The last two decades of excavations in southwest Scania, Sweden, have given substantial new results regarding Early Neolithic society (4000–3300 cal. BC). The overall aim here is to discuss and synthesize these results, and a number of important excavations are also presented in detail. The results are both on a macro scale concerning overall settlement pattern, landscape use and the scale of monumental landscapes, and on a micro scale concerning, for example, houses and huts, monumental sites and their complexity, and pits and depositional practices on different types of sites. Also, the economy of the region as well as the socio-political organization are discussed based on interpretations of the material presented.


Background Brucellosis is a ubiquitous zoonotic disease globally. It is endemic among bovines, sheep, and goats in Albania. The national control and eradication programs for brucellosis has been applied on sheep and goat farms as well as large dairy cattle farms, i.e., those with more than ten milking cows. The current study aims at estimating the herd and average individual animal prevalence of brucellosis in the national beef cattle herds, the missing information that was essential to propose the most appropriate control measures for this sub-population. Rose Bengal Test (RBT), Fluorescence Polarization Assay (FPA), and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) were used as serological tests and classical bacteriology for isolation. Results were also used to investigate the difference in sensitivity between the assays used. Methodology In total, 655 animals from 38 beef cattle herds from six southern districts of Albania were sampled. Sera were tested using RBT, FPA, and ELISA. Fifteen positive cows and a bull from eight high-prevalence positive herds were slaughtered, and particular tissue samples were collected for bacteriology. Results The overall herd seroprevalence in the tested beef cattle population was 55%, while the overall average within-herd prevalence (including only positive herds) was 38.3%, 42.7%, and 45.6% determined by the RBT, ELISA, and FPA, respectively. FPA was used for the first time in the diagnosis of bovine brucellosis in Albania, and its sensitivity was higher than RBT and ELISA. Three B. abortus strains were identified, two from the supra-mammary lymph node of two cows and one from the epididymis of a seropositive bull. Conclusion Brucellosis was highly prevalent in beef cattle in the southern part of Albania, and B. abortus was isolated from this subpopulation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first statistically based survey of bovine brucellosis in beef herds in Albania. Using the FPA in parallel with other serological tests improved overall diagnostic sensitivity. Test and slaughter policy is not a rational approach for the control of brucellosis in beef cattle in Albania, and vaccination is only applicable, including strict control of the movement of animals.


In this paper, successive lag synchronization(SLS) on a dynamical network with communication delay is investigated.In order to achieve SLS on the dynamical network with communication delay, we design linear feedback control and adaptive control, respectively. By using the Lyapunov function method, we obtain some sufficient conditions for global stability of SLS. To verify these results, some numerical examples are further presented. This work may find potential applications in consensus of multi-agent systems.


Due to more freedom in design and flexibility in production, parts produced by additive manufacturing technologies (AM) offer a huge potential for the manufacture of turbomachinery components. Because of the layer by layer built structure, internal defects like cracks or gaseous pores can occur. These defects considerably reduce the mechanical properties and increase the importance of quality control, especially in the field of turbomachinery. Therefore, in this study, an electrochemical defect analysis (EC-D) of additive manufactured components is introduced, performed and validated in comparison to a nondestructive X-ray testing of the same part. A test rig was developed, which allows an alternation between electrochemical machining and subsequent optical documentation of each removed layer. The documentation of the surface and the macroscopic defects in the AM-parts are captured by an integrated camera system.


Heterodera glycines, a destructive pathogen of soybean (Glycine max I. Merc), was recently discovered in Puerto Rico. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) can also be a host for H. glycines, but there are no reports of the effect of H. glycines on seed yield of bean. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the Puerto Rico race-2 population of H. glycines on yield components of common bean. Three resistant and three non-resistant bean lines were exposed to three infestation densities (0, 4,000, and 8,000 eggs and juveniles per pot) of H. glycines race 2, A factorial arrangement of lines and infestation densities was used in a randomized complete block design with six replications in a greenhouse in Isabela, Puerto Rico, in 2000. Data for seed number, pod number, and seed yield per plant were collected. H. glycines had no effect on any yietd component. Observed differences in yield components were due to genotypic factors unrelated to H, glycines. Initial conclusions indicate that H. glycines will not affect yield of common bean in Puerto Rico. Follow-up studies of common bean and H. glycines, using course-textured sous, are recommended.


BACKGROUND
Children contribute a substantial proportion of the global tuberculosis (TB) caseload, particularly in endemic areas, where little is known about their spectrum of disease.

OBJECTIVE
To document the complete disease spectrum, with relevant age- and HIV-related differences, in children treated for TB in a highly endemic community.

METHODS
A prospective descriptive study was conducted from February 2003 to October 2004 at five primary health care clinics in Cape Town, South Africa, including all children (< 13 years of age) treated for TB.

RESULTS
In total, 439 children received anti-tuberculosis treatment. The spectrum of disease included 85 (19.4%) 'not TB', 307 (86.7%) intra-thoracic TB and 72 (20.3%) extra-thoracic TB (25 [5.7%] with co-existing intra- and extra-thoracic disease were included in both groups). In non-HIV-infected children, disseminated (miliary) disease (9/11, 81.8%) and tuberculous meningitis (TBM) (10/13, 76.9%) were predominantly documented in children < 3 years of age. In HIV-infected children, complicated Ghon focus and disseminated (miliary) disease were significantly more common (6/25, 24.0%) than in non-HIV-infected children (12/414, 2.9%) (OR 10.9, 95% CI 3.2-35.9).

CONCLUSION
This study describes the complete disease spectrum observed in children treated for TB in a highly endemic area. Children suffered significant morbidity, with most severe disease recorded in very young and/or HIV-infected children.


Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)- mediated signaling pathways have been known to have important functions in eukaryotic organisms. The mechanisms by which the filamentous fungus Alternaria alternata senses and responds to environmental signals have begun to be elucidated. Available data indicate that A. alternata utilizes the Fus3, Hog1 and Slt2 MAPK-mediated signaling pathways, either separately or in a cooperative manner, for conidia formation, resistance to oxidative and osmotic stress, and pathogenesis to citrus. This review provides an overview of our current knowledge of MAPK signaling pathways, in conjunction with the two-component histidine kinase and the Skn7 response regulator, in the tangerine pathotype of A. alternata .


✓ Pressure-flow data are presented for the brain vascular bed in the rhesus monkey. These data are obtained at fixed levels of vasomotor tone. Resultant flow curves are called the "dynamic pressure-flow relationships" (DPFR). In the experimental model, arterial pressures are oscillated with a sinusoidal pump at frequencies exceeding the vasomotor response lag time. The resultant DPFR curves are discussed. A model is presented to show that changes in vasomotor tone cause a vertical shift of the DPFR. Changes in vascular bed resistance cause a change in the slope of the DPFR (▵P/▵F).


In the mid-1970s, the great Norwegian scholar Stein Rokkan argued that the consolidation of the national welfare state was going to set definite limits to European integration. While the impetuous strengthening of the latter – from Maastricht to Lisbon – has largely disproved Rokkan's factual expectations, developments during the last decade seem to have vindicated the theoretical insights which underpinned his original argument. If appropriately re-elaborated, such insights can help us to identify the conditions under which the economic and social dimension of the European Union might be reconciled in the future.


One remaining crucial point in the early life history is to understand how evolution passed from complex prebiotic chemistry to simple biology. Current cellular facts allow us to follow the link from chemical to biochemical metabolites, from the ancient to the modern world. In this context, the "RNA world" hypothesis proposes that early in the evolution of life, the ribozyme was responsible for the storage and transfer of genetic information and for the catalysis of biochemical reactions. Accordingly the hammerhead ribozyme (HHR), the hairpin ribozyme, and the ribozyme contained in hepatitis-δ virus (HDV) belong to a family of endonucleolytic RNAs performing self-cleavage that might occur during replication. Furthermore regarding the ultraconserved occurrence of HHR in several genomes of modern organisms (from mammals to small parasites and elsewhere), these small ribozymes have been regarded as living fossils of a primitive RNA world. On the other hand, the existence of contemporary life in extreme conditions providing habitats for cellular and viral species, encourages us to focus on the activity, persistence and dynamics of RNAs under such conditions. Finally, studying viroids as plausible remains of ancient RNA, we recently demonstrated that viroids replicate in non-specific hosts, emphasizing their adaptability to different environments which enhanced their survival probability over the ages. All these results exemplify ubiquitous features of life, that is the plasticity and efficiency of small RNAs, viroïds and ribozymes, as well as their diversity and adaptability to various extreme conditions. All these traits must have originated in early life to generate novel RNA populations.


CLINICAL TRIALS WITH VERAPAMIL AND TRANDOLAPRIL: In the Danish Verapamil Infarction Trial II, verapamil improved survival in patients without heart failure but had no effect in patients with heart failure who were receiving diuretic treatment. In the Acute Infarction Ramipril Efficacy study ramipril improved survival in patients receiving diuretic treatment but had no effect in patients not receiving diuretics. COMBINATION WITH THERAPY WITH VERAPAMIL AND TRANDOLAPRIL: By combining verapamil with trandolapril we hypothesized that we could obtain an improvement in left ventricular function and prevent cardiac events. In an open study of 14 patients with angina pectoris and left ventricular ejection fraction below 40%, treatment with trandolapril-verapamil significantly improved left ventricular function. In a double-blind randomized study of 100 postinfarct patients with congestive heart failure the cardiac event rate was significantly lower in verapamil-trandolapril-treated than in the trandolapril-treated patients. These results indicate that the combined treatment with verapamil and trandolapril might be beneficial in patients with ischaemic heart disease and congestive heart failure.


MOTIVATION
Clustering is a useful exploratory technique for the analysis of gene expression data. Many different heuristic clustering algorithms have been proposed in this context. Clustering algorithms based on probability models offer a principled alternative to heuristic algorithms. In particular, model-based clustering assumes that the data is generated by a finite mixture of underlying probability distributions such as multivariate normal distributions. The issues of selecting a 'good' clustering method and determining the 'correct' number of clusters are reduced to model selection problems in the probability framework. Gaussian mixture models have been shown to be a powerful tool for clustering in many applications.

RESULTS
We benchmarked the performance of model-based clustering on several synthetic and real gene expression data sets for which external evaluation criteria were available. The model-based approach has superior performance on our synthetic data sets, consistently selecting the correct model and the number of clusters. On real expression data, the model-based approach produced clusters of quality comparable to a leading heuristic clustering algorithm, but with the key advantage of suggesting the number of clusters and an appropriate model. We also explored the validity of the Gaussian mixture assumption on different transformations of real data. We also assessed the degree to which these real gene expression data sets fit multivariate Gaussian distributions both before and after subjecting them to commonly used data transformations. Suitably chosen transformations seem to result in reasonable fits.

AVAILABILITY
MCLUST is available at http://www.stat.washington.edu/fraley/mclust. The software for the diagonal model is under development.

CONTACT
email@example.com.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/kayee/model.


Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are fast emerging as a suitable means of integrating small and distributed energy resources (DERs), like wind and solar, into the electricity supply network (Grid). VPPs are formed via the aggregation of a large number of such DERs, so that they exhibit the characteristics of a traditional generator in terms of predictability and robustness. In this work, we promote the formation of such "cooperative'' VPPs (CVPPs) using multi-agent technology. In particular, we design a payment mechanism that encourages DERs to join CVPPs with large overall production. Our method is based on strictly proper scoring rules and incentivises the provision of accurate predictions from the CVPPs---and in turn, the member DERs---which aids in the planning of the supply schedule at the Grid. We empirically evaluate our approach using the real-world setting of 16 commercial wind farms in the UK. We show that our mechanism incentivises real DERs to form CVPPs, and outperforms the current state of the art payment mechanism developed for this problem.


We hypothesized that the implementation of automatic real-time assessment of quality of forced spirometry (FS) may significantly enhance the potential for extensive deployment of a FS program in the community. Recent studies have demonstrated that the application of quality criteria defined by the ATS/ERS (American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society) in commercially available equipment with automatic quality assessment can be markedly improved. To this end, an algorithm for assessing quality of FS automatically was reported. The current research describes the mathematical developments of the algorithm. An innovative analysis of the shape of the spirometric curve, adding 23 new metrics to the traditional 4 recommended by ATS/ERS, was done. The algorithm was created through a two-step iterative process including: (1) an initial version using the standard FS curves recommended by the ATS; and, (2) a refined version using curves from patients. In each of these steps the results were assessed against one expert's opinion. Finally, an independent set of FS curves from 291 patients was used for validation purposes. The novel mathematical approach to characterize the FS curves led to appropriate FS classification with high specificity (95%) and sensitivity (96%). The results constitute the basis for a successful transfer of FS testing to non-specialized professionals in the community.


Conspiracy theories point accusing fingers at authorities, and offer alternatives to official explanations. Scholars have argued that in doing so, they may therefore subvert social systems and undermine confidence in established political, health and environmental positions. In this thesis we empirically put these arguments to the test. In four experiments, we found that exposure to conspiracy theories reduced people's intention to engage in (a) the political system, (b) environmentally-friendly initiatives and (c) childhood vaccination (Chapters 2 and 3). Ironically however, instead of undermining the social status quo, we found in four experiments that conspiracy theories appear to bolster satisfaction with social systems. They appear to do so because they explain tragedies, disasters and social problems on the actions of destructive individuals and groups, rather than inherent flaws in society. By drawing attention away from the deeper limitations of social systems, conspiracy theories may therefore reduce, rather than increase, the likelihood of social and political change (Chapter 4). Finally, we found that once people have been exposed to conspiracy theories, the negative effects are difficult to attenuate. In two experiments we tested interventions based on counter-arguments (e.g., that vaccines are safe instead of harmful) and a pre-warning that detailed people's tendency to rely on retracted information. However, both were found to be ineffective in improving intentions to vaccinate a fictional child (Chapter 5). Overall, the research outlined in this thesis highlights some of the potentially damaging consequences of conspiracy theories. This research opens up new avenues for enquiry and calls for ongoing investigations to address the growth of conspiracism in society.


This thesis which compromise of three essays focuses on the theme of valuation, value premium anomaly, financing behaviour and emerging markets. The first essay studies the value growth puzzle in the context of conflict of interest between taxable and institutional investors. We model this conflict in a rational expectations framework and demonstrate how the differences in firm's characteristics (in terms of value versus growth) and the risk profile of the investors can explain the shape of CAPM's frontier in the overall economy without involving the beta parameter. We also explicate that the changes in taxable and non-taxable investors profile in a dynamic environment rationalize the value growth premium as illustrated by Malkiel (2003). Finally, our approach shed light on the issues raised by Shiller (1979,1981) and LeRoy and Porter (1981) that stock [bond] prices are too volatile to be rationalized by the discounted value of their expected dividends [coupon payments].

The second essay studies value anomaly in the context of four major emerging economies (i.e. Brazil, Turkey, China and India denoted by the acronym BTIC) with vast economic potential and Malaysia, a small emerging economy with top heavy, closely held, state-owned institutional setting. We attribute the anomaly to the investment pattern of glamour firms. Our empirical analysis illustrates that these firms have a tendency to hoard cash, delaying the undertaking of their growth options, especially in poor economic environments. This mitigates their business risk, but lowers their market valuation, driving down their returns. Our hypothesis also reconciles the diverging views stemming from both the neoclassical and behavioural perspectives.

This third essay examines the target capital structure of Malaysian firms and their adjustment process in the pre- and post- Asian financial crisis. We utilize an unbalanced panel data set comprising of 184 firms and employ the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to study the relationship between a firm's characteristics and its capital structure targeting behaviour in the context of political patronage. Our results support the amalgamation of the well-known Pecking Order and Static Trade-off theories. It also illustrates that the financial crisis had a significant impact on the financial policy of Malaysian firms.


Cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) considers the quantum mechanical interaction of emitters located in a cavity with the electromagnetic field in the cavity under circumstances where the quantized nature of the field is important, for example, when the system dynamics changes upon addition or removal of only a single photon [1]. The confinement of the light quanta in the cavity results in the enhancement of the coupling between emitter and field, which leads to significant modification of the radiative emitter dynamics. The emitter dynamics is determined by the balance between the coherent emitter-cavity coupling g and the cavity loss rate g, it can be enhanced and even become reversible in the strong-coupling regime when the energy oscillates back and forth between emitter and cavity in a coherent way. The realization of the strong coupling regime requires the design of cavities with high quality factors Q, but at the same time small mode volume V, since g ∼V−1/2.


In higher education, reliance on part-time teachers, including postgraduate students (PGs), in our undergraduate (UG) programmes is widespread. Dental education is no exception: the bulk of our UG clinical teaching/supervision is provided by casually-employed clinicians. Consistent with reports highlighting the need for professional development for part-time (including PG) teachers, we identified our PGs needed support. This paper describes the programme we developed for our PGs and the initial evaluation. Recommendations from the literature informed our programme design. Evaluation of the programme involved PG-clinical teachers' perceptions of their experience and analysis of their learning outcomes, using pre- and post-tests. The tests required PG-clinical teachers to identify behaviours related to UG clinical assessment criteria and clinical teacher attributes, and judge the level of performance portrayed in a series of UG clinic video simulations. To check that clinical assessment criteria for UGs and clinical teacher attributes were identifiable, experienced-clinical teachers completed the same tests. Learning from repeated viewing of the test-videos was not evident. It was difficult to identify and/or classify UG clinical assessment criteria in the videos. Both PG- and experienced-clinical teachers identified and classified more clinical teacher attributes than UG clinical assessment criteria. There was some improvement by PG-clinical teachers in identifying and classifying clinical teacher attributes. These data indicated the programme may have contributed to PG-clinical teachers' learning about their role, but it did not consistently contribute to improved outcomes for evaluating UG performance. Implications for our PG-clinical teaching programme and how we evaluate our UG performance are discussed.


While the primary causes of the 2007-8 financial crisis are disputed, many economists hold that the monetary policy missteps played a role in causing or prolonging the financial crisis. In light of the perceived failure of monetary orthodoxy, monetary models are being theoretically refined and empirically recalibrated. Absent from these technical debates is a recognition of the immense knowledge burdens inherent in monetary policy. We argue that Fed authorities simply do not, and in all likelihood cannot, have the knowledge required to achieve their own monetary objectives, given their inability to approximately measure or predict changes in the demand for money. Finally, we evaluate the ability of NGDP targeting and free banking to overcome this knowledge problem.


Language Assessment in Practice by Lyle Bachman and Adrian Palmer is a defining text within the field of language assessment. With an expected readership of students, language teachers with varying experience, applied linguists, professional language testers, materials developers and textbook writers, Language Assessment in Practice is ambitious at its core. Nonetheless, the authors' logical approach and straightforward writing style make this a highly accessible text for all members of its intended audience. In an inviting first chapter titled ―Objectives and Explanations, or why we need another book about language testing,‖ Bachman and Palmer explain their reasons for taking on this project, especially in light of their earlier, formative work Language Testing in Practice (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). Using Bachman's articulation of the Assessment Use Argument (AUA) as its organizing theoretical framework, Language Assessment in Practice represents a distinct departure from the earlier text. At nearly twice the number of pages of text (excluding the projects in the final chapters of both books), and incorporating extensive resources available online, this volume represents a significant evolution in the authors' thinking about assessment.


Sulfate sorption can modify the reaction of a soil to acid depositions. Different models of this process exist. In a preceeding paper the adsorption isotherm and the solubility product modeling approach have been compared and a solubility product model has been introduced. The latter model is tested using a forest liming experiment. Concentration data form canopy drip and seepage covering a 20-yr observation period are used as 3-yr moving averages. The model assumes a steady seepage flow and uses only one 1-m compartment. The model considers joint chemical equilibria for gibbsite, jurbanite, cation exchange, and complexation. The seepage pH and concentrations of Al and sulfate under the unlimed reference plot can be modeled if a reduced CEC and a free parameter function for alkalinity production are used. The sulfate desorption caused by liming can be explained by the model. It is concluded that sorbed sulfate contributes to the lime requirement of an acidified soil. 24 refs., 7 figs.


Legacies of residential segregation have led to deep inequities felt in communities of color across the nation and have been established as a fundamental cause of health disparities. Historical practices such as the redlining of majority Black neighborhoods in cities have led to long term consequences on these communities, including concentrated poverty and disadvantage. Research shows a strong connection between living in a poor neighborhood and poorer health outcomes, including early death, but questions remain about what characteristics of poor neighborhoods drive these disparities. We combined data from the American Community Survey with administrative data from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to examine the difference in premature death in Black and white neighborhoods (N = 87) using measures of socioeconomic disadvantage and less commonly studied neighborhood features including vacancy, tax delinquency, and property sales and conditions. Results suggest that features of abandonment, particularly the percent of tax delinquent properties in a neighborhood, may capture an important structural difference between majority Black and majority white neighborhoods with impacts beyond socioeconomic disadvantage on community health. We discuss implications of these findings for research and practice.


Despite the importance of the non-verbal aspect in the realisation and interpretation of impoliteness, studies that tackle impoliteness in its multimodal fullness are rather rare. This dissertation around the multimodal realisation of impoliteness in comics is an attempt to remedy this gap. It specifically explores the forms and functions of impoliteness in British and Lebanese comic anthologies, thereby also looking into potential country-specific practices and preferences. In doing so, it addresses a secondary aim of the research, which is to gauge the applicability of the adopted impoliteness model in a multimodal medium in two disparate contexts. Informed mainly by the integrative pragmatics approach and a cognitive-based multimodal approach to the study of comics, the study focuses on the inter-character interactions that may have elicited an evaluation of impoliteness among any of the participant-characters or readers/analysts. Similarities in the realisation of impoliteness in the two countries' comics are noted, and differences and areas of interest are highlighted and examined through a cultural lens. A number of non-verbal features accompanying impoliteness behaviours are shown to occur with a frequency that suggests that they have become conventionalised for impoliteness and are an important part of the contexts that constitute impoliteness. Moreover, while serving as a source of affective release and creative entertainment, impoliteness in comics is also frequently revealed to be a resource for challenging and renegotiating the characters' power dynamics and social identities. Lastly, the aptness of the adopted impoliteness model at guiding the analysis of impoliteness phenomena in a previously unexplored medium and context is substantiated.


Title of dissertation: ENERGY HARVESTING COMMUNICATION NETWORKS WITH SYSTEM COSTS Ahmed Arafa, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017 Dissertation directed by: Professor Şennur Ulukuş Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering This dissertation focuses on characterizing optimal energy management policies for energy harvesting communication networks with system costs. The system costs that we consider are the cost of circuitry to be on (processing cost) at the transmitters, cost of decoding at the receivers, cost of moving to harvest more energy in mobile energy harvesting nodes, and the cost of collecting measurements (sampling cost) from physical phenomena. We first consider receiver decoding costs in networks where receivers, in addition to transmitters, rely on energy harvested from nature to communicate. Energy harvested at the receivers is used to decode their intended messages, and is modeled as a convex increasing function of the incoming rate. With the goal of maximizing throughput by a given deadline, we study single-user and multi-user settings, and show that decoding costs at the receivers can be represented as generalized data arrivals at the transmitters. This introduces a further coupling between the transmitters and receivers of the network and allows us to characterize optimal policies by moving all constraints to the transmitter side. Next, we study the decoding cost effect on energy harvesting cooperative multiple access channels, where users employ data cooperation to increase their achievable rates. Data cooperation requires each user to decode the other user's data before forwarding it to the destination, which uses up some of the harvested energy. With the presence of decoding costs, we show that data cooperation may not be always helpful; if the decoding costs are relatively high, then sending directly to the receiver without data cooperation between the users achieves higher throughput. When cooperation is helpful, we determine the optimum allocation of available energy between decoding cooperative partner's data and forwarding it to the destination. We then study the impact of adding processing costs, on top of decoding costs, in energy harvesting two-way channels. Processing costs are the amounts of energy spent for circuitry operation, and are incurred whenever a user is communicating. We show that due to processing costs, transmission may become bursty, where users communicate through only a portion of the time. We develop an optimal scheme that maximizes the sum throughput by a given deadline under both decoding and processing costs. Next, we focus on online policies. We consider a single-user energy harvesting channel where the transmitter is equipped with a finite-sized battery, and the goal is to maximize the long term average utility, for general concave increasing utility functions. We show that fixed fraction policies are near optimal; they achieve a long term average utility that lies within constant multiplicative and additive gaps from the optimal solution for all battery sizes and all independent and identically distributed energy arrival patterns. We then consider a specific scenario of a utility function that measures the distortion of Gaussian samples communicated over a Gaussian channel. We formulate two problems: one with, and the other without sampling costs, and design near optimal fixed fraction policies for the two problems. Then, we consider another aspect of costs in energy harvesting single-user channels, that is, the energy spent in physical movement in search of better energy harvesting locations. Since movement has a cost, there exists a tradeoff between staying at the same location and moving to a new one. Staying at the same location allows the transmitter to use all its available energy in transmission, while moving to a new one may let the transmitter harvest higher amounts of energy and achieve higher rates at the expense of a cost incurred through the relocation process. We characterize this tradeoff optimally under both offline and online settings. Next, we consider different performance metrics, other than throughput, in energy harvesting communication networks. First, we study the issue of delay in single-user and broadcast energy harvesting channels. We define the delay per data unit as the time elapsed from the unit's arrival at the transmitter to its departure. With a pre-specified amount of data to be delivered, we characterize delay minimal energy management policies. We show that the structure of the optimal policy is different from throughput-optimal policies; to minimize the average delay, earlier arriving data units are transmitted using higher powers than later arriving ones, and the transmit power may reach zero, leading to communication gaps, in between energy or data arrival instances. Finally, we conclude this dissertation by considering the metric of the age of information in energy harvesting two-hop networks, where a transmitter is communicating with a receiver through a relay. Different from delay, the age of information is defined as the time elapsed since the latest data unit has reached the destination. We show that age minimal policies are such that the transmitter sends message updates to the relay just in time as the relay is ready to forward them to the receiver. Energy Harvesting Communication Networks with System Costs


This thesis seeks to investigate female conversion to
Islam in the United States, and the role of gender and identity in
this process. Utilizing various conversion studies, from four
different fields, I will provide the background on conversion in
general and will attempt to rationalize the decision for conversion
to Islam in an environment, which may not be conducive to these
beliefs. By looking at individual conversion narratives, the
motivations for conversion, as well as the purposes for the
conversion process will be revealed. Ultimately, this research
attempts to understand the factors which may drive an individual to
convert to Islam, when other religious options are easily
accessible.


This paper examines the industrial performance indicators and the relationships between skill indicators; between skill, upskilling, technology and input-output indicators in Sudan. Our findings are consistent with the stylized facts in the new growth literature, concerning the correlation between skill indicators: education, experience and wages and also concerning the positive complementary relationships between technology, skill and upskilling. Different from the Sudanese literature, a novel element in our analysis is that we use a new primary data from the firm survey (2010) and we provide a new contribution and fill the gap in the Sudanese literature by examining the industrial performance indicators defined by three different sets of economic and productivity indicators, activity indicators and profitability indicators in Sudan. One advantage and interesting element in our analysis in this paper is that we confirm three hypotheses on the relationships between skill indicators; between skill, upskilling, technology and input-output indicators and industrial performance indicators using new primary data from the firm survey (2010) in Sudan. We verify our first hypothesis that irrespective of the observed differences across the industrial firms, the low skill levels - due to high share of unskilled workers - lead to skills mismatch and most probably contribute to decline of labour productivity and industrial performance indicators. We confirm our second hypothesis that an increase in skill levels and firm size lead to improved relationships between actual and required education and experience; between actual education, experience and wages; and between skill, upskilling and technology (ICT) and also improved industrial performance indicators. We also support our third hypothesis concerning the inconclusive relationships between new technology (the use of ICT) and input-output indicators at the micro/firm level. Finally, we provide a new contribution to the Sudanese literature, since we explain that the performance of the industrial firms is most probably immensely undermined by the shortage of skilled workers and also by the lack of entrepreneur perspective. We recommend further efforts to be made to improve adequate availability of skilled workers and commitment to entrepreneur perspective for improvement of labour productivity, industrial performance and therefore, economic growth and development in Sudan.


There will be some implications  if progressive law idea is applied on the criminal law judiciary  system to enforce the law. The implications are firstly, the police will not use the written law as primary instrument in combating crimes, but they are going to place forward the conscience, secondly, unloading coherent characteristic at public attorney, that is bureaucratic sentralistic, and go into effect the comando system embracing responsibility hierachie, and thirdly, the court ( judge ) should not  handle the case only based on written law but also placed forward on conscience, because the law is created for the citizen and not inversed. The task of the judges  are  not only as technical Acts but they are also as a social creature.


Digital assistants are currently expanding, and they are integrated into the daily lives of many users. In the implementation of digital assistants, various technologies are used, such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), etc. This article is an exploratory research in digital assistants used mainly for educational purposes. The progress of the EdTech sector has brought significant changes in the educational landscape. In this context, digital assistants are one of the technological advancements that could have a high impact on education. It is very likely to see more institutions using virtual assistants in education over the next few years, given the advancements in virtual assistants and their impact in the process during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several schools and universities have already started to use Amazon's Alexa for support issues like answering administrative questions or guiding students around the campus. Although for the moment they have rather basic functionality, it is obvious that virtual assistants can already be used in education and have the potential to boost students' performance, assist teachers' activity and support administrative tasks.
This paper will focus on providing a state of the art of current initiatives and discuss the perspectives on how digital assistants can shift the education industry. It will also discuss future development possibilities and use case scenarios. The progress of artificial intelligence and its integration with virtual assistants shows that there are many opportunities ahead for using digital assistants in education, but there is still a long to go to realize their full potential. But for sure, they will be used in the future in more complex contexts.


Microwave remote sensing is a valuable tool for many applications like Earth observation for the extraction of geo-physical parameters, military reconnaissance, or general security related tasks like surveillance of critical infrastructure or the detection of concealed objects. While SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) as an active imaging technique can deliver very high spatial resolution, passive sensing as used in microwave radiometry produces quasi-optical images without exposing objects to artificial radiation. However, an interesting case is combining active and passive imaging by applying an artificial illumination source to a radiometric imager. At DLR a novel fully electronic imaging concept for passive sensing has been developed in the past. The imaging principle is briefly outlined, and some first imaging results for passive and active operation are compared and discussed.


A sensorless position detection technique for a permanent magnet (PM) motor with non-salient rotor is presented. It is shown that the phase self inductances and resistances measured at higher frequencies vary slightly with the rotor position. The origin of the variations is found in the iron B-H hysteresis characteristics. In order to exploit these small variations for the rotor position detection, a measurement setup is proposed. The technique is tested and shows good results and promises further developments.


The Night Visions of Zechariah against the background of conflict in the early postexilic community in Judah. In this article Paul D Hanson's view that the Night Visions of Zechariah should be interpreted against the background of a situation of conflict in post-exilic society is taken up. His description of the text as a hierocratic document aimed at the restoration of the pre-exilic status quo is however challenged. It is indicated that the Night Visions should rather be read as text purporting to inspire its readers towards involvement in the processes of change in society. Different levels of meaning, reflecting various aspects of the conflict in the community, can be indicated in the text.


Abstract. A high-resolution, continuous 18.5 kyr (1 kyr  =  1000 cal yr BP) macroscopic charcoal record from Qinghai Lake in southwestern Yunnan Province, China, reveals postglacial fire frequency and variability history. The results show that three periods with high-frequency and high-severity fires occurred during the periods 18.5–15.0, 13.0–11.5, and 4.3–0.8 ka, respectively. This record was compared with major pollen taxa and pollen diversity indices from the same core, and tentatively related to the regional climate proxy records with the aim to separate climate- from human-induced fire activity, and discuss vegetation–fire–climate interactions. The results suggest that fire was mainly controlled by climate before 4.3 ka and by the combined actions of climate and humans after 4.3 ka. Before 4.3 ka, high fire activity corresponded to cold and dry climatic conditions, while warm and humid climatic conditions brought infrequent and weak fires. Fire was an important disturbance factor and played an important role in forest dynamics around the study area. Vegetation responses to fire after 4.3 ka are not consistent with those before 4.3 ka, suggesting that human influence on vegetation and fire regimes may have become more prevalent after 4.3 ka. The comparisons between fire activity and vegetation reveal that evergreen oaks are flammable plants and fire-tolerant taxa. Alnus is a fire-adapted taxon and a nonflammable plant, but density of Alnus forest is a key factor to decide its fire resistance. The forests dominated by Lithocarpus/Castanopsis and/or tropical trees and shrubs are not easy to ignite, but Lithocarpus/Castanopsis and tropical trees and shrubs are fire-sensitive taxa. Fire appears to be unfavourable to plant diversity in the study area.


We present a study analyzing the response times of users to questions on Twitter. We investigate estimating these response times using an exponential distribution-based wait time model learned from users' previous responses. Our analysis considers several different model building approaches, including personalized models for each user, general models built for all users, and time-sensitive models specific to a day of the week or hour of the day. Our evaluation using a real world question-answer dataset shows the effectiveness of our approach.


Introduced fish seriously affect zooplankton communities in mountain lakes, often leading to the loss of large species. Selective predation is recognized to be the ultimate cause of such a strong impact. Here we describe the selection of zooplankton prey by analyzing the stomach contents of more than 300 brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) inhabiting seven alpine lakes in the Gran Paradiso National Park (western Italian Alps). Our results show that planktivory is much more common in young fish, which feed on a larger number of taxa, but also adult fish maintain the ability to feed on zooplankton. There is a direct dependence between the length of zooplankton prey and the length of their fish predators, and adult, not juvenile fish are responsible of the selective predation on large crustacean zooplankton, which drive the impact of introduced fish throughout the entire zooplankton community. In some rare cases, large zooplankton populations develop in the presence of brook trout, and planktivory can become an important temporary resource for adult fish during the ice-free season. Thus, in the early stages of the establishment of non-native trout in alpine lakes, large-bodied zooplankton may represent an important food resource.


This paper presents link level simulation results for the FDD (frequency division duplex) component of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), based on the W-CDMA access technique. The simulation results are given for the 8 kbit/s voice service, for the 384 kbit/s circuit switched data service (LCD, long constrained delay) and for the 480 kbit/s packet switched data service (UDD, unconstrained delay data). The results are given in terms of bit error rate (BER) or block erasure rate (BLER), as a function of the Eb/No (Eb=energy per information bit, No=noise power spectral density) ratio and the mobile speed, in four different propagation channels defined by ETSI and ITU-R.


Frontal copolymerization is a process in which a spatially localized reaction zone propagates into a mixture of two monomers, converting them into a copolymer. In the simplest case of free-radical copolymerization, a mixture of monomers and initiator is placed into a test tube. Reaction is initiated at one end of the tube, and a self-sustained thermal wave, in which chemical conversion occurs, develops and propagates through the tube. We develop a mathematical model of the frontal copolymerization process and analytically determine the structure of the polymerization wave, the propagation velocity, maximum temperature, and degree of conversion of the monomers Specifically, we examine their dependence on reactivity ratios as well as other kinetic parameters, monomer feed composition, and exothermicity of the reactions. Our analytic results are in good quantitative agreement with both direct numerical simulations of the model and experimental data, which are also presented in the paper.


The lineament patterns in eastern Pod hale Basin and neighboring part of the Pieniny Klippen Belt are obtained on the basis of high resolution satellite-and airborne radar images and densely-spaced contour line map. There are discussed relations between individual patterns and the patterns and the available data from field mapping are discussed along with usability of the former in geological studies. Lineament patterns generally differ from one another. depending on data on the basis of which they were established. However. all of them appear very similar to structural scheme of an area. reconstructed with the use of geological data. It is still impossible to single out any homogeneous group of structures on the basis of lineaments but the pattern of radar lineaments appears most similar to that of faults. The remaining lineament patterns (remote sensing satellite-and morpholineaments) appear strongly influenced by other discontinuities, especially all the types of joints. The whole analysed material appears useful in studies on patterns of discontinuities and intensity of rock fracturing in the Carpathian region. However, any far-reaching tectonic conclusions may be drawn on its basis with marked caution only.


The world is in the throes of a wholly unprecedented and unforeseen predicament: a pandemic, global in scope and of uncommon virulence. The pandemic brought to a halt an economic boom, whose benefits and hopes for a better tomorrow availed a small minority, with vast swaths of humanity continuing to live from hand to mouth. With no clear end in sight and the plight from this pandemic borne largely by the poor and segments of the society least able to fend for themselves, the questions commonly asked, as countries are preparing to exit from the crisis is: Will there be a "new norm", as we exit from the Crisis and what will this new norm be? This paper probes this question, with help from past experience. The history of Antiquity and Medieval Europe comes in handy in this respect. We speak of models of governance; we speak of institutions but also of ideologies which underpin those models and shape those institutions. They have changed over time. But it was to this period, from roughly the age of Pericles to that of Machiavelli, that we can trace the genesis, as well as early debates, on both the forms of government and the overarching values to which they ought to adhere. It was in Athens, Greece and during the fifth century, that speculation on politics, participative democracy and ethics first began, in a systematic way. In all fields of activity, the Golden Age of Athens (478-404 BCE) produced exceptional leaders and thinkers; men like Pericles, Themistocles, Thucydides and Plato, precursor of Aristotle. This Golden Age coincided with the hegemony of Athens. It came to an end abruptly, after a protracted war compounded by a pandemic. This thirty-year war (431-404 BCE) has been discussed extensively in a seminal work by Thucydides, which to this day is studied by both political scientists and students of warfare. As we all know, defeat brought to an end the hegemony of Athens but also sealed the fate of Sparta or Lacedaemon. Neither recovered really until many centuries later. Thucydides explores this sequence of events. Three passages stand out in his detailed analysis. The first describes the policies that Athens and Sparta adopted in an attempt to establish dominion over their respective allies. The second is the speech attributed to Pericles; better known as the Funeral Oration (Epitaphios). In inimitable prose but also in the mould of many a Western leader in our days, it lavished praise on Athens and democratic governance but also cast aspersion on Athens' adversaries, who followed different paths. In yet another passage – the Mitylenian Debate – Thucydides recounts the way the Athens hegemon "punished" the Mitylenians, when they rebelled. Explaining this, Thucydides, in words that he attributed to the Athenian leadership, bluntly expressed the view that democratic governance was really incompatible with empire and, when "push comes to shove", democracy incapable of holding on to an empire without resort to violence and force (Thucydides 1985: 229-290). The sequence of events, which led to war and doom for both the warring parties, gave rise to the telling expression "the Thucydides trap". Over the past two centuries, as well as two millennia many a national leader has fallen into this trap. Democracy and sound governance have suffered as a consequence. Keywords: governance models, management, public administration, public service, COVID-19 pandemic.


: Surveillance for bluetongue (BT) viruses (BTV) has been carried out in the Northern Territory, Australia since 1980. The number of sites, intensity of sampling and methods of testing have varied during this period. Monthly serology is conducted at a number of sentinel sites and intensive weekly sampling for virus isolation is conducted at the site of highest known arboviral activity. This has enabled the isolation of all eight BTV serotypes identified in Australia. Natural viraemias are between one and eight weeks. No additional serotypes have been isolated since 1986. However, genetic analysis of isolates has shown incursions of viruses of South-East Asian origin in 1992, 1994 and 1995. Trapping for Culicoides spp. has also been carried out at these sites on a regular basis. In recent years, an annual serological survey has supplemented the sentinel herds to more accurately define the BT zones described under OIE guidelines.


Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a severe metabolic disease, in which the body cannot maintain glucose level in the blood, resulting in hyperglycemia. Type I DM is an autoimmune disease caused by the destruction of β-cells, which are insulin secreting endocrine cells in pancreas.
For Type I DM treatment, islet transplantation is becoming a promising treatment for Type I DM with minimally invasive surgery. Since 2000, the Edmonton protocol and the modified procedures using steroid-free immunosuppression were proposed. The surgery carries less mortality and morbidity. However, currently, islet transplantation faces several limitations such as donor shortage, islet loss, poor islet quality control, and the usage of immunosuppressant. To overcome these obstacles, novel solutions, such as alternative β-cells sources, effective pancreas preservation, improved isolation procedure, standard islet functional assessments, new immunosuppression regimes are needed. This thesis proposes to address these limitations by applying an emerging technology, microfluidics.
Microfluidic technology can provide a unique platform to understand pancreatic islet physiology and has been developed as perifusion apparatus for studying insulin secretion kinetics in conjunction with optical imaging of stimulus- secretion coupling factors, such as calcium influx and mitochondrial potential changes. New generation of microfluidic perifusion systems (dual-perifusion device design) has been established with the improvement of flow dynamic control, mixing efficiency, assay throughput. This dual-perifusion microfluidic device allows users to have superior control over the desired islet microenvironment and culture conditions without compromising the spatiotemporal resolution of the measured parameters. Therefore, microfluidic- based assay can be an attractive tool for real-time assessment of β-cell function based on β-cell physiology and can be used as a gold standard for assessing the functionality of islet preparations post isolation prior to transplantation. Furthermore, systematic bubble prevention system for long-term culture of pancreatic islets in a microfluidic device has been developed with portable bubble traps. Successful long-term culture in microfluidic device is necessary to expand microfluidics applicability in terms of pancreatic islet research. Based on long-term culture set-up, we have investigated the effects of various immunosuppressive drugs on pancreatic islets through invention of new multi- perifusion microfluidic device.


Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) appears in up to 20% of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The present study aimed to assess the efficacy of medical thoracoscopy (MT) in the diagnosis of patients with MPE induced by NHL. Between July 2005 and June 2014, 833 patients with pleural effusions of unknown etiology underwent MT in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital (Beijing, China), where diagnostic thoracocentesis or/and blind pleural biopsy had failed to yield an answer. Demographic, radiographic, thoracoscopic, histological and immunophenotyping data of 10 NHL patients with MPE were then retrospectively analyzed. Under medical thoracoscopy, pleural nodules (in n=6 patients), hyperemia (n=5), plaque-like lesions (n=4), pleural thickening (n=3), cellulose (n=3), ulcer (n=2), adhesion (n=2), and scattered hemorrhagic spots (n=1) were observed on the surface of parietal pleura. Histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of pleural biopsy samples led to a correct diagnosis of B-cell NHL in 7 patients and T-lymphoblastic NHL in 2 patients. Data from the present study demonstrated that pleural biopsy through MT achieved a definite diagnosis of NHL in 9 out of 10 (90%) patients with MPE induced by NHL. Therefore, MT is a useful method for diagnosing MPE induced by NHL.


Brassica crops are grown worldwide for food, oil, medicinal and crop rotation properties. They suffer from insect pests which cause large yield and economic losses. Application of insecticides is the preferred way of dealing with insect problems, but it is not only hazardous to the environment, it also affects humans as the chemicals easily get incorporated into the food chain. As a result, new more resistant varieties are urgently needed to meet the demand of growing populations.

A set of 200 accessions were classified as resistant (non-preferred) or susceptible (preferred) in response to cabbage aphid feeding in the field. Fifteen accessions were further assessed to characterize and identify the level and location of resistance factors by investigating feeding behaviour of cabbage aphid using the Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) technique. The feeding behaviour assessment revealed the presence of interspecific & intraspecific variation and presence of resistance factors at multiple levels.

The transcriptional response of these accessions under presence and absence of aphid feeding for 24h showed that gene expression is highly regulated in response to aphid feeding. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment study helped identify strong candidate genes for aphid resistance. In addition to this, the gene expression differences between CWR and landraces indicated adaptations of landraces during the process of domestication. Lastly, Gene expression data was used to develop models to predict insect resistance status.

In conclusion, the combination of EPG and transcriptomics provides an opportunity to assess brassica germplasm for further research into defence mechanisms of cabbage aphids.


PURPOSE
There is strong and consistent evidence that a single exercise session can acutely reduce triglycerides and increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HDL-C), reduce blood pressure, and improve insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. Such observations suggest that at least some of the effects on atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk factors attributed to exercise training may be the result of recent exercise.

RESULTS
These acute and chronic exercise effects cannot be considered in isolation. Exercise training increases the capacity for exercise, thereby permitting more vigorous and/or more prolonged individual exercise sessions and a more significant acute effect. The intensity, duration, and energy expenditure required to produce these acute exercise effects are not clearly defined. The acute effect of exercise on triglycerides and HDL-C appears to increase with overall energy expenditure possibly because the effect maybe mediated by reductions in intramuscular triglycerides. Prolonged exercise appears necessary for an acute effect of exercise on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. The acute effect of exercise on blood pressure is a low threshold phenomenon and has been observed after energy expenditures requiring only 40% maximal capacity. The acute effect of exercise on glucose metabolism appears to require exercise near 70% maximal, but this issue has not been carefully examined.

CONCLUSIONS
Exercise has definite acute effects on blood lipids, blood pressure, and glucose homeostasis. Exercise also has acute effects on other factors related to atherosclerosis such as immunological function, vascular reactivity, and hemostasis. Considerable additional research is required to define the threshold of exercise required to produce these putatively beneficial effects.


SIR:Milner (Journal, July 1989, 155, 127) raises the issue of the amount of distresscaused by miscarriage. Research shortly to be published in this Journal (Friedman & Gath, 1989) indicates high levels of distress in a group of women one month after mis carriage. In a series of 67 women, 48% PSE cases and two cases of self-harm not known to the medical pro fession were found. Another paper (Friedman, 1989) discusses the dissatisfaction of patients with their management and the problems of caring for this group of patients. I agree with Dr Milner on the need for doctors and nurses to be more aware of this distressing condition, and that quite simple intervention may be effective in alleviating the considerable emotional turmoil caused.


textabstractThe cerebellum (from the latin - little brain) is located at the posterior end of the brain. It is known to be involved in vital functions like the control
of heart beat and respiration and also in motor coordination, a function involving balance and equilibrium, which also requires the capacity to learn and adapt. Cerebellar motor learning and memory are at the base of the studies described in this thesis. The structure of the cerebellar cortex (the outer layers) is remarkably conserved, consisting of many equivalent modules.
These modules, called micro-zones, are based around Purkinje cells. Purkinje cells are big neurons in the cerebellum with flamboyantly arborized dendrites which receive hundreds of thousands of inputs, and which transmit information of various types. Purkinje cells are very important in cerebellar function because they integrate signals and respond to them by selectively changing the strength of responses. This phenomenon is called plasticity. It involves a long-lasting reduction of currents evoked at synapses (or neuronal
contacts) at the Purkinje dendrites, termed long-term depression or LTD. Purkinje cells are the only neurons in the cerebellar cortex that exert a direct action on targets outside the cortex and LTD in this system is thought to permit a rapid adjustment of responses (i.e learning) to ongoing movements.
In this thesis two stimuli are mainly studied, eye blink conditioning and locomotion. Specific areas of the cerebellum (area HVI in the lobule simplex as well as its related interposed deep nuclei), have been identified as sites of convergence for stimuli related to eye-blink conditioning. For the control of locomotion, the cerebellar areas involved are less well defined. In eye blink conditioning paradigms the stimulus is an air puff to the eye, which evokes a reaction, namely eye closure. If an air puff is preceded by a sound (like a warning),
the animal will learn to interpret the sound; the result will be a reduction
of the activity of the involved PCs in a perfectly timed manner to ensure appropriate closure of the eye when the air puff is expected. Like eye blink conditioning, locomotion paradigms often contain a learning element as well. Animals are trained and evaluated in sessions that may take several days.


ABSTRACT We present a first-time study on identifying the causes and remedies to Nigeria's low contribution to globally recognized research literature. A mixed research approach involving 300 academic staff from several areas of specialization in southern Nigeria was adopted, using structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview schedule. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic technique. Furthermore, 43.7%, 28.6%, and 27.7% of the respondents were from the university, polytechnic, and college of education system, respectively. While 78.4% of the respondents agreed that the high cost of open access publication in top journals influenced Nigeria's low contribution to research literature, over 75% reported that the low contribution was due to high cost of attending international conferences. Other factors identified were stringent conditions for paper acceptance (89.7%), scarcity of relevant information about Africa (85.4%), and paucity of high-impact journals in the libraries of Nigerian tertiary institutions (6.7%). Others were poor funding, non-usage of research findings by policymakers, lack of adequate facilities, and high penchant for publication in predatory journals, informed by promotion criteria not supportive of quality. Participants advocated for increased funding, reduced conference fees, and entrenchment of collaboration between reputable publishers abroad and African publishers.


Following intraperitoneal injection of p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA, 400 and 600 mg/kg) on 3 consecutive days, the brainstem and lumbar cord of rats were removed, frozen-sectioned and immunohistochemically stained (PAP method) for serotonin (5-HT). Using computer-assisted image analysis, the density of 5-HT staining in control, 400 and 600 mg/kg PCPA groups was determined. The mean number of pixels (representing 5-HT staining) was determined in 6 areas in the brainstem containing 5-HT cell bodies (nuclei raphe pallidus, raphe obscurus, rostral and caudal raphe magnus, raphe dorsalis and paragigantocellularis lateralis) and in the dorsal and ventral spinal cord. The results suggest a differential depletion of 5-HT within brainstem nuclei following PCPA treatment in that the most marked dose-related reductions were observed in nucleus raphe obscurus and caudal nucleus raphe magnus. Furthermore, a computer program designed to isolate terminal structures in the spinal cord identified a differential depletion of 5-HT terminals in the dorsal horn versus the ventral horn. The present study describes 3 analytical approaches combining immunohistochemistry with the computer-assisted image analysis technique and allows comparison between groups of animals which received the same or different drug treatments.


Until 1992, zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) were an important food source for diving ducks in Lake Markermeer (The Netherlands). After 1993, the mussel biomass sharply declined, and the current population is in poor condition (maximum shell length <15 mm) compared to populations from adjacent Lake IJsselmeer. Lake Markermeer is characterized by high concentrations of total suspended matter (TSM), including 70% inorganic suspended sediments (ISS) affected by wind-driven resuspension, which may influence the food uptake by the mussels. We assessed whether the poor condition of the zebra mussels in Lake Markermeer could be attributed to the high TSM concentrations, and especially the fraction of ISS. In situ measurements of near-bottom TSM concentrations were linked to wind-driven wave action, and experiments were carried out using increasing natural sediment (NS) concentrations combined with a fixed concentration of a green alga (Scenedesmus obliquus) to determine the clearance rates (CR) of adult and juvenile zebra mussels. CR on NS particles decreased with increasing NS concentrations. The CR on S. obliquus, however, increased with an increasing NS concentration up to 0.75 g L−1 for adult mussels, indicating that zebra mussels can tolerate relatively high TSM concentrations and selectively graze on phytoplankton. Zebra mussels eventually reduce their CR at high TSM concentrations; the CR of juvenile mussels on S. obliquus collapsed at NS concentrations >0.5 g L−1. The NS concentrations used in this study are high, but analyses of the near-bottom TSM concentrations show that these values occur frequently and may be partly responsible for the poor mussel status in Lake Markermeer.


Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death in men, and while many men diagnosed with the disease will have an indolent clinical course, 20-25% of men will experience disease recurrence which is invariably lethal. There is an urgent need for prognostic biomarkers that will predict disease recurrence and risk-stratify patients upon diagnosis, allowing for personalised therapies. This thesis attempts to identify new prognostic biomarkers for prostate cancer and investigates their patterns of protein expression in human primary prostate tumour tissue. Cancer stem cells are cancer cells thought to be uniquely capable of self-renewal and tumorigenicity, and may have a role in tumour recurrence. Using a literature searching approach, potential biomarkers related to stem cells, cancer stem cells or recurrence in prostate cancer were identified, and ALDH7A1, BMI1, SDC1, MUC1-C, Nestin and ZSCAN4 were chosen for investigation. An in silico approach was also used for biomarker identification, with RS1 and SLC31A1 selected as their mRNA was found to be upregulated in recurrent tumours. The expression patterns of all 7 potential biomarkers were examined by immunohistochemistry on prostate tumour tissue and benign tissue from prostate biopsies and prostatectomies. BMI1, ALDH7A1, MUC1-C and Nestin showed no relationship to recurrence or other clinical features. RS1 protein levels increased in patients with recurrence within 5 years, negatively correlated with AR expression, and a meta-analysis showed that the RS1 gene was amplified in up to 32% of castration-resistant prostate tumours. ZSCAN4 was heterogeneously expressed in a subset of 26% of prostate tumours with unclear characteristics and was not expressed in benign tissue, but was not associated with recurrence. Finally, SDC1 expression was lost in tumour epithelium, but a population of unidentified SDC1-expressing cells were found in the stroma of a third of tumours, and an increased burden of these cells was associated with primary Gleason pattern 5 tumours. These cells do not overlap with common epithelial, mesenchymal or stromal lineages, but may be migratory. In summary, the data presented in this thesis identifies 3 potential new biomarkers for prostate cancer, and provides the basis for future characterisation of their wider roles in the disease.


The paper describes the implementation of a rapid on line parameter determination method for three phase motors without the need to connect a mechanical load or drive to the machine's output shaft. The technique is based on data sampling during a normal run up to speed test. The method has been refined such that even the normal locked rotor and synchronous speed data are measured during the run up to speed test. Furthermore the technique takes into account rotor parameter variations with frequency due to skin effect (mainly due to double-cage or deep-bar rotor), and other nonlinear imperfections such as heating and main flux path saturation. Moreover the system can be used for condition monitoring of any electrical drive system and can be permanently or temporarily connected to such a system for diagnosis.


New Perspectives on Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ: Review Essay Ann W. Astell Purdue University Mel Gibson's Bible: Religion, Popular Culture, and The Passion of the Christ, edited by Timothy K. Beal and Tod Linafelt. Afterlives of the Bible 1. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006. 208 pp. 11 illustrations. Paperback edition, $16.00. Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications, edited by Zev Garber. Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies 1. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2006. 192 pp. $14.95. A blockbuster in the theaters, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is also an academic phenomenon, in part because of the well publicized (and now litigious) criticism of the screenplay by biblical scholars, theologians, and historians of religion-a criticism that began months before the film's release on Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2004. Since then at least seven volumes of scholarly essays concerning the film have appeared-five of them published in 2004. This review addresses the two most recent edited collections: Mel Gibson's Bible, edited by Timothy K. Beal and Tod Linafelt, and Mel Gibson's Passion, edited by Zev Garber. Both titles inaugurate a book series. Mel Gibson's Passion is the first volume in "Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies," a series dedicated to pedagogical materials, for which Zev Garber is the general editor. Mel Gibson's Bible is the first volume in 'Afterlives of the Bible," a series devoted to studying "the rich and complex histories of Jewish and Christian biblical literature" (p. 4), for which Beal and Linafelt serve as general editors. Together they stand as notable, signatory works that set a model and pose an agenda for subsequent volumes in their respective series. Each volume has a three-part division and an impressive group of contributors. Mel Gibson's Bible begins with "The Passion as Interpretation," with essays by Jack Miles, George M. Smiga, Tod Linafelt, Vincent J. Miller, Bruce Chilton, John Dominic Crossan, Jane Schaberg, and Mark D. Jordan and Kent L. Brintnall-all of which "analyze and interpret The Passion primarily in relation to its religious sources" (p. 6). Part 2 "focuses on the ethical and theological implications of The Passion's particular presentation of the Christian Gospel" (p. 6). Paula Fredriksen, Susannah Heschel, Richard L. Rubenstein, Margaret R. Miles, Mark Douglas, and Mark C. Taylor contribute essays to this section. Finally, Part 3 "explores the film as a popular cultural-religious phenomenon" (p. 7) and includes reflections by Thomas J.J. Altizer, Amy Hollywood, William G. Little, Jose Marquez, Jody Enders, Robert M. Franklin, and Timothy K. Beal. Section 1 of Mel Gibson's Passion, entitled "Reflections on the Film," includes a miscellany of essays by Irving Greenberg (reprinted from Commonweal), Penny Wheeler, Yvonne Kozlovsky-Golan, Bruce Zuckerman, Klaus Hodl, and Richard Holdredge. Section 2 follows with essays focused on the "Scriptural Jesus and Gibson's Passion" by Peter Haas, Zev Garber, Gordon D. Young, S. Scott Bartchy (reprinted from Pastoral Psychology), Louis H. Feldman, and Jacob Neusner. In the third section, nine authors-Gordon R. Mork, Samuel Edelman and Carol Edelman, John T. Pawlikowski, Richard Libowitz, James F. Moore, Steven Leonard Jacobs, Stuart D. Robertson, and Joseph A. Edelheit-comment on the film from the perspective of "Diversity and Dialogue." Mel Gibson's Passion includes a useful bibliography and an index. Advance reviews of The Passion of the Christ stirred fear that the film would intensify prejudice against Jews, blamed historically as "Christ-killers," and actually incite antisemitic violence. Two years after its release, the contributors to these volumes must honestly admit that no such fall-out resulted. In fact, according to a national poll of 1,003 adults conducted by Gary Tobin (cited in the essay by Edelman and Edelman in MGP, p. …


Dynamic engineering of application-specific network traffic is becoming more important for applications that consume large amounts of network resources, in particular, bandwidth. Since traditional traffic engineering approaches are static they cannot address this trend; hence there is a need for real-time traffic classification to enable dynamic traffic engineering.
A packet flow monitor has been developed that operates at full Gigabit Ethernet line rate, reassembling all TCP flows in real-time. The monitor can be used to classify and analyse both plain text and encrypted application traffic.
This dissertation shows, under reasonable assumptions, 100% accuracy for the detection of bulk data traffic for applications when control traffic is clear text and also 100% accuracy for encrypted GridFTP file transfers when data channels are authenticated. For non-authenticated GridFTP data channels, 100% accuracy is also achieved, provided the transferred files are tens of megabytes or more in size. The monitor is able to identify bulk flows resulting from clear text control protocols before they begin. Bulk flows resulting from encrypted GridFTP control sessions are identified before the onset of bulk data (with data channel authentication) or within two seconds (without data channel authentication). Finally, the system is able to deliver an event to a local publish/subscribe server within 1 ms of identification within the monitor. Therefore, the event delivery introduces negligible delay in the ability of the network management system to react to the event.


In this paper, we present a multifaceted assessment process that was developed for our Electrical Engineering (EE) program at Georgia Southern University to meet the ABET criteria dealing with the student learning outcomes (SLOs). Both direct and indirect measures were used to collect and analyze data to assess the attainments of the student learning outcomes. To ensure data integrity, multiple faculty were involved in the development of a set of rubrics with benchmarks and performance indicators at both the program and curriculum levels. These tools provided action plans for this continuous improvement process to be implemented during the academic year. We also describe the mechanism used for assessing student performance at the curriculum level including the use of a course-level outcomes (CLO) form, a continuous improvement efforts (CIE) form, and a student course evaluation (SCE) form. These standardized forms are usually completed by faculty and submitted to the assessment committee for evaluation at the end of the semester. This feedback helped faculty to modify and/or develop new instructional methods to be incorporated into their courses, thus resulting in a more efficient assessment and continuous improvement process.


Abstract Diversifying Rice varieties for controlling the disease called Blast in farmers' field were assessed. Large-scale field tests for two consecutive years showed that the highly susceptible glutinous Rice varieties (Huangkenuo and Zinuo) suffered less disease when inter-planted with the generally resistant indica hybrid varieties (Xianyou 63 or Xianyou 22). The field design was a repeating pattern of one row of glutinous Rice inter-planted with four or six rows of indica Rice. Helped by a vigorous extension campaign, farmers in Yunnan rapidly adopted the scheme; the area planted to mixture now covers 47,667 hectares. This rapid adoption can be attributed to strong support from technicians and leaders of counties, relevance to the needs (problems) of farmers in the area, simplicity and effectiveness of the technology, and improvement in the yield and income of farmers. Plans are now in place to implement the technology in other provinces of China, and to widen the options for varieties that can be used for diversification. Biodiversity is a practical tool in place of crops with restricted genetic diversity and an economically viable option for farmers who cannot afford patented commercial varieties. It also supports the retention of the rich variety of farmers' landraces.


A series of Zn0.95-xCo0.05AlxO (x=0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.08, 0.10) powders with different percentages of aluminum was fabricated using the sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that the Co ions and Al ions substitute for Zn2+ ions without changing the wurtzite structure. No impurity phases were found. No clusters or precipitates of cobalt or aluminum were found using scanning electron microscope analysis. Fourier transform-infrared reflection (FT-IR) spectrometry was used to examine the infrared transmission properties and revealed that Co ions were incorporated into the lattice as Co2+ substituting for Zn2+. Ferromagnetic behavior in the samples was obtained at room temperature. As the Al content x increased, the room temperature ferromagnetism of the samples was reduced, and when x increased to 0.08, the room temperature ferromagnetism disappeared.


The murid herpesvirus 4 (MuHV 4) species encompasses 7 isolates, out of which at least two (MHV-68, MHV-72) became in vitro propagated laboratory strains. Following intranasal inoculation, MuHV 4 induces an acute infectious mononucleosis-like syndrome with elevated levels of peripheral blood leukocytes, shifts in the relative proportion of lymphocytes along with the appearance of atypical mononuclear cells. At least two isolates exhibited spontaneous deletions at the left hand (5′-end) of their genome, resulting in the absence of M1, M2, M3 genes (strain MHV-72) and also of the M4 gene (strain MHV-76). Based on DNA sequence amplifications only, another two isolates (MHV-Šum and MHV-60) were shown to possess similar deletions of varying length. During latency (until 24 months post-infection), the mice infected with any MuHV 4 isolate (except MHV-76) developed lymphoproliferative disorders. The lack of tumor formation in MHV-76 infected mice was associated with persistent virus production at late post-infection intervals. In addition to careful analysis of spontaneously occurring 5′-end genome defects, our knowledge of the function of 5′-end genes relies on the behaviour of mutants with corresponding deletions and/or insertions. While M2 and M3 genes encode immune evasion proteins, M4 codes for a soluble glycopeptide acting as immunomodulator and/or immunostimulator.


The main goal of this paper is to simulate a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG), which is similar to a real system. Wind velocity data is applied to a 2D Lookup table as a speed reference for a turbine model. A real electric machine's parameters are put in the simulator to get some results of the real system. The Matlab have been generally used to simulate DFIG, but it has some differences from the real system and is difficult to implement. A Simplorer simulator, however, simplifies DFIG simulation. The turbine is directly connected with the DFIG to be close to the real system. The machine's rotor is excited and controlled by the discrete carrier modulated matrix converter. It is possible to retrieve important information, like a generated power and wind quality etc., from the simulator without a huge wind turbine.


ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND UNWANTED SEXUAL EXPERIENCES AMONG COLLEGE FEMALES: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PROTECTIVE BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES by Kayla Darlene Moorer December 2013 The narrowing gender gap regarding consumption has resulted in more alcoholrelated consequences specific to females. Compared to males, females report more sexual consequences, such as doing something they later regret, as a result of alcohol consumption. For this reason, there is a vital need for researchers to identify active methods that females can engage in while consuming alcohol in order to reduce the risk of unwanted sexual experiences (UWS). Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) have been shown to decrease overall alcohol-related consequences, but further investigation is needed to determine which strategies are most influential in reducing the occurrence of specific alcohol-related negative consequences (e.g., unwanted sexual experiences). The purpose of this study is to determine whether PBS use mediates the relationship between alcohol consumption and UWS in female college students. Additionally, the present study seeks to determine which type of PBS (limiting stopping drinking, manner of drinking, or serious harm reduction) is most influential in mediating the relationship between alcohol consumption and UWS. Based on the literature, it is hypothesized that PBS use will serve as a mediator and that serious harm reduction strategies will be most influential in mediating the relationship. Various measures of alcohol consumption, UWS, and PBS use will be administered via online surveys to female undergraduates


Water conservancy investment affects economic development. To scientifically analyze its economic efficiency, this paper employs a projection pursuit clustering model based on the real-coded accelerated genetic algorithm to reduce the number of output index systems for each year, and the relative economic efficiency is obtained for 13 cities in Heilongjiang Province during the period 2007–2012 using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. The spatial distribution regulation is described based on the average efficiency derived for the period 2007–2012. Finally, the output values are optimized for ineffective cities under the optimization principle according to the 2012 values. The results show that the output index system is different for each year. Most cities exhibit comprehensive effectiveness, and the development of water conservancy is generally good. The spatial distribution regulation of economic efficiency tends to be high in the south and low in the north because it is related to local economic development and water policies. To achieve comprehensive effectiveness, the output indices need to be adjusted. This study assists with the promotion of efficient development plans for water conservancy systems and the economic efficiency of water conservancy investment in Heilongjiang Province.


Sensorless control of Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors at low velocity remains a challenging task. A now well-established method consists in injecting a high-frequency signal and use the rotor saliency, both geometric and magnetic-saturation induced. This paper proposes a clear and original analysis based on second-order averaging of how to recover the position information from signal injection; this analysis blends well with a general model of magnetic saturation. It also experimentally demonstrates the relevance for position estimation of a simple parametric saturation model recently introduced by the authors.


The aim of the two studies presented in this paper was to further improve the predictability of the original Multicentre Evaluation of In Vitro Cytotoxicity (MEIC) in vitro test battery for acute systemic toxicity. In the first study, whether a protein-free cytotoxicity assay could improve the prediction of human acute systemic toxicity was investigated. The cytotoxicity of 39 MEIC reference chemicals was measured by the neutral red uptake inhibition test after 30 minutes in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), with hepatoma-derived Fa32 cells. The results were compared with the corresponding values obtained in complete culture medium, including 10% fetal calf serum. Mercuric chloride and hexachlorophene were much more cytotoxic in PBS, as was the case, to a lesser extent, for seven other chemicals. Potassium cyanide and eight other chemicals were less cytotoxic in PBS than in complete culture medium, probably because of poor physiological conditions. The correlation between the cytotoxicity measured in PBS and human acute toxicity was rather low, but became of the same order as for other assays, when mercuric chloride and hexachlorophene were withdrawn from the comparison. In the second study, modelling of human lethal blood concentrations by using the results of the three cell line tests of the original MEIC test battery were complemented by logP (octanol–water partition coefficient) values. The introduction of logP into the modelling did not improve the correlations, but some improvement of both R2 and Q2 was obtained by expanding the logP values with logP2 values. The highest R2 (0.84) and Q2 (0.80) values were obtained for a model in which both experimental and calculated (ambiguous) logP values were used. When only experimental logP values were used, the corresponding values were 0.80 and 0.78. These two studies showed that including protein binding and the partition of chemicals in the MEIC in vitro test battery is important, in order to improve the predictability of the results obtained.


Background While air pollution is associated with morbidity and mortality in patients with respiratory and cardiac disease, there are also effects in normal individuals particularly if exercising on days when pollutants are high. The accepted advice on these days is to reduce exposure by restricting activity or remaining indoors. Consequently, in the European Union, high PM10 levels in 2005 caused 625M individual restricted activity days, encouraging national telehealth programmes, which incorporate this approach. Know and Respond, introduced in Scotland in February 2012, informs individuals by text, email, or landline message of the next day's air pollution prediction. Study Five main focus groups were contacted–COPD patients registered with our LTOT service (n=20, age 55–73), in-patient respiratory patients (n= 6 COPD and n=7 asthmatics, age 24–75), regular recreational joggers from central Glasgow (n=25, age 24–30), competitive athletes (n=15, age 21–26), and a group of occasional exercisers, who were predominately sedentary otherwise (n=15, age 25–30). Questions were asked about multimedia access, basic knowledge of air pollution and its' influence on daily activities. Results Only 5 of the LTOT patients had internet access, and 7 had text receiving mobiles. All other subjects had internet access, and text phones. In the in-patient asthmatic group most were aware of the links between air pollution and health (6/7) and would change their exercise habits. In comparison only one COPD patient reported a link and consideration for air pollution when exercising. Some of the competitive athletes (13/15) and occasional exercisers (9/15) were aware of PM2.5 as a risk pollutant which might influence their choice of activity, but none of the joggers, who all ran regularly even during the high levels of air pollution in Glasgow during March 2012 when unseasonal weather patterns drew pollutant dusts from Europe across Scotland. Conclusion We would reasonably contend that the aim of Know and Respond is justified given the known effects of air pollution however we acknowledge that awareness of the background relevance of air pollution is extremely variable. Know and Respond patient cards have been sent to general practise surgeries nationally to encourage patients to register with this free service.


Background Genetic engineering with luciferase reporter genes allows monitoring Trypanosoma brucei (T.b.) infections in mice by in vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Until recently, luminescent T.b. models were based on Renilla luciferase (RLuc) activity. Our study aimed at evaluating red-shifted luciferases for in vivo BLI in a set of diverse T.b. strains of all three subspecies, including some recently isolated from human patients. Methodology/Principal findings We transfected T.b. brucei, T.b. rhodesiense and T.b. gambiense strains with either RLuc, click beetle red (CBR) or Photinus pyralis RE9 (PpyRE9) luciferase and characterised their in vitro luciferase activity, growth profile and drug sensitivity, and their potential for in vivo BLI. Compared to RLuc, the red-shifted luciferases, CBR and PpyRE9, allow tracking of T.b. brucei AnTaR 1 trypanosomes with higher details on tissue distribution, and PpyRE9 allows detection of the parasites with a sensitivity of at least one order of magnitude higher than CBR luciferase. With CBR-tagged T.b. gambiense LiTaR1, T.b. rhodesiense RUMPHI and T.b. gambiense 348 BT in an acute, subacute and chronic infection model respectively, we observed differences in parasite tropism for murine tissues during in vivo BLI. Ex vivo BLI on the brain confirmed central nervous system infection by all luminescent strains of T.b. brucei AnTaR 1, T.b. rhodesiense RUMPHI and T.b. gambiense 348 BT. Conclusions/Significance We established a genetically and phenotypically diverse collection of bioluminescent T.b. brucei, T.b. gambiense and T.b. rhodesiense strains, including drug resistant strains. For in vivo BLI monitoring of murine infections, we recommend trypanosome strains transfected with red-shifted luciferase reporter genes, such as CBR and PpyRE9. Red-shifted luciferases can be detected with a higher sensitivity in vivo and at the same time they improve the spatial resolution of the parasites in the entire body due to the better kinetics of their substrate D-luciferin.


A brief train of electrical stimuli to the pleuroabdominal connective of Aplysia produces a cumulative depolarization in the peptidergic bag cell neurons within the abdominal ganglion. This response is followed by an afterdischarge which lasts for about 30 min, and then by a prolonged refractory period lasting for several hours. During the refractory period the cumulative depolarization in response to stimulation is attenuated, and stimulation either fails to initiate afterdischarges or produces discharges of much shorter duration. We have used the cationophore X537A to test the hypothesis that the prolonged refractory period is caused by calcium entry into the bag cell neurons during the afterdischarge. Exposure of intact bag cell clusters to X537A at concentrations from 1 to 10 microM for a period of 20 min in calcium-containing media produced no change in their resting potentials or in their ability to generate action potentials, but induced a state resembling natural refractoriness in response to subsequent stimulation. Both natural refractoriness and that induced by X537A could be overcome by extracellular tetraethylammonium ions (90 mM). Dose response data showed that concentrations of ionophore of 2.5 to 5.0 microM produce an attenuation of afterdischarge that is similar to that following a stimulated afterdischarge. These concentrations of X537A also produced an enhancement of 3H-labeled peptide release from these cells that is comparable to that observed on stimulation of an afterdischarge. Moreover, the time course of recovery from exposure to 5.0 microM X537A parallels that of natural refractoriness, recovery being essentially complete about 20 hr after X537A exposure or stimulation. The ionophore did not affect the mean duration of afterdischarge when applied in calcium-deficient media. The electrical effects of X537A were investigated using isolated bag cell neurons in cell culture. After treatment with the adenylate cyclase activator, forskolin, and theophylline, such isolated cells show many of the electrical changes occurring in intact bag cell clusters at the onset of afterdischarge, including the enhancement of action potentials, as well as increased input resistance and the emergence of oscillations in membrane potential. None of these parameters was significantly affected by concentrations of ionophore that induce refractoriness. In response to repetitive intracellular stimulation, however, some forskolin- treated cells undergo a cumulative depolarization which is similar to that seen at the onset of afterdischarge in intact clusters. This cumulative depolarization was found to be attenuated or abolished by 5.0 microM X537A.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Most existing techniques for space time block coding (STBC) systems have assumed full decorrelated radio channels which may not be the case in practice. In this paper a subspace based approach of semi-blind channel estimation is proposed for precoded STBC systems, in which multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels are partially correlated. By carefully designing the transceiver of the precoded STBC systems, correlated MIMO channels (where correlation is due to antenna geometry) can be converted to full independent MIMO channels. Then a conventional subspace based channel estimation method is applied to such precoded STBC systems. Simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm


Mixed aerogels from semiconductor and metal nanoparticles represent an outstanding hybrid material with exceptional properties due to two striking advantages: the creation of a huge quantity of semiconductor–metal interfaces combined with a highly porous three-dimensional nanostructured network. We present a versatile synthetic pathway towards hybrid aerogels built up by joint gelation of CdTe and noble metal nanoparticles (Au, Pd and bimetallic Au/Pd). A straightforward H2O2 treatment inducing gel formation is developed as a more elegant alternative compared to the established photooxidation approach. The use of H2O2 allows a reproducible, simple and mild gel formation which can be easily upscaled. The tremendous influence of the H2O2 concentration on gelation mechanism and gelation kinetics is revealed by photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) determinations. Resulting gels are extensively characterized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning TEM (STEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) as well as photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and PL lifetime measurements. By varying the composition of the herein presented noble metal nanoparticles in a controlled fashion the range of semiconductor–metal hybrid aerogels is widened, which demonstrates the versatility and consistency of our approach. This synthetic flexibility grants access to a variety of different mixed hybrid aerogels which are of high significance for catalytic, sensing and photonic applications.


ABSTRACT Objective: To avoid restraints and involuntary care caregivers should be aware if and how a patient resists care. This article focuses on behavioural expressions of people with severe dementia in nursing homes that are interpreted by their formal and informal caregivers as possible expressions of their experience of involuntary care. Method: Concept mapping was used, following five steps: (1) brainstorming, (2) rating, (3) sorting, (4) statistical analysis & visual representation and (5) interpretation. Specialists (n = 12), nurses (n = 23) and relatives (n = 13) participated in separate groups . Results: The views generated are grouped into clusters of behaviour, presented in graphic charts for each of the respondent groups. The large variety of behavioural symptoms includes, in all groups, not only the more obvious and direct behavioural expressions like aggression, resistance and agitation, but also more subtle behaviour such as sorrow, general discomfort or discontent. Conclusion(s): In the interpretation of behavioural symptoms of people with severe dementia it is important to take into account the possibility of that person experiencing involuntary care. Increased awareness and understanding of the meaning and consequences of the behavioural expressions is an important step in improving dementia care by avoiding restraints and involuntary care to its maximum.