ABSTRACT The poor marriage material hypothesis explains the high divorce rate in remarriages as a function of the qualities of people who have previously been divorced. This study sought to test whether conflict in the family of origin and in the present marriage could substantiate the poor marriage material hypothesis by discriminating between couples in their first marriage versus those in a marriage with a history of divorce. A sample of 66 newlywed married couples, half in first marriages and half in remarriages, were recruited through marriage licenses and student referrals. Family of origin conflict discriminated between first and remarried couples. Namely, wives' exposure to interparental conflict significantly increased the odds that they were presently married to a husband who had previously been divorced. Differences between first and remarried couples' own conflict patterns were largely unremarkable with the exception of remarried couples seeing their partners as being more compliant and unassertive relative to those in first marriages.


Introduction Inefficient clinic-level delivery of HIV services is a barrier to linkage and engagement in care. We used value stream mapping to quantify time spent on each component of a clinic visit while receiving care following a hospital admission in South Africa. Methods We described time for each clinic service ("process time") and time spent waiting for that service ("lead time"). We also determined time and patient costs associated with travel to the clinic and expenditures during the clinic visits for 15 clinic visits in South Africa. Participants were selected consecutively based on timing of scheduled clinic visit from a cohort of HIV-positive patients recently discharged from inpatient hospital care. During the mapping we asked the participants to assess challenges faced at the clinic visit. We subsequently conducted in depth interviews and included themes from the care experience in this analysis. Results The 15 clinic visits occurred at five clinics; four primary care and one hospital-based specialty clinic. Nine (64%) of the participants were women, the median age was 44 years (IQR: 32–49), three of the participants had one or more clinic visit in the prior 14 days, all but one participant was on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the time of the clinic visit (ART was stopped following the hospital visit for that participant). The median time since hospital discharge was 131 days (interquartile range; IQR: 121–183) for the observed visits. The median travel time to and from the clinic to a place of residence was 60 minutes. The median time spent at the clinic was 3.5 hours (IQR: 2.5–5.3) of which 2.9 hours was lead time and 25 minutes was process time (registration, vital signs, clinician assessment, laboratory, and check-out). The median patient cost for transport and food while at the clinic was ZAR43/USD2.8 (median monthly household income in the district was ZAR2450/USD157). Participants highlighted long queues, repeat clinic visits, and multiple queues during the visit (median of 5 queues) as challenges. Conclusions Accessing HIV care in South Africa is time consuming, complicated by multiple queues and frequent visits. A more patient-centered approach to care may decrease the burden of receiving care and improve outcomes.


We consider the Austrian model for the liberalized electricity market which is based on the Balance-Group (BG) organization. According to this model, all participants (consumers and producers) are organized into (virtual) balance groups, within which injection and withdrawal of power are balanced. In this paper, the available energy potential within a BG corresponds to the energy that can additionally be exchanged (generated/consumed) through directly controlling the operation of the participants' battery-storage systems. Under such scheme, a participant's battery is directly controlled in exchange to some compensation. We present an optimization framework that allows a BG to optimally utilize the participants' batteries either for exchanging the available energy potential in the spot-market (Day-Ahead or Intra-Day) or for reacting to predicted energy imbalances.


This study aims to compare two widely used methods of original data collection in nonprofit research: web and mail surveys. We employ an experimental design to assign a web-based survey and a mail survey to nonprofit professionals working in human services organizations in New Jersey. We then compare responses generated from the two survey methods in terms of response rates and data quality. Our study finds that the mail survey achieved a significantly higher response rate than the web survey, and data obtained from the mail survey produced higher internal consistency than that obtained from the web survey. There was no difference between methods, however, in respondent characteristics, the completeness of the survey, and the percentage of missing items. Taken together, the findings suggest that a mail survey, although more costly, may have response-rate and data-quality advantages over a web survey as a methodology for gathering data from nonprofit organizations.


Despite a recent decrease in the U.S. prison population, the proportion of offenders who might classify as elderly has increased exponentially during the same period—the likes of which have created new challenges for administrators tasked with the supervision of, and provision of resources to, this demographic. We review the current literature regarding functionality assessments for elderly inmates to highlight the difficulty associated with using existing instruments that are not specifically designed for the prison setting. We further argue that current efforts to identify elderly inmates are lacking, resulting in the potential misclassification of an already vulnerable group. We propose that future functionality assessments within correctional facilities incorporate a number of age-related factors that focus less on chronological age and more on the mental, physical, and social aging processes of incarcerated individuals.


A simple and effective method is presented for producing light-emitting porous silicon (PSi). A thin (d<10 nm) layer of Au, Pt, or Au/Pd is deposited on the (100) Si surface prior to immersion in a solution of HF and H2O2. Depending on the type of metal deposited and Si doping type and doping level, PSi with different morphologies and light-emitting properties is produced. PSi production occurs on the time scale of seconds, without electrical current, in the dark, on both p- and n-type Si. Thin metal coatings facilitate the etching in HF and H2O2, and of the metals investigated, Pt yields the fastest etch rates and produces PSi with the most intense luminescence. A reaction scheme involving local coupling of redox reactions with the metal is proposed to explain the metal-assisted etching process. The observation that some metal remains on the PSi surface after etching raises the possibility of fabricating in situ PSi contacts.


The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is known to play a key role in the initiation and maintenance of many tumors as well as normal development. This often occurs through mutation of the genes encoding RAS and RAF proteins which are involved in signal transduction in this pathway. BRAF is one of three RAF kinases which act as downstream effectors of growth factor signaling leading to cell cycle progression, proliferation, and survival. Initially reported as a point mutation (V600E) in the majority of metastatic melanomas, other alterations in the BRAF gene have now been reported in a variety of human cancers including papillary thyroid cancer, colon carcinomas, hairy cell leukemia, and more recently in gliomas. The identification of oncogenic mutations in the BRAF gene have led to a revolution in the treatment of metastatic melanoma using targeted molecular therapies that affect the MAPK pathway either directly through BRAF inhibition or downstream through inhibition of MEK. This review describes the molecular biology of BRAF in the context of pediatric low-grade gliomas, the role of BRAF as a diagnostic marker, the prognostic implications of BRAF, and evidence for therapeutic targeting of BRAF.


Mesoporous thiol modified silicas have been prepared using castor oil as a templating agent. The preparation was done through a co-condensation of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane and tetraethylorthosilicate in a 1:4 molar ratio. Physisorption studies showed that the prepared mesoporous silicas have an average pore diameter of 9 nm, pore volume of 1.0336 cm3/g and surface areas of up to 605 m2/g. FTIR confirmed the attachment of thiol groups on the surface of the prepared mesoporous silica as evidenced with an absorption band at around 2600 cm. SEM images indicated agglomeration of the prepared particles. The prepared thiol modified silicas were successfully immobilized with trypsin enzyme. The immobilized trypsin enzyme was stable and active for hydrolysis of N-α-benzoyl-DL-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA) substrate. Re-use studies of the immobilized trypsin showed that the enzyme could be reused up to four cycles without significant loss of activity.
Keywords: Castor oil; Template; Mesoporous silica; Thiol; Trypsin; Enzyme immobilization;


Franklin has lots of friends and one best friend named Bear. They play tag, hopscotch and ball. But Franklin always wants to pick the game and make the rules. No one wants to play with him - he's too bossy! In this Classic Franklin Storybook, Franklin learns he can't always have his own way.


The nexus of neo-liberalist influences in our current risk society has produced a crisis for both New Zealand sociology and Social Work, playing out in practice domains and in the academy. This paper argues that by co-habituating and co-operating, we may have a tangible way forward. One of the biggest challenges for Social Work practitioners is to come to terms with the role of theory in the practice of their discipline—a discipline that is often fast-paced, but increasingly focused on dealing with one client at a time, and often reduced to a dyad emphasis in practise: that of client and worker. One of the biggest challenges for the sociologist embarking on a career in research is to come to terms with sociology as methodological toolkit for social activism where knowledge of theory can be applied toward sustained societal change. Both offer a methodological approach to understanding the human condition in context. Both disciplines are at risk because of neo-liberalisation, and this, we argue must be avoided by a move toward each other.


When advising policy we face the fundamental problem that economic processes are connected with uncertainty and thus policy can err. In this paper we show how the use of simulation models can reduce policy errors. We suggest that policy is best based on socalled abductive simulation models, which help to better understand how policy measures can influence economic processes. We show that abductive simulation models use a combination of theoretical and empirical analysis based on different data sets. This helps inferring empirically reliable and meaningful statements about how policy measures influence economic processes. By way of example we show how research subsidies by the government influence the likelihood that a regional cluster emerges.


INTRODUCTION
The relationship between cannabis use and hypertension is not clear based on prior epidemiological studies. Thus, we examined this relationship over a 3-year follow-up period using a large population-based sample from the USA.

METHODS
Self-reported longitudinal data were obtained from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave 1 (2001/2002) and Wave 2 (2004/2005). The sample was restricted to participants who did not report hypertension at baseline (n = 26 844; 51% 40 years and older, 51% female, 71% white). χ2 -tests were used to examine the distributions of confounders stratified by the incidence of hypertension. Thereafter, multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to quantify the relationships between lifetime cannabis use, 12-month cannabis use and 12-month cannabis use frequency and incidence of hypertension while adjusting for confounders.

RESULTS
Cannabis use was associated with a decreased incidence of hypertension in the unadjusted analyses. However, the relationships were confounded by age. After adjustment for all confounders, neither lifetime cannabis use (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval 0.89, 0.77 to 1.02), 12-month cannabis use (0.78, 0.56 to 1.09) nor 12-month cannabis use frequency [at least monthly use (0.85, 0.57 to 1.28) and less than monthly use (0.67, 0.40 to 1.11)] were associated above chance with the incidence of hypertension.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Lifetime cannabis use, 12-month cannabis use and 12-month cannabis use frequency were not associated with the incidence of hypertension.


Abstract A thermodynamic law of adaptation of plants to temperature is developed. Plant growth rate is proportional to the product of the metabolic rate and the metabolic efficiency for production of anabolic products. Over much of the growth temperature range, metabolic rate is proportional to mean temperature and efficiency is proportional to the reciprocal of temperature variability. The mean temperature and short-term (hours to weeks) variability of temperature during the growth season at a particular location thus determine the optimum energy and growth strategy for plants. Because they can grow and reproduce most vigorously, plants with a growth rate vs. temperature curve that matches the time-at-temperature vs. temperature curve during the growth season are favored by natural selection. The law of temperature adaptation explains many recent and long-standing observations of plant growth and survival, including latitudinal gradients of plant diversity and species range.


This paper makes comparative research on the effects of the self-healing microcapsules on the modal properties of composite disc brake pads. The two groups of composite brake samples are studied that the material of one brake sample is implanted by the microcapsules and the other sample has no microcapsule. Firstly, the computational modal analysis method based on finite element analysis software ANSYS is adopted to calculate the modal parameters of the samples, and the inherent vibration characteristics of the structures are obtained. Then the experimental modal analysis method with hammer is carried out to identify the experimental value of the modal parameters of the samples such as natural frequency and damping ratio. Finally, the theory analysis and experiment results from these two different methods are contrasted and analyzed. It indicates that the addition of the self-healing microcapsule improves the vibration reduction performance of the composite disc brake greatly.


As a tool of modeling the system of multiple energy, bond-graph theory is applied to the modeling for electric power steering system which is electromechanical hybrid. Bond graph models for C type, P type and R type of EPS dynamic system are built respectively. The CH7140 type of car equipped with C type EPS is taken as a prototype and its maneuverable performance is simulated under typical working conditions. A PID control method with time delay transfer function is adopted to imitate the driver's operation. Steering maneuverability test of the CH7140 car is conducted. The simulation result is consistent with the test result. It is shown that the bond-graph model of EPS is rational, and simulation model derived from bond-graph is effective which can be applied to EPS and full vehicle steering maneuverability simulation research.


Breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American women, is a heritable disease with nearly one hundred known genetic risk factors. Using next generation sequencing, we explored the contribution of genetics at 12 GWAS-identified loci to breast cancer susceptibility in a multi-ethnic breast cancer case-control study. Methods: The study population consists of 4,611 breast cancer cases and controls (2,316 cases and 2,295 controls) from four mutually exclusive ethnicities: African, Latina, Japanese, or European American.We conducted rare variant association testing between sequenced genotypes and simulated phenotypes to compare the performance of several approaches for assessing rare variant associations across multiple ethnicities and the statistical performance of different ethnic sampling fractions, including single-ethnicity studies and studies that sample up to four ethnicities. Findings from simulation of causal rare variant penetrance models were then applied to a nonsynonymous protein-coding rare variant association study of breast cancer. Next, we applied variance partitioning methods to determine what proportion of breast cancer heritability is explained by rare and common, coding and non-coding, and the complete set of sequenced genetic variants. Results: Variance component-based tests were better powered in several scenarios. Multi-ethnic studies were well powered, with inclusion of African Americans providing the largest gains in statistical power. Rare variation in several genes was nominally associated (alpha=0.05) with breast cancer risk. Common variants explained a significant amount of breast cancer heritability (5%; SE=2%). Total breast cancer heritability from all sequenced SNVs from all 12 loci was approximately 11% (S.E.=4%), a substantial portion of breast cancer heritability which ranges from 27% to 32% in European familial studies. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that association studies between rare variants and complex disease should consider including subjects from multiple ethnicities, with preference given to genetically diverse groups. We demonstrate practices with the potential to uncover and localize gene-based associations using gene-based rare variant association testing at 12 GWAS-identified breast cancer susceptibility loci. We also present strong evidence that just this subset of previously-identified loci explains a substantial portion of heritability which suggests that all GWAS-identified loci may explain more breast cancer heritability than the 17% previously reported. ii


ABSTRACT An undescribed genus and species of pachyosteomorph arthrodire, Squamatognathus steeprockensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Elm Point Formation in Manitoba is described. It was found in the LaFarge Quarry at Steep Rock, Manitoba, and is represented by the anterior portion of a large, right inferognathal with a large terminal cusp, similar to inferognathals of the family Dinichthyidae. It has unique sculpture on the lingual surface not reported from any other dinichthyid arthrodire.


In Belgium, poor sleep complaints are numerous and frequent in the general population. Of these complaints, one of the most important is insomnia. Acute onset and chronicity of insomnia can be explained by different models based on genetic criteria, neurophysiological, neuroendocrine, neuroimmunological and neuroimaging. Insomnia can be associated with a lot of somatic and psychiatric comorbidities. The diagnosis of insomnia is primarily a clinical diagnosis based on medical history and physical examination. Different tools can help us in our approach, such as self-questionnaires and sleep diaries while additional tests (polysomnography and actigraphy) should be reserved for research of associated sleep disorders and for unclear situations. The management of insomnia can be non-drug treatment (exercise, light therapy, acupuncture and self-treatment cognitive behavioral therapy) but also drug treatment (benzodiazepine, Z-DRUGS, melatonin, antidepressants, herbal medicines, neuroleptics and antihistaminics). Each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages that must be considered when choosing treatment. The aim of this review is to allow general practitioners to better understand the mechanisms of insomnia and to have recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia.


Background: Survival and functional outcome of patients with acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO) are highly dependent on vessel recanalization. Therefore intra-arterial thrombolysis is recommended in international guidelines. For several years, thrombectomy-devices are used for intra-arterial therapy. We analyzed if the use of those devices modified the outcome of patients with BAO in our institution. Method: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data on consecutive patients with acute BAO since 1998. In July 2009 for the first time a thrombectomy device was used in a patient with BAO. Thereafter the cohort was split into two chronological groups. All patients were treated at a dedicated neurological ICU following institutional SOPs. Functional outcome was assessed three months after treatment using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS); good clinical outcome was defined as mRS 0-2. Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) was defined as intracranial blood on follow-up imaging up to 36 hours after treatment associated with clinical worsening of at least 4 points of the NIHSS or leading to death. Results: From the entire cohort of N=124 patients, n=91 patients were treated before and n=33 after July 2009. A "bridging concept" (i.e. IVT + IAT) was applied in 20% vs. 64% of the patients before and after July 2009, respectively. Complete recanalization (TICI 3) was achieved in 45% before and 77% after July 2009 (p=0.005). SICH occurred in 7% of the earlier and 3% of the later cohort (p=0.67); good clinical outcome was observed in 10% of the earlier and 33% of the later cohort (p=0.004); mortality was 57% in the earlier and 30% in the later group (p=0.01). After adjustment for baseline imbalances (proportion of patients with previous stroke, time until first treatment) the differences remained significant for good clinical outcome (OR 3.86; 95%CI 1.27 - 11.7; p=0.017) and mortality (OR 0.38; 95%CI 0.15-0.99; p=0.047). Conclusion: Modern thrombectomy-devices as well as the increased use of bridging approaches for treatment of BAO have significantly improved good clinical outcome and attenuated mortality. Especially in patients with BAO - where endovascular treatment strategies are common clinical practice - those devices should be used more frequently.


Fourteen cases of injury to the thoracic aorta treated in 1959-1981 are reviewed. Acute rupture was present in nine patients and chronic post-traumatic aneurysm in five. Most of the patients had other, associated injuries, and physical signs of the aortic injury were often scanty. Widening of the mediastinum was the most common roentgenographic finding. All the aortic ruptures were localized to the isthmus. One patient declined surgery. Another died on the operating table just before surgery was started. A third patient died peroperatively from severe bleeding when the aneurysm was dissected free. All of the other 11 patients survived operation without major complications. At follow-up (mean 10 years), ten patients were alive and well and one had died of unrelated cause. The most recent operations were performed with the aid of a TDMAC (Gott) shunt, which makes aortic repair safe and simple. Because aortic trauma often is accompanied by other, severe injuries which make transportation of the patient risky, and so as not to delay operation, the aortic lesions should be repaired at general surgical units. If necessary, a thoracic surgeon should be brought to the hospital.


Two ferredoxins were isolated from the cyanobacterium Nostoc strain MAC grown autotrophically in the light or heterotrophically in the dark. In either case approximately three times as much ferredoxin I as ferredoxin II was obtained. Both ferredoxins had absorption maxima at 276, 282 (shoulder), 330, 423 and 465 nm in the oxidized state, and each possessed a single 2 Fe-2S active centre. Their isoelectric points were approx. 3.2. The midpoint redox potentials of the ferredoxins differed markedly; that of ferredoxin I was --350mV and that of ferredoxin II was --445mV, at pH 8.0. The midpoint potential of ferredoxin II was unusual in being pH dependent. Ferredoxin I was most active in supporting NADP+ photoreduction by chloroplasts, whereas ferredoxin II was somewhat more active in pyruvate decarboxylation by the phosphoroclastic system of Clostridum pasteurianum. Though the molecular weights of the ferredoxins determined by ultracentrifugation were the same within experimetnal error, the amino acid compositions showed marked differences. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of ferredoxins I and II were determined by means of an automatic sequencer. There are 11--12 differences between the sequences of the first 32 residues. It appears that the two ferredoxins have evolved separately to fulfil different roles in the organism.


Security analysis is an important task in the operation of an electricity network. In the case of a systematic analysis of single or even double contingencies, the combined nature of the problem requires a longer calculation time than is available for real-time analysis. Amongst the recent approaches proposed in scientific publications, some make reference to the use of artificial intelligence and more particularly expert systems. A new modular expert system detailed in the article is the result of the application of these techniques to the security analysis of electricity transmission networks


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate large propensity-matched cohorts to assess outcomes in patients receiving advanced treatment (AT) with skin substitutes for lower extremity diabetic ulcers (LEDUs) versus no AT (NAT) for the management of LEDUs.

METHOD
The Medicare Limited Dataset (1 October 2015 through 2 October 2018) were used to retrospectively analyse people receiving care for a LEDU treated with AT or NAT (propensity-matched Group 1). Analysis included major and minor amputations, emergency department (ED) visits and hospital readmissions. In addition, AT following parameters for use (FPFU) was compared with AT not FPFU (propensity-matched Group 2). A paired t-test was used for comparisons of the two groups. For comparisons of three groups, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. A Bonferroni correction was performed when multiple comparisons were calculated.

RESULTS
There were 9,738,760 patients with a diagnosis of diabetes, of whom 909,813 had a LEDU. In propensity-matched Group 1 (12,676 episodes per cohort), AT patients had statistically fewer minor amputations (p=0.0367), major amputations (p<0.0001), ED visits (p<0.0001), and readmissions (p<0.0001) compared with NAT patients. In propensity-matched Group 2 (1131 episodes per cohort), AT FPFU patients had fewer minor amputations (p=0.002) than those in the AT not FPFU group.

CONCLUSION
AT for the management of LEDUs was associated with significant reductions in major and minor amputation, ED use, and hospital readmission compared with LEDUs managed with NAT. Clinics should implement AT in accordance with the highlighted parameters for use to improve outcomes and reduce costs.


Abstract. A manufacturing process for a planar binary lambda sensor is shown. By joining the heating and the sensing components via glass soldering with a joining temperature of 850 °C, a laboratory platform has been established that allows the manufacturing of two independent parts in high-temperature co-fired ceramics technology (HTCC) with electrodes that are post-processed at lower temperatures, as is required for mixed-potential sensors. The final device is compared to a commercial sensor with respect to its sensing performance. Important processes and possible origins of problems as well as their solutions during sensor development are shown, including heater design and joining process.


This paper emphasizes the urgency of solving the problems of farmers' employment under the condition of land transfer, indicating that solving the problems of farmers' employment is the necessary requirement of land transfer, the actual requirement of constructing well-off society comprehensively, and the objective requirement of transforming developmental model. The characteristics of the problems of farmers' employment under the condition of land transfer are as follows: the rural surplus labor forces increase, and the ubiquitous unemployment is urgent; the employment room of farmers is narrow, and me structural unemployment is serious; the ability of farmers' employment is poor, and recessive unemployment has a large proportion; the situation of farmers' employment is not so sanguine, and the policy unemployment is frequent. This paper points out me causes of farmers' employment problems under the situation of land transfer as follows, in terms of analysis of subjective factors, farmers' self-employment ability is yet to be underpinned; in terms of analysis of objective factors, the relevant mechanism of government is unsound. Finally, corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward as follows: establish the mechanism of farmer traceability analysis under the condition of land transfer; strengthen the training of farmers' i reinforce the publicity and education of farmers' employment concept; promote the process of urbanization and construct the employment vehicle of farmers; adjust the industrial structure in rural areas and expand the internal employment in rural areas; improve macro regulation and improve the employment environment for farmers.


Machine learning models are commonly trained end-to-end and in a supervised setting, using paired (input, output) data. Classical examples include recent super-resolution methods that train on pairs of (low-resolution, high-resolution) images. However, these end-to-end approaches require re-training every time there is a distribution shift in the inputs (e.g., night images vs daylight) or relevant latent variables (e.g., camera blur or hand motion). In this work, we leverage state-of-the-art (SOTA) generative models (here StyleGAN2) for building powerful image priors, which enable application of Bayes' theorem for many downstream reconstruction tasks. Our method, called Bayesian Reconstruction through Generative Models (BRGM), uses a single pre-trained generator model to solve different image restoration tasks, i.e., super-resolution and in-painting, by combining it with different forward corruption models. We demonstrate BRGM on three large, yet diverse, datasets that enable us to build powerful priors: (i) 60,000 images from the Flick Faces High Quality dataset \cite{karras2019style} (ii) 240,000 chest X-rays from MIMIC III and (iii) a combined collection of 5 brain MRI datasets with 7,329 scans. Across all three datasets and without any dataset-specific hyperparameter tuning, our approach yields state-of-the-art performance on super-resolution, particularly at low-resolution levels, as well as inpainting, compared to state-of-the-art methods that are specific to each reconstruction task. We will make our code and pre-trained models available online.


Competent T-cells with sufficient levels of fitness combat cancer formation and progression. In multiple myeloma (MM), T-cell exhaustion is caused by several factors including tumor burden, constant immune activation due to chronic disease, age, nutritional status, and certain MM treatments such as alkylating agents and proteasome inhibitors. Many currently used therapies, including bispecific T-cell engagers, anti-CD38 antibodies, proteasome inhibitors, and CART-cells, directly or indirectly depend on the anti-cancer activity of T-cells. Reduced T-cell fitness not only diminishes immune defenses, increasing patient susceptibility to opportunistic infections, but can impact effectiveness MM therapy effectiveness, bringing into focus sequencing strategies that could modulate T-cell fitness and potentially optimize overall benefit and clinical outcomes. Certain targeted agents used to treat MM, such as selective inhibitors of nuclear export (SINE) compounds, have the potential to mitigate T-cell exhaustion. Herein referred to as XPO1 inhibitors, SINE compounds inhibit the nuclear export protein exportin 1 (XPO1), which leads to nuclear retention and activation of tumor suppressor proteins and downregulation of oncoprotein expression. The XPO1 inhibitors selinexor and eltanexor reduced T-cell exhaustion in cell lines and animal models, suggesting their potential role in revitalizating these key effector cells. Additional clinical studies are needed to understand how T-cell fitness is impacted by diseases and therapeutic factors in MM, to potentially facilitate the optimal use of available treatments that depend on, and impact, T-cell function. This review summarizes the importance of T-cell fitness and the potential to optimize treatment using T-cell engaging therapies with a focus on XPO1 inhibitors.


Background—Although the vast majority of mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is benign, a small subset of patients, predominantly women, with bileaflet prolapse, complex ventricular ectopy (VE), and abnormal T waves comprise the recently described bileaflet MVP syndrome. We compared findings on electrophysiological study in bileaflet MVP syndrome patients with and without cardiac arrest to identify factors that may predispose to malignant ventricular arrhythmia. Methods and Results—Fourteen consecutive bileaflet MVP syndrome patients (n=13 women; median [limits], age at index ablation, 33.8 [21.0–58.7] years; ejection fraction, 60% [45%–67%]; all ⩽ moderate mitral regurgitation; n=6 with previous cardiac arrest and implantable cardioverter defibrillator shocks for ventricular fibrillation; and n=8 without implantable cardioverter defibrillator although with symptomatic complex VE) were included. The 2 groups had similar baseline echocardiographic and electrocardiographic characteristics. All patients had at least 1 left ventricular papillary or fascicular VE focus. Purkinje origin VE was identified as the ventricular fibrillation trigger in 6 of 6 cardiac arrest patients (4 from papillary muscle) and Purkinje origin of dominant VE was seen in 5 of 8 (3 from papillary muscle) nonarrest patients. Acute success was seen in 17 of 19 procedures, and a ventricular fibrillation storm occurred within 24 hours of ablation in a single patient. Repeat ablation for recurrent symptomatic arrhythmia was performed in 6 patients. At 478 (39–2099) days of follow-up, 2 cardiac arrest patients received appropriate shocks. Symptoms from VE were reduced in 12 of 14. Conclusions—Bileaflet MVP syndrome is characterized by fascicular and papillary muscle VE that triggers ventricular fibrillation. Ablation of clinically dominant VE foci improves symptoms and reduces appropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator shocks.


Smart and mobile environments require seamless connections. However, due to the frequent process of "discovery" and disconnection of mobile devices while data interchange is happening, wireless connections are often interrupted. To minimize this drawback, a protocol that enables an easy and fast synchronization is crucial. Bearing this in mind, Bluetooth technology appears to be a suitable solution to carry on such connections due to the discovery and pairing capabilities it provides. Nonetheless, the time and energy spent when several devices are being discovered and used at the same time still needs to be managed properly. It is essential that this process of discovery takes as little time and energy as possible. In addition to this, it is believed that the performance of the communications is not constant when the transmission speeds and throughput increase, but this has not been proved formally. Therefore, the purpose of this project is twofold: Firstly, to design and build a framework-system capable of performing controlled Bluetooth device discovery, pairing and communications. Secondly, to analyze and test the scalability and performance of the classic Bluetooth standard under different scenarios and with various sensors and devices using the framework developed. To achieve the first goal, a generic Bluetooth platform will be used to control the test conditions and to form a ubiquitous wireless system connected to an Android Smartphone. For the latter goal, various stresstests will be carried on to measure the consumption rate of battery life as well as the quality of the communications between the devices involved.


ABSTRACT Watermelon farming has a high economic and social importance. In parallel, the consumers' demand for distinctive products has led to niche markets, where mini watermelons stand out. This study aimed to assess the agronomic performance and fruit quality of mini watermelon grown in coconut husk fiber, as a function of number of stems per plant and plant density. The Smile hybrid was used, as well as a randomized block design, in a 2 x 2 factorial scheme, with eight repetitions, being the first factor the number of stems per plant (1 or 2) and the second the number of plants per pot (1 or 2). Characteristics related to yield, physiological parameters and fruit quality were assessed. Interaction between number of stems and plant density was only observed for leaf area, average fruit fresh weight, total yield and percentage of large fruits. The factors were evaluated separately for the remaining traits. Two-stemmed training systems, at a density of one plant per pot, produce the highest yield, without compromising the quality of the fruits, being, in these conditions, the most suitable method for farmers.


Social interactions between rodents is commonly evaluated using setups that enable restricted interactions between two rodents. However, such interactions are most often evaluated only for the animal defined as subject, but not for the social stimuli, which are usually located in a specific compartment. In most cases, behavioral quantification is done using a single video camera that allows visualizing the subject, but not the stimuli. To assess stimuli behavior in such experiments, we constructed a movement-monitoring system, comprising an array of piezoelectric sensors located at the floor of a small triangular chamber to which the social stimulus is allocated. The system and quantification methodology described in the following protocol, together with a camera recorded simultaneously, enabled us to simultaneously evaluate the movements of one or two social stimuli and the subject's investigatory behavior correlated with it.


The contemporary progress in civilisation is combined with new scientific approaches, technological innovations and the huge and growing use of natural resources, which leads to their over-exploitation and, as a result, to their depletion. There is an opinion that without further regulation of economic growth and excessive harvesting of resources, the entire ecosystem of the Earth can be irreparably destroyed. The 2030 Agenda is based on the decoupling principle, which means that the economic growth of the manufacturing and service sectors must be faster than the consumption of natural resources and energy. To this end, countries around the world have developed and are still pursuing different environmental measures, such as regulations, laws and orders, taxes, etc. The most popular management systems in Europe are ISO 14001 and EMAS. The newest analyses reveal that a large number of companies that have received an EMAS certificate are not willing to renew their registration after some time and the reasons are not very clear yet. The article discusses the methods for environmental impact assessment, sustainable industry development and motivations for resources efficiency. The study of the selected three production companies operating in Lithuania and currently using a pollution prevention tool – the environmental management system – is presented and discussed aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of resources consumption.


Temporal point processes are the dominant paradigm for modeling sequences of events happening at irregular intervals. The standard way of learning in such models is by estimating the conditional intensity function. However, parameterizing the intensity function usually incurs several trade-offs. We show how to overcome the limitations of intensity-based approaches by directly modeling the conditional distribution of inter-event times. We draw on the literature on normalizing flows to design models that are flexible and efficient. We additionally propose a simple mixture model that matches the flexibility of flow-based models, but also permits sampling and computing moments in closed form. The proposed models achieve state-of-the-art performance in standard prediction tasks and are suitable for novel applications, such as learning sequence embeddings and imputing missing data.


Feeding rates influence reproductive output in many kinds of animals, but we need to understand the timescale of this influence before we can compare reproductive energy allocation to energy intake. A central issue is the extent to which reproduction is fuelled by long-term energy stores ("capital" breeding) versus recently-acquired resources ("income" breeding). Our data on free-living aspic vipers show that there is no simple answer to this question: reproductive frequency is determined by long-term energy stores, offspring size is influenced by maternal food intake immediately before ovulation, and litter size is influenced by both long-term stores and short-term energy acquisition. Thus, offspring size in free-living vipers reflects the mother's energy balance over the preceding year (via a trade-off between litter size and offspring size) as well as her energy balance in the current breeding season. Hence, different components of a given reproductive output (litter) are not only functionally linked, but also respond to different temporal scales of prey availability. A female's body size has little effect on her reproductive output. Attempts to quantify reproductive energy allocation must take into account the fact that different reproductive traits (such as offspring size versus number) may respond to energy availability over different timespans. Thus, although the aspic viper is a typical "capital breeder" in terms of its reliance on stored reserves for maternal "decisions" concerning reproductive frequency, it is to some degree a facultative "income breeder" with respect to the determination of offspring size and litter size.


The main propose of this article was to reveal the persistent dependence between the value of agricultural education and rural labour market indicators. The rural labour market investigations denoted negative trends of young people employment. One of the rural labour market greatest problems is the lack of attractiveness for well-qualified young people. Along with other factors, agricultural education represents an effective tool to improve the labour market situation in the rural space. According to the employers' questionnaires, there are some problems related to young people ability to integrate their theoretical knowledge in practical contexts. Another problem concerns the low level of knowledge and lack of practical skills in starting up a business. These conclusions emphasized the necessity of curriculum improvement in the higher education system, modernization of the educational technology and establishment of effective collaborations with enterprises.


The mechanical properties of steel are strongly influenced by its microstructural features such as phase balance, grain size, dislocations and precipitates. In order to obtain accurate quality control of steel products, it is desirable to be able to monitor the mechanical properties non-destructively. It is known that the low frequency inductance (where the effect of eddy currents are negligible) measured using an EM sensor depends on the relative permeability of the sample and that the permeability is affected by microstructural parameters (i.e. phase fraction / distribution and, to a lesser extent, grain size are the important features in dual phase, DP, steel).

A variety of electromagnetic sensors have been reported for non-destructively assessing the state of steel microstructures including; monitoring the recovery and recrystallisation processes in-situ during heat treatment, phase transformation and detecting decarburisation in steel rod both on-line and off-line, etc. Recently it has been shown that electromagnetic sensors can measure the phase fraction in DP steel but the effect of strip thickness was not assessed.

This research work discusses the development of an EM sensor system that can be used to assess the microstructure (and hence mechanical properties) of commercially produced DP steels (in particular phase balance and grain size) with a range of thicknesses in a steel works test house environment, specifically, it focuses on employing an EM sensor system in the prediction of ultimate tensile strength for DP steels of any sheet thickness.

In this project, a set of heat treated DP600 grade of 1.4mm thickness and commercial DP steel samples, including DP600, DP800 and DP1000 with a range of strength levels and thicknesses, and produced in different strip mills, have been assessed. The sensor outputs have been correlated to microstructural phase fraction and mechanical properties.

Firstly, the magnetic properties of commercial DP steel samples were investigated through the major hysteresis loop and minor hysteresis loops. Measured coercivity from the major loop showed that the coercivity was affected by phase fraction (ferrite/martensite percentage) and ferrite grain size where the coercivity decreased with increased ferrite fraction.

Three types of minor loop configurations were used to derive incremental permeability values; the minor loop deviations from the initial magnetisation curve (μIc); the minor loop deviations from the main B-H loop (μBH) and the minor loop deviations from amplitude sweep (μi). It was found that although the incremental permeability values are not precisely the same for the three sets of measurements, similar trends for the DP samples can be observed where the incremental permeability values are affected by the phase fraction and ferrite grain size.

The effect of magnetic field on permeability for the DP steels was studied. It was shown that the incremental permeability increases with the applied field amplitude until reaching a maximum value at a certain applied field amplitude (i.e. very close to the coercivity values) and then drop at higher applied field amplitude and converge to a similar permeability value. The initial gradient and the peak position for the samples are different and would allow them to be distinguished from each other. It was observed in the commercial DP steels with a range of ferrite fraction (72 to 79%) and a range of average ferrite grain size (from 6 to 10μm), that the effect of ferrite grain boundaries on permeability is more significant than the effect of ferrite fraction within the range studied.

Finally, the measured magnetic properties were used to develop a link between microstructure and mechanical properties for DP steels, using a readily deployable EM sensor that can be used with large strip steel samples. The deployable sensor geometry and operation rely on a relatively low magnetic field being generated in the sample and therefore low field incremental permeability being the relevant material parameter being assessed. Initially, the effect of ferrite fraction for the laboratory heat-treated DP600 samples, with the same thickness (1.4mm), on EM sensor output signal (i.e. mutual real inductance) was investigated. It was found that the real inductance value at a low frequency (below approx.100 Hz) is dominated by differences in the relative permeability of the samples, showing an approximately linear trend of increasing low frequency inductance value with increasing ferrite content. The increasing amount of ferrite, which possesses a much higher relative permeability than martensite, showed higher real inductance value (in the range of 35 -70% ferrite fraction in these DP steels). The measured real inductance at a frequency of 10Hz was compared with the mechanical property (hardness). An approximately linear decrease in real inductance at 10 Hz with the hardness value was found for these samples. EM sensor measurements were then carried out for the commercial DP600, DP800 and DP1000 samples with different thicknesses (1 to 4 mm). The EM sensor system showed a significant effect of thickness on the signal with thicker strip showing a much higher mutual inductance value for the same microstructure. This is due to the skin depth (for this sensor, operation frequency and material characteristics) being larger than the sample thickness, therefore a thicker sample gives a large sensor response. To deal with this problem, a calibration curve (a plot of real inductance versus permeability for different thickness of material) was constructed using a FE model for the sensor and sample geometry. Therefore, an electromagnetic sensor – sample FE model, developed in COMSOL multi-physics software, has been developed to determine the relationship between the low magnetic field relative permeability and microstructure (phase balance and grain size). The model has been validated using commercial DP steel sheets of 1 to 4 mm.

It was found that the ferrite grain size affects the magnetic properties in DP steels as the grain boundaries act as effective pinning points to magnetic domain movement. Therefore, the magnetic permeability in DP steels is affected by ferrite grain size and ferrite fraction, both of which affect the tensile strength, therefore a single relationship between permeability and tensile strength results. The low field relative permeability, which is the permeability value derived from the EM sensor (e.g. U-shaped sensor), can therefore be used to predict the tensile strength in commercial DP steels.

The relationship between permeability and field was employed to develop the technique. Therefore, U-shaped sensor modification was carried out to increase the accuracy of tensile strength determination, this was done as part of a case study for Tata Steel Jamshedpur to evaluate DP steels.


Electronic human resource management (e-HRM) provides the information required to manage HR processes. These may be core employee database and payroll systems but can be extended to include such systems as e-recruitment, e-learning, performance management and reward system. The system may be web-based, enabling access to remote or online and at any time. This paper aims at finding out the perception level of employees regarding e-HRM in service organizations. For this purpose, 400 employees of IT and Banking organizations are targeted. Employees' responses have been collected through a structured questionnaire consisting of demographic variables and statements regarding perception. Factor analysis, ANOVA and t-test are applied for finding out the perception of employees.


The US Department of Energy has conducted research into clothes laundering for nearly 60 years. An examination of reports stored in a digital repository at the Department of Energy traces the growth of interest in energy efficiency. Prior to the mid-1970s, this research was confined mainly to studies of decontamination of protective clothing used by agency employees. Starting in 1976, however, work at various national laboratories began to examine laundering from an energy efficiency perspective. Studies in the 1970s include exploration of methods to use solar and geothermal energy to boost washing and drying efficiency and guidance for improving energy use in the fabricare industry and hospitals. Towards the end of this decade, federally funded research began looking at standards for energy efficiency in household appliance. Progress towards implementing mandates related to appliances and communicating with consumers through labelling about these standards are outlined in reports periodically to the present date. Reports of particular interest include a large, community-based study of laundry habits, a detailed plan for improving household energy efficiency on military bases and recommendations for home builders based on climate zones. The reports are not confined to US-based consumers or appliances but include studies based in China and Sweden, among others. While not widely disseminated, the results outlined in these studies provide valuable information for building best practices in both developed and developing countries.


Atmospheric glyoxal (GLY) and methylglyoxal (MGLY) are key precursors of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). However, anthropogenic emissions of GLY and MGLY and their contribution to surface GLY and MGLY concentrations, as well as the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, are not well quantified. By developing an emission inventory of anthropogenic GLY and MGLY and improving Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) with SOA formation from irreversible surface uptake of GLY and MGLY, as well as a precursor-origin resolved technique, we quantified the source contributions of GLY and MGLY and their impact on wintertime SOA formation in Beijing, China. The total emissions of GLY and MGLY in Beijing in 2017 are 1.1×104 kmol and 7.0×103 kmol, respectively. Anthropogenic primary emissions are found to be the dominant contributor to wintertime GLY and MGLY concentrations (~74% for GLY and ~63% for MGLY). Anthropogenic primary emissions of GLY and MGLY contributes to 30% of GLY/MGLY SOA daily average concentration and accounts for up to 45% of nighttime GLY/MGLY SOA in winter. The study suggests that the anthropogenic GLY and MGLY emissions, mainly from gasoline vehicles and cooking, are important for SOA formation and shall be strictly controlled in Chinese megacities.


Digital computers have revolutionized computation and transformed how computers are used to control systems in real life, giving birth to real-time systems. Furthermore, massive developments in the communications domain have made it possible for real-time systems to perform coordinated actions over communication interfaces, resulting in the evolution of distributed real-time systems. Real-Time and Distributed Real-Time Systems: Theory and Applications presents a variety of techniques to design, analyze, implement, verify, and validate such systems. The book begins by introducing the basic principles of real-time and distributed real-time systems and then: Delivers a detailed analysis of a number of common, real-time communication protocols Discusses advancements beyond the standard-switched Ethernet, including multi-stream transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) Depicts the design of distributed real-time systems applications using methodology based on a finite state machine (FSM) representation of a real-time system and its corresponding implementation using Simulink Stateflow Demonstrates how MATLAB can be used to develop real-time applications and integrate those applications over a communication network to form a distributed real-time system Describes the MATLAB/Simulink-based TrueTime as a tool used for the simulation of protocols and distributed real-time system applications in a MATLAB environment Delineates the classification of distributed real-time systems applications in terms of failure criticality and severity, safety and integrity levels, life cycle stages, and verification and validation techniques Individual chapters are supplemented by numerical and analytical problems or simulation exercises to ensure the reader gains a solid grasp of the concepts.


We study the robustness of the steady states of a class of systems of autonomous ordinary differential equations (ODEs), having as a central example those arising from (bio)chemical reaction networks. More precisely, we study under what conditions the steady states of the system are contained in a parallel translate of a coordinate hyperplane. To this end, we focus mainly on ODEs consisting of generalized polynomials and make use of algebraic and geometric tools to relate the local and global structure of the set of steady states. Specifically, we consider the local property termed zero sensitivity at a coordinate xi, which means that the tangent space is contained in a hyperplane of the form xi = c, and provide a criterion to identify it. We consider the global property termed absolute concentration robustness (ACR), meaning that all steady states are contained in a hyperplane of the form xi = c. We clarify and formalize the relation between the two approaches. In particular, we show that ACR implies zero sensitivity and identify when the two properties do not agree, via an intermediate property we term local ACR. For families of systems arising from modeling biochemical reaction networks, we obtain the first practical and automated criterion to decide upon (local) ACR.


Being able to rapidly recognise new research trends is strategic for many stakeholders, including universities, institutional funding bodies, academic publishers and companies. The literature presents several approaches to identifying the emergence of new research topics, which rely on the assumption that the topic is already exhibiting a certain degree of popularity and consistently referred to by a community of researchers. However, detecting the emergence of a new research area at an embryonic stage, i.e., before the topic has been consistently labelled by a community of researchers and associated with a number of publications, is still an open challenge. We address this issue by introducing Augur, a novel approach to the early detection of research topics. Augur analyses the diachronic relationships between research areas and is able to detect clusters of topics that exhibit dynamics correlated with the emergence of new research topics. Here we also present the Advanced Clique Percolation Method (ACPM), a new community detection algorithm developed specifically for supporting this task. Augur was evaluated on a gold standard of 1,408 debutant topics in the 2000-2011 interval and outperformed four alternative approaches in terms of both precision and recall.


The political transition in May 1998 set the stage for the passing of Indonesia's framework decentralisation laws (numbers 22 and 25 of 1999). These laws include both political and technocratic efforts to devolve authority from the centre (Jakarta) to the peripheries. Contrary to expectations, enhanced public participation often takes
the form of indigenous (adat) revivalism, a highly contested and contingent process linked to intensified political struggles and conflicts throughout the archipelago.

This thesis considers the ways in which decentralisation and adat revivalism intersect by foregrounding specific, localised struggles for rights and recognition in
Sulawesi,, eastern Indonesia. Year-long research for this thesis was conducted at national, provincial, and local levels, with an emphasis on case studies from the
districts of Bulukumba, East Luwu, Gowa, Majene, North Luwu, Palopo, and Tana Toraja.

The core chapters of this thesis suggest that the innate, primordial givens of indigenous communities are being selectively drawn upon, finely-tuned, and exemplified in the search for political rights and recognition. It is argued, therefore, that village communities are increasingly engaged in a process of "becoming
indigenous, " a process largely driven, instrumentalised, and distorted by external actors such as NGO activists and legal advocates. Local disputes increasingly derive
from the primary, exigent right of recognition, and then extend to remedial rights including customary tenure, resource entitlement, and the right to return to antedated
systems of governance.

In the era of decentralisation there is no unified, grand procedural strategy for dealing with the political challenges posed by adat revivalism. In response to the
devolution of authority from Jakarta to the peripheries, however, the political contours of conflict mediation and dispute resolution are being reconfigured, and the
roles of all protagonists are evolving (or regressing) accordingly.


We propose a new reduced fluid model for the study of the drift wave–zonal flow dynamics in magnetically confined plasmas. Our model can be viewed as an extension of the classic Hasegawa-Wakatani (HW) model and is based on an improved treatment of the electron dynamics parallel to the field lines, to guarantee a balanced electron flux on the magnetic surfaces. Our flux-balanced HW (bHW) model contains the same drift-wave instability as previous HW models, but unlike these models, it converges exactly to the modified Hasegawa-Mima model in the collisionless limit. We rely on direct numerical simulations to illustrate some of the key features of the bHW model, such as the enhanced variability in the turbulent fluctuations and the existence of stronger and more turbulent zonal jets than the jets observed in other HW models, especially for high plasma resistivity. Our simulations also highlight the crucial role of the feedback of the third-order statistical moments in achieving a statistical equilibrium with strong zonal structures. Finally, we investigate the changes in the observed dynamics when more general dissipation effects are included and, in particular, when we include the reduced model for ion Landau damping originally proposed by Wakatani and Hasegawa.We propose a new reduced fluid model for the study of the drift wave–zonal flow dynamics in magnetically confined plasmas. Our model can be viewed as an extension of the classic Hasegawa-Wakatani (HW) model and is based on an improved treatment of the electron dynamics parallel to the field lines, to guarantee a balanced electron flux on the magnetic surfaces. Our flux-balanced HW (bHW) model contains the same drift-wave instability as previous HW models, but unlike these models, it converges exactly to the modified Hasegawa-Mima model in the collisionless limit. We rely on direct numerical simulations to illustrate some of the key features of the bHW model, such as the enhanced variability in the turbulent fluctuations and the existence of stronger and more turbulent zonal jets than the jets observed in other HW models, especially for high plasma resistivity. Our simulations also highlight the crucial role of the feedback of the third-order statistical moments in achieving a statistical equilibrium with ...


: Intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements were made in a series of 92 male surgical patients, to assess the effects of timing and dosage of succinylcholine given after a standardized sleep dose of thiopental (3 mg./kg.). The major findings of this study were as follows: (1) thiopental alone lowered IOP; (2) a small (0.5 mg./kg.) dose of succinylcholine, given immediately after thiopental, returned IOP to normal; (3) a large (1 mg./kg.) dose of succinylcholine immediately after thiopental maintained the IOP at a low value; (4) if 2 minutes elapsed between thiopental and 1 mg./kg. of succinylcholine, the relaxant raised the IOP to slightly above preanesthetic control values; (5) tracheal intubation caused a significant rise in IOP, more than any effect from succinylcholine itself; (6) succinylcholine drip (0.1 percent), begun after establishment of satisfactory endotracheal halothane-nitrous oxide anesthesia, caused significant IOP elevation in 4 of 11 patients.


Both in interactive music listening, and in music performance research, there is a need for automatic alignment of different recordings of the same musical piece. This task is challenging, because musical pieces often contain parts that may or may not be repeated by the performer, possibly leading to structural differences between performances (or between performance and score). The most common alignment method, dynamic time warping (DTW), cannot handle structural differences adequately, and existing approaches to deal with structural differences explicitly rely on the annotation of "break points" in one of the sequences. We propose a simple extension of the Needleman-Wunsch algorithm to deal effectively with structural differences, without relying on annotations. We evaluate several audio features for alignment, and show how an optimal value can be found for the cost-parameter of the alignment algorithm. A single cost value is demonstrated to be valid across different types of music. We demonstrate that our approach yields roughly equal alignment accuracies compared to DTW in the absence of structural differences, and superior accuracies when structural differences occur.


Excerpt] The term "reasonable accommodation" refers to changes in the workplace that enable people with disabilities to effectively perform the tasks associated with their job. Accommodations can help people with learning disabilities do their work well, even when their disability makes the work difficult. Accommodations can include variations in: work space and equipment needed to do the task; communication of the work; the tasks themselves; and the time and place that the work is done.


In this paper, the problem of acquiring weak Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals of the next generation systems (such as Galileo and GPS modernization) is addressed and analyzed, focusing the majority of the attention to the Cross Ambiguity Function (CAF) peak splitting problem caused by the presence of sign transition due to the navigation message in the data channel or the secondary code in the pilot channel. A new two steps acquisition strategy has been proposed in order to mitigate the CAF peak impairments. To achieve better acquisition sensitivity, differentially coherent detection scheme has been considered. When two steps acquisition strategy is employed in the differentially coherent detection scheme, the sign transition problem can be solved and much improved acquisition performance can be obtained specifically in a severe weak signal environment. The validity and effectiveness of the proposed technique has been deeply assessed with simulation analysis.


Bejaia, is a coastal city of Central-East Algerian which has seen succeeding on its lands several civilizations: Byzantine, Roman, Hammadite, Spanish and Ottoman. It reached its peak from the beginning of the eleventh century, when the Hammadite ruler, An-Nasir made it the capital. The city maintained this important status until the sixteenth century, when it was considered the jewel of the Maghreb. At that time, the city was fortified with a large surrounding wall, which spanned more than 5000 m. This city wall was flanked with bastions and towers, and rose in tiers from the sea-side to Mount Gouraya. Its layout was perfectly designed and blended with the city's topography. It consisted of three walls: one to the east and another to the west, which were connected by a third wall, which ran along the seaside. Today, two gates are preserved from the city of Bejaia's rich defensive heritage: Bab El Bahr, which opens onto the sea, and Bab El Fouka, which opens onto the plains, as well as some parts of the walls, dotted around different parts of the city. This heritage is threatened and its preservation, restoration and enhancement require a comprehensive knowledge of the architectural and constructive styles, which characterize it, and of the materials used in its construction. This contribution aims to identify the architectural and constructive features of this defense system, developed by the Hammadites, as well as a characterization of the construction materials used, such mortar, through physical, chemical and petrographic analyses.


In many regions of the world, and particularly in the eastern Mediterranean region, there is a general precipitation decrease tendency according to the global circulation model (GCM) and the regional climate change models (RegCM). Dry spells and their temporal occurrences as droughts affect water resources, and hence, agriculture and food securities may be endangered in such region. It is, therefore, necessary to foresee the future drought characteristics based on the historical records. Although the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) provides dryness classifications, it cannot reflect the basic drought characteristics in the original hydro-meteorological records. The main purpose of this paper is to propose improved SPI (ISPI) approach for quantitative drought characteristics calculations. In order to support the insufficiencies in the classical SPI, a comparative study is presented with the ISPI method on the bases of drought duration, amount and intensity concepts. It is shown that especially the risk calculations have wide discrepancies, but the ISPI provides actual results. The application with objective results is presented for Istanbul European side, Turkey, meteorology station monthly precipitation records.


Online detection of anomalous execution can be valuable for robot manipulation, enabling robots to operate more safely, determine when a behavior is inappropriate, and otherwise exhibit more common sense. By using multiple complementary sensory modalities, robots could potentially detect a wider variety of anomalies, such as anomalous contact or a loud utterance by a human. However, task variability and the potential for false positives make online anomaly detection challenging, especially for long-duration manipulation behaviors. In this paper, we provide evidence for the value of multimodal execution monitoring and the use of a detection threshold that varies based on the progress of execution. Using a data-driven approach, we train an execution monitor that runs in parallel to a manipulation behavior. Like previous methods for anomaly detection, our method trains a hidden Markov model (HMM) using multimodal observations from non-anomalous executions. In contrast to prior work, our system also uses a detection threshold that changes based on the execution progress. We evaluated our approach with haptic, visual, auditory, and kinematic sensing during a variety of manipulation tasks performed by a PR2 robot. The tasks included pushing doors closed, operating switches, and assisting able-bodied participants with eating yogurt. In our evaluations, our anomaly detection method performed substantially better with multimodal monitoring than single modality monitoring. It also resulted in more desirable ROC curves when compared with other detection threshold methods from the literature, obtaining higher true positive rates for comparable false positive rates.


Graphite carbon nitride (GCN), which can be regarded as a nitrogen heteroatom-substituted graphite framework, has attracted great attention as a new 2D layered structure material with semiconductor electronic characteristics. Using molecular dynamics simulations, the in-plane thermal conductivity and cross-plane thermal resistance of two GCN structures (i.e., triazine-based and heptazine-based) are investigated. Our results show that the in-plane thermal conductivities of the triazine-based and heptazine-based GCN monolayers along the armchair direction are 55.39 and 17.81 W m-1 K-1, respectively. The cross-plane thermal resistance decreases with increasing layer number and reaches asymptotic values of 3.6 × 10-10 and 9.3 × 10-10 m2 K W-1 at 40 layers for triazine-based and heptazine-based GCN, respectively. The in-plane thermal conductivity can be effectively manipulated by changing the temperature and applying strain, while it is insensitive to the number of layers, which is in sharp contrast to that of graphene. Moreover, the cross-plane thermal resistance decreases monotonically with temperature and coupling strength, and can be modulated by external strain. Surprisingly, the cross-plane tensile strain can reduce the thermal resistance of the heptazine-based GCN. Our study serves as a guide to groups interested in the physical properties of GCN.


The aim of this study is to reveal opinions and experiences of two Computer Education and Instructional Technologies Departments' students about case study discussion method after they discussed in online asynchronous environment about Instructional Design (ID). Totally, 80 second year students, 40 from Dokuz Eylul University and 40 from Karadeniz Technical University, participated to the study. Communication among students was managed via discussion lists. The data were collected with questionnaire, written reports, observations and interviews. The findings indicated that this learning environment made a positive effect on ID knowledge of students. In addition, students stated limitations and positive results of discussing in asynchronous learning environment. Lastly, students suggested some opinions to make this environment more efficient and effective.


HLA-B27 heavy chain misfolding has been linked to the pathogenesis of the chronic inflammatory disease Ankylosing Spondylitis. Ankylosing Spondylitis is a disease which primarily affects the axial skeleton but has also been shown to affect various other organs including the heart, lungs and eyes. However, there is limited evidence to show how HLA-B27 misfolding leads to differing responses in different cell types. This study sought to investigate the activation of common downstream pathways of the unfolded protein response in HT1080 and HeLa cells in response to tunicamycin in the hope of translating the data into an Ankylosing Spondylitis disease model. The pathways that were investigated were the autophagy, apoptosis and inflammatory signalling pathways.
It was found that in i) HT1080 cells, as a response to immediate induction of ER stress, endoplasmic reticulum membranes expanded to cope with stress but then employed different responses to cope with prolonged ER stress. ii) In both HeLa and HT1080 cells, autophagy was differentially activated, with HT1080 cells and HeLa cells activating autophagy pathways during early and late tunicamycin induced ER stress responses respectively. iii) HT1080 cells did not activate apoptosis during both early and late responses as opposed to HeLa cells, where apoptosis activation was seen in late ER stress responses. And finally iv) HT1080 and HeLa cells were found to have differential tyrosine kinase signalling in both early and late ER stress responses.
The observations that these different cell lines have differing coping mechanisms to ER stress may have implications in elucidating the pathogenesis of AS and in the development of more effective therapies.


Objective The aim of the study was to compare trends and differences in preoperative and prolonged postoperative opioid use following spinal cord stimulator (SCS) implantation and to determine factors associated with prolonged postoperative opioid use. Methods A database of private-payer insurance records was queried to identify patients who underwent a primary paddle lead SCS placement via a laminectomy (CPT-C3655) from 2008–2015. Our resulting cohort was stratified into those with prolonged postoperative opioid use, opioid use between 3- and 6-month postoperation, and those without. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the effect preoperative opioid use and other factors of interest had on prolonged postoperative opioid use. Subgroup analysis was performed on preoperative opioid users to further quantify the effect of differing magnitudes of preoperative opioid use. Results A total of 2,374 patients who underwent SCS placement were identified. Of all patients, 1,890 patients (79.6%) were identified as having prolonged narcotic use. Annual rates of preoperative (p = 0.023) and prolonged postoperative narcotic use (p < 0.001) decreased over the study period. Significant independent predictors of prolonged postoperative opioid use were age < 65 years (odds ratio [OR], 1.52; p = 0.004), male sex (OR, 1.33; p = 0.037), preoperative anxiolytic (OR, 1.55; p = 0.004) and muscle relaxant (OR, 1.42; p = 0.033), and narcotic use (OR, 15.04; p < 0.001). Increased number of preoperative narcotic prescriptions correlated with increased odds of prolonged postoperative use. Conclusion Patients with greater number of preoperative opioid prescriptions may not attain the same benefit from SCSs as patients with less opioid use. The most significant predictor of prolonged narcotic use was preoperative opioid use.


Introduction: To evaluate the safety, effectiveness, and outcomes of tunneled dialysis catheters (TDC) placed through supr-aclavicular brachiocephalic vein (BCV) access in patients with bilateral internal jugular vein (IJV) thrombosis. Methods: Between January 2017 and October 2020, TDCs were placed through supraclavicular BCV access in 46 patients with bilateral IJV thrombosis. Patient demographics, number of attempts, technical and clinical success rates, complications, and patency rates were noted. Results: 21 (45.7%) patients were male. The mean age was 65.9 years (range 20–89). All catheters were placed at the first attempt. The right BCV was accessed in 16 (34%) patients. The technical and clinical success rate was 100%. No major complication was encountered. The mean follow-up period was 573.5 (range 50–1698) days. 44/46 (95.7%) of the catheters were functional at 30 days. The infection rate was 2.7/1000 catheter days. 38 catheter exchanges (mean: 1.9, range: 1–6) were required in 20 patients. The primary and secondary patency rates were 77.8% and 95.2% at 6 months, 77.8% and 95.2% at 12 months, and 74.8% and 84.8% at 24 months, respectively. Discussion and Conclusion: TDC placement through supraclavicular BCV access is a viable option in patients with bilateral IJV thrombosis. High success rates and low complication rates with acceptable outcomes make this route an attractive alternative before proceeding to more complex access routes.


Introduction. Part I: Creating 3D Content for Games. Chapter 1: Getting Started with 3D Game Animation. Chapter 2: Game and Art Design, and Creating Storyboards. Chapter 3: Starting with Traditional Animation Basics. Part II: Creating Interfaces, Modeling Scenery, and Texturing Backgrounds. Chapter 4: Creating Game User Interfaces. Chapter 5: Modeling Scenery and Props. Chapter 6: Adding Details with Materials. Chapter 7: Mapping Textures. Chapter 8: Creating Effective Lighting. Part III: Designing, Modeling, and Animating Game Characters. Chapter 9: Techniques for Modeling Characters. Chapter 10: Discovering the Basics of 3D Animation. Chapter 11: Animating Characters. Chapter 12: Animating Facial Movements. Chapter 13: Automating Reactions with Dynamics. Part IV: Animating Game Cut Scenes. Chapter 14: Animating Scene Elements. Chapter 15: Animating with Particles. Chapter 16: Rendering an Animation. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 17: Ten Types of Tools Used by Game Companies. Chapter 18: Ten Creative Jobs in the Animation Industry. Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Land a Job as a 3D Game Animator. Appendix A: Using Game Engine Tools. Appendix B: Glossary of Animation Terms. Appendix C: Directory of Animation Schools. Index.


Combat, unlike many real-world processes, tends to be singular in nature. That is, there are not multiple occurrences from which to hypothesize a probability distribution model of the real-world system. Mission-level models may offer more flexibility on some measures due to their extended time frame. Additionally, the parameters involved in the mission-level model may be unchanged for significant stretches of the total simulation time. In these cases, time periods may be devised so that the periods hold sufficiently similar traits such that the incremental results may be assumed to come from a common distribution. This paper details a new statistical methodology for use in validating an agent-based mission-level model. The test is developed within the context of the Bay of Biscay agent-based simulation and uses the monthly data from the extended campaign as a basis of comparison to the simulation output.


Background: We have reported that, compared with glucosesweetened beverages, consuming fructose-sweetened beverages with meals results in lower 24-h circulating glucose, insulin, and leptin concentrations and elevated triacylglycerol (TG). However, pure fructose and glucose are not commonly used as sweeteners. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has replaced sucrose as the predominant sweetener in beverages in the United States. Objective: We compared the metabolic/endocrine effects of HFCS with sucrose and, in a subset of subjects, with pure fructose and glucose. Design: Thirty-four men and women consumed 3 isocaloric meals with either sucroseor HFCS-sweetened beverages, and blood samples were collected over 24 h. Eight of the male subjects were also studied when fructoseor glucose-sweetened beverages were consumed. Results: In 34 subjects, 24-h glucose, insulin, leptin, ghrelin, and TG profiles were similar between days that sucrose or HFCS was consumed. Postprandial TG excursions after HFCS or sucrose were larger in men than in women. In the men in whom the effects of 4 sweeteners were compared, the 24-h glucose and insulin responses induced by HFCS and sucrose were intermediate between the lower responses during consumption of fructose and the higher responses during glucose. Unexpectedly, postprandial TG profiles after HFCS or sucrose were not intermediate but comparably high as after pure fructose. Conclusions: Sucrose and HFCS do not have substantially different short-term endocrine/metabolic effects. In male subjects, short-term consumption of sucrose and HFCS resulted in postprandial TG responses comparable to those induced by fructose. Am J Clin Nutr 2008;87:1194–203.


As rich as the development of the Spanish and Portuguese language has been in Latin America, no single book has attempted to chart their complex history. Gathering essays by sociohistorical linguists working across the region, Salikoko S. Mufwene does just that in this book. Exploring the many different contact points between Iberian colonialism and indigenous cultures, the contributors identify the crucial parameters of language evolution that have led to today's state of linguistic diversity in Latin America. The essays approach language development through an ecological lens, exploring the effects of politics, economics, cultural contact, and natural resources on the indigenization of Spanish and Portuguese in a variety of local settings. They show how languages adapt to new environments, peoples, and practices, and the ramifications of this for the spread of colonial languages, the loss or survival of indigenous ones, and the way hybrid vernaculars get situated in larger political and cultural forces. The result is a sophisticated look at language as a natural phenomenon, one that meets a host of influences with remarkable plasticity.


Objective To investigate whether sleep deprived people are perceived as less healthy, less attractive, and more tired than after a normal night's sleep. Design Experimental study. Setting Sleep laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants 23 healthy, sleep deprived adults (age 18-31) who were photographed and 65 untrained observers (age 18-61) who rated the photographs. Intervention Participants were photographed after a normal night's sleep (eight hours) and after sleep deprivation (31 hours of wakefulness after a night of reduced sleep). The photographs were presented in a randomised order and rated by untrained observers. Main outcome measure Difference in observer ratings of perceived health, attractiveness, and tiredness between sleep deprived and well rested participants using a visual analogue scale (100 mm). Results Sleep deprived people were rated as less healthy (visual analogue scale scores, mean 63 (SE 2) v 68 (SE 2), P<0.001), more tired (53 (SE 3) v 44 (SE 3), P<0.001), and less attractive (38 (SE 2) v 40 (SE 2), P<0.001) than after a normal night's sleep. The decrease in rated health was associated with ratings of increased tiredness and decreased attractiveness. Conclusion Our findings show that sleep deprived people appear less healthy, less attractive, and more tired compared with when they are well rested. This suggests that humans are sensitive to sleep related facial cues, with potential implications for social and clinical judgments and behaviour. Studies are warranted for understanding how these effects may affect clinical decision making and can add knowledge with direct implications in a medical context.


Although Catholic nursing education in the United States has traditionally instilled Gospel values in students, pressures from a secular culture are making it increasingly difficult to sustain this heritage. As the twenty-first century approaches, Catholic educators and healthcare administrators need to ask themselves whether Christian values still serve as the explicit basis of nursing service and education at their institutions. They must also ask what distinguishes graduates of Catholic nursing programs from those of other programs. The percentage of schools that are Catholic has remained roughly the same during the past 30 years, but in many cases these schools no longer instill Christian values. Although most programs offer courses in ethics, philosophy, and religion, few provide the value-laden experiences of the past. In fact, many instructors avoid addressing questions of values or ethics because they believe doing so would be a form of indoctrination. Catholic nursing education, like Catholic higher education in general, is becoming increasingly secular. To return Christian values to nursing practice and education, leaders need first to instill a sense of self-worth in nursing staff by letting them know they are valued and their efforts are appreciated. Leaders also need to emphasize the good their institutions do for their communities and make explicit the values on which their practices are based.


Abstract Nanoparticles have diverse applications in electronics, medical devices, therapeutic agents and cosmetics. While the commercialization of nanoparticles is rapidly expanding, their health and environmental impact is not well understood. Toxicity assays of silver, gold, and platinum nanoparticles, using zebrafish embryos to study their developmental effects were carried out. Gold (Au-NP, 15–35 nm), silver (Ag-NP, 5–35 nm) and platinum nanoparticles (Pt-NP, 3–10 nm) were synthesized using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a capping agent. Toxicity was recorded in terms of mortality, hatching delay, phenotypic defects and metal accumulation. The addition of Ag-NP resulted in a concentration-dependant increase in mortality rate. Both Ag-NP and Pt-NP induced hatching delays, as well as a concentration dependant drop in heart rate, touch response and axis curvatures. Ag-NP also induced other significant phenotypic changes including pericardial effusion, abnormal cardiac morphology, circulatory defects and absence or malformation of the eyes. In contrast, Au-NP did not show any indication of toxicity. Uptake and accumulation of nanoparticles in embryos was confirmed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), which revealed detectable levels in embryos within 72 hpf. Ag-NP and Au-NP were taken up by the embryos in relatively equal amounts whereas lower Pt concentrations were observed in embryos exposed to Pt-NP. This was probably due to the small size of the Pt nanoparticles compared to Ag-NP and Au-NP, thus resulting in fewer metal atoms being retained in the embryos. Among the nanoparticles studied, Ag-NPs were found to be the most toxic and Au-NPs the non-toxic. The toxic effects exhibited by the zebrafish embryos as a consequence of nanoparticle exposure, accompanied by the accumulation of metals inside the body calls for urgent further investigations in this field.


Emergency in underground mine is declared when it is no longer able to effectively control the health and safety of people. Statistically, one of the most dangerous emergencies that have taken the most lives in underground mines are the fires. In underground mines, fires can happen at any time and may result in partial or complete evacuation of the mine. Plans for evacuation and rescue in case of fire in underground mines, outline procedures for response and preventive measures that are necessary for the effective and timely management of this emergency situation. The quick action and preconditioning for dealing with this kind of emergency can help save lives and protect the financial investment in the mine.
The primary objective of this Ph.D. thesis is to present modern computer methods for planning, modeling and simulation of fire scenarios that can occur in underground mine "SASA" - M.Kamenica, and based on these results to determine the safe routes for evacuation and rescue of all employees. In the Ph.D. thesis is developed a methodology for modeling of fire scenarios that may occur in the underground mine "SASA", and based on these specific fire scenarios are determine the optimal routes for evacuation of all employees who are affected by the fire scenario. The proposed methodology in this Ph.D. thesis is made with readily available softwares that are used to prepare all sections that are included in an effective plan for evacuation in case of fire scenario. This proposed methodology also allows for preparation of database from various fire scenarios that can be used for planning more variants of the system for evacuation. The results of this study show that this developed and proposed methodology represents а fast, inexpensive and effective system that significantly improves the planning and preparation of plans for evacuation and rescue in case of fire and it can be used for training, research and practical purposes which significantly improves safety in any underground mine.
Key words: underground mines, emergency, fire scenarios, modeling, simulation, optimization, evacuation plans, rescue, safety at work.


This study determined the color preferences of the faculty members of the College of Arts and Sciences and if their preference has a relation with their personality traits. The study also determined the gender differences in the color preferences and personality traits of the respondents. The study made use of the descriptive method of research. The Big Five Personality Test was utilized to determine the personality traits of the respondents. Ninety faculty members of the College responded to the questionnaire. Findings revealed that there is a gender difference in the color preference of the respondents. Most of the males prefer blue while most of the females prefer red. As regards their personality traits, both the male and female respondents are well organized but neither are particularly sound nor reserved. The males are more forgiving and relaxed while the females are more conventional. There is no significant relationship between the color preference of the male respondents and their personality traits. The personality traits of the male-respondents are more or less the same regardless of their color preference. On the part of the females, a significant relationship exists between color preference and personality traits. Female-respondents who prefer blue as their color tend to be conscientious. Those who prefer red tend to be calm/relaxed. Those who have a preference for yellow tend to be close-minded or calm/relaxed. Those who like green better tend to be agreeable.


Purpose: The objective of this paper is to examine: 1) the type of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) information (financial and nonfinancial) and 2) the extent of SDGs information disclosed on Malaysian city councils' websites. Design/Methodology/Approach: The Sustainability Development Goals Disclosure Index (SDGDi) consists of 150 items used as the instrument for content analysis to achieve the objective. Findings: The analysis of websites revealed that more non-financial sustainable development goals information is disclosed compared to financial information. On average, 28 out of 150 items of SDGDi were disclosed, which suggests a 'fair' level of SDGs information disclosure. Of all the SDGDi categories, SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) score was the highest, while SDG 14 (life below water) was the lowest. Practical Implication: This paper contributes significantly to the literature on the disclosure of SDGs information, particularly in the local authority context. It is also useful for the local authority to improve its disclosure practices to promote better sustainability. Originality/Value: This paper is among the first papers that used a newly developed Sustainability Development Goals Disclosure Index (SDGDi) to measure the readiness of Malaysian local authorities to advance the sustainable development agenda via disclosure practices. Keywords: Sustainable development goals, local authority, disclosure, website.


Abstract After rigorous geological and petrological study to exclude all Miocene rock samples that may have been affected by post-deposition disturbances and selecting only sites where the Miocene rocks appear to be rigidly attached to their Mesozoic substrate, over 100 samples were collected from the Monte Matese region. Over 200 oriented specimens, cut from these samples, were subjected to rigorous thermal and alternating field demagnetization. Strict criteria for the definition and within-site consistency of remanent vectors showed that most sites were dominated below 200°C or 20 mT by a magnetization associated with the present geomagnetic field direction. In almost all sites, any higher coercivity or blocking temperature components were inconsistent with the exception of one locality near Pescorosito. Re-sampling of two outcrops at this locality, 100 m apart, provided 26 samples that met all of the geological, petrological and palaeomagnetic criteria. The low temperature/coercivity component is the same as the present geomagnetic field in the locality, but all samples from eight of the nine sites have identical remanence vectors between 200 and 400/450°C. Petrological and tectonic considerations imply that this remanence must be associated with very early diagenesis and is thus probably of Mid-Miocene but possibly Early Miocene age. As these sites are autochthonous relative to their Mesozoic basement, they indicate a 40° anticlockwise rotation of the Monte Matese block, relative to Apulia, since Mid-Miocene times. Thus most of the post-Early Cretaceous rotation of this block has occurred since Mid-Miocene times. It is suggested that similar age constraints may also apply to other rotated blocks within the Southern Apennines.


Salinization of agricultural soils is one of the limiting factors of modern agriculture. For this reason, understanding the effects of this phenomenon is of interest to agricultural sciences. The ability to predict its progress as well as continuous monitoring can support decision-making for sustainable use of the soil resource. In the present work, the spectral space of crop reflectances is analyzed, with special emphasis on the case of soils fully covered by crops in the context of spectral growth patterns. Starting from the effects of salinity in the crops, the biphasic model of Munns and Termmat is introduced, adapting it for the case of spectral spaces of the reflectance of the crop canopy. The model was partially validated with data from experiments (soybean and barley) published in the literature. From the analysis of tolerance patterns of the barley experiment, it is necessary to make these estimations under standardized conditions of development stages. The different patterns of crop senescence, induced by salinity treatments, make it difficult to establish a standard pattern of comparison for shoot biomass and yields. The results obtained are encouraging and open a new way of analyzing the effect of salinity on crops, greatly reducing costs and times involved in conventional experimental designs, showing that there is a very simple route to obtain results similar to a conventional experiment salinity treatments.


The Early Triassic marine deposits are distributed over a large area in the Western United State and are very rich in ammonoids. The detailed bed by bed study of their stratigraphic distribution allowed us to present a new very precise biochronological framework of the Spathian stage (Middle to Late Olenekian).
Nineteen new ammonoid species belonging to the genera Pseudosvalbardiceras ?, Prohungarites, Silberlingeria, Bajarunia, Hemilecanites, Arctomeekoceras, Xenoceltites, Nordophiceratoides,
Sibirites, Columbites, Hellenites and Svalbardiceras and eighteen new spathian ammonoid genera (Courtilloticeras, Yvesgalleticeras, Marcouxia, Jeanbesseiceras, Tapponnierites, Gaudemerites, Deweveria, Ceccaisculitoides, Coscaites, Eschericeratites, Carteria, Goricanites, Tardicolumbites, Cowboyiceras, Nordophiceratoides, Glabercolumbites) have been described in a recent preliminary report by Guex et al. (2005) on the basis of unpublished material collected in the western USA (Idaho, Utah, Nevada and California). In addition, one new genus (Rudolftruempyiceras) and four new species are also described in the present work. The precise stratigraphic description of the collected sections is given in the present Memoir and the stratigraphic distribution of 88 species belonging to 51 genera is established herein. Twenty-three new biochronological horizons are defined thanks to these new data. The Cowboy Pass section (Utah) records a very interesting terrestrial (red beds and very shallow water deposits) transition between the marine Late Smithian and the Earliest Spathian faunas. That worldwide short lived regression followed by a major transgression fits the model proposed by Guex et al. 2001 and Morard et al. 2003 for the Pliensbachian - Toarcian transition: major volcanic SO2 emissions generating a short but major cooling and glaciation associated with an important sea level fall and large scale emersions, followed by a warming inducing a transgressive episode with some anoxic deposits.