss by 0-3 dB.


Traditional super-resolution methods produce a clean high-resolution image from several observed degraded low-resolution images following an acquisition or degradation model. Such a model describes how each output pixel is related to one or more input pixels and it is called data fidelity term in the regularization framework. Additionally, prior knowledge such as piecewise smoothness can be incorporated to improve the image restoration result. The impact of an observed pixel on the restored pixels is thus local according to the degradation model and the prior knowledge. Therefore, the traditional methods only exploit the spatial redundancy in a local neighborhood and are therefore referred to as local methods. Recently, non-local methods, which make use of similarities between image patches across the whole image, have gained popularity in image restoration in general. In super-resolution literature they are often referred to as exemplarbased methods. In this paper, we exploit the similarity of patches within the same scale (which is related to the class of non-local methods) and across different resolution scales of the same image (which is also related to the fractal-based methods). For patch fusion, we employ a kernel regression algorithm, which yields a blurry and noisy version of the desired high-resolution image. For the final reconstruction step, we develop a novel restoration algorithm. The joint deconvolution/denoising algorithm is based on the split Bregman iterations and, as prior knowledge, the algorithm exploits the sparsity of the image in the shearlet-transformed domain. Initial results indicate an improvement over both classical local and state-of-the art non-local super-resolution methods.


Antibiotics are used in human medicine as well as agriculture. In the United States thousands of tons of antibiotics are annually given in low levels to livestock as prophylactics and to promote growth. This is in addition to antibiotic treatments needed when they have a bacterial infection. Antibiotics used in human medicine, such as penicillin, have shown a general trend of decreasing effectiveness that has been attributed in part to overuse or improper use. The use of antibiotics in agriculture might lead to similar resistance patterns. This might render antibiotics and their analogs less effective when needed in a clinical setting. To examine current resistance trends, soil samples were collected from pens at ten beef cattle feedlots across western Kansas. Soil samples were screened for bacteria resistant to ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline, all of which are considered broad spectrum antibiotics. Each antibiotic was tested at a concentration of 100[micro] g mL[-1]. Some bacteria isolates showed single drug resistance while others showed resistance to more than one antibiotic. Half of the antibiotics produced each year in the United States are used in human medicine. After antibiotics are administered they might pass through the patient and leave the body without being completely metabolized. This might contribute to an enormous amount of antibiotics entering sewage wastewater. The selection for antibiotic resistant bacteria might occur in sewage wastewater. Bacteria might develop high levels of resistance and perhaps resistance to multiple antibiotics. The mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer might facilitate the transfer of resistance genes within a bacterial population. Bacteria or their DNA might leave a sewage treatment plant (STP). Therefore, an understanding of antibiotic resistant bacteria leaving sewage treatment plants might be medically important to humans. I sampled the influent of five sewage treatment plants and isolated bacteria resistant to ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline, all broad spectrum antibiotics. I determined the minimum inhibitory concentration of each isolate and also determined multiple resistance to either ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol or tetracycline. All sewage plants sampled contained bacteria resistant to at least one of the three antibiotics tested.


This work was conducted as part of the European Union project ARTIMA and it investigates the potential for a dual use active constrained layer damping treatment for both vibration control and structural health monitoring. It examines a curved aluminium plate with an ACLD treatment formed by mounting a large piezoceramic patch with Araldite 2027. The plate was investigated by ultrasonic Lamb waves generated by the patch, and several smaller piezoceramic transducers were used as sensors. Damage was simulated by adding incrementally increasing saw cuts to the plate, and the technique of outlier analysis was used to classify when this damage had occurred.


Damage to DNA can lead to many different acute and chronic pathophysiological conditions, ranging from cancer to endothelial damage. The present study was designed to evaluate the DNA damage of an antidepressant drug, citalopram, at the recommended human doses in somatic cells of mice in vivo. Mice exposed to citalopram at varying oral doses of 12 or 24 mg kg–1 for 7 days exhibited a significant increase in the level of DNA‐strand breaking and micronuclei formation as detected by a bone marrow comet assay and micronucleus test, respectively. Furthermore, using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis with the centromeric mouse‐satellite DNA‐probe for erythrocyte micronuclei it could be shown that citalopram is aneugen as well as clastogen in somatic cells in vivo. Colchicine (COL) and mitomycin C (MMC) were used as positive controls and these compounds produced the expected responses. Both the clastogenic and the aneugenic potential of citalopram can give rise to the development of secondary tumours and abnormal reproductive outcomes. Overall, the results suggest that citalopram at the recommended human doses induces some genetic alterations, which can adversely affect the normal cellular functioning in mice. The mechanism(s) by which citalopram cause this adverse effect appear related, in part, to primary DNA strand breakage as detected by the comet assay as well as clastogenic and aneugenic events as detected by the FISH assay. Therefore, the clinical use of citalopram must be weighed against the risks of genetic damages in citalopram users. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Data on the incidence of Newcastle disease in Malawi obtained from various sources including serological surveys, questionnaires and interviews, as well as statistics on laboratory-confirmed cases, showed the disease to be widespread throughout the country. Chickens vaccinated with La Sota and Komarov vaccine strains were often inadequately protected against the disease, especially those under smallholder management. Trials involving laboratory chickens and chickens under both intensive and smallholder management showed that V4 vaccine, given by eye-drop, drinking water and oral droplet methods, induced an antibody response sufficient to protect birds against challenge with virulent field isolates of Newcastle disease virus. V4 is recommended as an alternative to La Sota and Komarov vaccines, particularly for smallholder flocks, because of its thermostability, its ease of administration and its transmissibility. Large scale use of V4 appears to have reduced the incidence of Newcastle disease in rural parts of Malawi.


The management of schizophrenia is generally a long-term process with neuroleptics representing the cornerstone of treatment. Although not without their own limitations, depot neuroleptics offer an important alternative to oral agents, and they should be routinely considered as an option in any long-term treatment planning. The present article reviews depot neuroleptics, and focuses particularly on clinical considerations pertaining to their use.


Abstract There is a need to ensure public health policies are robustly evaluated to establish their benefits and harms on the population and subgroups. We aimed to assess the comparability of Northern Ireland (NI) and Republic of Ireland (RoI) alcohol-related data to determine their suitability for evaluating the effectiveness of alcohol policies on alcohol consumption, sales, and related outcomes. A comparability analysis of NI and RoI alcohol-related hospital admissions, deaths, consumption, sales, and crime administrative and survey data was undertaken. Data sources were compared, where applicable, in terms of coding systems, population coverage, definitions, quality, response/completion rates, and question similarity. The NI and RoI consumption and sales data were found not to be comparable enough for use in a natural experiment study; comparability for hospital admission data was acceptable. Key barriers to comparability included variations in population coverage and lack of overlap in questionnaire topics. Data access issues made it difficult to fully determine data comparability for alcohol-related crime and deaths. By contrast, NI alcohol-related data were more comparable with other UK countries, making comparisons for the purpose of policy evaluation possible. RoI would benefit from identifying another economically and culturally similar country with comparable alcohol-related data.


We report on recent progress on the splitting functions for the evolution of parton distributions and related quantities, the (lightlike) cusp anomalous dimensions, in perturbative QCD. New results are presented for the four-loop (next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order, N^3LO) contributions to the flavour-singlet splitting functions and the gluon cusp anomalous dimension. We present first results, the moments N=2 and N=3, for the five-loop (N^4LO) non-singlet splitting functions.


AIM
The tissue-Trans-Glutaminase (t-TG) has been reported to be the target for endomysial antibodies in coeliac disease. Coeliac disease if untreated, although clinically silent, predispose for other autoimmune disease, large scale screening methods are needed for an early diagnosis. The recently introduced ELISA methods to detect tTG antibodies, that used as antigen Guinea Pig tissue transglutaminase provide an efficient alternative to the anti-endomysial (EMA) immunofluorescent method and are suitable for screening. Our aim was to compare the commercial kit utilizing tTG from guinea pig (GP-tTG) to the standard method that we developed in our laboratory and with the new method that employed human recombinant tTG (hr-tTG).

METHODS
We tested serum samples from 16 untreated celiac patients, 10 coeliac patients in gluten free diet, 22 subjects with other disease and 32 healthy controls, for a total number of 80 sera, with 3 commercial kit which employed GP-tTG and 1 that employed hr-tTG, as reference method we used an ELISA method developed in our laboratory and the immunofluorescence method to detect EMA.

RESULTS
Results show that methods employing human tTG had a sensibility of 100% with a specificity of 98% and a predictive value of 94%, instead methods employing GP-tTG show inferior results. CONCLUSION. We conclude that is better using hr-tTG as antigen in screening methods for coeliac disease.


Notwithstanding the "back-to-the-city" process taking place in pockets of Johannesburg's inner city, the area investigated in this study is still perceived by some observers as one of decline and is associated with criminal activities. Although Johannesburg's parks and open spaces have been subjected to urban decline over the past decades, they are currently undergoing urban revitalisation. This study investigates the size and user-friendliness of the open spaces and parks accessible to inner-city residents. It also considers current conditions and the level and effectiveness of the maintenance services available. Furthermore, it examines the regeneration strategies of Johannesburg, determining through them the specific provisions made for parks and open spaces by the local metropolitan council. The study determines that the redevelopment of parks and open spaces has been adequately incorporated into Johannesburg's urban regeneration plans. However, certain constraints are thwarting progress in implementing such improvements. The unique dynamics of the inner city pose a significant challenge to maintaining parks and open spaces, and these should be properly understood and planned for. There also appears to be a need for fairer and more efficient allocation of resources and for forging more effective partnerships. The study concludes that the needs of the community will only be met once these management issues have been prioritised and addressed.


Approximately 80,000 LGBT workers in Kentucky are not explicitly protected from discrimination under state or federal laws. Seven localities in Kentucky prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in private and public sector employment, and state government employees are protected. If sexual orientation and gender identity were added to existing statewide non-discrimination laws, 38 more complaints would be filed in Kentucky each year. The cost of enforcing those complaints would be negligible, and would not require additional court or administrative staff.


Unlike other social-technological contexts (Boccia Artieri, 2012), video games offer a space where death is frequently present as a narrative theme from the linguistic and practical viewpoints (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, et al. 2015), even though it is deprived of its more dreadful dimension—its permanent trait. In fact, "game over" indicates only the end of a possibility that can be repeated countless times, as players wish. The Last Day of June proposes a story that focuses on the protagonist's loss. A car accident leaves the main character, Carl, in a wheelchair. When the man realizes that his loved one, June, died, the players' target becomes to help him accept his loss – and triumph over it – by modifying the course of events before June's death. This paper proposes a narrative analysis (Fernandez-Vara, 2015), rooted on Gennette's (1980) model, relating story highlights to flashbacks (which we define "generative" in the analysis) to some visual and scenic choices that are associated with the stages of grief and its processing. The aim is to enquire into the pedagogical and cultural values of the case study by means of its association with myths and their main functions. Finally, a qualitative examination of a number of comments from one of the main YouTube channels will support the interpretation of the video game


Background Persistent neuropathic pain poses a health problem, for which effective therapy or antidote is in dire need. This work aimed to investigate the pain-relieving effect of chrysin, a natural flavonoid with monoamine oxidase inhibitory activity, in an experimental model of neuropathic pain and elucidate mechanism(s). Methods Chronic constriction injury (CCI) was produced by loose ligation of sciatic nerve in mice. The pain-related behaviors were examined using von Frey test and Hargreaves test. The serotonin-related mechanisms were investigated by serotonin depletion with p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) and antagonist tests in vivo and in vitro. Results Repeated treatment of CCI mice with chrysin (orally, two times per day for 2 weeks) ameliorated heat hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia in a dose-dependent fashion (3–30 mg/kg). The chrysin-triggered pain relief seems serotonergically dependent, since its antihyperalgesic and antiallodynic actions were abolished by chemical depletion of serotonin by PCPA, whereas potentiated by 5-hydroxytryptophan (a precursor of 5-HT). Consistently, chrysin-treated neuropathic mice showed enhanced levels of spinal monoamines especially 5-HT, with depressed monoamine oxidase activity. Moreover, chrysin-evoked pain relief was preferentially counteracted by 5-HT1A receptor antagonist WAY-100635 delivered systematically or spinally. In vitro, chrysin (0.1–10 nM) increased the maximum effect (Emax, shown as stimulation of [35S] GTPγS binding) of 8-OH-DPAT, a 5-HT1A agonist. Beneficially, chrysin was able to correct comorbid behavioral symptoms of depression and anxiety evoked by neuropathic pain, without causing hypertensive crisis (known as 'cheese reaction'). Conclusion These findings confirm the antihyperalgesic and antiallodynic efficacies of chrysin, with spinal 5-HT1A receptors being critically engaged.


The European Union (EU) is determined to correct some of the governmental deficits in the ratings space. Centralised oversight of credit rating agencies (CRAs) at the European level is a principal feature of its regulatory response. The new European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is charged with monitoring CRAs. However, the current framework leaves it vulnerable to supervisory conflicts which can undermine ESMA's objectives and its capacity to correct some of the more egregious elements of sovereign bond ratings. Analytical interference in the rating process is foreseeable in the assessment of new methodologies, models and assumptions. Informal judgment is necessary to gauge the severity of market disturbances and the suitability of proposed revisions. In the preservation of stability, the conflation of these categories can further compromise ESMA's authority. Simultaneously, ESMA may be placed in the awkward position of pursuing the conflicting objectives of enhanced stability and increased competition. Severe conflicts of interest would only compound its mandate and make the EU more susceptible to destabilising attacks.


A fuzzy logic approach, called FuzzyTRN, to infer transcriptional regulatory networks (TRN) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is proposed. FuzzyTRN predicts potential regulators and their target genes using sequences analysis on transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) of transcriptional factors (TF) and promoter region of target genes. Those potential regulators and target genes are used to form vertices in the TRN. Furthermore, multiple sets of microarray gene expression data (MGED) are used by FuzzyTRN to predict links in the TRN. FuzzyTRN predicts transcriptional interactions by recognizing expression patterns of genes. In this study, a number of confirmed genetic interactions are utilized to train FuzzyTRN. 112 indirect genetic interactions that were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) experiments, and 259 and 86 direct genetic interactions that were collected by TRANSFAC database and literature surveying, were used as training set in this work. A simulation that encompasses 170 TFs and 40 target genes has been conducted and checked against YEASTRACT database to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm.


Recently, Distributed Generation (DG) technologies become more potential in electricity supply contributors to electric utilities. It leads to increase the grid integration ratio of DG. Thus, the trend of decentralized power systems has been considered as a future of energy
supply systems. According to this fact, the distribution systems must be changed from a passive control area to be an active control area. To overcome and realize this issue, the clustering power systems approach is developed. The main idea of this concept is to coexist the DG with the conventional power systems. Therefore, the system structure and the control approach are introduced and developed based on the conventional system. The cluster network structure keeps the main idea of conventional interconnected grid.

Consequently, the clustering power systems concept intends to cluster the power systems into several areas, called cluster area. As a direct result, the cluster network structure can be described like the interconnected grids.
In order to empower and turn the ordinary passive distribution system to be the active system, the clustering approach announces the distribution management system (DMS) for the cluster automation application. The DMS application is the cluster controller and management, which
applies in each cluster area. To accomplish the DMS functionality, control functions based on cluster concept have been developed continuously, e.g. the multi-level clusters control approach. Besides the development of cluster control approach, a cluster analysis strategy is cautiously considered as well, since it is a key to complete a cluster management and an optimization process. A hybrid calculation technique is consequently proposed to be a solution for cluster analysis, because it offers a possibility to integrate a character of interconnected clusters into the analysis. Hence, the cluster analysis can be employed in a decoupling way. To evolve the cluster analysis, a character of distribution network has to be taken into account. The character of distribution network is dominated by the unbalanced condition e.g. multi-phase feeder system. Moreover, the penetration of DG units can cause unbalanced condition as well, e.g. single phase feed in of home PV systems. To deal with unbalanced condition, an asymmetrical sequence hybrid and asymmetrical three-phase fourwire hybrid analysis method is rolled out, both are developed based on a difference issue of load flow studies.

All in all, the cluster analysis is a key to execute optimization and management process of cluster system operation as well as the supervisory of automated cluster control application.
Finally, the proposed hybrid analysis is ready to be the main function in order to ensure and forwards the development of clustering power systems philosophy to be one of the best solutions for the future smart gird applications.


The 18-year-old white male developed acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) 25 months after diagnosis of poorly differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma, diffuse pattern (PDLL-D), involving cervical, supraclavicular, and mediastinal lymph nodes as well as bone marrow. Treatment of the lymphoma consisted of 2,000 rads to the mantel area and 18 months of chemotherapy with intravenous (IV) methotrexate (400 mg/m2), vincristine, and prednisone, alternating every two weeks with IV cyclophosphamide (1,000 mg/m2), vincristine, and prednisone plus monthly intrathecal methotrexate. Thereafter, a complete remission was maintained without therapy until the onset of AML. Several pseudodiploid clones containing multiple structural rearrangements and a hypodiploid clones were identified in the circulating blood at the time of diagnosis of AML. Induction therapy consisting of cytosine arabinoside, 5-aza-cytidine, vincristine, and prednisone was unsuccessful, and the patient died of sepsis two months after diagnosis. This case calls attention to the increased risk for subsequent acute nonlymphocytic leukemia in patients previously treated for nonhodgkin lymphoma.


This chapter aims to present the design and development of a decision support system (DSS) for the analysis, simulation, planning, and operation of maintenance and customer services in electric power distribution system (EPDS). The main objective of the DSS is to improve the decision‐making processes through visualization tools and simulation of real cases in the EPDS, in order to allow better planning in the short, medium, and long term. Therefore, the DSS helps managers and decision‐makers to reduce maintenance and opera‐ tional costs, to improve system reliability, and to analyze new scenarios and conditions for system expansion planning. First, we introduce the key challenges faced by the decision‐ makers in the planning and operation of maintenance and customer services in EPDS. Next, we discuss the benefits and the requirements for the DSS design and development, includ‐ ing use cases modeling and the software architecture. Afterwards, we present the capabili‐ ties of the DSS and discuss important decisions made during the implementation phases. We conclude the chapter with a discussion about the obtained results, pointing out the pos‐ sible enhancements of the DSS, future extensions, and new use cases that may be addressed.


International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) has become one of the popular tools implemented by governments to ensure greater transparency and accountability globally. This research assesses the impact of IPSAS adoption on transparency and accountability in the use of public funds in Liberia. A survey design using five-point Likert scale questionnaire was employed for collecting the data. Questionnaires were administered to accountants, auditors (private and state-owned), government departments and related public sector bodies within the Montserrado County of Liberia. The valid questionnaires were then analysed using descriptive statistics. The hypotheses were formulated and tested by means of analysis of variance (ANOVA) at a 5% significant level with the aid of Microsoft Excel 2013. The study finds that IPSAS adoption increases the level of transparency and accountability in the use of government funds. It further establishes that revenue leakage and inadequate disclosure of public expenditure impedes government commitment to ensure a transparent and accountable management of public funds in the country. Hence, the paper recommends that governments in developing counties should hasten in their transition to the accrual basis IPSAS.

 Key words: Accountability, international public sector accounting standards (IPSAS), public funds, transparency, Liberia.


In this paper, experimental and numerical investigations were conducted to study the aging impact on the cooling capacity of mineral oils in power transformers. The experimental investigations had three objectives. Firstly the study of the impact of oil aging on its physicochemical properties using two diagnostic techniques which are: DDP (Dissolved Decay Products) according to ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)-D6802 standard and Interfacial Tension (IFT) according to ASTM-D971 standard. Secondly,the study of the impact of oil aging on its viscosity according to ASTM D445. Finally the development of empirical equations depicting oil viscosity changes, to be implemented in the numerical model. To achieve this, accelerated thermal aging tests of mineral oil samples were conducted in laboratory conditions according to ASTM D-1934standard. Data from experimental investigations were used to conduct the numerical investigations. A 2D axisymmetric numerical model was developed with COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3a to study the cooling capability of oil aged at different levels. The results indicate that the oil physicochemical properties are affected by aging. Furthermore the results show that the oil viscosity increase with aging and give a good correlation between viscosity and aging indicators. Finally it was found that sludge from oil oxidation byproduct contributes to the formation of hotspots and this leads to a significant increase of hotspot temperature in the power transformers.


Background : Bone remodeling has always been the goal of surgeons for a long time. Recently, it was shown that statins that are commonly prescribed for lowering cholesterol also have beneficial effects on bone healing. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the probable effects of atorvastatin on osteogenesis in the rat femur. Methods : This experimental study was conducted on 30 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The animals were divided randomly into one control and two experiment groups. After induction of anesthesia, a hole of 2 mm in diameter was made in femur width. The control group received physiological serum but the experiment groups one and two, respectively, received 10 and 20 mg/kg/PO of atorvastatin on daily basis. After euthanizing the rats, histopathological and histomorphometrical evaluations of the bones were performed 45 days after the intervention. Results : In the control group, the defects seemed to be filled with woven bone and bone marrow, depictive of a poor osteogenic activity. In the experiment groups, many osteoblast groupings and young bone trabeculae had been formed and bone trabeculae were more organized. Histomorphometric results, showed that atorvastatin had significantly promoted bone healing in the experiment groups compared with the controls (P Conclusion : The findings of this study showed that atorvastatin is capable of stimulating osteogenesis in rats.


Observations of occultations of bright γ-ray sources by the Sun may reveal predicted pair halos around blazars and/or new physics, such as, e.g., hypothetical light dark matter particles—axions. We use Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (Fermi) data to analyze four occultations of blazar 3C 279 by the Sun on October 8 each year from 2008 to 2011. A combined analysis of the observations of these occultations allows a point-like source at the position of 3C 279 to be detected with significance of ≈3σ, but does not reveal any significant excess over the flux expected from the quiescent Sun. The likelihood ratio test rules out complete transparency of the Sun to the blazar γ-ray emission at a 3σ confidence level.


The study aims to examine and analyze the effect of the marketing mix on sales (studies in Business Group (KUB) "Telo Rezeki" n Bandar Lampung). The population used in this study amounted to 73 respondents, of the total consumer Business Group (KUB) "Telo Rezeki" In Bandar Lampung. Data analysis method used is multiple linear regression analysis. Based on the analysis, the regression equations obtained are as follows: Y = 2.117+0.288X 1 +0.174X 2 +0.150X 3 +0.327X 4 +0.138X 5 +0.518X 6 +0.579X 7 + 1.803+ e The results of the T test, product, process, price, promotion, place, people and physical products have significant positive effect on sales. The results simultaneously with the F test showed that all independent variables significantly influence sales. The coefficient of determination (R2) of 0679 which showed that 64.4% of sales variables can be explained by the independent variable product, process, price, promotion, place, people and physical products, while the rest of 35.6,% is explained by other variables.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most prevalent form of diabetes and accounts for approximately 95% of diabetic cases. One of the most common and debilitating complications associated with diabetes is diabetic neuropathy (DN) which affects about 10% of newly diagnosed diabetes patients and more than 50% of patients with longstanding diabetes. Animal models are widely used in the research of diabetes and its complications, where rats and mice are most commonly used animals for these experimental models. The present review summarizes the current understanding of the metabolic profile and pathology involved in the development of diabetic neuropathy. Different models of diabetic neuropathy in an experimental setup are described and finally an insight of diet induced models of DN is highlighted. Recent studies have described that diet induced models are beneficial over chemical-mediated and genetically-mediated models in the development of type 2 diabetic neuropathy. The High Fat Diet (HFD) combined with low doses of streptozotocin is the most successful and well established model of diet induced neuropathy, which mimics natural progress of diabetes development as well as metabolic features in human type 2 diabetes HFD causes obesity and insulin resistance in peripheral tissues due to lipotoxicity, while, low dose of streptozotocin induces mild defect in insulin secretion.


In this paper we provide a complete theoretical analysis of a two-dimensional degenerate non convex singular stochastic control problem. The optimisation is motivated by a storage-consumption model in an electricity market, and features a stochastic real-valued spot price modelled by Brownian motion. We find analytical expressions for the value function, the optimal control and the boundaries of the action and inaction regions. The optimal policy is characterised in terms of two monotone and discontinuous repelling free boundaries, although part of one boundary is constant and the smooth fit condition holds there.


The polymer laser welding can be successfully used to join two or more parts of plastic surfaces and it can be used in several fields, such as the biomaterials and microelectronics. Thermoplastic materials are welded by a localized energy input without the use of any organic solvents and formation of particulate.The employment of a portable diode laser can personalize the welding joint area and it let to draw the welding geometry, like a pen in a very easy and fast process. In this research, we studied single lap joints made by biomedical grade polyethylene (UHMWPE) pure and filled with carbon nanomaterials, necessary to make the polymer laser absorbent, added in amount of 0,2% in weight.The joints were irradiated by a diode laser operating at 970 nm (fundamental harmonic), in repetition rate of 10Hz, with a maximum pulse energy of 200 mJ and a laser spot of . 4 mm2 (no focusing lens were employed). The portable laser was employed to realize four types of welding geometries (points, continuous and discontinuous lines, cross lines) in the overlapped area. The joints were characterized by mechanical shear tests and hardness Shore D test and observed by a morphological analysis (optical microscopy). The results suggested that the welding strength depends not only on the welded area, but also on the continuity of the welded geometry and on the stress direction. The points welding exhibits the worse mechanical performance, while is the cross lines welding the best one among these investigated.


Influenza C virus, an enveloped virus containing seven single-stranded RNA segments of negative polarity, belongs to the genus Influenza C Virus of the family Orthomyxoviridae. A number of questions remain to be resolved with regard to the molecular virology and epidemiology of the virus. To address them, we have established a virus-like particle (VLP) generation system and reverse genetics of the virus and succeeded in clarifying the structure-function relationship of the M1 protein of the virus. Although the approach adopted was similar to that for influenza A virus reverse genetics, the number of infectious influenza C viruses generated was much lower than that for influenza A virus. Based on a comparison of the number of influenza C VLPs with that of influenza A VLPs generated using a similar system, we proposed a virion generation mechanism unique to influenza C virus.


We provide the dictionary between four-dimensional gauged supergravity and type II compactications on T 6 with metric and gauge uxes in the absence of supersym- metry breaking sources, such as branes and orientifold planes. Secondly, we prove that there is a unique isotropic compactication allowing for critical points. It corresponds to a type IIA background given by a product of two 3-tori with SO(3) twists and results in a unique theory (gauging) with a non-semisimple gauge algebra. Besides the known four AdS solutions surviving the orientifold projection to N = 4 induced by O6-planes, this theory contains a novel AdS solution that requires non-trivial orientifold-odd uxes, hence being a genuine critical point of theN = 8 theory.


Depersonalization/derealization disorder is characterized by depersonalization often co-occurring with derealization in the absence of significant psychosis, memory, or identity disturbance. Depersonalization/derealization is categorized as one of the dissociative disorders, which also includes dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder, and forms of dissociative disorder not otherwise specified. Although these disorders may be under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed, many persons with psychiatric illness who have experienced trauma report symptoms consistent with dissociative disorders. There are limited scientific data on prevalence of depersonalization/derealization disorder specifically. This paper reviews clinical, phenomenological and epidemiological information regarding diagnosis and treatment of dissociative disorders in general, and illustrates common presenting histories of persons with derealization/depersonalization disorder utilizing composite cases. The clinical vignettes focus on recommended psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy interventions as part of a comprehensive multidisciplinary treatment plan for these individuals.


Research and development for interactive digital health interventions requires multi-disciplinary expertise in identifying user needs, and developing and evaluating each intervention. Two of the central areas of expertise required are Health (broadly defined) and Human–Computer Interaction. Although these share some research methods and values, they traditionally have deep differences that can catch people unawares, and make interdisciplinary collaborations challenging, resulting in sub-optimal project outcomes. The most widely discussed is the contrast between formative evaluation (emphasised in Human–Computer Interaction) and summative evaluation (emphasised in Health research). However, the differences extend well beyond this, from the nature of accepted evidence to the culture of reporting. In this paper, we present and discuss seven lessons that we have learned about the contrasting cultures, values, assumptions and practices of Health and Human–Computer Interaction. The lessons are structured according to a research lifecycle, from establishing the state of the art for a given digital intervention, moving through the various (iterative) stages of development, evaluation and deployment, through to reporting research results. Although our focus is on enabling people from different disciplinary backgrounds to work together with better mutual understanding, we also highlight ways in which future research in this interdisciplinary space could be better supported.


Total body sodium and arterial blood pressure (ABP) are mutually dependent variables regulated by complex control systems. This review addresses the role of ABP in the normal control of sodium excretion (NaEx), and the physiological control of renin secretion. NaEx is a pivotal determinant of ABP, and under experimental conditions, ABP is a powerful, independent controller of NaEx. Blood volume is a function of dietary salt intake; however, ABP is not, at least not in steady states. A transient increase in ABP after a step‐up in sodium intake could provide a causal relationship between ABP and the regulation of NaEx via a hypothetical integrative control system. However, recent data show that subtle sodium loading (simulating salty meals) causes robust natriuresis without changes in ABP. Changes in ABP are not necessary for natriuresis. Normal sodium excretion is not regulated by pressure. Plasma renin is log‐linearly related to salt intake, and normally, decreases in renin secretion are a precondition of natriuresis after increases in total body sodium. Renin secretion is controlled by renal ABP, renal nerve activity and the tubular chloride concentrations at the macula densa (MD). Renal nerve activity is related to blood volume, also at constant ABP, and elevates renin secretion by means of β1‐adrenoceptors. Recent results indicate that renal denervation reduces ABP and renin activity, and that sodium loading may decrease renin without changes in ABP, glomerular filtration rate or β1‐mediated nerve activity. The latter indicates an essential role of the MD mechanism and/or a fourth mediator of the physiological control of renin secretion.


A speed-enhanced 10-b asynchronous SAR ADC with multistep addition-only digital error correction (ADEC) is presented with a straightforward DAC switching algorithm. The capacitor DAC is virtually divided into three sub-DACs for ADEC with negligible hardware overhead. The redundant decision cycles between stages reconfigure the capacitor connection of the DAC. These redundancies guarantee 10-b linearity under 4-b-accurate DAC settling in the MSB decision and the optimally designed ADC enhances the conversion speed by 37%. A prototype ADC was implemented in a CMOS 0.13-μm technology. The chip consumes 550 μW and achieves a 50.6-dB SNDR at 40 MS/s under a 1.2-V supply. The figure-of-merit (FOM) is 50 fJ/conversion-step.


Some dental lesions are difficult to detect with traditional anatomical imaging methods, such as, with visual observation, dental radiography and X-ray computed tomography (CT). Therefore, we investigated the viability of using an optical imaging technique, Mesoscopic Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (MFMT) to retrieve molecular contrast in dental samples. To establish feasibility of obtaining 3-D images in teeth using MFMT, molecular contrast was simulated using a dye-filled capillary that was placed in the lower half of human tooth ex vivo. The dye and excitation wavelength were chosen to be excited at 650–660 nm in order to simulate a carious lesion. The location of the capillary was varied by changing the depth from the surface at which the dye, at various concentrations, was introduced. MFMT reconstructions were benchmarked against micro-CT. Overall; MFMT exhibited a location accuracy of ~15% and a volume accuracy of ~15%, up to 2 mm depth with moderate dye concentrations. These results demonstrate the potential of MFMT to retrieve molecular contrast in 3-D in highly scattering tissues, such as teeth.


We propose a new method for traffic state estimation applicable to large urban road networks where a significant amount of the real-time and historical data is missing. Our proposed approach involves estimating the missing historical data through low-rank matrix completion, coupled with an online estimation approach for estimating the missing real-time data. In contrast to the traditional approach, the proposed method does not require re-calibration every time new streaming data becomes available. Empirical results from two metropolitan cities show that the proposed two-step approach provides comparable accuracy to a state of the art benchmark method while achieving two orders of magnitude improvement in computational speed.