Two hundred and fifteen items were initially constructed on the basis of promoting thinking rather than memorization and differentiate the well-known target people from the poorly known ones in relation to knowledge of health status. The scores from samples respondents were subjected to item analysis, comprising of item difficulty index and item-discrimination. The scores from subjects were computed for item analysis comprising of item difficulty and item discrimination index. Forty-seven items with difficulty index ranging from 30% – 80% and discrimination index ranging from 0.33 to 0.55 were included in the final format of the knowledge test. The reliability of the knowledge test was found to be 0.896 and 0.899 in split–half and test–retest methods respectively which was quite satisfactory (P<0.01). Hence the knowledge test constructed was highly stable and dependable for measurement.


We propose the name Campylobacter jejuni subsp. doylei for a new subspecies of gram-negative, microaerophilic Campylobacter, which is nitrate negative and was isolated from human clinical specimens (gastric epithelium biopsies and feces). The pathogenicity of the organism is not known. Strains grow poorly at 42°C; most produce catalase, but some give weak or negative reactions; none reduces nitrate to nitrite. The guanine-plus-cytosine contents of the deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) of 10 strains were 29+1 mol% (mean + standard deviation). Conventional bacteriological tests and DNA-DNA hybridization experiments revealed that these strains form a tight phenotypic and genotypic cluster within C. jejuni. The characteristics which differentiate the new subspecies from other members of C. jejuni and from Campylobacter coli are given. The type strain is strain 093 (= NCTC 11951): It was isolated from the feces of a young child with diarrhoea and has a guanine-plus-cytosine content of 29 mol%.


This study evaluates and compares the performance of four machine learning classifiers—support vector machine (SVM), normal Bayes (NB), classification and regression tree (CART) and K nearest neighbor (KNN)—to classify very high resolution images, using an object-based classification procedure. In particular, we investigated how tuning parameters affect the classification accuracy with different training sample sizes. We found that: (1) SVM and NB were superior to CART and KNN, and both could achieve high classification accuracy (>90%); (2) the setting of tuning parameters greatly affected classification accuracy, particularly for the most commonly-used SVM classifier; the optimal values of tuning parameters might vary slightly with the size of training samples; (3) the size of training sample also greatly affected the classification accuracy, when the size of training sample was less than 125. Increasing the size of training samples generally led to the increase of classification accuracies for all four classifiers. In addition, NB and KNN were more sensitive to the sample sizes. This research provides insights into the selection of classifiers and the size of training samples. It also highlights the importance of the appropriate setting of tuning parameters for different machine learning classifiers and provides useful information for optimizing these parameters.


A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PAUL HINDEMITH'S SONATA FOR BASSOON (1938) AND SONATA FOR TUBA (1955) by SIMON RANDOLPH WILDMAN (Under the Direction of David Zerkel) ABSTRACT Paul Hindemith's Sonata for Bassoon (1938) and Sonata for Tuba (1955) are two striking examples from the composer's collection of sonatas for orchestral instruments. The bassoon sonata is generally considered to be characteristic of the compositional framework Hindemith wrote about in his treatise The Craft of Musical Composition. The tuba sonata is commonly cited as one of the few works in which Hindemith experimented with twelve-tone themes. Both of these perspectives are valid, but neither describes the full complexity and beauty of the music. Since both these sonatas are standard as solo repertoire, tubists and bassoonists could benefit from an in-depth study of Hindemith's style. This paper analyzes the tuba sonata alongside the bassoon sonata, synthesizing observations from each work to form a broad understanding of Hindemith's style. The contrasts and similarities of the sonatas are highlighted throughout the analysis. The paper also includes a script from the lecture that accompanied a public performance of these sonatas.


AIM: To assess functional outcome of intramedullary interlocking nail in distal tibia fracture where distal locking screw is applied after inserting proximal locking screw. PATIENTS AND METHOD: This is a retrospective study which was conducted in Universal college of medical sciences. This study was started one year back and last case was followed for one year. All thirty three cases with distal tibia extraarticular fracture 42A1 and 43A3, according to AO classification, within 7 cm from the ankle plafond of skeletally mature person presented in emergency along with Gustillo Anderson (GA) I, II, IIIa and fibula fracture are included in the study. Intrarticular fracture, GAIIIb and lost follow up cases were excluded from the study. Proximal interlocking screws are placed at first followed by distal interlocking screw. Mechanism of injury, age, sex, union time, foot function index, secondary procedure, complications, deformities are analyzed in the study. RESULTS: All patients were retrospectively analyzed. We could not find any significant relation between post operative malalignment and better foot function index (p = 0.975). Early union may not improve overall foot function index (p = 0.202). Automobile accident is the commonest mode of injury (48.5%) followed by automobile pediastrian (39.4%). Postoperative malalignment consist of cornal (3%), saggital (3%) and shortening (3%). Infection is one of the commonest complication found in our study (6.1%).


Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) is a soft tissue cancer in which chromosomal translocations generate PAX3-FKHR and PAX7-FKHR gene fusions. To improve the approach for fusion detection in archival samples, we developed a real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay for these fusion transcripts. By incorporating consensus primers and gene-specific probes, both presence and subtype of the fusion were determined in one assay. We applied this approach to a convenience sample of 78 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded ARMS tumors from the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study (IRS)-III clinical trial and obtained satisfactory results in 59 (76%) cases. The distribution of fusion types was 35 (59%) PAX3-FKHR, 11 (19%) PAX7-FKHR, and 13 fusion-negative (22%). In a subsequent clinical analysis, we found that IRS-III ARMS cases analyzed for fusion status had a significantly improved outcome compared to IRS-III ARMS cases that were not available for fusion analysis. The basis of this outcome could not be explained by known prognostic clinical factors, and multivariate analysis confirmed that our convenience sample was not representative of the whole IRS-III cohort. In conclusion, although these robust assays provide new opportunities for correlative studies of archival material, our first application illustrates an important limitation of using a convenience sample for molecular-clinical correlative studies.


Background and purpose — Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating complication and more information on risk factors for PJI is required to find measures to prevent infections. Therefore, we assessed risk factors for PJI after primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) in a large patient cohort. Patients and methods — We analyzed 33,337 primary THAs performed between May 2014 and January 2018 based on the Finnish Arthroplasty Register (FAR). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for first PJI revision operation using 25 potential patient- and surgical-related risk factors as covariates. Results — 350 primary THAs were revised for the first time due to PJI during the study period. The hazard ratios for PJI revision in multivariable analysis were 2.0 (CI 1.3–3.2) for ASA class II and 3.2 (2.0–5.1) for ASA class III–IV compared with ASA class I, 1.4 (1.1–1.7) for bleeding > 500 mL compared with < 500 mL, 0.4 (0.2–0.7) for ceramic-on-ceramic bearing couple compared with metal-on-polyethylene and for the first 3 postoperative weeks, 3.0 (1.6–5.6) for operation time of > 120 minutes compared with 45–59 minutes, and 2.6 (1.4–4.9) for simultaneous bilateral operation. In the univariable analysis, hazard ratios for PJI revision were 2.3 (1.7–3.3) for BMI of 31–35 and 5.0 (3.5–7.1) for BMI of > 35 compared with patients with BMI of 21–25. Interpretation — We found several modifiable risk factors associated with increased PJI revision risk after THA to which special attention should be paid preoperatively. In particular, high BMI may be an even more prominent risk factor for PJI than previously assessed.


The structures of the trigonal compounds A(1+x)A(x')B(1-x)O(3) are described, to a first approximation, as a hexagonal close-packed stacking of A(3)O(9) and A(3)A'O(6) layers. However, quantitative analyses are usually performed in superspace, with the structures considered as modulated composites made of two subsystems: chains of A cations, and columns of trigonal prisms, A'O(6), and octahedra, BO(6). It is demonstrated that an alternative superspace description as a single modulated structure can be found in terms of the aforementioned layers, with a composition-dependent modulation parameter and discontinuous atomic domains. In this approach, these compounds fulfill layer-stacking rules analogous to those observed in other layered compounds. These rules translate into a so-called closeness condition for the discontinuous atomic domains in superspace; this condition is analogous to that postulated in quasicrystals. Both superspace models, the composite and the layered model, when considered without displacive modulations, can be taken as two limiting idealized paradigms and can be used as the starting point of a structure refinement. As an example, the structure of the trigonal phase Sr(6)Rh(5)O(15), which was previously refined as a modulated composite [Stitzer, El Abed et al. (2001), J. Am. Chem. Soc. 123, 8790-8796], has been refined anew, with equivalent results, as a single modulated structure taking as reference the ideal layered structure. A similar superspace layer description is applied to the recently reported orthorhombic family A(4m+4n)A(n')B(4m+2n)O(12m+9n). This description allows the a priori derivation of a refineable superspace model that includes the superspace symmetry and crenel functions and is valid for the whole family. This model has been successfully applied to the refinement of the compound Ba(12)Co(11)O(33) [Darriet et al. (2002), Chem. Mater. 14, 3349-3363].


The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of histamine-induced nasal congestion on nasal airflow and the perception of externally applied resistance to nasal breathing. Nasal cross-sectional area and nasal airflow during free breathing were measured in 15 adult subjects before and after histamine challenge. The threshold for perception of resistance to nasal breathing was determined using a dynamic perturbator device, with both free breathing and controlled nasal airflow. The average threshold for perception of nasal resistance was 0.383 Pa/cm3/s at baseline. After histamine application, there was a significant decrease in nasal cross-sectional area (p = 0.0001), associated with a decrease in nasal airflow (r = 0.6). The average threshold of perception increased to 1.373 Pa/cm3/s (p < 0.0001). When nasal airflow was controlled at the baseline rate, the threshold of perception improved to 0.638 Pa/cm3/s (p = 0.024). These findings indicate that nasal congestion causes a reduction in both nasal airflow and the perception of resistance to nasal breathing. The ability to detect nasal airway impairment is improved with increased nasal airflow. An improved understanding of the physiology of the subjective perception of nasal patency may lead to innovative methods for the treatment of nasal obstruction.


As a recurring subject and powerful symbol, the window dominates the female literary and artistic imagery of the twentieth century. It has been developed into mirror, photograph or painting, according to the writer�s needs, yet the basic shape of the frame is always retraceable. Among late modernist and postmodernist women writers, Djuna Barnes explores in detail the structural resources of this literary device. Although she already understands the potential of the frame in her early career as a journalist, she mostly challenges its extents of versatility in Nightwood (1936). Its crucial moments � either flashing epiphanies or missed catharsis � involve the physical presence of a window, which embodies a powerful narrative agent; more than mere symbol, it is active at several levels. Thematically, doors and windows, pictures and mirrors, play an important cohesive role. At a deeper stage of analysis, the structure of the novel itself is shored up by doors and windows, since the setting is essentially organized into indoors and outdoors scenes; windows and doors allow the characters to move between these two dimensions. On the metaphorical level, windows and doors represent a communicative channel; a room-door opening suggests the access to one�s inner life, whereas a shut window denies any chance of dialogue. However, all the characters seem to be too absorbed by their obsessions to realize such communicative potential, and rather meander uselessly in their mental frames.


IEC 61850 is the new standard for communications in substations that defines process bus and substation bus communications allowing the development of distributed waveform recording systems. The paper describes the different components of such systems and the distribution of functions between the devices included in it. Multiple merging units communicate over a 100 Mb Ethernet with a central computer that receives and records current and voltage waveforms with a sampling rate of 256 samples/cycle. The samples from the different merging units is saved as a combined single COMTRADE file. The architecture of the system, triggering criteria, system performance and analysis tools are described in the paper


The COVID-19 epidemic spread to almost all countries of the world in 2020 and 2021. The physical behavior of many people was affected during this period. Sedentary behavior and low levels of physical activity during the COVID-19 epidemic had negative effects on people's health, well-being, and quality of life. This study aimed to determine the level of physical activity of the residents of Basra (the second-largest province in Iraq) during the COVID-19 quarantine according to sex, age, educational level, marital status, occupational/educational status, and health status. We hypothesized that the quarantine negatively affected the physical activities in terms of the number of days of physical activity and the type of physical activity practiced. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 150 participants from the province of Basra. We used an online questionnaire to get information about the quantity and types of physical activity that participants did before and during the quarantine. In general, the results showed a decrease in the number of days of physical activity for participants during the quarantine among those who engaged in physical activity for four days or more per week. Additionally, the results indicated that a high percentage of participants practiced home exercises and walking/jogging during the quarantine, with decreases in the other activities (swimming and those done inside sports clubs). The study indicated that there is an urgent need to develop a complete strategy to encourage people to engage in physical activities during any quarantine that may occur in the future.


INTRODUCTION
Adverse drug events (ADEs) are associated with inappropriate prescribing (IP) and result in increased morbidity, mortality and resource utilisation. We used Beers' Criteria to determine the three-month prevalence of IP in a non-selected community-dwelling population of acutely ill older people requiring hospitalisation.

METHODS
A prospective, observational study of 597 consecutive acute admissions was performed. Diagnoses and concurrent medications were recorded before hospital physician intervention, and Beers' Criteria applied.

RESULTS
Mean patient age (SD) was 77 (7) years. Median number of medications was 5, range 0-13. IP occurred in 32% of patients (n = 191), with 24%, 6% and 2% taking 1, 2 and 3 inappropriate medications respectively. Patients taking >5 medications were 3.3 times more likely to receive an inappropriate medication than those taking < or =5 medications (OR 3.34: 95%, CI 2.37-4.79; P<0.001). Forty-nine per cent of patients with inappropriate prescriptions were admitted with adverse effects of the inappropriate medications. Sixteen per cent of all admissions were associated with such adverse effects.

CONCLUSION
IP is highly prevalent in acutely ill older patients and is associated with polypharmacy and hospitalisation. However, Beers' Criteria cannot be used as a gold standard as they do not comprehensively address all aspects of IP in older people.


Electronic commerce has recently shown enormous potential to take over a significant share of the sales market. There is a need to provide services that can reach individual computer users with different information profiles and levels of expertise. In this article the concept of Web assistants, human assistants working in an electronic Web shop, is presented. This human‐computer collaboration provides intelligent and adaptive services via an integrated communication media. A prototype of a Web assistant system has been implemented. While browsing through the system the user can call for human assistance should the need arise. Presents the results of a usability study performed on the prototype system. Recent commercial moves in the direction discussed in this article increase the importance of the usability study. The results are encouraging, especially when it comes to the attitude aspects of usability. The subjects were extremely enthusiastic about the concept of Web assistants and its implications. The human Web assistant who participated in the field trial highlighted the importance of user modelling. Although the system is mainly in the context of electronic commerce, it can be used in many other contexts. These include home automation, digital libraries, and technical support, to name a few.


Treatment guidelines for patients with symptomatic advanced COPD at high risk of exacerbations (GOLD Group D) recommend triple therapy using long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonists (LAMA), long-acting β2-adrenergic receptor agonists (LABA), and an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS). Triple therapy currently requires using multiple inhalers several times daily. By offering a more practical dosing option, once-daily triple therapy via a single inhaler may enhance treatment adherence and offer clinically important improvements in lung function and health-related quality of life versus dual therapy with ICS/LABA. FULFIL (Lung FUnction and quality of LiFe assessment in COPD with closed trIpLe therapy) is a randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel group multicentre study comparing 24 weeks of therapy with either once-daily fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol (100μg/62.5μg/25μg) inhalation powder delivered via a single ELLIPTA® inhaler or twice-daily budesonide/formoterol (400μg/12μg). FULFIL enrolled 1810 patients aged ≥40 years with symptomatic advanced COPD (GOLD Group D). To provide additional safety data, a subset of approximately 430 patients remained on blinded study treatment for up to 52 weeks. Unblinding and data analysis will commence in June 2016. We will report results on the co-primary endpoints – change from baseline in trough FEV1 and St George9s Respiratory Questionnaire Total Score after 24 weeks of treatment – and safety over 24 weeks and 52 weeks of treatment. Data from FULFIL will increase understanding of the clinical value of triple therapy compared with dual ICS/LABA therapy. Funding: GSK (NCT02345161; CTT116853).


We studied endotracheal suctioning-induced alveolar derecruitment and its prevention in nine patients with acute lung injury. Changes in end-expiratory lung volume measured by inductive plethysmography, positive end-expiratory pressure-induced alveolar recruitment assessed by pressure-volume curves, oxygen saturation, and respiratory mechanics were recorded. Suctioning was performed after disconnection from the ventilator, through the swivel adapter of the catheter mount, with a closed system, and with the two latter techniques while performing recruitment maneuvers during suctioning (40 cm H2O pressure-supported breaths). End-expiratory lung volume after disconnection fell more than with all other techniques (-1,466 +/- 586, -733 +/- 406, -531 +/- 228, -168 +/- 176, and -284 +/- 317 ml after disconnection, through the swivel adapter, with the closed system, and with the two latter techniques with pressure-supported breaths, respectively, p < 0.001), and was not fully recovered 1 minute after suctioning. Recruitment decreased after disconnection and using the swivel adapter (-104 +/- 31 and -63 +/- 25 ml, respectively), was unchanged with the closed system (-1 +/- 10 ml), and increased when performing recruitment maneuvers during suctioning (71 +/- 37 and 60 +/- 30 ml) (p < 0.001). Changes in alveolar recruitment correlated with changes in lung volume (rho = 0.88, p < 0.001) and compliance (rho = 0.9, p < 0.001). Oxygenation paralleled lung volume changes. Suctioning-induced lung derecruitment in acute lung injury can be prevented by performing recruitment maneuvers during suctioning and minimized by avoiding disconnection.


The overall concept of the OECD's Global Anti-Base Erosion Proposal is to develop a coordinated set of rules to address ongoing risks from profit shifting and to curb international tax competition. Two important components of the proposal are the income inclusion rule and the switch-over rule and, in this article, these components are examined in consideration of EU primary law. Depending on the final design of the rules, it is concluded that the proposed income inclusion rule – however, probably not the switch-over rule – may end up restricting the fundamental freedoms by treating comparable situations differently. Against that background, a number of policy options for designing the income inclusion rule in accordance with primary EU law requirements are presented, and pros and cons of these design options are discussed.
Global anti-base erosion proposal (GloBE), EU tax law, fundamental freedoms, tax avoidance, tax competition, tax policy


WIS.2 is a DSS for monitoring and implementing the goal-oriented and sustainable management of forest ecosystems, especially with regard to the integral management of signicant spatial and temporal scales in forest ecosystems. WIS.2 considers multiple ecosystem goods and services in silvicultural management and the implementation of silvicultural interventions, which are in accordance with the Swiss silvicultural tradition. WIS.2 takes a top-down approach, starting with the entrepreneurial strategy, and ending at short and mid-term interventions at stand level. WIS.2 structures the overall decision process across multiple scales and provides decision support for each decision to be taken by organizing and connecting available data and models. WIS.2 is based on MS Access and ArcGIS View and is composed of dierent applications, each handling a main aspect of the management of forest ecosystems. The tool is used at the level of higher education in forest management in Switzerland. WIS.2, initially developed during 2001-2005 within the framework of a PhD thesis at the ETH in Zurich (\Author" 2005a), has been successively improved through practical use in more than 10 case studies in ve Swiss Cantons. The main challenge is now to advance from a prototype to an easily available consolidated IT product.


An unlisted property fund is a private investment vehicle which aims to provide direct property total returns and may also employ financial leverage which will accentuate performance. They have become a far more prevalent institutional property investment conduit since the early 2000's. Investors have been primarily attracted to them due to the ease of executing a property exposure, both domestically and internationally, and for their diversification benefits given the capital intensive nature of constructing a well diversified commercial property investment portfolio. However, despite their greater prominence there has been little academic research conducted on the performance and risks of unlisted property fund investments. This can be attributed to a paucity of available data and limited time series where it exists. In this study we have made use of a unique dataset of institutional UK unlisted non-listed property funds over the period 2003Q4 to 2011Q4, using a panel modelling framework in order to determine the key factors which impact on fund performance. The sample provided a rich set of unlisted property fund factors including market exposures, direct property characteristics and the level of financial leverage employed. The findings from the panel regression analysis show that a small number of variables are able to account for the performance of unlisted property funds. These variables should be considered by investors when assessing the risk and return of these vehicles. The impact of financial leverage upon the performance of these vehicles through the recent global financial crisis and subsequent UK commercial property market downturn was also studied. The findings indicate a significant asymmetric effect of employing debt finance within unlisted property funds.


This paper will explore the significant role appropriated objects played in Ottonian artistic production through a close examination of the Ambo of Henry II. Created by the last Ottonian emperor for the Palace Chapel at Aachen between 1002 and 1014, the Ambo of Henry II abounds with spolia. I will argue that the spolia reused on the Ambo of Henry II presented an innovative statement of Henry II's political, economic, and cultural agenda. The spolia from ancient Rome and contemporary Byzantium portrayed Henry II as the political successor to an illustrious Roman past, and as an equal to the Byzantine emperors in the East. The luxury objects reused on the Ambo also served as commodities whose symbolic value increased dramatically when they were taken out of economic circulation and used on this precious artwork. Finally, the Islamic and Byzantine spolia on the Ambo allowed Henry II to define himself and his Western Roman Empire in terms of an Other, associating his rule with the power, prestige, and sophistication of contemporary and competitive foreign cultures.


OBJECTIVES
Accelerated diagnostic protocols (ADPs), such as the HEART Pathway, are gaining popularity in emergency departments (EDs) as tools used to risk stratify patients with acute chest pain. However, provider nonadherence may threaten the safety and effectiveness of ADPs. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and impact of ADP nonadherence.

METHODS
A secondary analysis of participants enrolled in the HEART Pathway RCT was conducted. This trial enrolled 282 adult ED patients with symptoms concerning for acute coronary syndrome without ST-elevation on electrocardiogram. Patients randomized to the HEART Pathway (N = 141) were included in this analysis. Outcomes included index visit disposition, nonadherence, and major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) at 30 days. MACE was defined as death, myocardial infarction, or revascularization. Nonadherence was defined as: 1) undertesting-discharging a high-risk patient from the ED without objective testing (stress testing or coronary angiography) or 2) overtesting-admitting or obtaining objective testing on a low-risk patient.

RESULTS
Nonadherence to the HEART Pathway occurred in 28 of 141 patients (20%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 14% to 27%). Overtesting occurred in 19 of 141 patients (13.5%, 95% CI = 8% to 19%) and undertesting in nine of 141 patients (6%, 95% CI = 3% to 12%). None of these 28 patients suffered MACE. The net effect of nonadherence was 10 additional admissions among patients identified as low-risk and appropriate for early discharge (absolute decrease in discharge rate of 7%, 95% CI = 3% to 13%).

CONCLUSIONS
Real-time use of the HEART Pathway resulted in a nonadherence rate of 20%, mostly due to overtesting. None of these patients had MACE within 30 days. Nonadherence decreased the discharge rate, attenuating the HEART Pathway's impact on health care use.


In the late 1990s, Winter proposed an endmember extraction belief that has much impact on endmember extraction techniques in hyperspectral remote sensing. The idea is to find a maximum-volume simplex whose vertices are drawn from the pixel vectors. Winter's belief has stimulated much interest, resulting in many different variations of pixel search algorithms, widely known as N-FINDR, being proposed. In this paper, we take a continuous optimization perspective to revisit Winter's belief, where the aim is to provide an alternative framework of formulating and understanding Winter's belief in a systematic manner. We first prove that, fundamentally, the existence of pure pixels is not only sufficient for the Winter problem to perfectly identify the ground-truth endmembers but also necessary. Then, under the umbrella of the Winter problem, we derive two methods using two different optimization strategies. One is by alternating optimization. The resulting algorithm turns out to be an N-FINDR variant, but, with the proposed formulation, we can pin down some of its convergence characteristics. Another is by successive optimization; interestingly, the resulting algorithm is found to exhibit some similarity to vertex component analysis. Hence, the framework provides linkage and alternative interpretations to these existing algorithms. Furthermore, we propose a robust worst case generalization of the Winter problem for accounting for perturbed pixel effects in the noisy scenario. An algorithm combining alternating optimization and projected subgradients is devised to deal with the problem. We use both simulations and real data experiments to demonstrate the viability and merits of the proposed algorithms.


The recovery current is an important parameter that influences the performance of the DC power supply based on the power CT in a high voltage active electronic current transformer. It is closely related to the saturation state of the core of the transformer, which harvests energy from the magnetic field generated by the current through the high voltage power line. The recovery current of three types of core material are systematically discussed in terms of their characteristics, which are the Silicon Steel, the Nanocrystalline Alloy, and the Fe-based Amorphous. The closed core of the Nanocrystalline Alloy and Fe-based Amorphous has the feature of low recovery current. Both of them can carry out a lower recovery current within 0.5A in the DC power supply; The gapped core of the Silicon Steel is able to work at the highest recovery current among the three types of cores in the same dimension, which benefits the higher input current of the DC power supply, beyond 2000A. Resultant data of analysis provides a prospective reference for design of the DC power supply with a wide range of input current by application of the combined cores.


This paper is a short reflection on the evolution of the meaning of the term cyberspace for geographers. We argue that the concept of cyberspace has become a rhizomatic one as spatial thinkers have unveiled its complex inner and outer networkings. While cyberspace was initially understood as a new open space ripe for exploration, its intricate connections with real space through the technological infrastructures that make cyberspace possible have led geographers to consider the multiple points of access and types of cyberspace. More recently, there has been renewed attention to the inner geographies of cyberspace and its cyberdivides have been exposed. We briefly retrace this evolution to argue that the way forward is to shift from an idea of cyberspace as a predefined space to a notion of cyberspatialities as ongoing spatial digital formations.


The last few years have seen the spectacular evolution and spread of computer applications, supported by technologies such as internet, wireless networks and mobile devices. User interfaces help people to easily access, understand, and process information. User interfaces depend on two relatively new fields: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer Graphics (CG). These domains evolved continually to accompany the new generations of computer applications. They are an essential part of every computer system and therefore, they should have an important part in informatics education. However, their integration in world-wide degrees differs significantly from program to program. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, we present and discuss two reference curriculum proposals. Second, we conduct a case study to index several European masters programs using the reference curriculum to see to what extent the practice reflects the theory. We have developed a web portal to collect and analyse information about master programs, and to present several graphical overviews of these data. By providing these resources through a web site, we hope to contribute to enhance computer graphics and human computer interaction visibility in computer-science education in a global context.


In recent years, brushless direct current motor (BLDCM) applications have been increased due to their advantages as low size, mechanical torque, high-speed range, to mention some. The BLDCM control is required to operate at high frequency, high temperature, large voltage, and quick changes of current; as a result of this kind of operation, the power drive lifetime is affected. The power drives commonly utilized insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), which present power losses, on-state losses, and switching losses caused by temperature oscillations. Hence, the power losses are related to the command signals generated by the controller. In this sense, the BLDC motor drive controller design, frequently, does not take into account the power losses and the temperature oscillations, which cause the IGBT lifetime decrease or premature fail. In this chapter, a brushless DC motor drive is designed based on a fuzzy controller tuned with the particle swarm optimization algorithm, where the temperature oscillations and speed set points are considered in order to increase IGBT module lifetime. The valida-tion of the proposed fuzzy-PSO controller is carried out by the co-simulation between LabVIEW ™ and Multisim ™ and finally analysis and conclusion of the work.


A transect of 68 acid grasslands across Great Britain, covering the lower range of ambient annual nitrogen deposition in the industrialized world (5 to 35 kg Nha–1 year–1), indicates that long-term, chronic nitrogen deposition has significantly reduced plant species richness. Species richness declines as a linear function of the rate of inorganic nitrogen deposition, with a reduction of one species per 4-m2 quadrat for every 2.5 kg Nha–1 year–1 of chronic nitrogen deposition. Species adapted to infertile conditions are systematically reduced at high nitrogen deposition. At the mean chronic nitrogen deposition rate of central Europe (17 kg Nha–1 year–1), there is a 23% species reduction compared with grasslands receiving the lowest levels of nitrogen deposition.


Contraction-type glucose-sensitive microgels, which shrink upon the addition of glucose, have potential for applications in self-regulated insulin release and glucose sensing. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-2-acrylamidophenylboronic acid) (P(NIPAM-2-AAPBA)) microgel shrinks monotonously with increasing glucose concentrations, but does not work at physiological temperature. Here we re-examined its glucose-sensing mechanism and found that the crosslinking mechanism, which is commonly used to explain the behaviors of other contraction-type gels, cannot explain the behavior of the P(NIPAM-2-AAPBA) microgel. To explain the behavior of the P(NIPAM-2-AAPBA) microgel, a new glucose-sensing mechanism was proposed. Unlike other PBA-functionalized gels, in which glucose changes their swelling degree via changing the ionization degree or crosslink degree, in the case of the P(NIPAM-2-AAPBA) microgel, glucose changes the gel swelling degree via lowering the VPTT (volume phase transition temperature) of the microgel as an additive. The addition of glucose is equivalent to raising the temperature of the microgel dispersion, and therefore leads to shrinkage of the microgel. Binding of glucose with PBA groups shortens the distance between glucose and PNIPAM chains, and hence significantly enhances the ability of glucose to lower the VPTT of the microgel. This new mechanism can explain well the monotonous shrinking of the microgel with increasing glucose concentration, the response of the microgel to other saccharides besides glucose, and the existence of an optimal temperature for the microgel to respond to glucose. The new mechanism also suggests that the optimal temperature for glucose sensing can be modulated by tuning the VPTT of the microgel. Guided by the new mechanism, a new contraction-type glucose-sensitive microgel working at physiological temperature was successfully synthesized.


This is the first in a new series of annual reports, designed to throw light on the operation of the Bank's published framework for implementing monetary policy and providing liquidity to the banking system, known as the Sterling Monetary Framework (SMF). As recommended by Bill Winters' review of the SMF, the Report draws on the views of a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to identify areas where the SMF works well, and areas where it might be improved. The Bank's Court has reviewed this Report and has endorsed its publication.


Data mining of smart card data collected through AFC systems have proved useful in estimations of public transport demand. Whereas most estimations of demand are made by analyzing transit orientations or destinations of unchained transits. However, organization of bus or metro routes compels riders to make a lot of unnecessary transfers, and the transfer points are neither reflective of population's actual orientations nor of their destinations.

 The objective of this paper is to improve estimations of population demand by identifying transfer activities of riders using public transportation. Durations and displacements of transit chaining breaks are to be check in judging the transfer activities.
 Boarding stops for making transfers are ruled out as transportation demand estimation. The effectiveness of the new approach entailing the use of transit chaining breaks is also to be evaluated based on the calculation of Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients for assessing the correlation between transportation estimation and population distribution.

 Durations and displacements of transit chaining breaks could be used to identify transfer activities. The use of the transit chaining approach reduces the occurrence of false demand, resulting in the estimation being more objective in relation to the population.
 The results of the study indicated that the inclusion of transit chaining breaks leads to more accurate estimations of public transport demand within a population.


The adoption of International Accounting Standards/International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS/IFRS) has two opposite effects on audit fees: on the one hand, greater effort is required from auditors, which is likely to be reflected by higher fees; on the other hand, if IAS/IFRS improve the quality of financial reporting, expected liability costs could decrease and lower fees may be demanded. We consider a large sample of Italian banks and we examine the effect of IAS/IFRS adoption on audit fees. The results show that higher fees (19.29 per cent in real terms) are paid after the switch to the new standards. Using a standard earnings management model, we do not find support for the idea that financial reporting quality is affected by the adoption of IAS/IFRS. The observed increase in fees is positively associated with the presence of financial derivatives held for hedging purposes. This paper extends the findings of prior research on the effect of IAS/IFRS adoption on audit fees; contrary to prior contributions, our analysis concentrates on the banking industry. Furthermore, unlike prior works, we consider both listed and non-listed firms.


The interaction between polymer brush and colloidal particles has been intensively studied in the last two decades. Here, we consider a flat chain-grafted substrate immersed in a bath of active particles. Simulations show that an increase in the self-propelling force causes an increase in the number of particles that penetrate into the brush. Anomalously, the particle density inside the main body of the brush eventually becomes higher than that outside the brush at very large self-propelling force. The grafted chains are further stretched due to the steric repulsion from the intruded particles. Upon the increase of the self-propelling force, distinct stretching behaviors of the chains were observed for low and high grafting densities. Surprisingly, we find a weak descent of the average end-to-end distance of chains at high grafting density and very large force which is reminiscent of the compression effect of a chain in the active bath.


The World Bank is committed to providing opportunities for healthy child development, and ensuring safe sanitation and good hygiene is critical to achieving that. In Tanzania, the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Partnership worked with the government to create and implement campaigns to improve sanitation and reduce illness among young children by encouraging hand washing and use of improved sanitation such as toilets. A randomized evaluation, built into the program, found that while open defecation was reduced, the hand washing campaign wasn't successful at getting people to wash their hands with soap and water, and neither campaign led to meaningful health benefits, even when combined. The evidence reveals the difficulties of reducing diarrheal disease and the need for more research to identify successful strategies.


This study explored institutional aspects of the integration of the spreadsheet in mathematics education based on the example of France. For this purpose, the study examined relevant curriculums and exams, which were considered to reveal institutions' approaches and to be effective factors of integration. Firstly, curriculum topics covering the use of the spreadsheet were determined and the pragmatic-epistemic values of the spreadsheet emphasized in curriculums and the equilibrium among these values were examined. Next, based on the exam corpus prepared for the study, the number of questions involving the use of the spreadsheet and other technological tools were compared and the questions involving the use of the spreadsheet were evaluated in terms of the topics and the expected student outcomes. This study found that the spreadsheet was currently covered in mathematics curriculum in France in all grade levels from secondary school through high school and was the second most used technological tool in practical exams. Also, while the secondary education curriculum covered pragmatic and epistemic values, the epistemic values included in the high school curriculum that was implemented until 2013 were not covered in the new curriculum.


Abstract What is the relationship between oil and coercion? For decades states have worried that their dependence on oil gives producers a potential lever of coercion. The size, integration, and sophistication of the current oil market, however, are thought to have greatly attenuated, if not eliminated, the coercive potential of oil. The best way to analyze the current global oil market is by viewing it as a series of distinct market segments, from upstream production to midstream transport to downstream refining, with the potential for coercion varying across them. Oil-producing states do not have the greatest coercive potential in the international oil market. Instead, the United States remains the dominant presence, though its dominance has shifted from production—where it resided prior to World War II—to the maritime environment. These findings are significant for scholars' and policymakers' understanding of the relationship between oil and coercion. More generally, they suggest that studies of the potential for states to coerce others using economic instruments should take into account differences in the structure of markets for different goods.


Conventionally, indigenous knowledge such as that held by Māori (the indigenous culture of Aotearoa New Zealand) is seen as in total contrast to Western scientific knowledge. In this paper the author puts forward instances where ideology is held in common across cultural borders. A general awareness of facets of shared ideology has been refined, extended and given substance through three curatorial projects involving Dr. Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, a highly respected kaumatua (elder). These took place in Istanbul, Albuquerque and Aotearoa New Zealand. Ethically, acceptance of these commonalities leads to considering the shifting boundary of knowledge in contemporary life.


The proapoptotic Bcl-2 family protein Bid is cleaved by caspase-8 to release the C-terminal fragment tBid, which translocates to the outer mitochondrial membrane and induces massive cytochrome c release and cell death. In this study, we have characterized the conformation of tBid in lipid membrane environments, using NMR and CD spectroscopy with lipid micelle and lipid bilayer samples. In micelles, tBid adopts a unique helical conformation, and the solution NMR 1H/15N HSQC spectra have a single well resolved resonance for each of the protein amide sites. In lipid bilayers, tBid associates with the membrane with its helices parallel to the membrane surface and without trans-membrane helix insertion, and the solid-state NMR 1H/15N polarization inversion with spin exchange at the magic angle spectrum has all of the amide resonances centered at 15N chemical shift (70–90 ppm) and 1H-15N dipolar coupling (0–5 kHz) frequencies associated with NH bonds parallel to the bilayer surface, with no intensity at frequencies associated with NH bonds in trans-membrane helices. Thus, the cytotoxic activity of tBid at mitochondria may be similar to that observed for antibiotic polypeptides, which bind to the surface of bacterial membranes as amphipathic helices and destabilize the bilayer structure, promoting the leakage of cell contents.


Abstract : There has recently been much interest in the development of software validation tools for FORTRAN. Such tools are usually designed to analyze programs written in ANSI standard FORTRAN. However, because there are many dialects and extensions of FORTRAN in use, it would be desirable to analyze these as well. One solution is to develop a single diagnostic tool for standard FORTRAN which may be easily modified to accept variants of the language. Since most of the variations occur at lexical and syntactic levels, the design of a flexible lexical analyzer is a key issue. The FSCAN Lexical Analyzer Generating System has been designed with this purpose in mind. This report describes the FSCAN language, a compiler for the language, and an interpreter for the resulting object code. An example of a complete FSCAN program is included. (Author)


This work describes a study conducted in a University of Chile hospital to determine the influence of a combined oral contraceptive (OC) containing 30 mcg of ethinyl estradiol and 150 mcg of norgestrel on lactation and infant growth. 103 women exclusively breastfeeding began using the OC on day 30-35 postpartum, 59 women exclusively breastfeeding whose infants gained at least 20 gm daily during the 3rd month of life began using the OC on day 90 postpartum, and 109 women exclusively breastfeeding received an injectable placebo on day 30 postpartum and an IUD or spermicides on day 90 if desired. A subgroup of 82 women from the 30-day control group who continued breastfeeding exclusively at day 90 postpartum and whose infants gained at least 20 gm daily during the 3rd month were a control group for the women beginning OCs on day 90. Follow-up visits were arranged every 10 days through the 3rd month and every 30 days subsequently through 1 year. At the beginning of the study, treatment and control groups were similar in age, parity, weight, maternal hemoglobin, and sex and weight of infants. 63 women were excluded from the study while still breastfeeding for a variety of reasons including loss to follow-up. The main reason for exclusion of OC users was termination of OC use or change of method. 11 pregnancies occurred in controls using spermicides or no contraception. Among women using OCs starting at day 30 postpartum, the percentage exclusively breastfeeding was significantly lower than among controls beginning in the 4th month, and a higher percentage of cases gave supplementary feedings on the advice of their physicians or their own decision. At 6 months, 61% of controls and 40% beginning OC use at 30 days were still breastfeeding exclusively. Fewer women beginning OC use at 90 days than controls were exclusively breastfeeding at 6 months, and a higher proportion were giving supplementary feedings on medical advice. The 2 treatment groups had smaller weight gains than their control groups in the 1st month of treatment. Total weight gain to the 6th month was significantly different for babies whose mothers began OC use at 30 days but not for those beginning use at 90 days. The average absolute weight of infants in the groups beginning treatment at 30 days was significantly lower at several ages but the differences were small. Growth of infants was good in most cases. Only 6 presented significant intercurrent illnesses. There were no deaths. No pregnancies occurred in women using OCs and tolerance was good. 1 woman discontinued use for metrorrhagia. It was concluded that the OC tested moderately inhibits lactation, especially when use is begun at the beginning of the 2nd postpartum month.


Antidepressants are widely used in the treatment of bipolar depression despite relatively meagre evidence for their efficacy and significant concerns that their prescription can precipitate an acute affective switch into mania/hypomania and that long-term administration can lead to mood instability. Therefore, the use of antidepressants to treat bipolar depression is an important but contentious issue that two recent studies, which provide important new evidence, attempt to inform. One study suggests that long-term continuation of antidepressants in patients with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder leads to a threefold increase in mood episodes during the first year of follow-up—supporting the notion that antidepressants can cause more harm than good, and that they should be used sparingly. However, this is countered by findings from the other study, which suggests that continuation antidepressant monotherapy provides patients with bipolar II disorder reasonable prophylaxis, and that the risk of switching into mania/hypomania is actually quite low. In addition to contrary findings both studies are modest in sample sizes and have significant design limitations and hence the debate remains unresolved. This brief perspective presents both views in the context of evidence and provides some key insights into the complexity of this challenging but common clinical issue.


Background and objectives: Acute heart failure is a common problem encountered in the emergency department (ED). More than 80% of the patients with the condition subsequently require lengthy and repeated hospitalization. In a setting with limited in-patient capacity, the patient flow is often obstructed. Appropriate disposition decisions must be made by emergency physicians to deliver effective care and alleviate ED overcrowding. This study aimed to explore clinical predictors influencing the length of stay (LOS) in patients with acute heart failure who present to the ED. Materials and Methods: We conducted prognostic factor research with a retrospective cohort design. Medical records of patients with acute heart failure who presented to the ED of Ramathibodi Hospital from January to December 2015 were assessed for eligibility. Thirteen potential clinical predictors were selected as candidates for statistical modeling based on previous reports. Multivariable Poisson regression was used to estimate the difference in LOS between patients with and without potential predictors. Results: A total of 207 patients were included in the analysis. Most patients were male with a mean age of 74.2 ± 12.5 years. The median LOS was 54.6 h (Interquartile range 17.5, 149.3 h). From the multivariable analysis, four clinical characteristics were identified as independent predictors with an increase in LOS. These were patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III/IV (+72.9 h, 95%Confidence interval (CI) 23.9, 121.8, p = 0.004), respiratory rate >24 per minute (+80.7 h, 95%CI 28.0, 133.3, p = 0.003), hemoglobin level <10 mg/dL (+60.4 h, 95%CI 8.6, 112.3, p = 0.022), and serum albumin <3.5 g/dL (+52.8 h, 95%CI 3.6, 102.0, p = 0.035). Conclusions: Poor NYHA functional class, tachypnea, anemia, and hypoalbuminemia are significant clinical predictors of patients with acute heart failure who required longer LOS.


Report of a meeting of the Tectonic Studies Group held at University College, Cardiff, 15–17 December 1982. The meeting was organized by Dr G. D. Williams. On the first day of the conference two field trips were held: the first to the Gower Peninsula led by R. Graham (Swansea) and the second to Pembroke led by G. Williams (Cardiff). In both cases, Variscan structures—thrusts, folds and shear zones—were studied. Also on 15 December, a workshop on techniques and uses of the orthographic net was presented by Declan DePaor (Galway). The main contributions of the AGM were given on 16 and 17 December. During the first session, theoretical aspects of deformation were considered. J. S. Whalley (Portsmouth) and W. H. Owens (Birmingham) considered errors arising in calculating strain ellipsoids from two dimensional data using the program PASE5. D. DePaor (Galway) showed how the use of rank 3 tensors permits the description of complex structures in a simple way and he illustrated this using a zone of heterogeneous simple shear. Stress risers on a mesocopic scale are commonly observed, and A. Morris and J. Ague (Detroit) argued that features such as sedimentary pebbles, porphyroblasts, quartz veins and bed thickness variations may create a strain-sink effect that initiates and localizes deformation. C. J. Talbot (Dundee) discussed the effect of inverse and counter folding in incompetent layers and illustrated his talk with common examples from the Moines of the Fort William area and basic sheets in the Limpopo Belt. Transpression was


The edematous effects of P.M.M.A. contact lenses were compared with that produced by lenses made from Cellulose acetate butyrate (C.A.B .), a gas permeable material. Thirteen subjects were carefully selected who showed no contra-indications to contact lens wear other than the presence of corneal edema while wearing P.M.M.A. lenses. These subjects were observed while wearing both P.M.M.A. and C.A.B. (Meso) lenses. Pachometry was used to monitor changes in corneal thickness. Increased corneal thickness and visible edema were noted with P.M.M.A. lenses. C.A.B. lenses showed significantly less increase in corneal thickness and in most cases edema was reduced or completely eliminated for the duration of the study.


Access to finance has been identified as the most important factor that determines the survival and development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME). Depending on the financing needs, different sources of funding are available to SMEs. However, most of their external financing sources relate to debt. The aim of the chapter is to analyse whether the use of debt as the dominant source of finance for SMEs is economically reasonable in the ruling market circumstances in Serbia or it is necessary to promote alternative sources such as equity capital. The analysis and evaluation of debt and its economic reasonability in terms of maintenance of the real capital value, the inflation rate and the organic composition of assets were conducted on the randomly selected sample of enterprises from the SME sector in Serbia in the 2009-2011 period of time. The sample consists of 30 randomly selected SMEs. Half of the surveyed enterprises are small enterprises, while another half refers to medium-sized enterprises. In addition to examining the possibilities of maintaining debt at acceptable levels, the survival, growth and development of SMEs was perceived through the analysis and evaluation of their ability to maintain the real value of equity. The results of the analysis indicate an increasing tendency among Serbian SMEs to use debt as a source of finance. However, the analysis points out that the growth of debt could not be considered economically reasonable. In light of that basic recommendations for promoting alternative sources of finance i.e. equity capital are provided.


In Turkey, all heavy-vehicle driver's license applicants older than 45 years and with body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m2 are required to have polysomnography (PSG). However, this law is usually overlooked in practice due to the large number of applications. We aimed to assess the usefulness of four standardized questionnaires: Berlin, STOP, STOP-BANG and OSA50, in identifying the high-risk bus drivers for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Ninety highway bus drivers underwent polysomnography and completed four questionnaires. They also underwent otolaryngologic evaluation and blood testing for probable co-existing conditions such as diabetes and hypothyroidism. Neck circumference, BMI, waist circumference, prevalence of OSA and metabolic syndrome, oxygen desaturation index and duration of sleep associated with less than 90% saturation were significantly higher and mean oxygen saturation was significantly lower in drivers >45 years old than drivers <45 years old. STOP-BANG questionnaire had the highest sensitivity (87%) and the highest negative predictive value (NPV) (76%) in identifying high-risk for OSA. A cut off of 45 years old is suitable in screening highway bus drivers for OSA. Among the four questionnaires, STOP-BANG questionnaire had the highest sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) in identifying high risk patients for OSA in highway bus drivers and can be safely used as a screening test in this group.


Perfluorinated compounds have raised concern due to their potential association with detrimental postnatal outcomes in animals and humans. We tested the effects of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) on a human pluripotent teratocarcinoma (known as NCCIT) cells as an in vitro prototype for developmental toxicity in mammals. NCCIT contains stem-cells able to differentiate into endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm. We tested our cell model using a teratogenic compound, retinoic acid (RA), a cytotoxin, nocodazole (ND), and PFOS. We assayed cells proliferation, morphology and expression of stem cell and germ layer marker genes. PFOS reduced NCCIT cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner and induced morphological changes in cell cultures that resembled ectodermal phenotypes. A tendency towards a differentiated state in NCCIT was confirmed by real-time gene expression. PFOS triggered up-regulation of the gene nestin, indicative of ectodermal lineage differentiation, and interfered with the expression of the pluripotency stem-cell marker TERT. PFOS produced effects on both cells proliferation and differentiation, although not as severe as those observed for RA and ND, at levels that fall within the range of concentrations found in animal and human plasma. We discuss our findings in the context of possible interference of PFOS with the processes governing the early development of mammalian tissues.


Strategic planning plays an important role in helping the organization to achieve
success. Efficiency and effectiveness of strategic planning can be improved by
using information technology that speed up the process. Although quite a number of
softwares exist in strategic planning, none of them is comprehensive enough
especially in the area of assessment in strategic planning. Assessment is an initial
part to recognize the current position of an organization and situational analysis is
used to generate conclusions. These conclusions are needed in planning the business
objectives. Therefore, this research developed a simulation model and assessment
software system that represents the actual working procedures and assessment
process of strategic planning. Two analytical methods, Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) Matrix and Strategic Position and Action
Evaluation (SPACE) Matrix, are used in the model and system. Both matrixes
enable users to make selection of attributes and place weight/rating based on their
organization current situations. Calculations and matching suggest the most
appropriate strategy that an organization should implement to gain success in
strategic planning. This research tests the model and system, collects the relevant data, analyze it and produce results that conclude what managers do in making
analysis and conclusions in assessment. Usability testing is carried out to test the
usability of the system from the aspect of usefulness, effectiveness, leamability and
likability.


This article presents an interesting study on the molecular self-assembly and its effect on selective recognition by molecularly imprinted polymers. With theophylline as template and methylacrylic acid as functional monomer, the self-assembly appears to play important roles in the selective adsorption, affecting not only the adsorption amount but also the cognitive selectivity. Both of them become evident by the change of monomer-template ratio. An increase in the monomer-template ratio will result in a higher level of adsorption. The best selectivity for molecular recognition is, however, shown at the optimal constitute (corresponding to the saturation interaction of monomer and template). A higher or lower monomer-template ratio leads to a dramatic decrease in this selectivity. Related information indicates that this may be a result from the matched arrangement between binding sites and template, which makes the binding sites capable of selectively recognizing the imprint species. Preliminarily, this study presents an insight into the understanding of molecular recognition by imprinted polymers.


SnSb was synthesized by ultra-fast microwave solid-state synthesis. The lithiation/delithiation mechanism of SnSb was fully revisited through operando X-ray diffraction (XRD) and 119Sn Mossbauer spectroscopy. While many studies have underlined the attractive electrochemical performance of SnSb as the electrode material for Li-ion batteries, only a few of them have focused on the complex electrochemical mechanism. In this work, the complementary results of operando XRD and Mossbauer spectroscopy were used to fully investigate this complex electrochemical system. The alloying mechanism with the reversible formation of Li3Sb and LiySn lithiated phases was confirmed and complemented with additional information on the nature of the LiySn phases, namely Li2Sn5, LiSn, Li5Sn2 and Li7Sn2. Moreover, we demonstrated that the improved performance of SnSb compared to a physical mixture of Sn and Sb lies in the nature of the interfaces between the lithiated phases at the end of discharge. The progressive decrease of the availability/accessibility of Sn for the regeneration of SnSb at the end of the charge was also identified as a major failure mechanism for the long-term cycling stability of SnSb electrodes.


Objectives
Young children need repeated exposure to learn to like new foods but can eat only foods caregivers offer. Thus, caregiver feeding decisions are central in determining whether children receive sufficient exposure to learn to like new foods. We undertook an exploratory study to: 1) examine child behaviors that influence caregiver perceptions of their child's liking for novel foods; and to 2) identify which child behaviors are associated with caregiver intentions to continue offering new foods.

Methods
Infants/toddlers (n = 106; 57 males; 6 - 24 mo) were observed tasting up to 8 offers of a novel food (pureed kale) by their caregivers (94% mothers). Trained researchers coded videos for successful tastes, positive (e.g., reaching for the spoon, playing with the food) and negative (e.g., expelling the food, avoiding the spoon, crying) child eating behaviors and children's degree of acceptance of the kale (0 = refusal to 3 = anticipation). Caregiver ratings of child liking for the food (1 = Dislikes extremely to 9 = likes extremely) and their likelihood of re-offering the food (1 = not at all likely to 5 = very likely) were collected. Kruskal-Wallis tests explored differences in successful bites, frequencies of child behaviors, and caregiver ratings across child age (6 - 8.30 [mo.days]; 9 - 14.30; 15 - 24). Spearman correlations explored associations among successful tastes, child behaviors and caregiver ratings.

Results
Successful tastes decreased with child age (P = .000) and toddlers (15 - 24) exhibited more avoidant behavior (P = .000), cried more (P < .05), played more (P = .005), and had a lower degree of acceptance (P = .000) than infants (6 - 8.30). Perceptions of child liking and the likelihood of re-offering the kale were highly correlated (r = .63, P = .000) and did not differ by child age. Ratings of child liking and the likelihood of re-offering were: 1) negatively associated with avoidant behaviors (P < .001), crying (P < .05) or expelling kale (P < .000); and 2) positively associated with successful tastes (P < .05) and the degree of acceptance (P = .000).

Conclusions
Caregiver intention to continue offering a novel food was related to whether their child ate the food, how avidly the food was eaten, and how negatively their child reacted to the food. Getting children to eat and avoiding stressful feedings may be the immediate priority over building food acceptance.

Funding Sources
The Sugar Association.


The global business environment of today requires companies to be flexible, in order to quickly react and respond to the ever-changing market. Business-to-business application integration (B2BAI) can be seen as a tool which enables companies to stay competitive and it is often regarded by the theory as a must for survival in today's fierce business environment. Eventhough the employment of a B2BAI strategy can generate a lot of advantages and opportunities for companies operating within today's global business environment, there are still many challenges and problems to overcome in order to have a successful B2BAI solution.Based on this we found it highly interesting to see whether the theories positive outlook on B2BAI could be supported by an empirical research. In this essay we have therefore studied and identified the underlying reasons and the contributing factors to why or why not companies choose to integrate externally, from the perspective of IT-consulting agencies. Besides this, a description and an explanation regarding the concepts covered by the field of B2BAI have been made in order to facilitate the understanding for the reader. As our intention primarily was to investigate the reasons behind and the contributing factors to why or why not companies choose to integrate, we chose to make qualitative interviews. This, as we were in need of information which described the course of events and expressed individual opinions, in order to achieve the purpose of the essay. Regarding the selection of research objects for the research, the population consists of all IT-consulting agencies in Sweden. The research has however been delimited to a selection of the population, where the sample consists of three IT-consulting agencies located in Jonkoping, with experience of B2BAI.One of the most interesting discoveries we have made in this research is that the empirical findings agree with the theory in regards of that globalization is a central factor contributing to why companies chose to invest in B2BAI. However, the respondents do not discuss all the advantages of B2BAI mentioned in the theory and emphasize slightly different underlying reasons for choosing to employ a B2BAI strategy. The most central reason for not choosing to employ a B2BAI strategy was according to the respondents due to the lack of knowledge regarding issues relating to the phenomenon and this have not been discussed in the theoretical framework. The challenges with B2BAI stated in the theory, were on the other hand not regarded as issues contributing to not choosing to implement B2BAI. We are under the impression that the advantages and the oppor-tunities with B2BAI carry more weight then the challenges, as the essays empirical findings indicate that the demand for B2BAI today is high and constantly growing.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare customer experience (CE) between digital and traditional South Korean bank users and its relationship with customer satisfaction (CS).

Design/methodology/approach
A survey of bank customers was conducted, and an ANOVA test was performed to compare the means of CS between digital and traditional bank (TB) users as well as four dimensions of CE, such as usefulness, convenience, employee-customer engagement (ECE) and security. The ordinal regression analysis was also performed to test the moderation effect of digital bank (DB) use on the relationship between CE and satisfaction.

Findings
The means of usefulness were higher among DB users than TB users. By contrast, ECE and security means were lower for digital than TB users. The ordinal regression analysis indicated that DB use had a moderating effect on the relationship between convenience and CS and the relationship between ECE and CS. DB use encouraged increased positive relationships between convenience and CS, and moderated the relationship between ECE and CS in a negative direction.

Practical implications
ECE and security for DBs is weak. Therefore, bank executives need to improve these areas through real-time customer services and adding authentication procedures.

Originality/value
Unlike previous studies, this study proposed a model that reveals differences in CE between traditional and DB users. It explored the effects of CE on CS to contribute to the continued development of South Korean DBs.


Abstract A tsunami coda lasting more than 5 days was clearly recorded across the Pacific Ocean following the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake. We found that the coda energy per unit area (elapsed time of 60–96 hr from the earthquake origin time) does not show a systematic variation with respect to the travel distance at the stations located at sea depths deeper than 2000 m, whereas the maximum amplitude near the source is significantly larger than those of the far‐field stations. This feature is similar to that of a seismic coda in the sense that the coda energy is distributed uniformly in space. The average tsunami coda decays with a decay time of ∼24  hr. When we carefully examined the tsunami waveform near Japan, a large‐amplitude wave was identified at an elapsed time of ∼48  hr, which corresponds to the round‐trip travel time for waves reflected from Chile. To investigate the excitation mechanisms of the tsunami coda, we conducted a tsunami simulation using a global model. Although linear long‐wave tsunami equations were found to overestimate the observed coda amplitude, the equations including an intrinsic energy loss could successfully simulate the observed coda decay if a bottom friction coefficient of 10 −5 was assumed. This indicates that not only wave scattering but also intrinsic energy loss plays an important role in the tsunami coda excitation and decay process.


Recently, there has been a significant increase in the number of international students attending universities and acquiring higher education in Australia. Over 80% of these international students were from Asian countries, with most of them having a Chinese background. These Chinese students experience a range of challenges and problems when they encounter a western educational environment markedly different from the educational system in their own country. To complete their study successfully, these Chinese students had to make adjustments and adapt different coping strategies to overcome the language and cultural difficulties. This study involved the participation of over fifty students, with a Chinese background, from three Australian academic institutions. It has explored the perceptions encountered by Chinese-background students in their study, as well as the adjustments made by them. The data used for this study were drawn from semi-structured interviews and surveys conducted in three tertiary education contexts. The findings appeared to confirm that most of these Chinese-background students are indeed successfully implementing coping strategies to succeed despite the obstacles faced, and some support strategies are preferred and expected in their learning. The findings of this study would assist current and potential Chinese-background students, as well as improve higher education practice in Australian academic institutions.


The mechanisms of hepatocyte death and the events that lead to a high rate of chronic liver disease in patients infected with hepatitis C virus are not known. We established a HCV replication system in HepG2 cell culture and utilized this model to address the effect of HCV proteins on HepG2 cell growth and viability. After transfection of HepG2 cells with full-length RNA, a truncated RNA, or an antisense RNA, cell proliferation and cell viability were analyzed by thymidine uptake and the trypan blue exclusion method, respectively. Full-length RNA transfected HepG2 cells showed a decrease in cell proliferation and viability compared to cells transfected with HCV truncated RNA and antisense RNA control. A subset of cells expressing HCV proteins underwent apoptosis as documented by morphological studies, ultrastructural analysis, cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry, terminal transferase enzyme mediated end labeling of DNA, and DNA laddering. This study suggests that expression of HCV proteins can lead to cell death by apoptosis, which may be an important event in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in humans.


Posaconazole (POS) and caspofungin (CAS) are new therapeutic options for treating fungal infection. This study establishes the activity of POS and CAS against yeast causing invasive fungal infections. In addition, the utility of the E-test system for estimating the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) related to these antifungal drugs has been assessed. The study includes 53 yeast isolates causing invasive fungal infection. MIC50 and MIC90 values were determined by the M27-A2 reference method. MIC values obtained with the reference method were then compared with those obtained with E-testing. The results were MIC50/90 (microg/mL) POS: 0.25/1, CAS: 0.06/4. Overall agreement with E-test: POS: 63.9%, CAS: 80.2%. None of the yeast isolates studied showed high MIC values for POS and CAS. Although it has some limitations, the E-test is a simple and fairly reliable system for determining the MICs of POS and CAS for yeast.


Your CECH Library guide to great websites, information on signed language kits and flashcards, tips on finding articles and books, and more! Selected journals and other periodicals


Monitoring body weight (BW) and body condition score (BCS) of dairy cows during the production cycle are of crucial importance for the assessment of nutritional status of cows in dairy farms management. During the entire production cycle, BW and BSC were assessed in four dairy farms, involving 24 Holstein dairy cows in total, under usual feeding practices on dairy farms in Kosovo. 24 dairy cows in the third lactation (12 red Holstein and 12 Black Holstein) with calving interval within 15 days were included in this study. BW in kg and BCS (1-5 points) were measured 5 times in following intervals: at the day of calving (after calving); three times during the lactation in 100day intervals, as well as at the end of the study (after dry period) or last week before next calving. Results show variations in BW in different lactation stages. After calving, cows lost in average 11.68% of their initial BW (69.29 kg). Cows recovered 1.17%; 3.0% and 3.41% of the weight during the first, second and third lactation stage, respectively. The highest recovery was observed during the dry period (5.63%). At the end of the study (which corresponded also to the end of the dry period), final BW was 7.75 kg or 1.41% higher than before calving. The similar trend is also observed in terms of BCS. Cows entered into lactation with 2.75 BCS points and dropped to 1.75 points after the first 100d of lactation. During the study, BCS increased to 1.88, 2.25 and 2.88 at second, third lactation stage and dry period, respectively. In conclusion, although cows succeeded to satisfactorily recover BW and BCS at the end of study or before next calving, dynamics of changes were not in full compliance with the recommendations for Holstein dairy cows, due to the much higher recovery during the dry period.


We study the simultaneous domain selection problem for varying coefficient models as a functional regression model for longitudinal data with many covariates. The domain selection problem in functional regression mostly appears under the functional linear regression with scalar response, but there is no direct correspondence to functional response models with many covariates. We reformulate the problem as nonparametric function estimation under the notion of functional sparsity. Sparsity is the recurrent theme that encapsulates interpretability in the face of regression with multiple inputs, and the problem of sparse estimation is well understood in the parametric setting as variable selection. For nonparametric models, interpretability not only concerns the number of covariates involved but also the functional form of the estimates, and so the sparsity consideration is much more complex. To distinguish the types of sparsity in nonparametric models, we call the former global sparsity and the latter local sparsity, which constitute functional sparsity. Most existing methods focus on directly extending the framework of parametric sparsity for linear models to nonparametric function estimation to address one or the other, but not both. We develop a penalized estimation procedure that simultaneously addresses both types of sparsity in a unified framework. We establish asymptotic properties of estimation consistency and sparsistency of the proposed method. Our method is illustrated in simulation study and real data analysis, and is shown to outperform the existing methods in identifying both local sparsity and global sparsity.


ABSTRACT In the north central and northeastern United States, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease (LD), is maintained in an enzootic cycle between the vector, Ixodes scapularis, and the primary reservoir host, Peromyscus leucopus. Genetic diversity of the pathogen based on sequencing of two plasmid-located genes, those for outer surface protein A (ospA) and outer surface protein C (ospC), has been examined in both tick and human specimens at local, regional, and worldwide population scales. Additionally, previous studies have only been conducted with tick or human specimens at the local population level in areas with high LD transmission rates. This study examined the genetic diversity of circulating borreliae in the reservoir population from a large region of the western coastal plains of southern Maryland, where moderate numbers of human LD cases are reported. Six ospA mobility classes, including two that were not previously described, and eight ospC groups were found among the P. leucopus samples. Twenty-five percent of all specimens were infected with more than one ospA or ospC variant. The frequency distribution of variants was homogeneous, both locally and spatially. The spirochete diversity found in Maryland was not as high as that observed among northern tick populations, yet similar genotypes were observed in both populations. These results also show that mice are important for maintaining Borrelia variants, even rare variants, and that reservoir populations should therefore be considered when assessing the diversity of B. burgdorferi.


This study was aimed to analyze the effect of green grass jelly drink (Premna oblongifolia Merr.) on reducing blood pressure among adult women suffered from mild and moderate hypertension in Central Bogor Region. There were two intervention formulas, namely Formula A consisted of green grass jelly and brown sugar, and Formula B consisted of green grass jelly and non calori brown sugar. Subjects were consisted of 25 adult women aged over 45 years old and divided into 5 groups, namely one control and four experimental groups. Formula A was given to 2 groups; P1, which received intervention everyday, and P2 which received intervention every two days. Formula B had the same pattern with the Formula A (P3 and P4). The result shows that the systolic blood pressure of P1 decreased significantly (p<0.05) by 20-25 mmHg. In addition, the diastolic blood pressure on groups of P1 and P3 decreased significantly by 14-15 mmHg after the two weeks intervention (p<0.05).


Diatoms are the major primary producers and key players in the carbon and silicon pump in the Southern Ocean. Here we investigate the phenology of diatom blooms in the Southern Ocean over 15-yr using a regional model to retrieve diatoms abundance from satellite remote sensing observations. Different characteristics of the phenology (e.g. start, duration, biomass) are investigated, as well as the interannual variability and trends. In several areas, the interannual variability of the anomalies of the phenological indices is found to be correlated with the large scale climate oscillations El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Southern Annular Mode (SAM). The composite maps of the anomalies revealed distinct spatial patterns and opposite events of ENSO and SAM have similar effects in the diatom phenology. For example, in the Ross Sea region, later start of the bloom and lower biomass were observed associated with El Nino and negative SAM events; likely influenced by an increase in sea ice concentration during these events. These results emphasize the influence of climate oscillations over the SO and in the diatom phenology, which may be enhanced in amplified years (e.g. El Nino and negative SAM events).


Study Design. Prospective clinical, radiologic study of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Objective. We evaluated a Cobb angle in standing position, patient age, the level of the apex, and the number of involved vertebrae in patients with AIS to determine whether the corrective ability of traction or side-bending radiographs was superior. Summary of Background Data. Side-bending and traction radiographs are used to evaluate curve flexibility during corrective surgery for AIS despite notable differences in the flexibilities of identical curves. Thus, interpretation for the differences among these techniques should be investigated. Methods. A total of 229 consecutive patients with AIS who were surgically treated were evaluated. Standing, supine side-bending, and traction radiographs were obtained before surgery. Curves were divided into main thoracic (MT) or thoracolumbar/lumbar (TL/L) curves, and proximal thoracic (PT) curves. We evaluated the Cobb angle in standing position, the level of the apex, the number of involved vertebrae, kyphosis angle of main thoracic curve, and patient age in patients with AIS to determine whether the corrective ability of traction or side-bending radiographs was superior. Results. A total of 219 curves were observed in MT lesions. The traction flexibility rate (FR) was higher than the side-bending FR at angle of ≥60° (P = 0.02), in patients younger than 15 years (P = 0.02), in curves whose apex was located at T4–T8/T9(P = 0.01), in curves whose involved vertebrae were 6 or 7 (P = 0.02), and at kyphosis angle between 10° and 39° (P = 0.02). In 96 TL/L curves, side-bending FR was higher at angle of <60° (P < 0.01). In 163 PT curves, traction FR was higher at angles of ≥40° (P = 0.02). Conclusion. In addition to a Cobb angle, patient age, the level of the apex, and the number of involved vertebrae also influence the conditions under which the corrective ability of traction radiographs is superior to that of side-bending radiographs.


Merged with: Debates of the House of Delegates, and Debates of the House of Representatives, to form: Debates of Parliament. Debates of Standing Committees.
139 v. 22 cm.


We study a credible Markov-perfect monetary policy in an open New Keynesian economy with incomplete finacial markets. We demonstrate the existence of two discretionary equilibria. Following a shock the economy can be stabilised either 'quickly' or 'slow', both dynamic paths satisfy conditions of optimality and time-consistency. The model can help us to understand sudden change of the interest rate and exchange rate volatility in 'tranquil' and 'volatile' regimes even under a fully credible 'soft peg' of the nominal exchange rate in developing countries. JEL: E31, E52, E58, E61, C61, F4


To provide context for observed trends in terrestrial water storage (TWS) during GRACE (2003–2014), trends and variability in the CESM1-CAM5 Large Ensemble (LE) are examined. Motivated in part by the anomalous nature of climate variability during GRACE, the characteristics of both forced change and internal modes are quantified and their influences on observations are estimated. Trends during the GRACE era in the LE are dominated by internal variability rather than by the forced response, with TWS anomalies in much of the Americas, eastern Australia, Africa, and southwestern Eurasia largely attributable to the negative phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). While similarities between observed trends and the model-inferred forced response also exist, it is inappropriate to attribute such trends mainly to anthropogenic forcing. For several key river basins, trends in the mean state and interannual variability and the time at which the forced response exceeds background variability are also estimated while aspects of global mean TWS, including changes in its annual amplitude and decadal trends, are quantified. The findings highlight the challenge of detecting anthropogenic climate change in temporally finite satellite datasets and underscore the benefit of utilizing models in the interpretation of the observed record.


Along with widespread use of computers, work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) have become the most prevalent ergonomic problems in computer users. With evaluating musculoskeletal disorders among Computer Users can intervent a action to reduce musculoskeletal disorders carried out. The aim of the present study was to Assessment of Musculoskeletal Disorders among Computer Users in Isfahan University with Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA) method and Nordic questionnaire. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 96 computer users in Isfahan university. The data were analyzed using correlation and line regression by test spss 20. and descriptive statistics and Anova test.
Data collection tool was Nordic questionnaire and Rapid Office Strain Assessment method checklist. The results of Nordic questionnaire showed that prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in computer users were in the shoulder (62.1%), neck (54.9%) and back (53.1%) respectively more than in other parts of the body. Based on the level of risk of ROSA were 19 individuals in an area of low risk, 50 individual area of notification and 27 individual in the area hazard and need for ergonomics interventions. Musculoskeletal disorders prevalence were in women more than men. Also Anova test showed that there is a direct and significant correlation between age and work experience with a final score ROSA (p<0.001). The study result showed that the prevalence of MSDs among computer users of Isfahan universities is pretty high and must ergonomic interventions such as computer workstation redesign, users educate about ergonomic principles computer with work, reduced working hours in computers with work, and elbows should be kept close to the body with the angle between 90 and 120 degrees to reduce musculoskeletal disorders carried out.


The Major Research Paper seeks to examine the discursive practices that frame the issue of the feminization of forced displacement and construct representations of forcibly displaced women. It will examine the discourse that constructs representations of forcibly displaced women, which has implications for their protection and treatment in society. Forcibly displaced women are victimized through the representational discourse in terms of how they are spoken about and their visual depictions (Johnson, 2011). Based on feminist theory, the conceptual framework of the gender binary, gender and cultural essentialism, representations of victims, the discourse of victimization, and global feminism will be applied to a critical discourse analysis of the UHCR Handbook for the Protection of Women and Girls. This paper argues that the linguistic constructs and discursive practice contribute to misrepresentations of forcibly displaced women.


Abstract A 70-year-old male presented for cataract surgery in the right eye with pre-operative assessment significant for nuclear sclerotic cataract and asteroid hyalosis. Upon irrigation and aspiration during cataract surgery, yellow-white spheres consistent with asteroid hyalosis were visualized circulating into the anterior chamber despite an intact capsule and no apparent zonular weakness. The asteroides particles were completely aspirated by the irrigation and aspiration ports, and an intraocular lens was implanted into the capsular bag. Postoperatively, the patient did well with final visual acuity of 20/20 and no vitreous prolapse, retinal tears, or detachments noted. There are only four cases in the literature of asteroid hyalosis migrating in the anterior chamber; none of these cases are associated with migration during intraocular surgery. We hypothesize that the asteroid hyalosis migrated anteriorly and around the zonules due to the synuretic nature of the vitreous and microscopic gaps in the zonular fibers. This case demonstrates the importance of the cataract surgeon to be aware of potential migration of asteroid hyalosis into the anterior chamber during surgery.


This work discusses the problem of generating association rules from a set of transactions in a relational database, taking performance and accuracy of found results as the essential aspects for comparing association mining algorithms. We do a critical analysis of two previously existing methods, Apriori and FP-growth, emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses; and based on this analysis, we propose an algorithm called Matrix Apriori combining the best features of both.Matrix Apriori utilizes simple structures such as matrices and vectors in the process of generating frequent patterns, and it also minimizes the number of candidate sets, thus achieving a more efficient computation than Apriori and FP-growth. The proposed algorithm can be easily extended to incorporate multiple minimal support defined by the user with the aim of improving method efficacy.


In this paper, we construct a Balanced Weekend Tournament, motivated by the real-life problem of scheduling an n-team double round-robin season schedule for a Canadian university soccer league. In this 6-team league, games are only played on Saturdays and Sundays, with the condition that no team has two road games on any weekend. The implemented regular-season schedule for n = 6 was best-possible, but failed to meet an important "compactness" criterion, as the 10-game tournament required more than five weekends to complete. The motivation for this paper was to determine whether an optimal season schedule, satisfying all of the league's constraints on compact balanced play, could be constructed for sports leagues with n > 6 teams. We present a simple recursive algorithm to answer this question for all even n > 6. As a corollary, our construction gives us an explicit solution to a challenging and well-known graph theory question, namely the problem of decomposing the complete directed graph K*2m into 2m–1 directed Hamiltonian cycles of length 2m.


The paper explores the phenomenon of participative budget (PB) in Italy, inspired by insights and reflections on public governance, participation and inclusion of citizens in the local authority expenditure decisions. It illustrates and discusses the survey results of a sample of municipalities that, since some years, use the PB as an approach to program resource allocation. In particular it focuses on the characteristics of the context in which PB has encountered practical implementation, the way by which it was realized, the most common type of intervention and, finally, the critical situation in the units of analysis. The conclusions give way to considerations of what actions still need to promote, so that PB can really be seen as a tool for an effective management.


We explore the impact of geographically bounded, intrafirm linkages (internal agglomerations) and geographically bounded, interfirm linkages (external agglomerations) on firms' location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database, we analyze the locations of new establishments of biopharmaceutical firms in the United States from 1993 to 2005. We consider all activities in the value chain and allow location choices to vary by research and development, manufacturing, and sales. Our findings suggest that internal agglomerations have a positive impact on location. The effects of internal agglomerations vary by activity, and they arise both within an activity (e.g., among plants) and across activities (e.g., between sales and manufacturing). Our results also suggest that previous estimates of the effect of external agglomerations may be overestimated because the existing literature abstracted from internal agglomerations. This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy .


The unrelenting threat of poaching has led to increased development of new technologies to combat it. One such example is the use of long wave thermal infrared cameras mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) to spot poachers at night and report them to park rangers before they are able to harm animals. However, monitoring the live video stream from these conservation UAVs all night is an arduous task. Therefore, we build SPOT (Systematic POacher deTector), a novel application that augments conservation drones with the ability to automatically detect poachers and animals in near real time. SPOT illustrates the feasibility of building upon state-of-the-art AI techniques, such as Faster RCNN, to address the challenges of automatically detecting animals and poachers in infrared images. This paper reports (i) the design and architecture of SPOT, (ii) a series of efforts towards more robust and faster processing to make SPOT usable in the field and provide detections in near real time, and (iii) evaluation of SPOT based on both historical videos and a real-world test run by the end users in the field. The promising results from the test in the field have led to a plan for larger-scale deployment in a national park in Botswana. While SPOT is developed for conservation drones, its design and novel techniques have wider application for automated detection from UAV videos.


There is no doubt that finding the estimators of model parameters accurately and efficiently is very important in many fields. In this study, we obtain the explicit estimators of the unknown model parameters in the gamma geometric process (GP) via the modified maximum likelihood (MML) methodology. These estimators are as efficient as maximum likelihood (ML) estimators. The marginal and joint asymptotic distributions of the MML estimators are also derived and efficiency comparisons between ML and MML estimators are made through an extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Moreover, a real data example is considered to illustrate the performances of the MML estimators together with their ML counterparts. According to simulation results, the performances of MML and ML estimators are close to each other even for small sample sizes.