In this work, a transformer with increased leakage inductance for the soft switched power applications is presented as a practical solution by constructing a transformer with good control over the leakage inductance. An analytical reluctance based model is presented, which accurately predicts the leakage inductance. With the presented approach, a transformer is designed with a leakage inductance varying between 3-7μH. Increasing the efficiency and improving the power density has been the main focus of power electronics researchers in the recent years. In this regards, transformers with increased leakage inductance are becoming more popular in order to accomplish different soft switching concepts and for improving the power density.


This Paper evaluates the impact of a team-based incentive scheme piloted in the public sector agency, Jobcentre Plus. The way the scheme has been designed raises many questions for which theory makes predictions. We test these predictions against our data. We find that team size affects the impact of the incentive scheme upon performance. Moreover, while the measure of quantity increased in incentivized areas, no improvement was found for the two quality measures. This may reflect concerns related to multi-tasking issues, or may reflect the small sample size available for the quality analysis. Finally, the data suggests that employees participating in the incentive scheme aim to exert a level of effort to ensure the target is achieved, but as additional effort is not rewarded they aim not to exceed this limit.


This article investigates the role played by informational cost in agricultural land markets to explain price dispersion. Based on a hedonic model under incomplete information, we build a two-tier stochastic frontier. By linking costs of being information deficient to agent characteristics such as degree of professionalism, we identify relative price effects of buyers and sellers related to search. We compile a comprehensive data set of more than 10,000 transactions in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, between 2014 and 2017. We find institutional sellers to achieve the lowest losses resulting from information deficiency while tenant buyers can benefit from informational advantages. We conclude that Germany's policy-makers can do more to support market transparency.


This article reports on an evaluation of a prescribing workshop to increase 'sharedlearning' between registered practitioners undertaking a non-medicalprescribing (NMP) course (midwifery, nursing, physiotherapy, and podiatry) andundergraduate pharmacy students to increase awareness of, and understanding of theroles.  The focus was on three domains ofsafe prescribing: Knowledge (of commonly prescribed medicines and theirsuitability for individual patients); Process (of legal requirements and supplyof medicines and associated patient information); and Relationships (betweenprescribers and pharmacists). A cross-sectional evaluation was utilized with6-point Likert-style items and a free text section, completed by 337participants.  Participants reported positivelyabout the workshop content and their learning experience, although somedifferences between pharmacy and NMP participants were noted in the knowledgedomain. Quantitative analysis revealed significant differences (p<0.001) oflow-to-moderate magnitude (partial-2=0.146) between NMP and Pharmacy studenton all 3 domains, with NMP students reporting slightly more positive outcomes(between 0.4 and 1.5 points higher) in all cases. However, both groups scoredpositively; with mean domain scores of 15.6 to 16.5 on scales with maximumscores of 18.


In order to meet the needs of social development and explore the teaching strategies that meet the needs of sports translators, this paper focuses on the sports translation teaching strategies, the research objective of this paper, using literature research methods, case studies, and questionnaire, based on the analysis of the status quo of sports translator talents and combined with brain science and its research results in the field of education. The present research puts forward the whole brain teaching strategies of sports translation, expounds the concrete contents of the teaching strategies, and conducts the investigation and analysis of the implementation effects of sports translation teaching strategies based on neurocognitive science taking the basketball item in the course of Sports English as an example. The results show that the strategies of sports translation teaching based on neurocognitive science has a certain guiding role in improving the effectiveness of sports translation teaching.


The use of evolutionary algorithms to determine optimum load and data distribution in large distributed databases has been investigated in earlier publications both by the authors and others. This paper reports on some interesting results arising from comprehensive examination of the performance profile of various techniques we have investigated on this problem and others. In particular, we see that when too little mutation is available to the system, the number of evaluations that the algorithm is able to exploit before premature convergence occurs seems near linearly proportional to population size, regardless of evaluation (time) limit, selection strategy, or other features. More interestingly, however, as mutation is increased, there seem to exist characteristic peaks and troughs in the tuned performance landscape indicating an optimal mutation rate independent of population size; this is a trough between the two peaks in a robust bimodal feature in the curve of convergence time against mutation-rate. These features are demonstrated over a range of evaluation limits, algorithm designs, and application landscapes. The continued re-appearance of the bimodal feature leads us to postulate that it may be a relatively problem-independent feature of evolutionary search, with general application to parameter tuning issues.


Word2Vec is a class of neural network models that as being trainedfrom a large corpus of texts, they can produce for each unique word acorresponding vector in a continuous space in which linguisticcontexts of words can be observed. In this work, we study thecharacteristics of Word2Vec vectors, called API2VEC or API embeddings, for the API elements within the API sequences in source code. Ourempirical study shows that the close proximity of the API2VEC vectorsfor API elements reflects the similar usage contexts containing thesurrounding APIs of those API elements. Moreover, API2VEC can captureseveral similar semantic relations between API elements in API usagesvia vector offsets. We demonstrate the usefulness of API2VEC vectorsfor API elements in three applications. First, we build a tool thatmines the pairs of API elements that share the same usage relationsamong them. The other applications are in the code migrationdomain. We develop API2API, a tool to automatically learn the APImappings between Java and C# using a characteristic of the API2VECvectors for API elements in the two languages: semantic relationsamong API elements in their usages are observed in the two vectorspaces for the two languages as similar geometric arrangements amongtheir API2VEC vectors. Our empirical evaluation shows that API2APIrelatively improves 22.6% and 40.1% top-1 and top-5 accuracy over astate-of-the-art mining approach for API mappings. Finally, as anotherapplication in code migration, we are able to migrate equivalent APIusages from Java to C# with up to 90.6% recall and 87.2% precision.


Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD), also known as sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy, is a rare, idiopathic and non-neoplastic histiocytic disorder. The most common presentation of RDD is painless cervical lymphadenopathy in a young patient. However, in about 25% of cases there is no lymph node involvement, and the disease presents as a mass in skin, soft tissue, nasal cavity, eye, bone, or other extranodal sites (extranodal type). This can pose a diagnostic challenge if RDD is not considered in differential diagnoses. Gastrointestinal (GI) involvement of RDD is extremely rare; only 15 cases had been reported. We report a case of extra-nodal RDD involving the GI tract of a 24-year-old African-American woman who presented with chronic lower abdominal pain, constipation and an 8 cm mass involving her colonic wall. Microscopically, the mass was well demarcated, partially covered with serosa and extended into the muscularis propria and submucosa of the colon. The lesional cells consisted of spindle-shaped and epithelioid histiocytes intermixed with plasma cells and lymphocytes. Rare histiocytes showed emperipolesis. The histiocytes were positive for S100 (strong) and CD68, and negative for ckit and CD1a. The above morphological and immunohistochemical features are diagnostic for RDD, extra-nodal type. The related literature was reviewed and compared with this case.


In this study, for the first time, six different hazelnut cultivars, characterized by different carpological traits (diameter, volume, weight, density, shell thickness, shape index, empty volume between kernel and shell), were utilized for conducting 60 experiments in a lab-scale convective dryer, in which different drying air conditions (temperatures: 20 °C, 35 °C, 50 °C; relative humidity: 20%, 40%, 60%; airflow: 0.5 m/s) were explored with a Design of Experiment approach. The obtained drying curves where mathematically modeled and, among the tested kinetic models, the Fick's equation proved to best fit the drying data and was chosen to estimate the equilibrium moisture content (Me) and the drying rate (k) for each experiment, based on the studied variables. The k parameter was found to be greatly affected (p < .01) by the carpological traits related to the hazelnut dimension, by T and RH. Conversely, a weak correlation (p ≈ .05) was found between the carpological traits and Me which, instead, resulted being greatly affected by T and RH (p < .01).

Practical applications
The precise definition of the complex dynamics involved in hazelnut drying process represents a crucial step toward an exhaustive comprehension and optimization of the drying process itself. The possibility of tailoring the process parameters to guarantee the best drying conditions for a specific lot of shelled hazelnuts represents an important goal eagerly pursued by the modern confectionary industry. During the last years, this topic has attracted a broad industrial interest, resulting in many research studies investigating the drying process. Our study takes into consideration not only the classical drying parameters but also the variability introduced by the carpological traits of different hazelnut cultivars and allows defining a mathematical model of general applicability, which describes the drying process and that could be potentially exploited to optimize the performance of the hazelnut drying at the industrial level.


An adversarial attack is a method to generate perturbations to the input of a machine learning model in order to make the output of the model incorrect. The perturbed inputs are known as adversarial examples. In this paper, we investigate the robustness of adversarial examples to simple input transformations such as mp3 compression, resampling, white noise and reverb in the task of sound event classification. By performing this analysis, we aim to provide insights on strengths and weaknesses in current adversarial attack algorithms as well as provide a baseline for defenses against adversarial attacks. Our work shows that adversarial attacks are not robust to simple input transformations. White noise is the most consistent method to defend against adversarial attacks with a success rate of 73.72% averaged across all models and attack algorithms.


The aim of this work was to study the feasibility of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) microsatellite panel developed for chickens to assess genetic variability in turkeys. Genomic DNA was extracted from a total of 37 blood samples collected from turkey of different breeds [15 Brianzolo (BR); 12 Colli Euganei (EU); 10 Nero d'Italia (NI)], and all 31 chicken microsatellite markers recommended by the FAO were tested. The results show that 22 chicken markers out of 31 suggested by FAO guidelines can be applied to turkey populations. In particular, the multiplex groups confirmed in the turkey were the Multiplex Master Mix 1 (ADL0268, ADL0278, LEI0094, MCW0216, MCW0248) and the Master Mix 2 (MCW0034, MCW0069, MCW0081, MCW0222, MCW0295), whereas 13 microsatellites were amplified only under single polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions. No PCR products were obtained for 9 markers (LEI0166, MCW0020, MCW0078, MCW0080, MCW0104, MCW0123, MCW0248, MCW0284 and MCW0330), which is 29% of the total markers used. A panel of 22 markers was used to assess genetic diversity in three turkey breeds and a total number of 63 alleles were found. Observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity and polymorphism information content (PIC) values for each microsatellite and the relative mean values were also calculated. The mean values were 0.210, 0.250, 0.203 for Ho; 0.301, 0.348, 0.228 for He; and 0.265, 0.313, 0.199 for PIC in NI, BR and EU, respectively.


Background Twitter is a popular social media forum for sharing personal experiences, interests, and opinions. An improved understanding of the discourse on Twitter that encourages marijuana use can be helpful for tailoring and targeting online and offline prevention messages. Objectives The intent of the study was to assess the content of "tweets" and the demographics of followers of a popular pro-marijuana Twitter handle (@stillblazingtho). Methods We assessed the sentiment and content of tweets (sent from May 1 to December 31, 2013), as well as the demographics of consumers that follow a popular pro-marijuana Twitter handle (approximately 1,000,000 followers) using Twitter analytics from Demographics Pro. This analytics company estimates demographic characteristics based on Twitter behavior/usage, relying on multiple data signals from networks, consumption, and language and requires confidence of 95% or above to make an estimate of a single demographic characteristic. Results A total of 2590 tweets were sent from @stillblazingtho during the 8-month period and 305 (11.78%) replies to another Twitter user were excluded for qualitative analysis. Of the remaining 2285 tweets, 1875 (82.06%) were positive about marijuana, 403 (17.64%) were neutral, and 7 (0.31%) appeared negative about marijuana. Approximately 1101 (58.72%) of the positive marijuana tweets were perceived as jokes or humorous, 340 (18.13%) implied that marijuana helps you to feel good or relax, 294 (15.68%) mentioned routine, frequent, or heavy use, 193 (10.29%) mentioned blunts, marijuana edibles, or paraphernalia (eg, bongs, vaporizers), and 186 (9.92%) mentioned other risky health behaviors (eg, tobacco, alcohol, other drugs, sex). The majority (699,103/959,143; 72.89%) of @stillblazingtho followers were 19 years old or younger. Among people ages 17 to 19 years, @stillblazingtho was in the top 10% of all Twitter handles followed. More followers of @stillblazingtho in the United States were African American (323,107/759,407; 42.55%) or Hispanic (90,732/759,407; 11.95%) than the Twitter median average (African American 22.4%, inter-quartile ratio [IQR] 5.1-62.5%; Hispanic 5.4%, IQR 3.0-10.8%) and among Hispanics, @stillblazingtho was in the top 30% of all Twitter handles followed. Conclusions Young people are especially responsive to social media influences and often establish substance use patterns during this phase of development. Our findings underscore the need for surveillance efforts to monitor the pro-marijuana content reaching young people on Twitter.


Introduction: Aerococcal infection is a rarely described pathogen in the literature. Aerococcus species may be isolated from urine, blood or other sources. Several sites of infection caused by aerococcal infection have been reported including arthritis, UTI, endocarditis and meningitis. However, to our knowledge there is not a single case of soft tissue infection caused by this germ. Case presentation: We report a case of middle aged patient with multiple comorbidities, presenting with right supraclavicular mass following chest trauma. Imaging study showed multilobulated collection involving thoracic and neck muscles and invading the clavicle. Intraoperative drainage of the pus grew exclusively Aerococcus viridens. Conclusion: Aerococcus viridans is unusual cause of soft tissue infection, but should be considered in the differential diagnosis when evaluating patients with suspected deep soft tissue infection. A. viridens infection is underestimated because of technical difficulties in the identification of this organism. The introduction of matrixassisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry carried great success in accurate identification, as early identification of the offending organism guides physicians to appropriate treatment.


Distances are found for four supernova remnants without previous distance measurements. H I spectra and H I channel maps are used to determine the maximum velocity of H I absorption for the four Supernova Remnants (SNRs).

 We examined 13CO emission spectra and channel maps to look for possible molecular gas associated with each SNR, but did not find any.

 The resulting distances for the SNRs are 3.5 ± 0.2 kpc (G24.7+0.6), 4.7 ± 0.3 kpc (G29.6+0.1), 4.1 ± 0.5 kpc (G41.5+0.4) and 4.5 ± 0 .4 - 9.0 ± 0.4 kpc (G57.2+0.8).


This paper attempts to benchmark the Knowledge Management (KM) practices in the engineering institutes against that in the top notch IT-sectors of the country and thereupon draw inferences for making suggestions for quality enhancement. The benchmarking is done based on the eight key dimensions, which are the determinants for KM success as per the well-established Knowledge Management Maturity Model (KMMM).
As India is now a signatory of WTO and Engineering education is considered to be the service sector as per the GATS, the engineering institutions are facing higher level of challenges more than ever before. There has already been a quantitative growth to meet this challenge during the turn of millennium, but qualitative changes are not yet implemented successfully, except for a few initiatives such as NBA accreditation and up-gradation of RECs into NITs. This paper is an attempt to give a new dimension to the qualitative initiatives in engineering education.
The research methodology is basically an empirical study, which involves 200 teaching faculty spread over three different models of engineering institutes and 42 professionals from the two leading IT-Sectors of the country. Statistical tools such as t-test, mean, standard deviation, reliability analysis etc. have been used to perform analysis of the data. A hypothesis is tested in order to draw inference regarding the perceptions of the two samples. Radar and frequency diagrams are drawn to depict the perceptions of the knowledge workers.

The results have made certain key revelations about the dimensions of the KM to be strengthened in the engineering institutions so as to make them more competitive in transforming themselves into knowledge repositories and promote research and innovation, which seems to be the need of the hour. The paper culminates with the implications for quality outcomes and scope for future work.


OBJECTIVE--To determine whether the treatment of ankle injuries in an accident and emergency department could be improved by an audit of existing treatment and the creation and use of a protocol. DESIGN--The study consisted of three parts: a review of the current treatment and published reports on treatment, the formation of a protocol, and a study of treatment after introducing the protocol. SETTING--Accident and emergency department of a district general hospital. PATIENTS--550 patients attending the department with ankle injuries over four months. RESULTS--The review of treatment showed that patients with fractures were detected and treated adequately, but most had radiography. Patients with ligamentous injuries may have been undertreated. After introducing the protocol the number of patients undergoing radiography was reduced from 205 (80%) to 186 (70%) (0.0027 less than p less than 0.01). In 87% of the notes reviewed the protocol had been completed. Sixty six patients with ligamentous injuries were reviewed in the department or soft tissue clinic compared with 20 before the protocol was introduced. There was a 53% reduction in inappropriate referrals to the fracture clinic (13 before v nine after). CONCLUSIONS--Using a protocol can, at little expense, improve the treatment of ankle injuries and reduce the cost of radiology in an accident and emergency department. IMPLICATION--Treatment of other conditions may be improved by introducing a protocol.


OBJECTIVES
Adipsin, or complement factor D, is a serine proteinase catalysing complement factor C3 breakdown, leading to the production of opsonin (C3b), membrane attack complex (C5b-C9) and anaphylatoxins (C3a and C5a). Since adipsin is potentially associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension in SSc, we investigated adipsin expression in dermal small vessels of SSc-involved skin, the mechanism regulating adipsin expression in endothelial cells, and the correlation of serum adipsin levels with SSc clinical symptoms.

METHODS
Adipsin expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry with skin sections of SSc and healthy subjects. mRNA levels of target genes and transcription factor binding to the ADIPSIN promoter were evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription PCR and chromatin immunoprecipitation, respectively. Serum adipsin levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTS
Adipsin expression was remarkably increased in dermal small vessels of SSc-involved skin as compared with those of healthy control skin. Consistent with the notion that Fli1 deficiency induces SSc-like phenotypes in various types of cells, FLI1 siRNA enhanced adipsin expression at protein and mRNA levels and Fli1 bound to the ADIPSIN promoter in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells. Serum adipsin levels were significantly lower in diffuse cutaneous SSc patients than in limited cutaneous SSc patients and healthy controls, and were associated positively with elevated right ventricular systolic pressure and inversely with interstitial lung disease by multivariate regression analysis.

CONCLUSION
Adipsin is up-regulated at least partially by Fli1 deficiency in endothelial cells, potentially contributing to the development of pulmonary vascular involvement in SSc.


This chapter aims to describe and review the main important cytokines types (notably interferons), including their biological activities, functions and structures. As a high number of molecules are available, synthesis of the most important cytokines, including tumor factor necrosis, interferons and interleukins will be presented. Here we also describe the relationships between those cytokines with some autoimmune diseases that are promoted by them.


The present article intends to explore discernible shift in Iran's foreign policy toward Latin American countries in recent years. Iran's relations with Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, and more recently, Brazil, have grown warmer in recent years. The ever-increasing scale and scope of diplomatic ties and bilateral economic cooperation agreements between Iran and these Latin American states, most of whom pursue generally radical, anti-US policies, demonstrate the changing orientation in the Iranian policy as well as in the dynamics of the Latin American politics. The emergence of an Iranian president in 2005 with a populist outlook and pronounced anti-US/Anti-Western rhetoric has facilitated the closer ties between Iran and the leftist Latin American governments. This aspect of the Iranian policy has drawn both domestic criticism and outside opposition, particularly from the United States. Given this, a major question that could be raised is whether the new trend will be a long term feature of Iranian foreign policy or a temporary, transient one, especially taking into account the major role played by the personality of these countries' leaders in their policymaking. A related question is whether these heads of states will be able to create the necessary institutions, processes, and coordination mechanisms to remain in place even after they leave office. The author looks at the recent developments in these politico-economic relations, and tries to examine the degree of long-term resilience of Tehran's current involvement in Latin America. The main conclusion of the paper is that for as long as the Islamic Republic of Iran feels the need to look for countervailing force in its ongoing conflict with the US and the West, the current policies in seeking close political and economic ties with the anti-Western and radical Latin American states, as part of a larger coalition of like-minded developing countries, will continue.


Results of an in vitro assay revealed that root-associated methane consumption was a common attribute of diverse emergent wetland macrophytes from a variety of habitats. Maximum potential uptake rates (Vmaxp) varied between about 1 and 10 micromol g (dry weight)-1 h-1, with no obvious correlation between rate and gross morphological characteristics of the plants. The Vmaxp corresponded to about 2 x 10(8) to 2 x 10(9) methanotrophs g (dry weight)-1, assuming that the root-associated methanotrophs have cell-specific activities comparable to those of known isolates. Vmaxp varied seasonally for an aquatic grass, Calamogrostis canadensis, and for the cattail, Typha latifolia, with highest rates in the late summer. Vmaxp was well correlated with ambient temperature for C. canadensis but weakly correlated for T. latifolia. The seasonal changes in Vmaxp, as well as inferences from apparent half-saturation constants for methane uptake (Kapp; generally 3 to 6 microM), indicated that oxygen availability might be more important than methane as a rate determinant. In addition, roots incubated under anoxic conditions showed little or no postanoxia aerobic methane consumption, indicating that root-associated methanotrophic populations might not tolerate variable oxygen availability. Hybridization of oligodeoxynucleotide probes specific for group I or group II methylotrophs also varied seasonally. The group II-specific probe consistently hybridized to a greater extent than the group I probe, and the relative amount of group II probe hybridization to C. canadensis root extracts was positively correlated with Vmaxp.


A study was performed of the light transmission characteristics of the compressed "bloodless" ear in 70 subjects of white, Indian and Negro stock. It was found that in white children and adults of both sexes, the ratio of light transmission of the red filtered photocells to that transmitted to the infrared photocell was virtually constant when the ear was rendered bloodless by compression. The error introduced by assuming this ratio to be constant was no greater than the errors involved in making the measurement. If the assumption were made that this ratio was the same in Indian and Negro subjects as it is in white subjects, the estimation of the ratio would be in error in the average Indian subject by approximately -3.38 per cent and in the average Negro subject by -4.73 per cent.


This research was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer on hands contaminated with a nonpathogen surrogate for Escherichia coli O157:H7, where the source of the contamination was frozen hamburger patties. A nonpathogenic nalidixic acid-resistant food-grade strain of Enterobacter aerogenes was used to inoculate frozen hamburger patties composed of 76% lean beef and 24% fat. Thirty-two individuals participated to produce the data used in this study. Each participant handled nine patties at least three times, a sample for microbiological analysis was collected from the surface of one hand, the participant sanitized both hands, and a sample was collected from the other hand. Burger handling created perceptible and visible food debris on the hands of most participants. Computer simulations also were used to perform a variety of risk calculations. The average reduction in bacteria from the use of sanitizer on hands contaminated by frozen burgers containing E. aerogenes was 2.6 +/- 0.7 log CFU per hand. An experiment designed to simultaneously test the effect of sanitizer on E. aerogenes and E. coli O157:H7 also revealed no significant difference in sanitizer effectiveness against the two organisms. The results of the real-world risk estimation calculations (using the actual prevalence and concentration of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef) predict that once in 1 million trials, a single pathogen cell will be transferred to a single lettuce piece. The effectiveness of this sanitizer intervention was similar to that for hand washing and glove use previously reported. The person-to-person microbial reduction variability from sanitizer use is similar to published data for glove use and was less variable than published data on hand washing effectiveness.


Digital platforms, often labeled as part of the "sharing economy", are becoming increasingly relevant to both the daily lives of private individuals and to researchers. As these tools are transforming various communities (of interest, place, practice and circumstance) to establish new forms of connection, welfare, labour and service, there emerge fundamental questions around the perils of creation and use. In response to this disruptive trend, this workshop brings together perspectives and cases from researchers and practitioners across various disciplines to interrogate how different forms of collaborative economy might be imagined and created based on the ethics and logic of care.


Studentification has permeated policy-orientated agendas on community cohesion in different national contexts, and is of increasing public relevance at a time of changing systems of higher education. To date, studentification has been treated as a process of urban change that leads to the physical downgrading of neighbourhoods and social conflict, tied to concentrations of low-quality student houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). Our aim in this paper is to widen conceptual understandings of studentification, drawing upon a novel study of this process in Loughborough, UK. Focussing on the Kingfisher estate, we provide the first investigation of the formation of a studentified neighbourhood, using data from administrative datasets to track tenurial transformations from owner-occupation to private rental shared housing. Our analyses are deepened from a survey of student preferences for accommodation, and interviews with local community representatives, to reveal a production-consumption interface for high-quality student housing in Kingfisher. We argue that this is illustrative of a new frontier of studentification, which emphasises the volatility of student housing markets. Crucially, these dynamics are having a significant influence on broader changing urban geographies, such as the de-studentification of other neighbourhoods, and the overall supply of (affordable) housing. Our paper concludes by arguing for a wider conceptualisation of studentification that does not inherently view the process as a harbinger of downgraded urban environments. From a policy perspective, our research stresses the urgent need for different place-specific solutions and policy interventions to mitigate the challenges of studentification.


Fluid-solid two-phase flows are frequently encountered in geophysical flow problems such as sediment transport and submarine landslides. It is still a challenge to the current experiment techniques to provide information such as detailed flow and pressure fields of each phase, which however is easily obtainable through numerical simulations using fluid-solid two-phase flow models. This chapter focuses on the Eulerian-Eulerian approach to two-phase geophysical flows. Brief derivations of the governing equations and some closure models are provided, and the numerical implementation in the finite-volume framework of OpenFOAM® is described. Two applications in sediment transport and submarine landslides are also included at the end of the chapter.


Coastal wetlands are naturally resilient to changing sea levels; however, as rates of sea-level rise increase, the interaction between changing sea-level and ongoing human impacts will be a major driver in future coastal tidal marsh stability. My goal is to provide decision makers with recommendations to increase the resilience of the Fraser River delta front tidal marsh communities over the twenty-first century. I conducted a literature review to (1) examine the current knowledge base regarding effects of sea-level rise on tidal marshes and (2) identify current ecosystem-based adaptation strategies for increasing tidal marsh resilience to sea-level rise. Based on this review, recommendations are made for strategies that could be used to increase tidal marsh resilience in the Fraser River delta. Recommendations include (1) initiating delta-wide marsh accretion modeling to assess tidal marsh vulnerability under possible sea-level rise scenarios and (2) implementing sediment augmentation pilot projects for both direct (e.g., layered sediment lifts) and indirect (e.g., mud motor) sediment augmentation strategies to test ecosystem based adaptive management strategies as part of an adaptive management framework.


In recent years, differential privacy has emerged as the de facto standard for sharing statistics of datasets while limiting the disclosure of private information about the involved individuals. This is achieved by randomly perturbing the statistics to be published, which in turn leads to a privacy-accuracy trade-off: larger perturbations provide stronger privacy guarantees, but they result in less accurate statistics that offer lower utility to the recipients. Of particular interest are therefore optimal mechanisms that provide the highest accuracy for a pre-selected level of privacy. To date, work in this area has focused on specifying families of perturbations a priori and subsequently proving their asymptotic and/or best-in-class optimality. In this paper, we develop a class of mechanisms that enjoy non-asymptotic and unconditional optimality guarantees. To this end, we formulate the mechanism design problem as an infinite-dimensional distributionally robust optimization problem. We show that the problem affords a strong dual, and we exploit this duality to develop converging hierarchies of finite-dimensional upper and lower bounding problems. Our upper (primal) bounds correspond to implementable perturbations whose suboptimality can be bounded by our lower (dual) bounds. Both bounding problems can be solved within seconds via cutting plane techniques that exploit the inherent problem structure. Our numerical experiments demonstrate that our perturbations can outperform the previously best results from the literature on artificial as well as standard benchmark problems.


As a fundamental study of multiple image processing, the authors have developed a new technique for the analysis of multispectral remote sensing data. Though the basis of the authors' algorithm is similar to a histogram analysis, they have proposed a novel way of the representation of multidimensional image data, which facilitates a nonexpert to locate and assign different classes present in the data set. The authors' experimentation was done with NOAA satellite image data. The brightness of the received data from channels of different frequency bands are the different dimensions of the multispectral image. By using this method, the authors could successfully classify NOAA satellite data received from the northern part of Japan, and locate the plane areas as an exercise. The authors have quantitatively compared their result with official data. The authors' result was found to be only 1 percent in deviation with the official data. >


The paper uses firm level panel data for Indian industries in the post-reform period to study the direct and indirect productivity effects generated by foreign investment. It finds no evidence that foreign investment directly increased firm-level productivity, nor that R&D spending was more productive in firms or sectors with higher foreign investment. It however finds strong evidence that local firms benefited from foreign investment in their industries. These benefits are higher for larger firms and those that do more business domestically.


Calling while driving poses a severe safety risk. When more than two people are involved in a call a conference call this risk increases even more. Intelligent vehicles could offer support systems that ease the cognitive burden of such a multiparty calls. We explore the possibilities of such advanced driving assistant systems (ADAS) in two ways: first, we investigate object-based spatial audio where each remote caller is modeled as a distinct audio source. Second, we apply a non-intrusive ambient stereoscopic 3D (S3D) visualization that indicates the current speaker and its location. In a between-subject design driving simulator study (n=56), we assess workload, user experience and driving performance. Surprisingly, we found no positive effect of object-based audio. However, we present evidence how a supporting visualization might lower situational stress and increase the system's dependability. We conclude that a supportive and intelligent stereoscopic visualization is a promising candidate for enhancing multiparty conference calls while driving.


Preface and Acknowledgements. 1: Introduction. 1. The Problem of Catastrophe Risk. 2. Overview of Study. 3. Summary of Findings. 2: An Overview of Catastrophe Insurance Markets. 1. Characteristics of Residential Property Insurance. 2. Challenges to Insuring Catastrophe Risk. 3. Market Structure. 4. Market Conduct and Performance. 3: Regulatory Institutions and Policies. 1. The Framework for Insurance Regulation. 2.Key Regulatory Policies Affecting Catastrophe Insurance. 3. Regulation in Florida. 4. Regulation in New York. 4: Supply, Demand and Regulation of Catastrophe Insurance. 1. The Supply of Catastrophe Insurance. 2. The Structure of Demand for Homeowners Insurance. 3. Summary. 5: Demand Estimation for Homeowners Insurance Policies. 1. Estimation of Quantity Demanded. 2. Florida Results. 3. New York. 4. Guaranty Funds. 5. Summary. 6: Summary and Conclusions. Appendix A: Structure-Conduct-Performance Framework. Appendix B: Introduction to Catastrophe Modeling. 1. AIR Catastrophe Modeling Technology. 2. Event Generation Module. 3. Local Intensity Module. 4. Damage Module. 5. Insured Loss Module. 6. Model Output. References. Index.


1. Public Health Nurses (PHNs) provide many mental health pro-motion and protection services within the scope of their daily practice. 2. The nursing story provides nurses with an opportunity to describe nursing care. 3. The American culture places enormous pressure on immigrants to change their life practices, including those related to health.


A feasibility study of brush for off-site water yield was undertaken in 1998 on the North Concho River near San Angelo, Texas. Subsequently, studies were conducted on eight additional Texas watersheds. Economic analysis was based on estimated control costs of the different options compared to the estimated rancher benefits of brush control. Control costs included initial and follow-up treatments required to reduce brush canopy to between 3 and 8%, and maintain it at the reduced level for 10 years. The state cost-share was estimated by subtracting the present value of rancher benefits from the present value of the total cost of the control program. The total cost of additional water was determined by dividing the total state cost-share if all eligible acreage were enrolled by the total added water estimated to result from the brush control program. This procedure resulted in present values of total control costs per acre ranging from $33.75 to $159.45. Rancher benefits, based on the present value of the improved net returns to typical cattle, sheep, goat, and wildlife enterprises, ranged from $8.95 to $52.12 per acre. Present values of the state cost-share per acre ranged from $21.70 to $138.85. The cost of added water estimated for the eight watersheds ranged from $16.41 to $204.05 per acre-foot averaged over each watershed.


The method of intraoperative laser autofluorescent spectroscopy (IOLAS) has been developed and introduced in clinical practice for improvement of intraoperative diagnosis of thyroid gland diseases. 112 patients (17 men, 95 women, mean age 46.5 +/- 3.8) with various thyroid diseases were examined. Benign diseases were revealed in 96 (85.7%) patients, thyroid cancer--in 16 (14.3%). All the patients were operated. Rapid histologic examination and IOLAS were performed in all the patients. Main spectral characteristics and criteria of differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid diseases were determined. High diagnostic value of this method was demonstrated. Results of IOLAS were compared with USI, thin-needle aspiration biopsy, express histologic examination. Sensitivity of IOLAS in differential diagnosis of malignant thyroid diseases achieves 95.4%, specificity--97.6%. IOLAS permits to clarify the morphology of thyroid lesions and to choice optimal scope of surgery. In accordance to IOLAS the scope of planned surgery was expanded in 18.2% cases that permitted to avoid repeated operations after elective histologic examination. It is concluded that the method may be used for optimisation of intraoperative diagnosis of thyroid diseases.


Junction-mediating and regulatory protein (JMY) is a regulator of both transcription and actin filament assembly. JMY is a critical nucleation-promoting factor (NPF); however, its role in the development of mammalian embryos is poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated the functional roles of the NPF JMY in porcine embryos. Porcine embryos expressed JMY mRNA and protein, and JMY protein moved from the cytoplasm to the nucleus at later embryonic developmental stages. Knockdown of JMY by RNA interference markedly decreased the rate of blastocyst development, validating its role in the development of porcine embryos. Furthermore, injection of JMY dsRNA also impaired actin and Arp2 expression, and co-injection of actin and Arp2 mRNA partially rescued blastocyst development. Taken together, our results show that the NPF JMY is involved in the development of porcine embryos by regulating the NPF-Arp2-actin pathway.


Situational interest has been identified as an important motivational variable that has an impact on students' academic performances, yet little is known about how the specific variable of the learning environment might trigger students' situational interest. The purpose of this study was to investigate sources that stimulate the interest of students in an undergraduate course in zoophysiology. Observations, informal conversational interviews, and responses to a survey were used to identify sources of interest. Five situational variables and one predominantly individual variable are documented to influence the catching of interest of students. The situational variables are live animals, "Ah-ha!" experiences, meaningfulness, social involvement, and humor, whereas the predominantly individual variable is background knowledge. We conclude that the situational variables are largely under the control of the faculty and should be considered when planning instruction. By focusing on the enhancement of situational interest in physiology lessons, faculty members can find ways to foster students' involvement in specific content areas and increase levels of academic motivation.


Aiming to ensure the structural integrity of an offshore structure, wave-induced responses have been measured during normal operating conditions. Operational Modal Analysis is applied to the data obtained from continuously monitoring the structure. Sensors placed only on the topside of an offshore platform are sufficient to provide information to identify the modal properties of the structure, such as natural frequencies, damping ratios, and mode shapes. A finite element model is created and updated in line with the identified dynamic properties for applying a modal expansion technique in the interest of accessing information at any point of the structure. Wave radars are also placed at the platform from which the wave forces are calculated based on basic industrial standard models. In this way, the wave kinematics are estimated according to the linear wave theory associated with Wheeler stretching. Since this study is related to offshore structures composed by slender elements, the wave forces are estimated using Morison formulation. By assigning typical values to the drag and inertia coefficients, wave loads are estimated and applied to the updated finite element model. For the diffraction effect, the wave load has also been evaluated according to MacCamy and Fuchs theory. The responses obtained from this procedure are compared with measured responses. In addition to describing the process, this paper presents a case study to verify the theory using monitoring data from a tripod jacket. Results indicate realistic response estimation that contributes to the knowledge about the state of the structure.


Object tracking is important in autonomous robotics, military applications, financial
time-series forecasting, and mobile systems. In order to correctly track through clutter,
algorithms which predict the next value in a time series are essential.
The competence of standard machine learning techniques to create bearing prediction
estimates was examined. The results show that the classification based algorithms
produce more accurate estimates than the state-of-the-art statistical models. Artificial
Neural Networks (ANNs) and K-Nearest Neighbour were used, demonstrating that this
technique is not specific to a single classifier. [Continues.]


The filial piety model of family centred care has dominated Chinese society for thousands of years. The ways in which filial piety is presented are being modified and modernised as China undergoes social transitions. The study aims to understand the meaning of filial piety for people with dementia and family caregivers. Semi-structured interviews with people with dementia (n = 10) and family caregivers (n = 14) were conducted. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three themes emerged: (a) 'Being filial is a cultural continuity and my future investment'. (b) 'The changed perception and ways of being filial'. (c) 'Filial responsibility is a social and cultural convention, but not my personal choice'. This study highlights the importance of cultural values in family care decision making and in shaping filial responsibilities. It indicates that filial obligation can be maintained through social support, even though the nature of filial piety has been changed by social transitions.


This paper describes our experience of performing reactive security audit of known security vulnerabilities in core operating system and browser COM components, using an extended static checker HAVOCLITE. We describe the extensions made to the tool to be applicable on such large C++ components, along with our experience of using an extended static checker in the large. We argue that the use of such checkers as a configurable static analysis in the hands of security auditors can be an effective tool for finding variations of known vulnerabilities. The effort has led to finding and fixing around 70 previously unknown security vulnerabilities in over 10 millions lines operating system and browser code.


This paper combines an analysis of data on security vulnerabilities (published in Bugtraq database) and a focused source-code examination to develop a finite state machine (FSM) model to depict and reason about security vulnerabilities. An in-depth analysis of the vulnerability reports and the corresponding source code of the applications leads to three observations: (i) exploits must pass through multiple elementary activities, (ii) multiple vulnerable operations on several objects are involved in exploiting a vulnerability, and (iii) the vulnerability data and corresponding code inspections allow us to derive a predicate for each elementary activity. Each predicate is represented as a primitive FSM (pFSM). Multiple pFSMs are then combined to create an FSM model of vulnerable operations and possible exploits. The proposed FSM methodology is exemplified by analyzing several types of vulnerabilities reported in the data: stack buffer overflow, integer overflow, heap overflow, input validation vulnerabilities, and format string vulnerabilities. For the studied vulnerabilities, we identify three types of pFSMs, which can be used to analyze operations involved in exploiting vulnerabilities and to identify the security checks to be performed at the elementary activity level. A demonstration of the practical usefulness of the FSM modeling approach was the discovery of a new heap overflow vulnerability now published in Bugtraq.


We determined whether the histamine H2 antagonist cimetidine would reduce infarct volume in a model of photochemically-induced thrombotic infarction. Rats were pretreated with either vehicle (n = 6), 5.0 mg/kg cimetidine (n = 6), or 20.0 mg/kg (n = 6) cimetidine 30.0 min prior to infarct formation. Cortical infarction was produced by irradiating the brain with green light (560 nm) through the intact skull for 4 min following the systemic injection of rose bengal. Five days after infarct induction, rats were perfusion-fixed and processed for routine histopathologic analysis. With computer-assisted planimetry, infarct areas and volumes were determined using multiple coronal sections spanning the anterior-posterior extent of the infarct. Morphologic analyses of infarct volume demonstrated no differences between the vehicle (56.0 +/- 6 mm3), 5.0 mg/kg cimetidine (50.0 +/- 8 mm3), or 20.0 mg/kg cimetidine (53.0 +/- 7 mm3) treated groups. In this cortical infarct model, pretreatment with a histamine antagonist fails to reduce infarct size. It is concluded that photochemically-induced microvascular thrombosis results in too severe an insult for cimetidine to chronically protect.


Single collecting tubules of Amphiuma kidneys were perfused in vitro to characterize their electrophysiological properties. The lumen-negative potential (-24 mV) was abolished by amiloride in the lumen and by ouabain in the bath. Ion substitution experiments in the lumen demonstrated the presence of a large sodium conductance in the apical cell membrane, but no evidence was obtained for a significant potassium or chloride conductance. Ion substitutions in the bath solution and the depolarizing effect of barium on the basolateral membrane potential demonstrated the presence of a large potassium conductance in the basolateral cell membrane. Measurements of dilution potentials in amiloride-treated tubules revealed a modest cation selectivity of the paracellular pathway. These results support a cell model in which sodium reabsorption occurs by electrodiffusion across the apical cell membrane and active transport across the basolateral cell membrane. The absence of a detectable potassium conductance in the apical cell membrane suggests that secretion of this ion cannot take place by diffusion from cell to lumen.


This article reviews the evidence and theory pertaining to a form of perspective-taking failure—a difficulty in setting aside the privileged information that one knows to be unavailable to another party. The authors argue that this bias (epistemic egocentrism, or EE) is a general feature of human cognition and has been tapped by 2 independent and largely uncommunicating research traditions: the theory-of-mind tradition in developmental psychology and, with more sensitive probes, the "heuristics and biases" tradition in the psychology of human judgment. This article sets the stage for facilitating communication between these traditions as well as for the recognition of EE's breadth and potential interdisciplinary significance: The authors propose a life-span account and a tentative taxonomy of EE; and they highlight the interdisciplinary significance of EE by discussing its implications for normative ethics.


The specific health benefits achieved from different forms and patterns of leisure‐time physical activity are not established. We analyzed the mortality in a cohort of Swedish golf players. We used the Swedish Golf Federation's membership registry and the nationwide Mortality Registry. We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMR) with stratification for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. The cohort included 300 818 golfers, and the total number of deaths was 1053. The overall SMR was 0.60 [95% confidence intervals (CIs): 0.57–0.64]. The mortality reduction was observed in men and women, in all age groups, and in all socioeconomic categories. Golfers with the lowest handicap (the most skilled players) had the lowest mortality; SMR=0.53 (95% CI: 0.41–0.67) compared with 0.68 (95% CI: 0.61–0.75) for those with the highest handicap. While we cannot conclude with certainty that all the 40% decreased mortality rates are explained by the physical activity associated with playing golf, we conclude that most likely this is part of the explanation. To put the observed mortality reduction in context, it may be noted that a 40% reduction of mortality rates corresponds to an increase in life expectancy of about 5 years.


We tested the hypothesis that amendments of two hydrophilic gels to a sand soil would reduce N leaching losses and increase growth of citrus seedlings. Three-month-old seedlings of 'Swingle' citrumelo [Citrus parodist Macf. x Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] were transplanted into containers of steam-sterilized Candler sand, amended with a linear acrylamide/acrylate copolymer (PAM), and/or a cross-linked copolymer agronomic gel (AGRO). Two rates of each amendment were applied either alone or together and were either mixed into dry sand prior to seedling transplant, used as a root-dip slurry at transplant or applied to the soil surface in a solution after transplant. Seedlings were grown in the greenhouse for 5 months and irrigated to container capacity with a dilute nutrient solution without leaching. Pots were leached every 2 weeks and total N losses from the soil were measured in the leachate. PAM amendments increased N retention in soil slightly but PAM had no effect on plant growth, water use, N uptake, or N leaching relative to unamended control plants. The AGRO amendments increased seedling growth, plant water use and uptake of N from 11% to 45 % above that of the unamended control plants depending on application method. AGRO decreased N concentrations in the leachate to as low as 1 to 6 mg.L -1 . Only 6% of the total applied N was leached from theAGRO treatments, which was about half that from the untreated control plants. There was no additional benefit of using both amendments together or of an additional AGRO root dip treatment. The largest plants used the most water, required the most N and had the greatest N uptake efficiency. AGRO amendments clearly enhanced seedling growth, increased their N uptake efficiency, and reduced N losses from this sand soil.


This study examines the origins, growth and subsequent character of the Victorian suburbs of Oxford, a small provincial city with no industrial base. Major sources include newspapers, census enumerators' returns, deposited plans, and plan registers, rate books, the records of leasehold estates and deeds of properties acquired by the City Council. Chapters are devoted to:- The Creation of the Suburbs; Development Control; the House-Building Industry; Suburban Houses; House-Ownership; Residents of the Suburbs and Life in the Suburbs.
Victorian Oxford grew steadily, attracting local migration because of the varied job opportunities. Suburban development was profoundly influenced by topography and the decisions taken by landowners. Corporate landowners preferred leasehold development to outright sale and their concern for reversionary value encouraged the building of high-cost, low-density housing. On freehold estates, too, standards were raised by the social and financial preferences of developers and builders, the introduction of building byelaws and the rising real incomes of potential investors and tenants. Access to cheap freehold plots prolonged the fragmentation of a building industry which depended heavily upon loans and credit. The suburbs were the product of innumerable local and personal decisions, providing a safe income for many private landlords and larger, more sanitary homes for better-off tenants.
The new suburbs required many services and facilities, but the provision of these owed much to their social status. With an increasing number of resident councillors, leasehold, middle-class North Oxford had the political and economic power to maintain and enhance its character. Elsewhere, market forces prevailed over amenity, public utilities were grudgingly provided and the limited nature of municipal intervention was most seriously felt. Conditions were ameliorated, however, by those people and organisations who, for various reasons, provided churches, schools and recreational facilities.


Background Platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) participate, for example, in haemostasis, immunity and development. Most studies of platelet EVs have targeted microparticles, whereas exosomes and EV characterization under various conditions have been less analyzed. Studies have been hampered by the difficulty in obtaining EVs free from contaminating cells and platelet remnants. Therefore, we optimized an EV isolation protocol and compared the quantity and protein content of EVs induced by different agonists. Methods Platelets isolated with iodixanol gradient were activated by thrombin and collagen, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or Ca2+ ionophore. Microparticles and exosomes were isolated by differential centrifugations. EVs were quantitated by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and total protein. Size distributions were determined by NTA and electron microscopy. Proteomics was used to characterize the differentially induced EVs. Results The main EV populations were 100–250 nm and over 90% were <500 nm irrespective of the activation. However, activation pathways differentially regulated the quantity and the quality of EVs, which also formed constitutively. Thrombogenic activation was the most potent physiological EV-generator. LPS was a weak inducer of EVs, which had a selective protein content from the thrombogenic EVs. Ca2+ ionophore generated a large population of protein-poor and unselectively packed EVs. By proteomic analysis, EVs were highly heterogeneous after the different activations and between the vesicle subpopulations. Conclusions Although platelets constitutively release EVs, vesiculation can be increased, and the activation pathway determines the number and the cargo of the formed EVs. These activation-dependent variations render the use of protein content in sample normalization invalid. Since most platelet EVs are 100–250 nm, only a fraction has been analyzed by previously used methods, for example, flow cytometry. As the EV subpopulations could not be distinguished and large vesicle populations may be lost by differential centrifugation, novel methods are required for the isolation and the differentiation of all EVs.


Objective Bioprosthetic valve thrombosis (BPVT) is increasingly recognised as a major cause of prosthetic dysfunction in the first years postimplantation. How early abnormal gradients can be detected prior to diagnosis and how fast they normalise with anticoagulant therapy is unknown. We set forth to (1) evaluate patterns of increase in gradients prior to BPVT diagnosis and (2) characterise time-course of response to anticoagulation. Methods Patients treated with warfarin for BPVT (1999–2019) with clinically significant reduction of mean gradients (≥25%) were identified retrospectively. Recovery was defined as gradient decrease ≥50%, to postimplantation or to normal-range gradients per position, model and size. Time-to-BPVT (implantation—BPVT diagnosis), potential diagnostic delay (first abnormal gradient by position, model and size—BPVT diagnosis) and time-to-recovery (BPVT diagnosis—complete resolution) were recorded. Results 77 patients were identified; 32 (42%) aortic (23 surgical—12 porcine, 11 pericardial; 9 transcatheter); 24 (31%) mitral; 21 (27%) tricuspid. Median time-to-BPVT was 24, 21 and 10 months, respectively. Potential diagnostic delay was median 21 months for aortic, 4 months for mitral, but 0 for tricuspid. Recovery was significantly faster in mitral than aortic (median 2.5 vs 4.8 months, p=0.038) and tricuspid (median 5.9 months, p=0.025) positions. Porcine aortic valves responded faster than pericardial aortic valves (median 2.9 vs 20.3 months, p=0.004). Conclusion Gradients start to increase months before the clinical BPVT diagnosis. Recovery is faster in mitral and surgical aortic porcine valves; a longer warfarin trial seems indicated in tricuspid and surgical aortic pericardial valves.


Isolated iliac aneurysms (IIA) are uncommon lesions that require surgical repair to prevent rupture. The aim of this article is to give an update on the current surgical management of IIA. This report also evaluates the application of endovascular repair in IIA, based on a recent Pubmed search and on our own experience in the interventional field: Open reconstruction achieves good longterm results and still represents the golden standard in surgical treatment of IIA. Transluminally placed endovascular stent grafts can be successfully used to exclude isolated iliac aneurysms in selected high risk patients with suitable anatomy. A classification based on aneurysm morphology is useful for patient selection. The value of endovascular therapy has yet to be determined.


Total hip arthroplasty is an exceptionally cost-effective and successful surgical procedure. Dislocation, infection, osteolysis, and limb-length inequality are among the most common complications affecting the long-term success of total hip arthroplasty. Instability is a challenging complication to treat. The surgeon frequently must try to achieve a stable hip at the cost of increasing the length of the operated extremity. It is important to understand the factors associated with stability and limb length; the surgical options available; the effect and role of the various surgical approaches; and methods to manage instability, with and without limb-length inequality.


Lantibiotics are ribosomally synthesized antimicrobial peptides containing unusual amino acids. As promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics, they have a high potential for alleviating the problem of emergent antibiotic resistance, with possible applications in many industries that have antibacterial demand. Bovicin HJ50 is a type AII lantibiotic, the largest group of lantibiotics, comprising a linear N-terminal region and a globular C-terminal region. Interestingly, bovicin H50 has a disulfide bond that is rare in this group. Owing to limited information about the spatial structures of type AII lantibiotics, the functional regions of this type and the role of the disulfide bond are still unknown. In the present study, we resolved the solution structure of bovicin HJ50 using NMR spectroscopy. This is the first spatial structure of a type AII lantibiotic. Bovicin HJ50 exhibited high flexibility in aqueous solution, whereas varied rigidities were observed in the different rings with the conserved ring A being the most rigid. The charged residues Lys¹¹, Asp¹² and Lys³⁰, as well as the essential disulfide bond were critical for antimicrobial activity. Importantly, bovicin HJ50 showed not only peptidoglycan precursor lipid II-binding ability, but also pore-forming activity, which is significantly different from other bacteriostatic type AII lantibiotics, suggesting a novel antimicrobial mechanism.


Involuntary movements of the pelvis and legs which accompany voluntary arm flexion and correct the orthograde posture start in most trials in normal subjects simultaneously with the voluntary arm movement or later was demonstrated. At the same time bursts of legs and trunk muscles activity anticipate the burst of m.deltoideus activity. In this situation the electromechanical delay (EMD) of m.deltoideus is significantly shorter (13-18 ms) than EMD of legs and trunk muscles (70-80 ms). Perhaps more long EMD of legs and trunk muscles in orthograde posture "impels" anticipation of its activity for economic control of the body position in initial period of a fast voluntary movement.


CONTEXT
There is limited information on the influence of vitamin D on physical performance in black Americans.

OBJECTIVE
To determine if maintenance of serum 25(OH)D >75 nmol/L prevents a decline in physical performance.

DESIGN
The Physical Performance, Osteoporosis and Vitamin D in African American Women (PODA) trial had a prospective, randomized, placebo controlled, double-dummy design with two arms: one of which is placebo vitamin D3 adjusted to maintain serum 25(OH)D >75 nmol/L.

PATIENTS
The target population was healthy elderly black women with serum 25(OH)D between 20 and 65 nmol/L. The trial was 3 years in duration with measurement of physical performance every 6 months: grip strength, Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), 10 chair rises, and 6-minute walk distance. A total of 260 women entered the study and 184 completed 3 years. Mean age was 68.2 years. Baseline 25(OH)D was 53 nmol/L; total SPPB was 11 (10 to 12).

SETTING
Research center in an academic health center.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURE
Prevention of decline in physical performance measures.

INTERVENTION
Participants were randomly assigned to placebo or active vitamin D. Vitamin D3 dose was adjusted to maintain serum 25(OH)D >75 nmol/L.

RESULTS
There was a decline with time in grip strength and the 6-minute walk test. The SPBB increased with time. There were no substantial differences between the placebo and active vitamin D3 groups with respect to the temporal patterns observed for any of the performance measures.

CONCLUSION
There is no benefit of maintaining serum 25(OH)D >75 nmol/L in preventing the decline in physical performance in healthy black American women.


Stereolithographic (SL) 3D printing, especially digital light processing (DLP) printing, is a promising rapid fabrication method for bio-microfluidic applications such as clinical tests, lab-on-a-chip devices, and sensor integrated devices. The benefits of 3D printing lead many to believe this fabrication method will accelerate the use of microfluidics, but there are a number of potential obstacles to overcome for bioanalytical labs to fully utilize this technology. For commercially available printing materials, this includes challenges in producing prints with the print resolution and mechanical stability required for a particular design, along with cytotoxic components within many SL resins and low optical compatibility for imaging experiments. Potential solutions to these problems are scattered throughout the literature and rarely available in head-to-head comparisons. Therefore, we present here a concise guide to the principles of resin 3D printing most relevant for fabrication of bioanalytical microfluidic devices. Intended to quickly orient labs that are new to 3D printing, the tutorial includes the results of selected systematic tests to inform resin selection, strategies for design optimization, and improvement of biocompatibility of resin 3D printed bio-microfluidic devices.


The work of this thesis has been focused on the characterization of metallic membranes for the hydrogen purification from steam reforming process and also of perfluorosulphonic acid ionomeric (PFSI) membranes suitable as electrolytes in fuel cell applications.
The experimental study of metallic membranes was divided in three sections: synthesis of palladium and silver palladium coatings on porous ceramic support via electroless deposition (ELD), solubility and diffusivity analysis of hydrogen in palladium based alloys (temperature range between 200 and 400 °C up to 12 bar of pressure) and permeation experiments of pure hydrogen and mixtures containing, besides hydrogen, also nitrogen and methane at high temperatures (up to 600 °C) and pressures (up to 10 bar).
Sequential deposition of palladium and silver on to porous alumina tubes by ELD technique was carried out using two different procedures: a stirred batch and a continuous flux method. Pure palladium as well as Pd-Ag membranes were produced: the Pd-Ag membranes' composition is calculated to be close to 77% Pd and 23% Ag by weight which was the target value that correspond to the best performance of the palladium-based alloys. One of the membranes produced showed an infinite selectivity through hydrogen and relatively high permeability value and is suitable for the potential use as a hydrogen separator.
The hydrogen sorption in silver palladium alloys was carried out in a gravimetric system on films produced by ELD technique. In the temperature range inspected, up to 400°C, there is still a lack in literature. The experimental data were analyzed with rigorous equations allowing to calculate the enthalpy and entropy values of the Sieverts' constant; the results were in very good agreement with the extrapolation made with literature data obtained a lower temperature (up to 150 °C). The information obtained in this study would be directly usable in the modeling of hydrogen permeation in Pd-based systems.
Pure and mixed gas permeation tests were performed on Pd-based hydrogen selective membranes at operative conditions close to steam-reforming ones. Two membranes (one produced in this work and another produced by NGK Insulators Japan) showed a virtually infinite selectivity and good permeability.
Mixture data revealed the existence of non negligible resistances to hydrogen transport in the gas phase. Even if the decrease of the driving force due to polarization concentration phenomena occurs, in principle, in all membrane-based separation systems endowed with high perm-selectivity, an extensive experimental analysis lack, at the moment, in the palladium-based membrane process in literature.
Moreover a new procedure has been introduced for the proper comparison of the mass transport resistance in the gas phase and in the membrane.
Another object of study was the water vapor sorption and permeation in PFSI membranes with short and long side chains was also studied; moreover the permeation of gases (i.e. He, N2 and O2) in dry and humid conditions was considered.
The water vapor sorption showed strong interactions between the hydrophilic groups and the water as revealed from the hysteresis in the sorption-desorption isotherms and thermo gravimetric analysis. The data obtained were used in the modeling of water vapor permeation, that was described as diffusion-reaction of water molecules, and in the humid gases permeation experiments.
In the dry gas experiments the permeability and diffusivity was found to increase with temperature and with the equivalent weight (EW) of the membrane. A linear correlation was drawn between the dry gas permeability and the opposite of the equivalent weight of PFSI membranes, based on which the permeability of pure PTFE is retrieved in the limit of high EW.
In the other hand O2 ,N2 and He permeability values was found to increase significantly, and in a similar fashion, with water activity. A model that considers the PFSI membrane as a composite matrix with a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic phase was considered allowing to estimate the variation of gas permeability with relative humidity on the basis of the permeability in the dry PFSI membrane and in pure liquid water.


The operation feasibility of small hydropower plants in mountainous sites is subjected to the run-of-river flow, which is also dependent on a high variability in precipitation and snow cover. Moreover, the management of this kind of system has to be performed with some particular operation conditions of the plant (e.g., turbine minimum and maximum discharge) but also some environmental flow requirements. In this context, a technological climate service is conceived in a tight connection with end users, perfectly answering the needs of the management of small hydropower systems in a pilot area, and providing a forecast of the river streamflow together with other operation data. This paper presents an overview of the service but also a set of lessons learnt related to the features, requirements, and considerations to bear in mind from the point of view of climate service developers. In addition, the outcomes give insight into how this kind of service could change the traditional management (normally based on past experience), providing a probability range of the future river flow based on future weather scenarios according to the range of future weather possibilities. This highlights the utility of the co-generation process to implement climate services for water and energy fields but also that seasonal climate forecasting could improve the business as usual of this kind of facility.


The focus of this investigation is to distinguish the difference between technologies and processes found in manufacturing environments, where the magnitude and order of these associations may provide insight into the degree that each may require from a "push‐pull" perspective. Each organization is divided into two differing parameters of communication: internal and external. The results suggest that advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) and advanced manufacturing processes (AMPs) are positively related, while a technology such as EDI is not equally distributed between the concepts of internal and external communications. The predominant research design for analyzing the impact of a new technology on an organization has been the case study design, which does not provide a consistent basis for comparing and generalizing results. This study employs the survey design and provides a better insight into the effects of AMTs and AMPs.


Background Substantial policy, communication and operational gaps exist between mental health services and the police for individuals with enduring mental health needs. Aims To map and cost pathways through mental health and police services, and to model the cost impact of implementing key policy recommendations. Method Within a case-linkage study, we estimated 1-year individual-level healthcare and policing costs. Using decision modelling, we then estimated the potential impact on costs of three recommended service enhancements: street triage, Mental Health Act assessments for all Section 136 detainees and outreach custody link workers. Results Under current care, average 1-year mental health and police costs were £10 812 and £4552 per individual respectively (n = 55). The cost per police incident was £522. Models suggested that each service enhancement would alter per incident costs by between −8% and +6%. Conclusions Recommended enhancements to care pathways only marginally increase individual-level costs.


Powdery mildew occurs annually on melons in Arizona. Podosphaera xanthii (Sphaerotheca fuliginea) is the plant pathogenic fungus that causes powdery mildew on cucurbits, such as cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, cucumber and squash. When environmental conditions are favorable, disease incidence and severity can reach economically significant levels. Development of powdery mildew on melons is favored by moderate temperatures and relative humidity, succulent plant growth and reduced light intensity brought about by a dense plant canopy. Existing products as well as some materials under development were evaluated and compared for efficacy in management of powdery mildew on cantaloupe in a field trial conducted during the spring of 2003 at the Yuma Agricultural Center. A moderately high level of disease had developed by crop maturity (June 17) on untreated plants. Among treatments, the degree of powdery mildew suppression ranged from modest to essentially complete control. All treatments significantly reduced the severity of powdery mildew compared to untreated plants. The best performer among all treatments in this trial was Procure at 0.25 lb a.i., which completely inhibited disease development. Several other treatments resulted in a low mean disease severity rating (1 to 5 mildew colonies per leaf), including Quinoxyfen+Actigard, Rally+Actigard, Flint alternated with Bravo, Microthiol Disperss, Bravo, Quinoxyfen, Rally, Flint alternated with Bravo, Flint+Reason+Bond, Topsin M, Quadris+Latron B-1956, Flint+Actigard, Flint, Topsin+Trilogy, Kaligreen+No Foam A, Quadris+Latron B-1956 alternated with Actigard, Quadris+Latron B-1956+Actigard, and Pristine. Multiple applications of a single compound are included in these trials to gather information on the relative efficacy of each separate chemistry over a multi-year period. Among tested products, several are registered for use in Arizona for control of powdery mildew on melons. The use of a mixture or rotation among efficacious chemistries with different modes of action will help to inhibit the development of insensitivity by the pathogen to one or more of these active ingredients.


Model-to-model transformations between visual languages are often defined by typed, attributed graph transformation systems. Here, the source and target languages of the model transformation are given by type graphs (or meta models),
and the relation between source and target model elements is captured by graph transformation rules. On the other hand, refactoring is a technique to improve the structure of a model in order to make it easier to comprehend, more maintainable
and amenable to change. Refactoring can be defined by graph transformation rules, too. In the context of model transformation, problems arise when models of the source language of a model transformation become subject to refactoring. It may well be the case that after the refactoring, the model transformation rules are no longer applicable because the refactoring induced structural changes in the models. In this paper, we consider a graph-transformation-based evolution of model transformations
which adapts the model transformation rules to the refactored models.
In the main result, we show that under suitable assumptions, the evolution leads to an adapted model transformation which is compatible with refactoring of the source and target models. In a small case study, we apply our techniques to a well-known
model transformation from statecharts to Petri nets.


W. N. ('Chris') Christiansen was an innovative and influential radio astronomy pioneer. The hallmarks of his long and distinguished career in science and engineering, spanning almost five decades, were his inventiveness and his commitment to, and success with, large-scale projects. These projects were the outcome of his innovative skill as physicist and engineer. Paralleling this was his equal commitment to forging strong international links and friendships, leading to his election as Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union for the years 1964 to 1970, as President of the International Union of Radio Science, URSI, from 1978 to 1981, and subsequently as Honorary Life President in 1984, and as Foreign Secretary of the Australian Academy of Science from 1981 to 1985. Major subsequent developments in radio astronomy and wireless communications on the global scene stand as a legacy to Chris's approach to his work and to the development of those who worked with him.


This is the first report of a complete mitochondrial genome sequence from Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana, class Marmota). We determined the M. himalayana mitochondrial (mt) genome sequence by using long-PCR methods and a primer-walking sequencing strategy with genus-specific primers. The complete mt genome of M. himalayana was 16,443 bp in length and comprised 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and a typical control region (CR). Gene order and orientation were identical to those in mt genomes of most vertebrates. The heavy strand showed an overall A+T content of 63.49%. AT and GC skews for the mt genome of the M. himalayana were 0.012 and -0.300, respectively, indicating a nucleotide bias against T and G. The control region was 997 bp in size and displayed some unusual features, including absence of repeated motifs and two conserved sequence blocks (CSB2 and CSB3), which is consistent with observations from two other rodent species, Sciurus vulgaris and Myoxus glis. Phylogenetic analysis of complete mt DNA sequences without the control region including 30 taxa of Rodentia was performed with Maximum-Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian Inference (BI) methods and provided strong support for Sciurognathi polyphyly and Hystricognathi monophyly. This analysis also provided evidence that M. himalayana mt DNA was closely related to that from Sciurus vulgaris (Sciuridae) and was similar to mt DNA from Myoxus glis.


In a recent paper by Cheng and co-workers (Sun, Y.-J.; Zang, L. Z.; Cheng, P.; Lin, H.-K.; Yan, S.-P.; Sun, W.; Liao, D.-Z.; Jiang, Z.-H.; Shen, P.-W. Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 508-515), kinetic evidence for inhibitor effects of specific ligands on the catalyzed dehydration of HCO3- by copper(II) complexes of the type [Tp(Ph)]CuX (X- = OH-, N3-, and NCS-) was reported. The analysis of the kinetic data is not correct, and a re-evaluation shows that the claimed catalytic activity of the studied complexes on the dehydration reaction of bicarbonate is indeed questionable. Furthermore, the apparent inhibitor effect of specific selected ligands in the Cu(II) complexes does not seem to exist at all and is based on a wrong interpretation of the kinetic data.


We use the radiative potential method to perform a detailed study of quantum electrodynamics (QED) radiative corrections to electric dipole (E1) transition amplitudes in heavy alkali-metal atoms Rb, Cs, Fr, and alkali-metal-like ions Sr+, Ba+, and Ra+. The validity of the method is checked by comparing with the results of rigorous QED in simple atomic potentials. We study the effects of core relaxation, polarization of the core by the E1 field, and valence-core correlations on QED, which are shown to be important in some cases. We identify several transitions for which the QED contribution exceeds the deviation between atomic theory and experiment.


The concept of implicit bias has arguably laid the groundwork for uncomfortable discussions surrounding race in academic medicine, but its effectiveness in changing racist behavior and systems remains unclear. Terms like implicit bias, while perhaps more palatable than other concepts to some, may result in confusion and divert time from meaningful reconceptualization and creation of effective antiracism initiatives. This Invited Commentary contends that the term implicit bias is inadequate for addressing racism because it is too broad; does not necessarily lead to a change in racist behaviors; assumes that racism is unconscious, aggressor-centered, and individual-focused; and implies that everyone suffers equally in a racist system. The authors illustrate why terms like implicit bias are inadequate in combatting racism in medicine and suggest alternate terminology to use while engaging in antiracism work in academic medicine.


The mechanism of drug-dependent immunologic thrombocytopenic purpura (DITP) was investigated by studying the sera of four patients with classic DITP (two with quinidine-, one with acetaminophen-, and one with phenazopyridine-dependent antiplatelet antibody) using a solid-phase radioimmunoassay with 125I-staphylococcal protein A. Two forms of antiplatelet antibody could be demonstrated: one that required drug to bind to platelets and one that bound to platelets in the absence of drug. Drug-dependent antiplatelet antibody required the simultaneous addition of drug and the Fc domain of the drug-dependent IgG molecule for binding to platelets. It did not require serum complement or factor VIII-related antigen for binding to platelets. Drug-dependent binding of antibody to platelets was saturation-dependent. Non-drug-dependent antiplatelet antibody of two patients (one with quinidine-induced thrombocytopenia and the other with acetaminophen-induced thrombocytopenia) reacted with autologous platelets as well as with homologous platelets, indicating that they were autoantibodies. Both autoantibodies had disappeared when their sera were tested 23 and 138 days, respectively, after withdrawal of their initial positive sera. Non-drug-dependent antiplatelet antibody binding could be demonstrated with the F(ab')2 fragment of the purified IgG of the serum of the second patient with quinidine DITP, who did not have detectable alloantibodies against HLA. None of the four patients with non-drug-dependent antiplatelet antibody had a past or present history of autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura.


With advancement in new technologies (specifically, Internet and Smartcard technology), small service providers can develop the capability to implement complex pricing strategies, previously enjoyed by only large service providers. Advance selling is one of those strategies. This paper investigates advance selling in a competitive setting. Prior research has shown that, given the capability, advance selling can be a powerful tool for a monopolist and can improve profits (by as much as 100%). This situation occurs under surprisingly general conditions that are not industry specific. However, advance selling in competitive situations may create other forms of competition such as competition with competitors in the advance period and sellers competing with themselves across time. We allow one seller to have market power in the sense that buyers are willing to pay a premium to buy from that seller. In that context, we ask some questions. For example, we ask: Do conclusions regarding whether monopolists should advance sell generalize to competitive situations? Can a seller improve profits by unilaterally developing the capability of advance selling and what is the impact on competitors' profits? When all sellers develop this capability, will gains in profits vanish? Is it more important for some types of sellers to advance sell than other types? What is the impact on consumer surplus of one or more sellers advance selling? We find that, as with the case of a monopolist, any seller that has the unilateral capability to advance sell should do so provided that they have sufficient differentiation to maintain a sufficiently high spot price. When only one seller advance sells, that seller improves profits. The improvement is sometimes at the expense of the other seller, but not always. When a seller without market power advance sells, it can hurt the profits of the competitor. When a seller with market power advance sells, it does not hurt the profits of the competitor. When both sellers advance sell, everyone can potentially gain. The profits of both sellers increase and buyer surplus can increase as well. It is more important for the seller with market power to develop the capability of advance selling because that seller would be hurt if the competitive seller unilaterally developed that capability. However, from a consumer viewpoint, it might not be desirable for the seller with market power to unilaterally develop the capability of advance selling. When only the seller with market power advance sells, that seller may improve profits at the expense of buyer surplus. When both sellers advance sell, buyer surplus does not decrease and can increase (when market power is not too large). Beyond providing profit and buyer surplus implications, we also provide pricing implications in these different scenarios.


Between 2006 and 2011, 102 hips of 78 patients with end-stage osteoarthritis secondary to developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) underwent cementless total hip arthroplasty (THA). According to the Crowe's classification, 22 hips (21%) were type 1, 19 hips (18%) were type 2, 22 hips (21%) were type 3 and 39 hips (38%) were type 4 respectively. Functional and clinical analyses were performed by Harris Hip Scores (HHS). There were 73 (71%) excellent or good results according to HHS. The postoperative HHS was significantly lower in patients who underwent femoral shortening (p<0.01). We observed 25 (24.5%) complications in total, 15 (14.7%) of which required revision surgery. The authors concluded that THA for DDH is a safe and a reliable procedure with good clinical outcomes.


Due to the dual trends of increasing cellular network transmission capacity and coverage as well as improving computational capacity, storage and intelligence of mobile handsets, mobile peer-to-peer (MP2P) networking is emerging an attractive research field in recent years. However, these trends have not been clearly articulated in perspective of both technology and business. In this paper, we propose a novel MP2P framework that is based on existing cellular network architecture to provide secure and efficient P2P file sharing for 3G and future 4G systems. Our framework, which is built on P2P over Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) mechanism, provides to network operators and P2P service providers efficient data transmission in cellular networks. With a secure enhancement using identity-based cryptography, the framework also provides desirable support for security, group management, mobility, and chargeability to meet business requirements.


This research analyzed characteristics of 109 firms engaged in international fruit and vegetable trade. A Probit model was used to determine the probability that a firm was of U.S. or Latin American origin. Results indicated that firms were rather homogenous, similar in structure, market outlets, and price setting information and strategies.


We describe the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of conformationally-locked 5'-acyl sulfamoyl adenosine derivatives as new parasitic inhibitors against Trypanosoma and Leishmania. The conformationally-locked (3'-endo, North-type) nucleosides have been synthesized by covalently attaching a 4'-CH(2)-O-2' bridge () across C2'-C4' of adenosine in order to reduce the conformational flexibility of the pentose ring. This is designed to decrease the entropic penalty for complex formation with the target protein, which may improve free-energy of stabilization of the complex leading to improved potency. Conformationally-locked 5'-acyl sulfamoyl adenosine derivatives (16-22) were tested against parasitic protozoans for the first time in this work, and showed potent inhibition of Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma rhodesiense and Leishmania infantum with IC(50) = 0.25-0.51 μM. In particular, the potent 5'-pentanyl acyl sulfamoyl adenosine derivative 17 (IC(50) = 0.25 μM) against intracellular L. infantum amastigotes and Trypanosoma subspecies is interesting in view of its almost insignificant cytotoxicity in murine macrophage host cells (CC(50) >4 μM) and in diploid human fibroblasts MRC-5 cell lines (CC(50) 4 μM). This work also suggests that variable alkyl chain length of the acyl group on the acylsulfamoyl side chain at 5' can modulate the toxicity of 5'-O-sulfamoylnucleoside analogues. This conformationally-locked sulfamoyl adenosine scaffold presents some interesting possibilities for further drug design and lead optimization.


Abstract Cloud computing (CC) services can offer substantial cost-effective global operational and relationship benefits if the cooperation between logistics and CC services are resilient. Potential vulnerabilities to cooperation of CC and logistics service providers can occur with respect to vital factors such as security and trust. Extant studies have demonstrated CC benefits as well as few challenges associated with CC services application. However, no extant study has examined the inter-organisational benefits based on cooperative resilience between CC and logistics service providers in terms of both capability and trust vulnerability factors. This study examines the cooperative resilience of logistics and CC service providers based on innovation diffusion theory within a supply chain risk assessment framework. Using structural equation modelling techniques, we investigate the relationship between the vulnerability factor (trust), capability factor (security) and collaboration benefits (relationship and operational) offered by CC service providers based on 236 Chinese logistics service firms' perceptions of CC adoption. The results indicate Chinese logistics companies perceive security impediments as a major factor affecting cooperative resilience between logistics service and CC service providers.


The Guillain-Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy are the most extensively studied immune-mediated neuropathies. Randomized treatment studies have been performed with corticosteroids, plasma exchange and more recently with high-dose immunoglobulins. In the future treatment may be more individualized based on specific immunological mechanisms. More immune-modulating treatments will become available also with recombinant DNA technology. This will offer new possibilities, but prior to the effective introduction of these new molecules in the clinical setting, careful consideration and clinical trials are required.


The idea of describing imprecise information taking independently into account both positive and negative aspects lies in the core of intuitionistic fuzzy sets which are generalization of fuzzy sets. But to apply intuitionistic fuzzy sets which seem to be a very good tool for representation and processing of imperfect information, one should be able to assign their membership and non-membership functions. In this paper we propose two ways of assigning the membership and non-membership functions for intuitionistic fuzzy sets: a) -by asking experts; b) -from relative frequency distributions (histograms). To justify the second (automatic) method, we show some similarities/parallels between intuitionistic fuzzy set theory and mass assignment theory -a well known tool for dealing with both probabilistic and fuzzy uncertainties. We also recall a semantic for membership functions -the interpretation having its roots in the possibility theory. Finally, we propose the automatic algorithm assigning the functions describing intuitionistic fuzzy sets.


McDowell opposes the view that the intentionality of language and thought remains mysterious unless it can be understood 'from outside the conceptual order'. While he thinks the demand for such a 'sideways‐on' understanding can be the result of 'scientistic prejudice', he points to Sellars's thought as exhibiting a different source: a distortion of our perspective 'from within the conceptual order'. Aacodingly, the distortion involves a failure on Sellars's part to see how descriptions from within the conceptual order can present expressions. In addition,  mental acts as related to extra‐conceptual objects, a failure in turn explained by his failure to see how such relations could have normative import. In this paper, I argue that Sellars's thought suffers from no such distortion. ased on my analysi, McDowell's examination of Sellars has not uncovered a disorder whose treatment might help relieve the desire for a sideways‐on view.


The early detection of isolates of mycobacterium of tuberculosis resistant to anti-tuberculosis pharmaceuticals is ultimately needed for optimization of treatment scheme and prevention of propagation of resistant strains. The literature review presents analysis of data concerning the new, fast and inexpensive technique of detection of mutations in genes of mycobacterium of tuberculosis competent for multiple medicinal resistance. The molecular genetic technique HRM (high resolution melting curve analysis) is based on implementation of amplification of DNA fragments with subsequent analysis of their curves of melting with high resolution. The technique demonstrated its high sensitivity and specificity. In contrast with other molecular genetic techniques of detection of resistance of mycobacterium of tuberculosis, the makes it possible to detect all mutations in interested fragments of genes and to distinguish DNA of mutant and wild types in their mixture. This technique has no contamination danger. The HRM-analysis can become a basis for development of diagnostic kits with purpose to detect tuberculosis with multiple medicinal resistance.


In this work, we present a new strategy to use fused and twisted conjugated backbones to construct conjugated small molecules and polymers as electron acceptors for non-fullerene solar cells. The new conjugated materials containing binary perylene bisimide (PBI) units linked with coplanar thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (as trans-PBI) or twisted thieno[2,3-b]thiophene (as cis-PBI) and the corresponding conjugated polymer cis-polyPBI were developed. A fused conjugated backbone ensures good charge transport, in which the twisted polymer cis-polyPBI was found to show the highest electron mobility of 1.2 × 10−2 cm2 V−1 s−1 in field-effect transistors. Meanwhile, a twisted conjugated backbone effectively prevents the aggregation and crystallization of PBI units, resulting in isotropic charge transport and finely tuned micro-phase separation in bulk-heterojunction thin films. The high electron mobility and isotropic crystallinity make the fused and twisted electron acceptors achieve high power conversion efficiencies above 6% in non-fullerene solar cells, while the coplanar molecule trans-PBI as the electron acceptor shows a very low efficiency of 0.13%.