There are still controversies concerning the concept and diagnosis of multiple systems organ failure (MSOF), since the term does not precisely define its true nature, and its differential diagnosis with other irrelevant clinical conditions, such as senile dysfunction of organs, agonal state, etc, remains unclarified. Our studies on both human burn patients and rat model by means of electron spin resonance (ESR) showed that there was an excessive generation of free oxygen radicals resulting in lipid peroxidation of cell membrane of various tissues. The intestine seemed to be particularly sensitive to hypoperfusion-reperfusion injury, as diamine oxidase activity of the ileum was lowered and translocation of bacteria occurred, indicating failure of intestinal mucosal barrier function. Concomitant determinations of plasma endotoxin (LPS) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa) levels showed significant elevation, especially in patients who finally developed MSOF. The data suggested that intestinally derived bacteria and/or LPS exacerbate the systemic responses initiated by ischemia reperfusion injury and the presence of large amounts of devitalized tissue. Early diagnosis is important in order to improve the prognosis. However, current criteria of diagnosis for MSOF do not conduce to an early diagnosis, as they only describe the end stage manifestations, while our therapeutic strategy should be directed against different levels of initiators, systemic mediators, and effectors of injury. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the role of septic responses in the development of the syndrome. We propose that the name of the syndrome be changed to "sepsis with organ dysfunction" or "mediator injury of organs".


In contemporary art there has been a resurgent interest in returning to the idea of Utopia. However 500 years after Thomas More the meaning of the word utopia has become more complex than in the 16th century: is utopia a outopia or a eutopia?  This paper argues the need for a classification of the use of the term of utopia in the context of contemporary art. Is Utopia a contemporary outopia (as shown by artists like Thomas Hirschhorn) that reflects a critical use of the term but excludes any possibility of social change and is pessimistic about artistic agency. Is utopia a contemplative utopia (as artists like Liam Gillick propose) that acknowledges transformative potential of a reality transcending concept but does not articulate any agency? Can the social and political change be achieved through activism without a mental utopian picture (as aimed for in the projects of WochenKlausur)? Or are all three basic attitudes toward utopia in contemporary art a reduction of the transformative potential of utopia because none of them connects a utopian mental picture with the concept of political agency?  Based on a critical reevaluation of Lewis Mumford's idea of "reconstructive utopia" the concept of retopia is an attempt to revive utopia as a suggestive device that links a utopian mental picture with political agency. The retopia is a reconstructive eutopia that does not make any claim on human nature and avoids abstract universals by explicitly grounding the utopian project in the local environment. Retopia has the claim to be put into practice through social experimentation. A retopian approach to contemporary art (and politics) has the potential to reintroduce reality transcending political concepts that do not replicate the authoritarian cul de sacs of past utopias while at the same time reaffirm the catalyst function of utopian thinking.


Fifty patients in a double-blind study received in randomized fashion either etidocaine HCl (Duranest) 1% or lidocaine HCl (Xylocaine) 2% with epinephrine 1:200,000 in a retrobulbar block for cataract surgery. Two parallel groups of 25 patients each were studied comparing the clinical properties of the drugs. The onset time for sensory and motor blocks of both drugs was essentially the same (3 minutes). The duration of action of etidocaine was considerably longer than lidocaine and less postoperative pain medication was required by patients blocked with etidocaine.


: There are several metrics available for application in bibliometrics. Some of the metrics that have been considered here such as measuring growth of publications, citation impact, authorship pattern, h-index have been widely used to generate statistical analysis with respect to books, articles, publications. Now one must be aware of the pros and cons of each and every metrics used in the research. One has to be certain that there is no information that is getting lost when data about researchers and their institutions are squeezed into a tabular form of metrics. There are certain metrics that have been discussed to be replaced with other metrics to obtain more accurate interpretation of the research performance. If used otherwise it can create a hindrance to the real research performance when misused.


In Québec, as elsewhere in North America, psychiatric deinstitutionalization, lack of community mental health resources as well as legislative changes to civil and criminal codes have led to an increased probability that individuals with a mental illness come into contact with the criminal justice system. Based on the principle of therapeutic jurisprudence, mental health courts constitute emerging diversion programs, taking place within the court, implemented to offer an alternative to incarceration for individuals with a mental illness. This article offers a critical synthesis of the scientific literature on the topic. The authors first present the context in which mental health courts were developed ; describe their objectives and functioning ; and introduce the Montreal Mental Health Court pilot project, renamed PAJ-SM (Plan d'Accompagnement Justice et Santé) the first of its kind in Québec. The paper examines the research on mental health courts and tackles some of the stakes of diversion programs. The challenges and limits inherent to specialized courts are discussed as well as methodological obstacles related to the study of these complex intervention programs. The authors conclude that mental health courts offer promising intervention venues, but that they do not constitute a panacea to resolving all issues related to the contact of mentally ill individuals with the justice system. Mental health courts must be accompanied by other intervention strategies for persons with mental health problems at all stages of the criminal justice process.


We propose a novel method to deal with sphere ambiguity, occlusion, appearance and disappearance of points in image registration. We have developed a number of rigid motion constraints through analysis of geometrical properties of reflected correspondence vectors synthesised into a single coordinate frame. The properties are used as further constraints to eliminate false matches obtained by the iterative closest point criterion. A number of experiments based on both synthetic data and real images demonstrate that the proposed method is accurate, robust, and efficient for the registration of free-form shapes.


Approaches to Quality Estimation (QE) of machine translation have shown promising results at predicting quality scores for translated sentences. However, QE models are often trained on noisy approximations of quality annotations derived from the proportion of post-edited words in translated sentences instead of direct human annotations of translation errors. The latter is a more reliable ground-truth but more expensive to obtain. In this paper, we present the first attempt to model the task of predicting the proportion of actual translation errors in a sentence while minimising the need for direct human annotation. For that purpose, we use transfer-learning to leverage large scale noisy annotations and small sets of high-fidelity human annotated translation errors to train QE models. Experiments on four language pairs and translations obtained by statistical and neural models show consistent gains over strong baselines.


Recently NO 3 -N concentrations of the rivers that flow into the Kasumigaura lake have increased. The lake is much eutrophicated and is used as a source of water supply for Tsuchiura-city. Stocking density and NO 3 -N specific load have a high correlation (r=0.93). NO 3 -N concentrations increase corresponding to the increase of stocking density. In this area the livestock has a larger influence to the nitrogen concentration of the rivers than the land use.


For a biped pole-climbing robot (BiPCR) with grippers, it is an essential demand to determine the target grasp configuration for climbing and transiting between poles, with the graspable region as a priori knowledge. The graspable region on the target pole is critically important for climbing path planning and motion control. To efficiently compute the graspable region for a BiPCR, we propose a novel binary approximating method in this paper. This method may also be applied to generate the three-dimensional (3-D) workspace of a manipulator with constant orientation. The grasping problem and the concept of graspable region for a BiPCR are first introduced. The binary approximating method and the corresponding algorithms are then presented to generate the graspable region. Additional constraints on a biped climbing robot with five degrees of freedom (DoFs) are presented as a supplement to the algorithm. A series of comprehensive simulations are conducted with the five-DoF and six-DoF climbing robots to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, the dexterity of biped climbing robots with different DoFs is discussed. Graphical Abstract


Kriging is an advanced geostatistical procedure that generates an estimated surface or 3D model from a scattered set of points. This method can be used for estimating resources using a grid of sampled boreholes. However, conventional ordinary kriging (OK) is unable to take locally varying anisotropy (LVA) into account. A numerical approach has been presented that generates an LVA field by calculating the anisotropy parameters (direction and magnitude) in each cell of the estimation grid. After converting the shortest anisotropic distances to Euclidean distances in the grid, they can be used in variography and kriging equations (LVAOK). The ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is a nature-inspired metaheuristic method that is applied to extract image features. A program has been developed based on the application of ACO algorithm, in which the ants choose their paths based on the LVA parameters and act as a moving average window on a primary interpolated grid. If the initial parameters of the ACO algorithm are properly set, the ants would be able to simulate the mineralization paths along continuities. In this research work, Choghart iron ore deposit with 2,447 composite borehole samples was studied with LVA-kriging and ACO algorithm. The outputs were cross-validated with the 111,131 blast hole samples and the Jenson-Shannon (JS) criterion. The obtained results show that the ACO algorithm outperforms both LVAOK and OK (with a correlation coefficient value of 0.65 and a JS value of 0.025). Setting the parameters by trial-and-error is the main problem of the ACO algorithm.


INTRODUCTION
The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) is strongly associated with social and economic factors. The city of Porto Alegre, in the South of Brazil, has one of the highest Human Development Index and Gross Domestic Product per capita of the country. One would expect that the incidence of tuberculosis in such a place were low. However, the city has very high rates of incidence, the highest among Brazilian capitals. This paradox prompted this work, whose objectives were to analyze the spatial distribution of the incidence rate of bacilliferous pulmonary tuberculosis throughout the neighborhoods of Porto Alegre and its association with socioeconomic indicators.

METHODS
Ecological non-concurrent cohort study. The units of analysis were the neighborhoods of the city. The average annual incidence of bacilliferous pulmonary tuberculosis for the period 2000 to 2005 and seven socioeconomic variables were analyzed, with information obtained from the IBGE and the Mortality Information System. Spatial techniques and multivariate analyzes were used to check associations. Inequalities were also measured.

RESULTS
The spatial distribution of the incidence rate of bacilliferous pulmonary tuberculosis is very similar, i.e., associated with the distribution of socioeconomic factors. The Relative Index of Inequality was 7.9, showing the great difference in the incidence rate between neighborhoods.

CONCLUSION
Porto Alegre presents high incidence rates of bacilliferous pulmonary tuberculosis, which distribution through the neighborhoods of the city is associated with socioeconomic factors. The city's high rate is due to the extremely high incidence rates in its poorest neighborhoods. The authors raise hypotheses and suggest interventions.


Abundant freshwater resources originated from Himalayas and high geographical variations in Nepal are two factors which might be positive benefits to improve the aquaculture in land locked country. Low labor cost is also another plus point to get better management in fisheries sector. Freshwater fisheries in Nepal are mostly dominated by catch up fisheries of indigenous fish species available in rivers, lakes and paddy fields but exotic and sophisticated species been also introduced in small scales. Beside these, poly cultural pond fish farming is most viable. Carp fishes are the major species and uncontrolled unmanaged capture fisheries dominants over systematic aquaculture. Poor technological implementations, poor budgetary plan, not proper management strategies, lack of quality fish feed and fingerlins, lower market availability are some of the major challenges of Nepalese freshwater fisheries. Long-term sustainable plan, scientific and technological study on indigenous fish species, proper hygiene management and better disease control might improve the current aquaculture status of Nepal. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(4): 579-583


2) treatment under taurolidine protection and locoregionaland whole body hyperthermia. Results The overall response (OR) rate of the 129 stage IV patients was 49.6% with an objective response (ORR) of 31.8%. In 15 stage I-III cancer patients, the overall response (OR) rate and objective response (ORR) were 93%, respectively. The entire treatment was performed as outpatient therapy which was mostly associated with a toxicity of grade 1–2 (24.4 and 14.9%, respectively), including nausea, diarrhea, skin rash and pruritus, and elevation of liver transaminases during the first 24 hours. Only 4,76% of the patients developed grade III and 1,79% grade IV irAEs, such as autoimmune hepatitis, thyroid problems, acute kidney injury and/or diabetes mellitus. There were no signs of late adverse events from this treatment with follow-up greater than 5 years post therapy. Conclusions In comparison to the commonly known rates of response and side effects in ICI, we were able to show relatively high response rates in parallel with low toxicity profile by the aid of immune response modifiers. Disclosure Information R. Kleef: None. R. Nagy: None. V. Bacher: None. T. Bakacs: None. T. Lausch: None. D. McKee: None. R. Moss: None. H. Bojar: None. N. Thoennissen: None.


Autobiographical recall is thought to rely on the ability to generate a visual image of the remembered event. Neuropsychological studies suggest a relationship between deterioration in visual mental imagery and autobiographical distortions, while neuroimaging data similarly implicate visual brain areas in autobiographical recall. However, neither whether autobiographical retrieval is associated with visual exploration, or not. Our paper aimed to provide such evidence one way or the other. Using an eye tracking system, we recorded eye movements of 40 participants during autobiographical recall and during a control condition in which participants had to count aloud. In both conditions, the participants had to look at a blank screen while their gaze location was recorded by the eye-tracker. Autobiographical recall triggered a lower number of fixations and reduced their duration. In contrast, the number, duration, and amplitude of saccades increased compared to the control condition. Our data suggest that autobiographical recall is characterized by visual processing.


Infrared observations of the Galactic center (GC) provide a unique opportunity to study stellar and bow-shock polarization effects in a dusty environment. The goals of this work are to present new Ks- and Lp-band polarimetry on an unprecedented number of sources in the central parsec of the GC, thereby expanding our previous results in the H- and Ks-bands. We use AO-assisted Ks- and Lp-band observations, obtained at the ESO VLT. High precision photometry and the new polarimetric calibration method for NACO allow us to map the polarization in a region of 8" x 25" (Ks) resp. 26" x 28" (Lp). These are the first polarimetric observations of the GC in the Lp-band in 30 years, with vastly improved spatial resolution compared to previous results. This allows resolved polarimetry on bright bow-shock sources in this area for the first time at this wavelength. We find foreground polarization to be largely parallel to the Galactic plane (Ks-band: 6.1% at 20 degrees, Lp-band: 4.5% at 20 degrees, in good agreement with our previous findings and with older results. The previously described Lp-band excess in the foregound polarization towards the GC could be confirmed here for a much larger number of sources. The bow-shock sources contained in the FOV seem to show a different relation between the polarization in the observed wavelength bands than what was determined for the foreground. This points to the different relevant polarization mechanisms. The resolved polarization patterns of IRS 5 and 10W match the findings we presented earlier for IRS~1W. Additionally, intrinsic Lp-band polarization was measured for IRS 1W and 21, as well as for other, less prominent MIR-excess sources (IRS 2S, 2L, 5NE). The new data offer support for the presumed bow-shock nature of several of these sources (1W, 5, 5NE, 10W, 21) and for the model of bow-shock polarization presented in our last work.


Software testing is essential to ensure quality standards and guide effective development. Nevertheless, for highly specialized codes conventional testing methods are unsatisfying, as quality goals differ.

The talk focuses on two testing methods for engineering applications. These will be applied to a conceptual aircraft design code written in Python. Sensitivity analysis is introduced as a method for unit testing. Additionally, system tests are realized by using a historical aircraft database.

For example, an engineer is absolutely fine with a number of passengers equal to 140.7 as long as it results in the desired payload mass. Hence, the requirements for a unit test are: a) if there are 140.7 passengers aboard the aircraft there must be a positive float value for the payload mass and much more important b) if the number of passengers is increased the payload increases as well! While a) can be tested using conventional unit tests, b) can be tested using sensitivity analysis. The results of the sensitivity analysis can be compared to expert knowledge. This knowledge is derived from interviews and coded in simple expression statements. The talk will introduce complex step derivative approximation as means for sensitivity analysis and outlines some first test results.

When it comes to system testing, conceptual aircraft design codes need to design aircraft concepts. It is therefore obvious that a database of aircraft characteristics forms suitable test cases. While doing system tests of the code, aircraft characteristics from the database serve as input for the code and the calculation results are compared again to an aircraft performance database. As the code operates on a low level of fidelity one can only tell how far it is off. Nevertheless, good assumptions on the quality of the code and especially on the impact of newly implemented design methods can be made.


This dissertation is concerned with the subject of modelling human steering control of groundvehicles. Special care has been taken with respect to designing a model that isbiofidelic, i.e.,a model that operates according to theprinciples of human control.With this aim, first classical human control theory has been revisited, both from aliterature review and an experimental perspective; data have been recorded from test subjectsin compensatory and pursuit tracking tasks. The tracking experiments are the first ever to beperformed with fractional order plants, which are plants suitable to represent system memory.From the data, an extension of the Crossover model by McRuer's is designed, to includethe control of such category of plants. The proposed model is referred to as theFractionalCrossover Model. This is followed by a study on modelling memory in human-machinesystems from a classical control theory viewpoint. These results broaden the existing array ofmanual control modelling techniques and can be employed in a modular manner, combinedwith current models.More significantly – and still with respect to the domain of generic human control andhuman-machine systems – a new approach for modelling the human-operator is proposed.This approach consists in treating the problem from a statistical viewpoint. With thismethodology a novel human control model based on multiplicative dynamics is presented.The model, which was inspired on actual results in neuroscience, is validated with thetracking data obtained from test subjects and by comparing it to classical models in theliterature. Hence the model is useful to analyse human performance or to reproduce humancontrol in simulation, field tests or in the video game industry.With respect to steering control modelling, which is the main topic of this dissertation,additional experiments with test subjects were conducted in a simple vehicle simulator – withhardware and software specifically developed during this research program to test multiplehypotheses. The data were analysed with the intent of identifying which optical variablesdrivers employ while controlling a vehicle on public roads; it is seen that the splay angles– which are the projections of the road lines on the retina – are likely candidates for lanekeeping at low speeds. This brings on a novel human-centred driver model first proposed
xhere. This model includes multiplicative human control over the splay angles, and far-pointerror perception for lane keeping at higher speeds.The human-centred model has its domain of applicability in the intelligent transportationindustry, in particular for the development of shared control systems and advanced driver-assistance systems for semi-autonomous ground vehicles. Additionally, the model can beemployed in field testing of ground vehicles – for example, in vehicle durability tests.Furthermore, the topic of alternative steering devices for driving autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles is investigated. This leads to another of the contributions in thisdissertation. Here it is proposed that for such vehicles, and for the control of systems with ashared controlperspective, anisometric steering wheelcan be advantageous under certainschemes – tight rein or loose rein modes according to the H-metaphor. This is supportedby additional data collected in the driving simulation experiments. Resulting from this,fractional order transfer functions are employed to increment steering stability and controlaccuracy with the isometric device. This prototypical steering system is applicable for thecontrol of ground vehicles with the so-calledby-wirecontrols, which are already incorporatedin some commercially available vehicles.


Abstract. Water mass ventilation provides an important link between the atmosphere and the global ocean circulation. In this study, we present a newly developed, probabilistic tool for offline water mass tracking. In particular, NEMOTAM, the tangent-linear and adjoint counterpart to the NEMO ocean general circulation model, is modified to allow passive-tracer transport. By terminating dynamic feedbacks in NEMOTAM, tagged water can be tracked forward and backward in time as a passive dye, producing a probability distribution of pathways and origins, respectively. To represent surface (re-)ventilation, we optionally decrease the tracer concentration in the surface layer and track this concentration removal to produce a ventilation record. Two test cases are detailed, examining the creation and fate of North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water (NASMW) and North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) in a 2∘ configuration of NEMO run with repeated annual forcing for up to 400 years. Model NASMW is shown to have an expected age of 4.5 years and is predominantly eradicated by internal processes. A bed of more persistent NASMW is detected below the mixed layer with an expected age of 8.7 years. It is shown that while model NADW has two distinct outcrops (in the Arctic and North Atlantic), its formation primarily takes place in the subpolar Labrador and Irminger seas. Its expected age is 112 years.


This research is an aeropalynological study performed in Kirsehir in the period of March 1st, 2005- February 28th, 2006. Samples which obtained from Golhisar, Bahcelievler and Karayollari in Kirsehir have been analyzed at two different stations by using the application of Durham-gravimetric method. The amount of the pollen grains in Kirsehir atmosphere per certain area has been measured as cm2 units with respect to the specified area within weekly and monthly periods by the help of the microscope slides placed in the Durham instrument and the obtained results are shown through graphics. A total 24 taxa of 12 trees and scrubs, and of 12 herbaceous plants, have been determined in the research area. The increase in the temperature, wind speed and relative humidity rates have affected the amount of pollens positively but also effected the precipitation negatively. The results are compared with the meteorological factors. The monthly pollen calender is prepared. In conclusion, it is expected that these data would be helpful for the researchers in the area of aeropalinology and for the clinicians to evaluate allergic diseases.


This collection of sixteen new essays, all commissioned from cultural and musical historians, was inspired by the themes and approaches of Professor Cyril Ehrlich's pathbreaking work on British social history in music. This volume discusses issues such as the music marketplace, piano culture, musicians' work patterns, music institutions, concert history, and national and urban identities - all with a clear focus on art music traditions. The cultural importance of serious music, from Belfast to Calcutta, has long been assumed for the period but rarely demonstrated. Here the issue is interwoven with the social and economic realities confronting music and musicians in Britain across the 19th century.


Current radio frequency (RF) spectrum is shown to be highly underutilized in both spatial and temporal domain. One potential solution to improve the spectrum utilization is through cognitive radio (CR). Traditional CR approach adopts the sense-and-transmit strategy to exploit more transmission opportunities. After CR senses the RF channel, it will utilize this channel as long as it is not occupied by licensed users. However, there are some limitations using this approach. First, if the licensed users appear while CR is transmitting on the same channel, the collision occurs. Second, if the licensed users stop transmitting and CR does not detect this opportunity, the throughput loss occurs.In this dissertation, we focus on studying the statistical properties of the licensed channel bands, and explore the approaches to exploit the traffic knowledge to improve the traditional CR strategy. The statistical knowledge of the busy/idle period on the licensed channel allows CR to switch to better channels to increase throughput. To this end, our goal is to develop traffic-aware spectrum sharing protocols. As a first step, we proposed a traffic classifier to classify the distribution for the idle/busy period using less number of observations and extended to the cases where there is no perfect knowledge of traffic parameters and periods. We also proposed a traffic prediction algorithm based on Markov chain derivation and estimated traffic parameters, and we analyzed the impact of estimation errors on the prediction accuracy. Based on this result, we furtherdesigned spectrum sharing protocols with multi-channel sensing strategies for CRusers. The CR users are scheduled for their transmission and cooperative sensingstrategies in order to achieve maximal user throughput. We proposed to solvethe scheduling optimization problem with four low-complexity strategies, i.e.,sequential, parallel, sequential-parallel, and iterative-parallel sensing strategies.The optimal sensing order for sequential strategy was derived, and we also pro-posed several heuristics to further reduce the computation complexity for otherstrategies. Furthermore, this protocol is designed to be robust to both channeland traffic uncertainties.


In addition to other assessments, the 2013 EFSA bee guidance document requires the risk assessment of plant
protection products on honey bee larvae. At the time the EFSA document was finalized, no data on honey bee
larvae were available. In 2013 ECPA (the European Crop Protection Association) perfomed an impact analysis of
the (then) new EFSA risk assessment and the reliability of the outcomes, using estimated endpoints derived
from acute oral honey bee tests together with the usual extrapolation factors. Today, a number of honey bee
larvae toxicity studies have been conducted according to the newly developed testing methods for single
exposure (OECD TG 237) and repeated exposure testing (OECD GD 239). These experimental data have been
used to update the ECPA impact analysis. Data on 114 active substances or formulated products were used,
covering 166 worst case uses; (58 herbicides, 53 fungicides, 47 insecticides and 8 PGRs). The "pass" rates were
determined according to the EFSA Bee guidance document and compared with the original outcome of the
impact analysis from 2013 and with adult chronic toxicity data. When the findings of the impact analysis based
on experimental data from 22 day larval tests was compared with the impact analysis from 2013 based on
extrapolated data the two gave very similar results, thus indicating that the original assessment using acute
data and extrapolation factors was suitably predictive.


ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study examined the association between interactive book reading quality and prekindergarten children's gains in language and literacy skills over the course of an academic year for 96 teachers and 417 children across multiple locations in the United States. Two moderators were examined, namely, children's initial skill level and teachers' classroom organization during an interactive read-aloud session. In keeping with prior research, interactive book reading quality, measured by examination of teachers' extratextual talk, was positively and significantly related to children's development of both language and literacy skills. Interactive book reading quality was not significantly moderated by children's initial skills, with the exception that interactive book reading quality appeared most beneficial to children's print knowledge for children entering prekindergarten with relatively low skill. The unique contribution of this study is that the association between interactive book reading quality and children's expressive vocabulary was dependent on an organized classroom during the book reading session. Practice or Policy: The quality of teachers' talk during interactive book reading may matter for children's vocabulary development only when reading sessions are characterized by relatively high classroom organization. Classroom organization should be an important consideration while planning for interactive book reading sessions.


The conservation and restoration of archaeological woven fabrics are faced with many practical challenges. In case of damask fabrics, besides the identification of structural characteristics of the woven fabric, one of these challenges is referred to the reconstruction of the ornamental depiction. In the attempt to obtain a better correlation between the structural characteristics and ornamental depiction of damask fabrics, the traditional working techniques are based too much on subjectivity of archaeological understanding and interpreting of the textile conservator-restorer. The digital techniques can create a scaled unit of repeat of damask design and can simulate ultra realist the damask fabric, thus saving time, money, effort and other valuable resources. The paper presents the results of research on one monochrome silk damask woven in Italy from about the 16-17th centuries. The large scale of the pattern, richly ornamented with stylized vegetal motifs which show the Far East influence, was used extensively for home textiles, especially for curtains and wallpapers, but as well in fashion clothes. A detailed photographic documentation of the damask fragments was made for the stage of reconstruction of scaled unit of repeat. For this purpose was used a graphic art software to obtain the motifs configurations, which then, like the pieces of a puzzle, have been arranged in the damask repeat pattern. In order to simulate the damask fabric were used the programs ArahPaint and ArahWeave of integrated software Arahne CAD/CAM for weaving. At the beginning, the damask repeat pattern was designed and saved in ArahPaint program. To create the two-dimensional simulation of woven fabric, the damask repeat pattern was imported in the Jacquard conversion window of ArahWeave program and have been introduced all structural characteristics of the fabric, previously determined by using non-destructive methods of evaluation. This paper aims to draw attention to the digital reconstruction of archaeological woven fabric not only as a method for the dissemination of research findings, but further, as a viable possibility to be woven.


Introduction Diabetes Mellitus is the most common endocrine disorder and metformin is the most commonly prescribed oral hypoglycemic agent. Metformin is well known to cause viamin B12 deficiency due to effect on calcium-dependent membrane action in the terminal ileum leading to malabsorption of vitamin B12. The purpose of this study is to determine prevalence and associations of Vitamin B12 deficiency in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with metformin. Methods This case control study was carried out in department of medicine, Combined Military Hospital, Kharian from 1st Jan 2012 to 30 december 2012. We enrolled 114 outdoor patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus currently on metformin for atleast 12 months, by consecutive sampling, and 105 age and sex matched patients taken as control. Patients with vitamin B12 levels of less than 150 pg/ml were said to be B12 deficient. The results were analyzed on SPSS version 16. Results Serum B12 levels were low in 35 patients (31%) on metformin as compared to only 9 patients (8.6%) among controls,(p value 0.002). Mean B12 levels were significantly low in metformin group 311 pg/ml (±194.4), p value 0.03. Dose of metformin had inverse correlation with B12 levels and the difference was statistically significant with p-value < 0.001. Conclusion Our study demonstrated significantly high prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in patients treated with metformin with significant effect of dose and duration of metformin use on B12 levels. Physicians must recognize this important fact and screen diabetics on metformin therapy for underlying B12 deficiency.


The author and his colleagues have used these materials successfully in their classrooms for many years, ensuring their teachability and effectiveness. - Whose Monet? can be used as primary course material in orientation courses or seminars, as well as collateral reading for in-semester Legal Process or Civil Procedure courses - the organization is logical and straightforward and the accessible writing style -- lucid, descriptive, and conversational -- is ideal for incoming students - the major events in a lawsuit are considered, and the text sheds light on how the law is applied in a civil dispute, introducing common law and statutory law and the various courts and their interrelationship (trial/appellate, state/federal) - the author draws on judicial opinions, litigation papers, transcripts, and selections from commentators and various jurisprudential sources, thereby exposing the first-year student to as broad a spectrum of materials as possible - telling the story of a real lawsuit (DeWeerth v. Baldinger) -- from client intake through trial and various appeals -- draws students into the legal process by means of an engaging narrative and makes for a truly enjoying teaching experience for professors - the lawyers role is examined in both its functional and moral dimensions: What do lawyers do? What does society legitimately expect lawyers to do? - this book is suitable for both classroom and stand-alone assigned reading Professor Humbach, with over 30 years of experience teaching and writing articles and instruction programs for first-year property students, includes a separate Teacher's Manual. Drawing upon his own classroom experience with thesematerials, he: - suggests learning objectives for each chapter - offers different teaching approaches - provides answers to questions in the book - suggests sample syllabi


PURPOSE
To evaluate the performance of a computer-aided detection (CAD) system for detecting colonic polyps at noncathartic computed tomography colonography (CTC) in conjunction with an automated image-based colon cleansing algorithm.

METHODS
An automated colon cleansing algorithm was designed to detect and subtract tagged-stool, accounting for heterogeneity and poor tagging, to be used in conjunction with a colon CAD system. The method is locally adaptive and combines intensity, shape, and texture analysis with probabilistic optimization. CTC data from cathartic-free bowel preparation were acquired for testing and training the parameters. Patients underwent various colonic preparations with barium or Gastroview in divided doses over 48 h before scanning. No laxatives were administered and no dietary modifications were required. Cases were selected from a polyp-enriched cohort and included scans in which at least 90% of the solid stool was visually estimated to be tagged and each colonic segment was distended in either the prone or supine view. The CAD system was run comparatively with and without the stool subtraction algorithm.

RESULTS
The dataset comprised 38 CTC scans from prone and/or supine scans of 19 patients containing 44 polyps larger than 10 mm (22 unique polyps, if matched between prone and supine scans). The results are robust on fine details around folds, thin-stool linings on the colonic wall, near polyps and in large fluid/stool pools. The sensitivity of the CAD system is 70.5% per polyp at a rate of 5.75 false positives/scan without using the stool subtraction module. This detection improved significantly (p = 0.009) after automated colon cleansing on cathartic-free data to 86.4% true positive rate at 5.75 false positives/scan.

CONCLUSIONS
An automated image-based colon cleansing algorithm designed to overcome the challenges of the noncathartic colon significantly improves the sensitivity of colon CAD by approximately 15%.


Glaciers in High Mountain Asia are an important freshwater resource for large populations living downstream who rely on runoff for hydropower, irrigation, and municipal use. Projections of glacier mass change and runoff therefore have important socio-economic impacts. In this study, we use a new dataset of geodetic mass balance observations of almost all glaciers in the region to calibrate the Python Glacier Evolution Model (PyGEM) using Bayesian inference. The new dataset enables the model to capture spatial variations in mass balance and the Bayesian inference enables the uncertainty associated with the model parameters to be quantified. Validation with historical mass balance observations shows the model performs well and the uncertainty is well captured. Projections of glacier mass change for 22 General Circulation Models (GCMs) and four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) estimate that by the end of the century glaciers in High Mountain Asia will lose between 29 ± 12% (RCP 2.6) and 67 ± 10% (RCP 8.5) of their total mass relative to 2015. Considerable spatial and temporal variability exists between regions due to the climate forcing and glacier characteristics (hypsometry, ice thickness, elevation range). Projections of annual glacier runoff reveal most monsoon-fed river basins (Ganges, Brahmaputra) will hit a maximum (peak water) prior to 2050, while the Indus and other westerlies-fed river basins will likely hit peak water after 2050 due to significant contributions from excess glacier meltwater. Monsoon-fed watersheds are projected to experience large reductions in end-of-summer glacier runoff. Uncertainties in projections at regional scales are dominated by the uncertainty associated with the climate forcing, while at the individual glacier level, uncertainties associated with model parameters can be significant.


Over the last decade, a substantial amount of work has occurred in the
space of federated access management. Most of this effort has focused
on two use cases: network access and web-based access. However, the
solutions to these use cases that have been proposed and deployed tend
to have few building blocks in common. This memo describes an
architecture that makes use of extensions to the commonly used
security mechanisms for both federated and non-federated access
management, including the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
(RADIUS), the Generic Security Service Application Program Interface
(GSS-API), the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), and the
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). The architecture addresses
the problem of federated access management to primarily non-web-based
services, in a manner that will scale to large numbers of Identity
Providers, Relying Parties, and federations.


We have previously proposed PTIDES (programming temporally integrated distributed embedded systems), a discrete-event framework that binds realtime with model time at sensors, actuators, and network interfaces. In this experimental effort we focus on performance issues and tradeoffs in PTIDES implementation. We address event processing performance with respect to other distributed discrete event approaches that can be applied in a similar setting. The procedure is experimentally evaluated on a distributed setup with standard software and networking components.


Fashion generates billions of money and employs a huge number of people from different contexts including arts, marketing, advertising, engineering, law, and psychology. However, the urge for new trends, chic and distinct clothing resulted in a constant cycle of excess supply over demand, contributing to a high volume of waste. Environmental concerns of such mass production have increased significantly over time resulting in tons of waste worldwide from non-use of materials, causing environmental degradation and spill of hazardous chemicals. Consumer's linear system of buy-use-or not use-dispose creates large negative effects on the environment and economic losses to entrepreneurs within this field. Similarly, there is no time to keep up with consumer demands, as entrepreneurs struggle with unstable, unrealistic, and competitive market conditions. These socio-environmental issues are a huge part of the fashion industry, and such concerns have reached new heights due to the rate of fashion devolution and inhumane practices that have gained traction in the industry. This comes as no surprise as calls for social and environmentally conscious fashion production have emerged. Behavioral change is urgently needed now more than ever in the industry. One such promising avenue to resolve the tension between fashion and socio-environmental issues in the industry is to apply psychological principles to this context. This sparks feelings of anxiety, losses, insecurity, and inadequacies among the entrepreneurs. Despite these challenges workers in this industry work to meet the increasing needs of consumers. Whilst this has contributed greatly to the success of many fashion houses, modern trends in organizational sustainability require psychologists to offer insights into how the fashion industry can manage social and environmental challenges in a manner that is deemed to be socially responsible by society. In light of this, the current work aim at exploring the functional systems of industrial psychologists and the role they play in enabling fashion businesses to adopt sustainable business practices. Deploying a systematic literature review approach, the results showed that fashion and psychology are both disciplines essentially about humans. That functionally, the psychologists seek to understand how individual fashion designers think, feel and behave. Since they can understand behavior, psychologists are better able to design programs that can lead to long-term behavior change at different levels in the industry. Psychologists play a crucial role in the fashion industry such as offering counseling and insights into consumer behavior, consumer preferences, and product designs that work to stimulate sales and after-sales services that are environmentally sustainable.


Subscore added value analyses assume invariance across test taking populations; however, this assumption may be untenable in practice as differential subdomain relationships may be present among subgroups. The purpose of this simulation study was to understand the conditions associated with subscore added value noninvariance when manipulating: (a) subdomain test length, (b) differences in subgroup mean ability, and (c) subgroup differences in intersubdomain correlations. Results demonstrated that subscore added value was noninvariant for 24% to 100% of replications (depending on subdomain test length) when the subgroup difference in intersubdomain correlation was equal to .30. To examine if this condition was met in practice, applied invariance analyses of three operational testing programs were conducted. Across these datasets, noninvariant subscore added value was present for some subdomains across sex and ethnic subgroups. Overall, these results indicate that subscore added value noninvariance is largely driven by differential intersubdomain correlations among subgroups, which may be present in some operational testing programs.


Purpose – Drawing on entrepreneurship as a social process, the purpose of this paper is to proposes a model of entrepreneurial learning where contextual social and economic structures gain relevance through experiential learning. Concrete experience underpins the emotions, values and interests that support the cognitive and conative processes required to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set. Empirical study undertaken in Kenya and Tanzania explores perceptions of entrepreneurship education (EE) and identify approaches to a social perspective of entrepreneurial learning that is applicable. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a multi-phase approach consisting of desk research, semi-structured interview and a participatory workshop. Entrepreneurship programmes in 18 universities are benchmarked against accepted standards and 68 participants are purposively selected within key stakeholders for the semi-structured interviews and participatory workshop. Findings – The findings indicate that entrepreneurship as a value creation process is a shared assertion but the social context informs a construct of learning outcomes, and specifically what characterises an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial learning is multi-layered and its provision necessitates an engagement with the social context in order to gain relevance for the learners. The learning content should enable learners to develop an understanding of the world alongside knowledge of entrepreneurship. Learning tools should be flexible and action-based, to achieve learning for entrepreneurship as opposed to learning about the phenomenon of entrepreneurship. Ultimately, the value creation process can only happen when learning supports the individual and collective capabilities to transform the social context. Particularly in Kenya and Tanzania, meeting job creation and growth aspirations will require the providers such as universities to work closely with businesses of all sizes, including the informal sector, and the use of innovative learning techniques such as local languages where applicable. These findings have policy and practice implications for HEIs and policy-makers in curriculum design and inclusive learning methods. Research limitations/implications – The study comes short on entrepreneurial orientation and its impact on learning outcomes. Further investigation could establish if necessity entrepreneurs differ from opportunity entrepreneurs in the way they learn, so that national policy and curriculum can respond accordingly. With high levels of unemployment in countries such as Kenya and Tanzania, entrepreneurship often presents the only choice for employment or a paid job. Practical implications – The study findings indicate the need for educators to develop learning approaches thatare informed by the contextual realities of the learners. Policy-makers should also foster the development of curriculum informed by contextual realities, so that learners can make sense of their entrepreneurial world. Social implications – Through the adoption of action learning as essential for the process of creation and transformation, the study makesthe case for individualmotivations in exploring the realitiesofthe localcontext. Originality/value – The study contributes to a deeper understanding of EE from a social context, and proposes a model of entrepreneurial learning which could benefit learners and the community. The informal sector is brought to light as a significant actor in entrepreneurial learning and a considerable source of new knowledge.


This guidance outlines the steps for designing and implementing ethnographic research which is led by citizens. It explains what citizen ethnography is and then sets out what should be considered throughout the process of working with networks of citizen researchers, from recruitment, training and supporting them to collect and analyse ethnographic data, and how to transform the insights they gain to support preparedness and responses for disease outbreaks. It also provides suggestions for further resources to support the process. The guidance is for social scientists who would like to integrate citizen-led ethnographic approaches into their research, and for practitioners working on community engagement or other outbreak responses, who seek to use social science insights in their operations. It was written for SSHAP by Luisa Enria (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine). It is the responsibility of SSHAP.


Seasonal snow cover is of great environmental and socio-economic importance for the European Alps. Therefore a high priority has been assigned to quantifying its temporal and spatial variability. Complementary to land-based monitoring networks, optical satellite observations can be used to derive spatially comprehensive information on snow cover extent. For understanding long-term changes in alpine snow cover extent, the data acquired by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors mounted onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and Meteorological Operational satellite (MetOp) platforms offer a unique source of information. In this paper, we present the first space-borne 1 km snow extent climatology for the Alpine region derived from AVHRR data over the period 1985–2011. The objective of this study is twofold: first, to generate a new set of cloud-free satellite snow products using a specific cloud gap-filling technique and second, to examine the spatiotemporal distribution of snow cover in the European Alps over the last 27 yr from the satellite perspective. For this purpose, snow parameters such as snow onset day, snow cover duration (SCD), melt-out date and the snow cover area percentage (SCA) were employed to analyze spatiotemporal variability of snow cover over the course of three decades. On the regional scale, significant trends were found toward a shorter SCD at lower elevations in the south-east and south-west. However, our results do not show any significant trends in the monthly mean SCA over the last 27 yr. This is in agreement with other research findings and may indicate a deceleration of the decreasing snow trend in the Alpine region. Furthermore, such data may provide spatially and temporally homogeneous snow information for comprehensive use in related research fields (i.e., hydrologic and economic applications) or can serve as a reference for climate models.


This study was carried out to investigate the fattening performance, slaughter and carcass characteristics of White Karaman and Chios x White Karaman (F1 ) crossbred lambs. The data for the study were obtained from 11 purebred and 12 (6 from each genotype) ram lambs for determination of slaughter and carcass characteristics. Lambs were fed alfalfa hay and concentrates ad libitum in the fattening period. All ram lambs with a live weight of 20 kg were fattened in the same pen until they reached 45 kg live weight and afterwards they were slaughtered for investigation of carcass characteristics. During the fattening period it was determined that average daily live weight gain in purebred and crossbred groups was 245.53 g and 218.87 g, and that the amount of consumed concentrate feeds for 1 kg live weight gain was 3.28 kg and 3.77 kg, respectively. In purebred and crosbred groups slaughtered at 45 kg slaughter weight, the cold carcass weight was 22.10 kg and 21.40 kg, the carcass dressing percentage was 48.88 % and 47.15 %, and the tail fat percentage was 17.85 % and 10.11 %. The difference between the groups for the last parameter was statistically significant (P


Sample entropy (SpEn) is a measure of the underlying regularity or complexity of a system that is achieved by assessing the entropy of a time series recorded from the system. It is a powerful signal processing tool and has received increasing attention in recent years. SpEn has been successfully applied in biomedical measurements and other applications. In particular, many emerging applications require measuring the SpEn of signals in real-time embedded systems. However, the standard implementation of SpEn requires a computational complexity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(n^{2})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the data length, making it difficult to meet real-time constraints, especially for large <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Moreover, power consumption and computation latency must be considered as well. The data length used in previous studies was approximately several hundred, and it remains a challenging task to operate on longer data lengths. In this article, we propose the assisted sliding box (SBOX) algorithm to accelerate the computation of SpEn without any approximation while maintaining a low memory overhead so that the algorithm can be executed in embedded systems for edge computing. We also develop an electroencephalogram (EEG)-based wearable device for comfortable overnight recording. The SBOX algorithm is then implemented in the system to measure the online SpEn of an overnight sleep EEG signal. The results show that, compared with the standard algorithm, the SBOX algorithm speeds up the computation time by a factor of 60, thereby reducing power consumption by 98% when measuring a 30-s epoch of sleep EEG with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n=7500$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and a 250-Hz sampling rate.


Nanocrystalline aluminophosphate AlPO4-5 molecular sieves were synthesized by hydrothermal method (HTS). Synthesis parameters like time and temperature of crystallization were investigated. Type of template (R) and ratio of R/P2O5 were studied also. Characterization of the synthesized AlPO4-5 were done by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDX), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry-thermogravimetry analysis (DSC-TGA), and N2 adsorption-desorption BET analysis. XRD patterns results showed excellent crystallinity for two types of templates, di-n-propylamine (DPA) and tetrapropyl ammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) for alumminophosphate five (AFI) structure. Nano-level for particle size of 66 nm was revealed by AFM test. Good thermal stability was obtained in DSC-TGA results. Best time and temperature of crystallization of 24h and 190 O C were got. Optimum R/P2O5 for two kind of template was established.


Owing to a finite and single-atom-thick two-dimensional structure, graphene nanostructures such as nanoribbons possess outstanding physical properties and unique size-dependent characteristics due to nanoscale defects, especially for mechanical properties. Graphene nanostructures characteristically exhibit strong nonlinearity in deformation and the defect brings about an extremely localized singular stress field of only a few nanometers, which might lead to unique fracture properties. Fundamental understanding of their fracture properties and criteria is, however, seriously underdeveloped and limited to the level of continuum mechanics and linear elasticity. Here, we demonstrate the breakdown of continuum-based fracture criteria for graphene nanoribbons due to the strong nonlinearity and discreteness of atoms emerging with decreasing size and identify the critical sizes for these conventional criteria. We further propose an energy-based criterion considering atomic discrete nature, and show that it can successfully describe the fracture beyond the critical sizes. The complete clarification of fracture criterion for nonlinear graphene with nanoscale singularity contributes not only to the reliable design of graphene-based nanodevices but also to the elucidation of the extreme dimensional limit in fracture mechanics.


This paper presents bioimpedance spectroscopy measurements of anisotropic tissues using a 16 electrode probe and reconstruction method of estimating the anisotropic impedance spectrum in a local region just underneath the center of the probe. This may enable in-vivo surface bioimpedance measurements with similar performance to the ex-vivo gold standard that requires excising and placing the entire tissue sample in a unit measurement cell with uniform electric field. The multiple surface electrodes enable us to create a focused current pattern so that the resulting measured voltage is more sensitive to a local region and less sensitive to other areas. This is exploited in a reconstruction method to provide improved bioimpedance and anisotropy measurements. In this paper, we describe the current pattern for localized electrical energy concentration, performance with the spring loaded pin electrodes, data calibration and experimental results on anisotropic agar phantoms and different tissue types. The anisotropic conductivity spectra are able to differentiate insulating films of different thickness and detect their orientation. Bioimpedance spectra of biological tissues are in agreement with published data and reference instruments. The anisotropy expressed as the ratio of eigenvalues and the orientation of eigenfunctions were reconstructed at 45° intervals. This information is used to predict the underlying anisotropy of the region under the probe. Tissue measurements clearly demonstrate the expected higher anisotropy of muscle tissue compared to liver tissue and spectral changes.


It is shown that distributed RC networks with properties close
to the ideal can be constructed by using the thick film technology.
The application of the distributed RC network to construct low pass
active filters is described and it is shown that miniature low pass
active filters can be constructed using these networks. The construction
of an eighth order Butterworth distributed low pass active filter,
whose individual stage's magnitude response is adjusted by trimming
the distributed RC network, is described. [Continues.]


The performance of a stock relative to a suitable peer group is often influenced by a multitude of factors and their interactions. Traditional parametric models, albeit very useful, are often inadequate in capturing complicated relationships. In contrast, the nonparametric decision tree technique, such as classification and regression trees (CART), is more capable of capturing any nonlinearities and high-order interactions among stock characteristics, with the additional convenience of graphically representing the model, but discontinuous and coarse-grained responses produced by CART are potentially undesirable. In contrast, traditional regression models such as logistic regression produce a smooth response surface, which is more tractable in practice. The authors use a hybrid approach that takes advantage of the strengths in both parametric (logistic regression) and nonparametric models (CART). An application of this sophisticated technique to North American defensive stocks demonstrates its usefulness.


Abstract. – OBJECTIVE: Many studies have demonstrated that the abnormal microRNAs (miRNAs) expression plays crucial roles in the development of human cancers including cervical cancer (CC). However, the expression and the underlying mechanism of miR-299-3p in CC remain unclear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, the quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect miR299-3p expression level in CC cell lines. The cell proliferation assay, colony formation assay, and transwell invasion assay were conducted to investigate the biological functions of miR-299-3p. Followingly, the Luciferase activity reporter and the Western blot assays were conducted to validate the transcription factor 4 (TCF4) as a direct target of miR-299-3p. RESULTS: MiR-299-3p expression level was reduced in CC cell lines compared with the normal cell line. The overexpression of miR-299-3p inhibits CC cell growth and invasion. Furthermore, TCF4 was validated as a direct target of miR-299-3p. In addition, TCF4 overexpression reversed the inhibitory effects of miR-299-3p on CC cell behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our results illustrated that miR-299-3p acts as a tumor suppressor to inhibit CC cell behaviors by targeting TCF4.


Abstract The increased production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in plant leaf tissues is a hallmark of a plant's reaction to various environmental stresses. This paper describes an automatic segmentation method for scanned images of cucurbits leaves stained to visualise ROS accumulation sites featured by specific colour hues and intensities. The leaves placed separately in the scanner view field on a colour background are extracted by thresholding in the RGB colour space, then cleaned from petioles to obtain a leaf blade mask. The second stage of the method consists in the classification of within mask pixels in a hue-saturation plane using two classes, determined by leaf regions with and without colour products of the ROS reaction. At this stage a two-layer, hybrid artificial neural network is applied with the first layer as a self-organising Kohonen type network and a linear perceptron output layer (counter propagation network type). The WTA-based, fast competitive learning of the first layer was improved to increase clustering reliability. Widrow–Hoff supervised training used at the output layer utilises manually labelled patterns prepared from training images. The generalisation ability of the network model has been verified by K-fold cross-validation. The method significantly accelerates the measurement of leaf regions containing the ROS reaction colour products and improves measurement accuracy.


I formerly defined the possible as that which in a given state of information (real or feigned) we do not know not to be true. But this definition today seems to me only a twisted phrase which, by means of two negatives, conceals an anacoluthon. We know in advance of experience that certain things are not true, because we see they are impossible. Thus, if a chemist tests the contents of a hundred bottles for fluorine, and finds it present in the majority, and if another chemist tests them for oxygen and finds it in the majority, and if each of them reports his result to me, it will be useless for them to come to me together and say that they know infallibly that fluorine and oxygen cannot be present in the same bottle; for I see that such infallibility is impossible. I know it is not true, because I satisfy myself that there is no room for it even in that ideal world of which the real world is but a fragment. I need no sensible experimentation, because ideal experimentation establishes a much broader answer to the question than sensible experimentation could give.


Traditionally, construction and demolition waste (CDW) materials have been considered to be unwanted, surplus, or wastage materials or materials with zero value. Such a conceptualisation only embraces a negative aspect, which underpins the disposal of reusable and recyclable CDW materials in landfills, thus damaging the circular economy and the environment. The scope of this research was to conceptualise the circular economy potential of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste, which can be used as a resource for advancing the circular economy and sustainability in the built environment. Thus, the abbreviation 'CEPCDR' is used for this purpose. The study employs an integrative literature review to understand in depth whether the rationale in the existing CDW definitions advocates for the circular economy. Instead, the literature showed that the current definitions mainly support quantitative, economic, or classification needs, respectively. That is because they lack consideration of the dynamic nature of CDW materials, which embraces the spatial and temporal dimensions. The former involves the geographic context in which the CDW phenomenon eventuates, while the latter concerns the lifecycle of materials. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by conceptualising the CEPCDR using a holistic approach that includes five dimensions: the social, economic, environmental, spatial, and temporal perspectives. Furthermore, the study seeks to drive future research in measuring the CEPCDR.


Distillation efforts have led to language models that are more compact and efficient without serious drops in performance. The standard approach to distillation trains a student model against two objectives: a task-specific objective (e.g., language modeling) and an imitation objective that encourages the hidden states of the student model to be similar to those of the larger teacher model. In this paper, we show that it is beneficial to augment distillation with a third objective that encourages the student to imitate the causal dynamics of the teacher through a distillation interchange intervention training objective (DIITO). DIITO pushes the student model to become a causal abstraction of the teacher model – a faithful model with simpler causal structure. DIITO is fully differentiable, easily implemented, and combines flexibly with other objectives. Compared against standard distillation with the same setting, DIITO results in lower perplexity on the WikiText-103M corpus (masked language modeling) and marked improvements on the GLUE benchmark (natural language understanding), SQuAD (question answering), and CoNLL-2003 (named entity recognition).


This paper describes an innovative haptic interface device based on magneto-rheological fluid (MRF). A system of permanent magnets and coils is designed in order to produce a proper distribution of a magnetic field inside the fluid. This distribution, with its spatial resolution, causes the MRF to assume prescribed shapes and softness profiles that can be directly felt and explored by hand. The device is designed using a 3-D finite-elements code taking into account the B-H functions of the nonlinear materials (MRF, permanent magnets, ferromagnetic materials). In order to validate the finite-element model, some experimental magnetic measurements are taken on a simplified prototype. Furthermore, the maps of the flux density and those of the shear stress inside the fluid are carefully analyzed. Finally, the interaction between the operator's hand and the MRF is numerically investigated.


Ann Marie Smith, a woman with cerebral palsy, died in hospital on April 6, 2020, from septic shock, multiple organ failure, severe ulcerated and infected tissue and malnourishment. Police stated the 54-year-old, unable to care for herself, had been living her days and sleeping at night in the same woven cane chair in a lounge room for over a year with extremely poor personal hygiene. That chair had also become her toilet, and there was no fridge in the house, and investigators were unable to locate any nutritional food in the house. (ABC News, May 15, 2020). This broadcast aired during school 'pick-up'. I had collected my 15-year old son from his 'isolation classroom' in a mainstream school. Like the woman left to deteriorate in a chair, he has cerebral palsy, and together we listened to her story. We did not know Ann Marie Smith, but the drive home was an unforgettable fusion of grief, rage and fear. We struggled to come to grips with it. I had already prepared a very different article for publication, one celebrating the potential for inclusive research advanced by the burgeoning use of communication technologies in the defence against Covid19. It would highlight other benefits too. As noted by Cornwall (2020), the current pandemic offers an unexpected opportunity to study social and behavioural responses in 'real-time'. No university, for instance, would approve an experiment that involved firing one group of workers and seeing how they fare compared with their still-employed colleagues. (Cornwall, 2020). There seemed to be merit in a pandemic story pointing to opportunities for communication between researchers and people marginalised by


To fight off invading genetic elements, prokaryotes have developed an elaborate defence system that is both adaptable and heritable—the CRISPR-Cas system (CRISPR is short for: clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and Cas: CRISPR associated). Comprised of proteins and multiple small RNAs, this prokaryotic defence system is present in 90% of archaeal and 40% of bacterial species, and enables foreign intruders to be eliminated in a sequence-specific manner. There are three major types (I–III) and at least 14 subtypes of this system, with only some of the subtypes having been analysed in detail, and many aspects of the defence reaction remaining to be elucidated. Few archaeal examples have so far been analysed. Here we summarize the characteristics of the CRISPR-Cas system of Haloferax volcanii, an extremely halophilic archaeon originally isolated from the Dead Sea. It carries a single CRISPR-Cas system of type I-B, with a Cascade like complex composed of Cas proteins Cas5, Cas6b and Cas7. Cas6b is essential for CRISPR RNA (crRNA) maturation but is otherwise not required for the defence reaction. A systematic search revealed that six protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequences are recognised by the Haloferax defence system. For successful invader recognition, a non-contiguous seed sequence of 10 base-pairs between the crRNA and the invader is required.


This study investigated the ESL learners metacognitve awareness and reading strategies use of 80 Form Four of a secondary school in relation to language proficiency. Specifically, it examined the types and frequency of reading strategies used by the high and low language proficiency students and the differences between them. Additionally, the study attempted to fmd out the relationship between the ESL learners' overall language proficiency performance and their frequency of use of reading strategies of the overall and three sub-categories of reading strategies namely, global, problem- solving and support strategies. The research design is a cross sectional survey research which used the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) questionnaire developed by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002). The independent variable was the language proficiency of the ESL learners and the dependent variable was the metacognitive awareness of ESL learners, measured in terms of their ratings of the three sub-categories of reading strategies. Data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed using One-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The findings of this study revealed that the high and low language proficiency students were active reading strategy users. High language proficiency students used problem solving strategies with higher frequency than global and support strategies while low language proficiency students used problem -solving and support strategies with higher frequency than the global strategies. Next, the results seemed to suggest that high and low language proficiency students used somewhat similar frequency of overall, global, problem-solving and support strategies. Moreover, there was no significant relationship between the ESL learners' overall language proficiency performance and their frequency of use of overall, global, problem-solving and support strategies. This study also provides pedagogical implications and suggests area for future research.


Abstract The mineralogical composition of mining wastes deposited in voluminous tailing impoundments around the world is the key factor that controls retention and release of pollutants. Here we report a detailed mineralogical, geochemical, and microbiological investigation of two tailing impoundments near the town of Pezinok, Slovakia. The primary objective of this study was the mineralogy that formed in the impoundment after the deposition of the tailings (so-called tertiary minerals). Tertiary minerals include oxyhydroxides of Fe, Sb, As, Ca and are present as grains and as rims on primary ore minerals. X-ray microdiffraction data show that the iron oxyhydroxides with abundant As are X-ray amorphous. The limiting (lowest) Fe/As (wt/wt%) ratio in this material is 1.5; beyond this ratio, the hydrous ferric oxide does not retain arsenic. The grains with less As and little to moderate amounts of Sb are goethite; the grains where Sb dominates over Fe are poorly crystalline tripuhyite (FeSbO4). Even the most heavily contaminated samples (up to 29 wt% As2O5) are populated with diverse communities of microorganisms including typical arsenic-resistant heterotrophic species as well as iron reducers and sulfur oxidizers. Several recovered clones cluster within phylogenetic groups that are solely based on environmental sequences and do not contain a single cultivated species, thus calling for more work on such extreme environments.


Introduction: The aim of this study is to determine the predominant HBV genotypes for a number of samples and controls as well as to identify the mutant genes which thought to be responsible for the HBV antiviral drug resistance. Methods: A number of samples (8 samples ), that were already collected from infected patients by the microbiology staff of the Manchester University hospital for the purpose of the study, are extracted and tested to determine the HBV genotypes and antiviral resistance. The techniques that are used for this purpose in this study are PCR amplification, gel electrophoresis and then sequencing of PCR products by using Applied Biosystems Invitrogen (ABI-3100). Results: With gel electrophoresis, PCR sample products are compared with the intensity of ladder (marker), and the sequences are analysed by using Bioedit® (Bioinformatics software) and then genotypes of the HBV are retrieved from the NCBI tool. Conclusion: We found that the infected samples are predominantly returned to viral genotypes D as well as it is noticed that the resistance to the HBV antiviral drugs were related to the replacement of some amino acids in a viral gene by other wild mutant one ,especially at the amino acid codon 180 position there was a mutation where Methionine was replaced with mutant Leucine and also at the codon 204 where Methionine was replaced with mutant Valine.


Forests are undergoing significant changes throughout the globe. These changes can modify water, energy, and carbon balance of the land surface, which can ultimately affect climate. We utilize satellite data to quantify the potential and actual impacts of forest change on land surface temperature (LST) from 2003 to 2013. The potential effect of forest change on temperature is calculated by the LST difference between forest and nearby nonforest land, whereas the actual impact on temperature is quantified by the LST trend difference between deforested (afforested) and nearby unchanged forest (nonforest land) over several years. The good agreement found between potential and actual impacts both at annual and seasonal levels indicates that forest change can have detectable impacts on surface temperature trends. That impact, however, is different for maximum and minimum temperatures. Overall, deforestation caused a significant warming up to 0.28 K/decade on average temperature trends in tropical regions, a cooling up to −0.55 K/decade in boreal regions, a weak impact in the northern temperate regions, and strong warming (up to 0.32 K/decade) in the southern temperate regions. Afforestation induced an opposite impact on temperature trends. The magnitude of the estimated temperature impacts depends on both the threshold and the data set (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and Landsat) by which forest cover change is defined. Such a latitudinal pattern in temperature impact is mainly caused by the competing effects of albedo and evapotranspiration on temperature. The methodology developed here can be used to evaluate the temperature change induced by forest cover change around the globe.


TO THE EDITOR: A letter by Scrimgeour in the 18 May 2009 issue of the Journal praised an earlier study by Andreasyan and Hoy for adding to the evidence that Indigenous people living in small communities (known as "outstations" or "homelands") in very remote areas are healthier than those living in larger settlements. I believe this was an error. The study found that mortality was lower in both outer regional areas and very remote areas than in remote areas. But, unfortunately, this tells us nothing about outstations. The Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) classification used by the authors groups larger remote communities and their outstations together — categorising both as "very remote". Scrimgeour is not alone in overstating the evidence for better health among Indigenous people living in smaller communities. The possible health benefits associated with living in outstations has become a major argument against the Australian Government's plan to create 26 remote "hubs" that will receive improved services (to the likely detriment of smaller communities) and the related plan of the Northern Territory Government to develop 20 larger remote communities. For example, Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, was reported as saying that there was "a strong body of research showing that people on homelands lived longer, healthier lives". Calma seriously overstated the evidence we have to date, which consists of two studies from Utopia in central Australia and one study of land management practices in an Arnhem Land community. Although this research is encouraging, we are a long way from determining the causes of better health among sections of those two communities, and whether residence at outstations/homelands or land management practices are associated with better health in other communities as well. There are many reasons for supporting the growth of outstations, and health may be one of them, but it is crucial that those in the field of Indigenous health get this right. Rather than jumping the gun, we need more research into the effects of outstation life on health and wellbeing.


Abstract Aims  Loss-of-function mutations in ANGPTL3 are associated with beneficial effects on lipid and glucose metabolism and reduced risk of coronary artery disease. Vupanorsen (AKCEA-ANGPTL3-L Rx ) is an N-acetyl galactosamine-conjugated antisense oligonucleotide targeted to the liver that selectively inhibits angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3) protein synthesis. Methods and results  This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging, Phase 2 study. Patients (N =105) with fasting triglycerides >150 mg/dL (>1.7 mmol/L), type 2 diabetes, and hepatic steatosis were treated for 6 months with 40 or 80 mg every 4 weeks (Q4W), or 20 mg every week (QW) of vupanorsen, or placebo given subcutaneously. The primary efficacy endpoint was per cent change in fasting triglycerides from baseline at 6 months. Median baseline triglycerides were 2.84 mmol/L (252 mg/dL). Significant reductions in triglycerides of 36%, 53%, 47%, and in ANGPTL3 of 41%, 59%, 56%, were observed in the 40 mg Q4W, 80 mg Q4W, and 20 mg QW groups, respectively, compared with 16% reduction in triglycerides and 8% increase in ANGPTL3 in placebo. Compared with placebo, vupanorsen 80 mg Q4W reduced apolipoprotein C-III (58%), remnant cholesterol (38%), total cholesterol (19%), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; 18%), HDL-C (24%), and apolipoprotein B (9%). There was no improvement in glycaemic parameters, or hepatic fat fraction. Treatment with vupanorsen was not associated with clinically significant changes in platelet counts, and the most common adverse events were those at the injection site, which were generally mild. Conclusion  Vupanorsen results in a favourable lipid/lipoprotein profile and provides a potential strategy for residual cardiovascular risk reduction.


ARTHERY (Action & Rehabilitation to be heatlhy for Geriatry) is a social programs that have a long-term goal to improve the quality of life of the elderly who suffer knee osteoarthritis and prevents osteoartristis progression. The program is implemented at the UPTD Rumoh Seujahtra Geunaseh Sayang that is the only nursing home in the city of Banda Aceh for three months. The method applied in this program is introduce laterally wedged insoles and do osteoarthritis exercise. The results of the implementation of this program are improvement average of WOMAC scores on pain and stiffness of knee osteoarthritis in 13 people and 55 other elderly people have undergone knee osteoarthritis prevention program with 12 times oateoartritis exercise and wearing laterally wedged insoles. Keywords: Laterally wedged insoles, Osteoarthritis Exercise, UPTD Rumoh Seujahtra Geunaseh Sayang


As explorations advance and drilling techniques become more innovative, complex and challenging trajectories arise. In consequence, cuttings transport has continued to be a subject of interest because, if the drilled cuttings cannot be removed from the wellbore, drilling cannot proceed for long. Therefore, efficient cleaning of highly inclined and horizontal wellbores is still among the most important problems to solve, because these types of wells require specialized fluid formulations and/or specific hole cleaning techniques.
 There are numerous studies and methods that focus in cuttings transportation in highly inclined and horizontal wells. One of them is the use of viscosity and density sweeps. Sweep pills have been used in the drilling industry as a tool to improve hole cleaning. This report presents the analysis of the performance of different sweeps pills working independently and in tandem in polymeric, oil and synthetic based systems and the comparison between them.
 The main objective of this project is to provide experimental evidence on which types of fluids perform better under certain conditions by studying the effect of viscosity and density in the bed erosion process in highly inclined and horizontal wells. In order to achieve that, several fluid formulations were tested at different inclination angles (90, 75, 60 degrees) in the Small Indoor Flow Loop property of The University of Tulsa's Drilling Research Projects. The results of the tests are presented in terms of volume of drilled cuttings removed from the test section and measured differential pressures. All the tests were conducted under atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. Moreover, a 2-Layer model is used for estimating the erosion performance of sweeps for design purposes, and the model estimations are compared with experimental results.
 From the experiments, it was identified that polymeric, oil and synthetic based muds with similar density and rheological properties eroded and transported the drilled cuttings similarly under similar test conditions. Furthermore, pumping the sweep pills in tandem demonstrated higher cuttings transport efficiency when compared with the sweep pills applied independently.


Equations are derived that describe the time evolution of the posterior statistics of a general Markov process that modulates the intensity function of an observed inhomogeneous Poisson counting process. The basic equation is a stochastic differential equation for the conditional characteristic function of the Markov process. A separation theorem is established for the detection of a Poisson process having a stochastic intensity function. Specifically, it is shown that the causal minimum-mean-square-error estimate of the stochastic intensity is incorporated in the optimum Reiffen-Sherman detector in the same way as if it were known. Specialized results are obtained when a set of random variables modulate the intensity. These include equations for maximum a posteriori probability estimates of the variables and some accuracy equations based on the Cramer-Rao inequality. Procedures for approximating exact estimates of the Markov process are given. A comparison by simulation of exact and approximate estimates indicates that the approximations suggested can work well even under low count rate conditions.


Despite an increasing request for skin rejuvenation above the knee, very few treatment options have been reported in literature. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of 1:4 hyperdiluted calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHA) in the treatment of skin laxity and dimples of the skin above the knees. A retrospective evaluation of hyperdiluted CaHA treatment for skin laxity and dimples above the knee was performed. Efficacy was classified as blinded evaluation of pre (T0) and 3‐month post‐treatment (T1) photographs by three investigators according to the validated knee cellulite severity score (KCSS) and patient satisfaction. Safety was evaluated through pain scores and adverse events evaluation. A significant reduction of KCSS at T1, as compared to T0, mainly in subjects with lower KCSS at T0, was observed (P < .05). All blinded assessments resulted in a correct identification of T0 and T1 pictures and evaluations of all investigators were found to be consistent and reliable. All patients were satisfied. Only minor adverse events (swelling, erythema, bruising, and skin irregularities) were reported, lasting 2 to 3 weeks after treatment. Our preliminary results highlight the efficacy and safety of hyperdiluted CaHA in the treatment of skin laxity and cellulite above the knees.


The prevalence of domestic abuse in the UK and its impact on children and young people exposed to it suggests that it is likely to be encountered by educational psychologists (EP) in their work and that they could have a key role in supporting within educational settings. However, the subject has received sparse attention in the research literature of the profession. Whilst research exists more generally about professional responses to domestic abuse, there is little evidence of the use of psychosocial research methods. In order to address the gap in EP and psychosocial research around domestic abuse, this study explored from a psychosocial perspective how EPs encounter and respond to domestic abuse in their work. Four EPs were interviewed following the Free Association Narrative Interview method (Hollway & Jefferson, 2013). Thematic analysis was used to gather a picture of how EPs encounter domestic abuse in their work. The outcome of this analysis showed that for these participants, key elements of domestic abuse encounters were: Visibility (invisible/visible); Risk (danger/protection); Disturbance (disturbed/detached); Possibility (possible/impossible); and Learning (intellectual/experiential). Evidence of defence against unwanted thoughts and feelings in relation to domestic abuse work was then explored through individual analysis, paying attention to hesitations and avoidances in the interviews as well as the researcher's own experience of interview encounters. This analysis, supported by psychosocial supervision, suggested that there were aspects of domestic abuse that appeared threatening to participants. These pertained to describing the abuse; situations of conflict; experiences of helplessness; negative evaluations; and feelings of shock, horror, and fear. The outcomes of this study suggest that domestic abuse is an emotive topic for EPs that is hard to process and requires further education and support to enable domestic abuse to be talked about and managed in a safe way when encountered in EP


Childhood factors such as low socioeconomic status are risk factors for Helicobacter pylori infection and Streptococcus mutans-related dental caries. We examined whether H. pylori infection and dental caries are present today in the same group of children examined previously. We reviewed the public dental health service files of 21 H. pylori-positive children (upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at a median age of 13.5 y) and 27 H. pylori-negative children (endoscopy at a median age of 12.5 y) examined during 1995-98 at the Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland. All H. pylori-positive children had experienced dental caries in their primary or permanent teeth or in both whereas among H. pylori-negative children the respective proportion was 70% (p <0.01). At the age of 7 y, 18% (3/17) of the H. pylori-positive children had experienced caries in permanent teeth as compared to 0% among H. pylori-negative children (0/24; p < 0.05). At the age of 12 y, H. pylori-positive children had more decayed, missing or filled permanent teeth than H. pylori-negative children (80% vs. 38%; p <0.05). Although a causal relationship between H. pylori and dental caries is unlikely, it is possible that H. pylori-infected children have an increased risk of other health problems, such as dental caries, for which proper treatment is needed.


ABSTRACT Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cv. Shepody is highly resistant to Potato virus A (PVA), yielding no visible symptoms after rub inoculation. In 'Shepody' rootstocks graft-inoculated by PVA-infected scions from a susceptible host, we found a resistance consisting of traces of necrosis (necrotic streaks) in stems and chlorosis in newly emerged leaves. The response was temperature dependent, appearing at 15 to 18 degrees C but not at 28 to 31 degrees C. Necrosis was also observed in tubers, appearing first in the bud end and spreading randomly throughout the majority of the tuber. Trace amounts of PVA in plant tissues were detected by a combination of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot procedures. The virus concentration was significantly higher in visibly necrotic areas than in nonnecrotic areas, suggesting that presence of the necrosis may be concentration dependent. Pathogenesis-related gene expression showed that chitinase A and B, glucanase B, and PR-10a were associated with chlorotic or necrotic symptoms in leaves, stems, and tubers. Gene expression was markedly more evident in tuber tissues than in leaves and stems. Furthermore, generation of oxidants was also observed within the necrotic areas. Although PVA was detected in necrotic areas of tubers, newly emerged plants from the same tubers were PVA-free.


ABSTRACT The leukotoxin (LktA) produced by Mannheimia haemolytica binds to bovine lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) and induces biological effects in bovine leukocytes in a cellular and species-specific fashion. We have previously shown that LktA also binds to porcine LFA-1 without eliciting any effects. These findings suggest that the specificity of LktA effects must entail both binding to LFA-1 and activation of signaling pathways which are present in bovine leukocytes. However, the signaling pathways leading to biological effects upon LktA binding to LFA-1 have not been characterized. In this context, several reports have indicated that ligand binding to LFA-1 results in activation of a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase (NRTK) signaling cascade. We designed experiments with the following objectives: (i) to determine whether LktA binding to LFA-1 leads to activation of NRTKs, (ii) to examine whether LktA-induced NRTK activation is target cell specific, and (iii) to determine whether LktA-induced NRTK activation is required for biological effects. We used a biologically inactive mutant leukotoxin (ΔLktA) for comparison with LktA. Our results indicate that LktA induces tyrosine phosphorylation (TP) of the CD18 tail of LFA-1 in bovine leukocytes. The ΔLktA mutant does not induce TP of the CD18 tail, albeit binding to bovine LFA-1. LktA-induced TP of the CD18 tail was attenuated by an NRTK inhibitor, herbimycin A; a phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase (PI 3-kinase) inhibitor, wortmannin; and a Src kinase inhibitor, PP2, in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, LktA induces TP of the CD18 tail in bovine, but not porcine, leukocytes. Moreover, LktA-induced intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) elevation was also inhibited by herbimycin A, wortmannin, and PP2. Thus, our data represent the first evidence that binding of LktA to bovine LFA-1 induces a species-specific NRTK signaling cascade involving PI 3-kinase and Src kinases and that this signaling cascade is required for LktA-induced biological effects.


This study proposes an original ultra-wideband short-range radar (UWB-SRR) recognition system based on higher-order statistics (HOS) and support vector machines (SVMs). The main purpose of this work is to improve the road safety by implementing these techniques for detection and recognition of the uncovered road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. The combination of HOS and cell-averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) radar detector has been proposed and investigated. The results show that a combination of HOS and CA-CFAR promises a good performance for UWB radar detector. The authors have also evaluated the performance of SVM-based target recognition system using normalised radar signature as input features. A total of 1000 signatures have been extracted for each class including pedestrian, cyclist, and car, where 50% of them have been used for the training data and the rest for the validation data. The results show that the SVM gives a good performance for the proposed system, where the recognition rates are up to 96.23, 95.25 and 97.23% for the cyclist, pedestrian and car. In the real testing performance using their scenarios, the system has successfully identified 92.77% of the right cyclist, 90.82% of the right pedestrian and 90.73% of the right car.


Wireless access points act as bridges between wired and wireless networks. Since the actually available bandwidth in wireless networks is much smaller than the bandwidth in wired networks, there is a disparity in channel capacity which makes the access point a significant network congestion point in the downstream direction. A current architectural trend in wireless local area networks (WLAN) is to move functionality from access points to a centralized gateway in order to reduce cost and improve features. In this paper, we study the use of RED, a well known active queue management (AQM) scheme, and explicit congestion notification (ECN) to handle bandwidth disparity between the wired and the wireless interface of an access point Then, we propose the proxy-RED scheme, as a solution for reducing the AQM overhead from the access point. Simulations-based performance analysis indicates that the proposed proxy-RED scheme improves overall performance of the network. In particular, the proxy-RED scheme significantly reduces packet loss rate and improves goodput for a small buffer, and minimizes delay for a large buffer size


This study used Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) to explore potential environmental determinants of Fusarium wilt occurrence on banana in south-central part of the Philippines. Different variables representing topographic, bioclimatic, and edaphic features of an area were tested against data of Fusarium wilt occurrence. Based on the results, precipitation during the driest month, precipitation during the wettest month, precipitation of the warmest quarter, slope, and elevation were the most important variables for predicting the probability of Fusarium wilt occurrence on banana. Results also suggest that among the variables tested, precipitation had the major contribution to the occurrence of Fusarium wilt.