An extended displacement discontinuity method (EDDM) is proposed to analyze the stress wave propagation in jointed viscoelastic rock mass (VRM). The discontinuities in a rock mass are divided into two groups. The primary group with an average geometrical size larger than or in the same order of magnitude of wavelength of a concerned stress wave is defined as "macro-joints", while the secondary group with a high density and relatively small geometrical size compared to the wavelength is known as "micro-defects". The rock mass with micro-defects is modeled as an equivalent viscoelastic medium while the macro-joints in the rock mass are modeled explicitly as physical discontinuities. Viscoelastic properties of a micro-defected sedimentary rock are obtained by longitudinally impacting a cored long sedimentary rod with a pendulum. Wave propagation coefficient and dynamic viscoelastic modulus are measured. The EDDM is then successfully employed to analyze the wave propagation across macro-joint in VRM. The effect of the rock viscosity on the stress wave propagation is evaluated by comparing the results of VRM from the presented EDDM with those of an elastic rock mass (ERM) from the conventional displacement discontinuity method (CDDM). The CDDM is a special case of the EDDM under the condition that the rock viscosity is ignored. Comparison of the reflected and transmitted waves shows that the essential rock viscosity has a significant effect on stress wave attenuation. When a short propagation distance of a stress wave is considered, the results obtained from the CDDM approximate to the EDDM solutions, however, when the propagation distance is sufficiently long relative to the wavelength, the effect of rock viscosity on the stress wave propagation cannot be ignored.


This paper presents a brand new hybrid material on the nanometric scale: the antimony sulfoiodide (SbSI) within carbon nanotubes (CNTs). It was prepared in CNTs ultrasonically by using elemental antimony (Sb), sulfur (S) and iodide (I) in the presence of methanol under ultrasonic irradiation (34 kHz, 2.6 W/cm2). The sonochemical process was leaded for 3 hours at 323 K. The antimony sulfoiodide (SbSI) consisted in multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were characterized high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). These investigations exhibit that the SbSI filling the CNTs has single-crystal structure in nature and in the form of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The SbSI grown in CNTs are very promising materials for further investigations as well as for some industrial and medical applications.


In an article published in the online Daily Times edition of 28 July 2012, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malawi (UNIMA), Professor Emmanuel Fabiano is credited with a call to Malawians to engage in a 'reasoned, open and fact-based discussion' on access to third level education generally, and in particular, on the University Quota System Policy (the UQS). I am delighted to respond to Professor Fabiano's challenge. The previous Government implemented the UQS and rationalised it as a tool for 'equal access' to, and for addressing 'under representation' in, public universities. We were informed that some groups experience difficulty accessing public universities and are consequently under represented. The UQS is intended to be an affirmative action policy and Section 20(2) of the Constitution does authorise affirmative action assuming certain conditions are met. Media reports suggest that the UQS Policy allocates and guarantees a specified number of places in publicly funded universities (assuming the merit criteria is met), and the 'remaining (unfilled) places are allocated on the basis of a district's population size and set criteria. Failure by a district to meet its quota will result in the quota being shared by neighbouring districts located in the same region as the failing district. The article is essentially an evaluation of the implementation of the UQS Policy.
Furthermore, the previous head of state charged, on record, that some groups cheat their way into public universities. It is not clear whether the alleged cheating causes the access difficulties, and ultimately, the under representation. The UQS, it appears, identifies those with access problems as all Malawians excluding Northern Malawians. The allegation of fraud strongly suggests the fraudsters are exclusively Northern Malawians. It also seems that the regional and district divide which anchors the UQS Policy is used by it as a code for ethnicity. Although Section 20(2) does anticipate affirmative action measures the operation of the UQS raises serious doubts about its constitutionality.


Pessoa et al. (1998a) summarize a wide body of data suggesting that perceptual filling-in phenomena can be attributed to neural filling-in processes. However, they reject, on philosophical grounds, the hypothesis that filled-in representations in the brain are the immediate substrate of visual percepts. It is proposed in this commentary that resonant binding between distributed cortical areas may instead be the crucial ingredient for conscious visual percepts, and that filling-in processes may facilitate the interactions between behaving organisms and object surfaces. These suggestions circumvent some of the philosophical problems associated with the idea of localized visual representations.


In this study we propose to combine the outcome of four temporal prediction methods, which have different strength and weaknesses, by taking their median. Based on 25 motion traces from ultrasound liver tracking, this decision fusion provided statistically significantly better results than the individual outcomes for latencies from 150 to 1000ms. On average, RMS errors reduced by at least 50% in comparison to assuming no motion for all latencies. Furthermore it was shown that time-intensive optimization of the methods parameters to individual cases was not required, as performance from using the median parameters from the population was not significantly worse when using decision fusion.


Scalability and consistency are fundamental issues to deal with in large scale Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs). To make a VE scalable, it is usually partitioned into a number of regions and processed by a set of dedicated servers. Static configurations are unable to handle dynamic load, and therefore, dynamic strategies are widely investigated and explored. A number of strategies can be found in the literature targeting either scalability or consistency and the applications requiring both were demanding a new infrastructure. In our previous work [5], we proposed a hierarchical infrastructure for the development of scalable and consistent virtual worlds. The work in this paper is carried out as an extension to our previous work and presents an algorithm for aggregate region assignment. The proposed algorithm performs exhaustive aggregations of regions for achieving load as balanced as possible in DVEs. Simulations in MATLAB show that the proposed algorithm and aggregate strategies achieve the best possible load distribution among the servers while maintaining regular and contiguous areas for assignments. It utilises intelligent techniques and greatly reduces the aggregation process.


Cancer is the leading cause of death in industrialized countries. At present, the proposed treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a combination of these. Conventional radiotherapy uses photons, like X- or gamma-rays, whose dose distribution does not permit to completely spare upstream and downstream healthy tissues. During the past decade, new treatment modalities have emerged: protontherapy and hadrontherapy. However, the studies performed about the potential benefits of such treatments emphasize that more fundamental data is needed to understand the cell response pathways following charged particle irradiation. In this work, a Monte Carlo code (Monte Carlo Survival Curve (MCSC)) was developed to predict the survival fraction of in vitro cells exposed to medium and high LET charged particles. Two cell types were studied: A549 lung cancer cells and EAHy926 endothelial cells. The cell response was assessed following exposure to a broad beam of protons or alpha particles generated by the irradiation facility available at the LARN laboratory. A variety of assays were performed (clonogenic survival, p-H2AX intensity quantification over time, DNA content assessment, lindane exposure) at low, medium and high doses. Taking advantage of the gathered results, MSCS provides the survival fraction of cells in a large dose range and includes two important low dose effects: low dose hypersensitivity and bystander effect. This code simulates the irradiation of a cell population by a broad beam of charged particles and distributes DNA lesions through this population. Lesions are repaired following a reciprocal time model and this repair is stopped at a time which is radiation and cell type dependent. Simulation results are benchmarked to our experimental data and good agreement between both is observed. Importantly, the low dose behaviour is well reproduced. This MCSC code can also prove useful in the response assessment of non-adherent cell lines, as well as in the determination of individual radiosensitivity. The experiments carried out on the A549 cell line after 100 keV/µm alpha particle irradiations have highlighted a strong bystander component at low doses. Although this is an advantage in term of tumor cell killing, this could be detrimental for healthy tissues in which the dose is kept very low. Hence, in vivo studies are needed to assess the bystander effect extent in living organisms.


Merger-remnant galaxies with kiloparsec (kpc) scale separation dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) should be widespread as a consequence of galaxy mergers and triggered gas accretion onto supermassive black holes, yet very few dual AGNs have been observed. Galaxies with double-peaked narrow AGN emission lines in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are plausible dual AGN candidates, but their double-peaked profiles could also be the result of gas kinematics or AGN-driven outflows and jets on small or large scales. To help distinguish between these scenarios, we have obtained spatial profiles of the AGN emission via follow-up long-slit spectroscopy of 81 double-peaked narrow-line AGNs in SDSS at 0.03 ⩽ z ⩽ 0.36 using Lick, Palomar, and MMT Observatories. We find that all 81 systems exhibit double AGN emission components with ∼kpc projected spatial separations on the sky (0.2 h−170 kpc <Δx < 5.5 h−170 kpc; median Δx = 1.1 h−170 kpc), which suggests that they are produced by kiloparsec-scale dual AGNs or kiloparsec-scale outflows, jets, or rotating gaseous disks. Further, the objects split into two subpopulations based on the spatial extent of the double emission components and the correlation between projected spatial separations and line-of-sight velocity separations. These results suggest that the subsample (58+5 − 6%) of the objects with spatially compact emission components may be preferentially produced by dual AGNs, while the subsample (42+6 − 5%) with spatially extended emission components may be preferentially produced by AGN outflows. We also find that for 32+8 − 6% of the sample the two AGN emission components are preferentially aligned with the host galaxy major axis, as expected for dual AGNs orbiting in the host galaxy potential. Our results both narrow the list of possible physical mechanisms producing the double AGN components, and suggest several observational criteria for selecting the most promising dual AGN candidates from the full sample of double-peaked narrow-line AGNs. Using these criteria, we determine the 17 most compelling dual AGN candidates in our sample.


Family members are themselves affected by the impact of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) upon their relatives and they play an important role in the rehabilitation and long term support required. The study aims to understand how families are impacted and their views on the formal and informal support received directly or indirectly as a consequence of the ABI. To date there has been very little research undertaken by social workers in relation to ABI and/or the experience of family members.

A mixed methods research design was employed to capture the lived experience of family members of people with ABI. The results of the quantitative and qualitative data
were triangulated against the literature.

An online survey was completed by 110 relatives of people with an ABI, seeking their experience of the condition, its impact upon their lives and their views of services. The results of the survey were collated and organised in SPSS (version 24). Non-parametric Spearman's Rho Correlations (non-parametric test) were performed upon the results. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 family members of people with severe ABI to ascertain the family members' experience of their relatives' condition, its impact upon them and their views of the associated formal and informal support received. Inductive thematic analysis of the transcribed interview data was undertaken to identify themes.

The quantitative element of the research identified strong correlations between the relative's assessment of the invisible impairments suffered by those with an ABI (cognitive, executive, behavioural and emotional difficulties) and lack of insight. This correlation was not present in relation to physical impairment. It was observed that increased loss of insight and behavioural difficulties were strongly correlated with loss of friendships by the non-injured family member. The results of the inductive thematic analysis identified 7 themes which were:

1: The Context
2: The All-Encompassing Challenge
3: Family Loss and Grief
4: The Unavoidable Burden
5: The Poor Experience of Support
6: Positive Support and Change
7: The Curator of Narrative

The research identified that family members' experience is complex and enduring, encompassing most aspects of life, and is affected by the context in which it occurs as well as by formal and informal support structures. The particular nature of the grief and loss experienced by families is ambiguous, develops over time and leads to ambivalent feelings for family members who perceive no option but to remain involved. Informal and formal support frequently fails to take account of the reality and complexity of the condition and fails to integrate the relative by recognising their own losses and trauma. Relatives' views on the services received identified significant gaps in practitioner knowledge, most especially of those aspects of life that were of most concern to them, the invisible impairments and issues with insight. Practitioners that were valued were more likely to be specialists in the condition and practiced as "expert companions" supporting the relative to develop a new "neuro-narrative" to reconstruct their identity in the face of their ongoing grief. The specific nature of the condition requires such an approach if input is to be effective.

Greater understanding of the complex lived experience of family members may support more effective responses to both them and the individual with ABI, integrating services and families to improve quality-of-life. As ABI is a process with changes to functioning developing over time, the information and knowledge required by loving and supportive relatives needs to be created with them, being person-, family-, injury-and-context-specific.


In order to successfully annotate the Arabic speech content found in open-domain media broadcasts, it is essential to be able to process a diverse set of Arabic dialects. For the 2017 Multi-Genre Broadcast challenge (MGB-3) there were two possible tasks: Arabic speech recognition, and Arabic Dialect Identification (ADI). In this paper, we describe our efforts to create an ADI system for the MGB-3 challenge, with the goal of distinguishing amongst four major Arabic dialects, as well as Modern Standard Arabic. Our research focused on dialect variability and domain mismatches between the training and test domain. In order to achieve a robust ADI system, we explored both Siamese neural network models to learn similarity and dissimilarities among Arabic dialects, as well as i-vector post-processing to adapt domain mismatches. Both Acoustic and linguistic features were used for the final MGB-3 submissions, with the best primary system achieving 75% accuracy on the official 10hr test set.


Microbial interactions are major determinants in shaping microbiome structure and function. Although fungi are found across diverse microbiomes, the mechanisms through which fungi interact with other species remain largely uncharacterized. In this work, we explore the diversity of ways in which fungi can impact bacteria by characterizing interaction mechanisms across 16 different bacterial-fungal pairs, involving 8 different fungi and 2 bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas psychrophila). Using random barcode transposon-site sequencing (RB-TnSeq), we identified a large number of bacterial genes and pathways important in fungal interaction contexts. Within each interaction, fungal partners elicit both antagonistic and beneficial effects. Using a panel of phylogenetically diverse fungi allowed us to identify interactions that were conserved across all species. Our data show that all fungi modulate the availability of iron and biotin, suggesting that these may represent conserved bacterial-fungal interactions. Several fungi also appear to produce previously uncharacterized antibiotic compounds. Generating a mutant in a master regulator of fungal secondary metabolite production showed that fungal metabolites are key shapers of bacterial fitness profiles during interactions. This work demonstrates a diversity of mechanisms through which fungi are able to interact with bacterial species. In addition to many species-specific effects, there appear to be conserved interaction mechanisms which may be important across microbiomes.


BACKGROUND
In the post-communist countries, limited access to treatment, lack of financial protection mechanisms, lack of information and low quality of healthcare frequently imposes an enormous burden on family's wellbeing when cancer is diagnosed. While many studies have explored barriers to cancer treatment, little attention is paid to the question how patients and their caregivers cope with cancer. In this paper, we systematically review the evidence on patients coping strategies with cancer in post-communist countries.

METHODS
We performed a literature search in PubMed, JSTOR, Web of Science, EBSCO (CINAHL) to identify papers that describe patients coping strategies because of organizational and financial barriers to cancer treatment. Papers published between January 1991 and January 2020 were included if they described individual experience of patients at any stage of cancer treatment. We applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Literature Review (PRISMA) as a guide for our review.

RESULTS
In total, 28 publications from post-communist countries were included in this review. They presented evidence on coping strategies and barriers faced by patients when coping with poor access to cancer treatment, lack of finances, lack of information and low quality of health care services. Most sought coping strategies included using personal finances to pay for medical services, medicines and supplies, charitable contributions to the hospital and informal payments; visiting a private medical doctor; using personal connections; and looking for additional information.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that coping strategies are similar across post-communist countries and can be seen as an indicator of the shortcomings in cancer treatment. This evidence can be used to study and/or improve access to cancer treatment and improve health care policies. Research on the prevalence and quantification of coping strategies is needed to provide evidence-informed policies for countries that face gaps in cancer treatment.


During sudden school closures in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers had to move to distance teaching. This unprecedented situation could be expected to influence teacher well-being and schools as organizations. This article reports a qualitative study that aims at understanding how changes in teachers' professional lives that were related to school closure affected Swiss primary teachers' professional well-being. In semi-structured online-interviews, 21 teachers from 15 schools sampled by snowball method reported their experiences during school closure and distance teaching and how this situation influenced their professional well-being. Results showed that medium to high levels of teacher well-being could accompany a general negative evaluation of the move to distance teaching. Factors such as high work-load, social distancing and feelings of lack of competence and self-efficacy were among the most aversive aspects of distance teaching and associated with deteriorating professional well-being. Among a plethora of factors that supported teachers in maintaining their well-being, contextual work-related aspects such as school resources, collegial support or leadership support along with individual aspects such as resilience, coping strategies, and clear work structures were important. Additionally, it was found that teacher well-being was nourished by positive experiences with the new forms of distance teaching and feelings of professional mastery. Despite methodological limitations (snowball sampling, retrospective interviews), the findings of this study could inform schools and authorities about what is needed to support teacher well-being and might help to develop organizational strategies that aim at preventing harmful declines in teacher well-being during challenging and difficult times such as a pandemic.


The growth of interest in georeferenced media brings with it a wealth of possibilities for exploring digital media, and importantly, for advancing research concerned with domain driven research questions. In this paper, we compare previous work, which extracted and analysed the spatial traces of two 18th-19th century poets in the English Lake District with modern data digital traces in the form of Flickr images. We explore the semantics of the modern day data through use of Latent Dirichlet Allocation, and analyse the extent to which modern day tourism mimics (or indeed follows) the foundations laid by Samuel Coleridge and Thomas Gray. Our results show that tourists, just like the poets, describe mountain landscapes from below and visit popular locations commonly perceived as beautiful.


13 years ago, on December 22, 2006, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed the first government decree regulating the introduction of digital TV in Russia (TASS October 14, 2019). The article summarizes the authors' long-term research on the country's transition to digital broadcasting. Historical parallels are drawn with similar events from the history of television development. It is found out how this will affect different segments of the population. Possible ways of realization of digital signal reception for viewers are presented. Two possible ways of distributing terrestrial television content are briefly described. It is concluded that cable operators are monopolists of television broadcasting in apartment buildings.  The results of the study of cable operators in Russia are presented. In contrast to the majority of "winning" headlines in the media the hypothesis that cable TV networks will continue to broadcast in the same format on analog TV sets was confirmed. The authors conclude that the high urbanization of the Russian population has saved most of the country's viewers from the severe shocks associated with the transition to digital television. A comparison of the television audience of the urban population and suburban residents is given. It points to the problems of pensioners and the poor caused by the digitization of TV.  The problems of possible destruction of the socio-cultural space of Russia due to the reduction or liquidation of local TV companies were highlighted. It is emphasized that it is the rural population that most contributes to the preservation of cultural traditions and moral foundations. It is emphasized that regional and municipal television is the main way of information influence on the local electorate. The analysis of pages of all subjects of the Federation of the official website of the STRC for broadcasting in digital format of local television is carried out. The dynamics of the emergence of new regional stations on the air was indirectly measured.  In conclusion, measures are proposed to unite the population of the country through the programs of regional companies


Abstract Modernization theories contrast traditional and advanced societies. In the former, religion and group identification – the identification with the ethnicity or the nation in particular – are means of integration and sources of happiness. Technological and economic developments undermine this base of mechanical solidarity and bring out individualism, self-expression and autonomy as new values. Happiness is now reached, if the autonomous citizen can successfully realize her/his goals. As theories of individualism and collectivism typically regard independence and autonomy as values of the individualistic cultural frame, it should be lower in those societies where collectivism is still prevalent. This would explain why happiness is relatively low in Japan. The first sections of the paper show that the key variable of these theories – i.e., the sense of autonomy – is not only logically distinct from independence and individualism but also empirically uncorrelated with indicators of the latter concepts. Furthermore, autonomy increases at best weakly with modernization. Though it does not meet the assumptions of modernization theories, autonomy is nevertheless a strong predictor of life satisfaction. The positive influence of religion and national identification, by contrast, is relatively weak. The low sense of autonomy can explain the level of life satisfaction in Japan fairly well.


The Brooklyn, NY, neighborhood Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass (DUMBO) has seen a revitalization since the late 1970s. The neighborhood's business improvement district (BID) is charged with supplementing New York City's efforts in several areas, including safety, sanitation, marketing, promotional programs, capital improvements, and beautification. Since 2007, the DUMBO BID has done "small things that are collectively big" to improve the area and are in line with New York City's "plaNYC," a blueprint to become a "sustainable city" by increasing water quality, energy efficiency, and open space while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. This year, the DUMBO BID must decide if it should continue its small actions or pursue a neighborhood-wide Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating while constrained by its budget, staff size, and the recession.Learning Objective: To examine community, government, and business collaboration in transformational change.


Background Immunossupressant drugs have an important role in the prophylaxis of transplant rejection, so they are considered 'critical dose drugs'. Use of a generic immunosuppressant represents a significant cost savings to the medical system. Since safety data for new medicines are always limited, post-marketing surveillance is essential to determine medicines' safety in real life use. With the introduction of generic mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in CHLO, EPE–HSC, the pharmaceutical services (PHS) have implemented an MMF active pharmacovigilance programme (APP) for HT recipients. Purpose To describe and quantify suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) identified with an APP implemented by the PHS. Materials and Methods Between 11/2011 and 09/2012, all adult HT recipients who switched from innovator to the generic MMF were included in the MMF APP. This substitution was made under medical supervision and the pharmacist provided the patients with all necessary explanations. Subsequent pharmaceutical assessment was done with a questionnaire (in person or telephone), which identified demographic data, concomitant treatment and suspected ADRs. Results 55 patients were included in the MMF APP, 78% male, average age 55 ± 13 [22–76] years. 14 patients (25%) reported ADRs at MMF switch. These patients had not experienced ADRs with the innovator drug. The most common ADRs identified were diarrhoea (25%), stomach ache (12.5%) and asthenia (12.5%). All ADRs notifications were reported to the Portuguese National Pharmacovigilance Unit. Conclusions Most suspected ADRs identified corresponded to MMF's profile ADRs described in the summary of product characteristics. The switch to generic from innovator drug should have a surveillance strategy that includes medical monitoring, patient education and the contribution of all health professionals involved in the patient immunosuppressant regimen in order to create a system that allows adverse reactions to be detected, with the ultimate goal of maximising benefit and minimising risk by promoting safer use of medicines. No conflict of interest.


Accurate structure analysis of high-resolution 3D biomedical images of vessels is a challenging issue and in demand for medical diagnosis nowadays. Previous curvature regularization based methods [10, 32] give promising results. However, their mathematical models are not designed for bifurcations and generate significant artifacts in such areas. To address the issue, we propose a new geometric regularization principle for reconstructing vector fields based on prior knowledge about their divergence. In our work, we focus on vector fields modeling blood flow pattern that should be divergent in arteries and convergent in veins. We show that this previously ignored regularization constraint can significantly improve the quality of vessel tree reconstruction particularly around bifurcations where non-zero divergence is concentrated. Our divergence prior is critical for resolving (binary) sign ambiguity in flow orientations produced by standard vessel filters, e.g. Frangi. Our vessel tree centerline reconstruction combines divergence constraints with robust curvature regularization. Our unsupervised method can reconstruct complete vessel trees with near-capillary details on both synthetic and real 3D volumes. Also, our method reduces angular reconstruction errors at bifurcations by a factor of two.


One of the most important conditions of realization by the state of its functions is a formation of an effective policy in the field of management of the state assets. The role and scales of the state's participation in this process, degree and methods of its influence on production are covered in this article.


This paper considered that theory system explaining and demonstrating all of cultivation practice and alone having attribute of cultivation science of crops could not be formed for Cultivation Science of Crops of China. Due to influence of scientific concept of western scholars, theory of this applying subject only stopped on level of point obtaining from contacts in general terms among things, lacked highly summarizing and abstraction, but contents of this subject were on basis of big agriculture conception, ecological agriculture, it embodied idea that recognizing crop production only from long-term interests, higher layer, bigger range, including handing well relationship both among all of ecological systems and between planting industry and animal husbandry, could well resolve problem of food. Putting forward new concept of Cultivation Science of Crops, it was science researching contradiction movement among yield factors of crop (high-yielding) community and regularity of regulation and control technique. This definition protruded internal essence and feature of this subject and its difference with near subjects. Expounded relative nucleus theories and concrete contents of improved cultivation science of crops depend on needs of development of ecological agriculture, practices of crop production and existing problems, compared them with present teaching material of agricultural college. Problem on development of cultivation science of crops was finally discussed.


The paper describes a method of analytic description of impulse response (IR) signals obtained during the test of technical object. The proposed description is based on the curve fitting to obtain the values of the parameters of analytic form of auto-correlation and power spectral density function. The impulse excitation is given into thoroughly described points of object and the proper fragment of IR is selected in the order to assure the accuracy of the curve fitting over the level of 90%. This approach enables to describe changes of IR signals in the form of percentage variations in the parameters of the auto-correlation and power spectral density function (e.g. changes from the object damage).


OBJECTIVES
This study reports the results of a single center experience on the use of pharmacological venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis in laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients.

BACKGROUND
The prevention of VTE is of crucial importance in surgical practice. However, the severity of thromboembolism risk and the necessity of thromboprophylaxis for laparoscopic cholecystectomy is still being debated.

METHODS
The data of the patients, who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for symptomatic cholelitiasis in a single center between the years 2005 and 2015 were analysed retrospectively for incidents of symptomatic VTE and bleeding complications. Fisher Exact Test was used to compare the outcomes of the patients who did and did not receive thromboprophylaxis.

RESULTS
Of the 1485 patients who were included in the study, 307 (20.67 %) having a low VTE risk, did not receive any thromboprophylaxis; while 1178 (79.33 %) with a medium, high or a very high risk received VTE prophylaxis. A bleeding complication occurred in 14 (1.18 %) patients receiving prophylaxis and in 2 (0.65 %) patients not receiving prophylaxis (p = 0.548). No patients in this study experienced clinically symptomatic VTE.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study indicate that the selective use of thromboprophylaxis does not significantly increase the risk of bleeding after laparoscopic cholecystectomy and probably decreases the incidence of symptomatic thrombotic complications (Ref. 18) Keywords: laparoscopic cholecystectomy, bleeding, venous thromboemboly, prophylaxis, low molecular weight heparin.


The author describes the therapeutic problems that can arise on a family-oriented psychiatric inpatient service. The stress emerging from the therapeutic demands on and changes in the internal structure of the family may cause the family to seek to reestablish its internal equilibrium by changing the hospital staff and structure at the ward level, department level, and the hospital administration level. These transactions between the hospital and families, which are complex, are extremely important to recognize because they can undermine the therapeutic process.


Introduction: Pain syndromes of the cervical spine are common. There is little research on the effectiveness of conservative treatment in patients with cervical radiculopathy. Aim: The aim of the study was the evaluation of the effectiveness of the McKenzie method and a complex rehabilitation program in reducing pain and improving emotions in patients with cervical derangement syndrome. Material and methods: 61 patients with cervical derangement syndrome no 5 (in accordance with previous classification of the McKenzie method) aged 30-60 were qualified to two therapeutic groups. Group M was treated with the McKenzie method, and group T with a complex rehabilitation program defines as traditional therapy. The two interventions lasted for three weeks. All patients completed questionnaires to assess pain (McGill Pain Questionnaire), state anxiety (Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire) and emotions (Adjective Checklist Measuring Emotional State. SE-T Scale) before and at the end of therapy. Results: In both groups an improvement was observed in most indexes of the McGill Pain Questionnaire after treatment, although the McKenzie method was more effective. The exception was the index WOB(OC). Emotions improved only in patients treated with the McKenzie method, and this intervention has proved to be more efficient than the traditional therapy. Conclusions: 1) The McKenzie method is more effective compared to the complex rehabilitation program in reducing pain and improving emotions in patients with cervical derangement syndrome. 2) Robin McKenzie's method which does not contain elements of psychological intervention improves emotional state of patients with cervical radiculopathy.


The CAM-Brain Machine (CBM) is a hardware implementation of a brain-inspired, recurrent, digital neural network. It is an experimental machine composed of reconfigurable (evolvable) hardware, capable of training and evaluating cellular automata based neural network modules directly in silicon. The networks of the CBM were originally intended to be built with a genetic algorithm. However, currently the implemented genetic algorithm is not powerful enough to evolve satisfactory networks for applications of a meaningful complexity. To that end, the training technique should be considerably enhanced. This paper addresses the problem of using the CBM more efficiently, still based on genetic evolution, but using a much more efficient gene pool. The paper focuses on the identification of frequently used primitive functions, and the hand crafting of these functions into efficient basic network patterns. Functions range from simple delay lines over logic gates, to adjustable timers and switches. Furthermore a technique is introduced to build neural structures that can generate arbitrary pulse trains. Eventually these basic structures will be combined in a library, that will serve as a potent gene pool.


Abstract Objectives Current guidelines for diagnosis and management of early-onset intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) rely on umbilical artery Doppler (UAD), without including uterine artery Doppler (UtAD). We hypothesized that IUGR cases with abnormal UAD but normal UtAD has a different spectrum of placental pathology compared with those with abnormal UtAD. Study Design Retrospective review of pregnancies with sonographic evidence of IUGR and abnormal UAD prior to delivery. Cases with ≥ 1 UtAD record(s) after 18+0 weeks' gestation and placental pathology were included. Cases were stratified according to initial UtAD pulsatility index (PI) values (n = 196): normal (n = 19; PI < 95th centile for gestational age/no notching), intermediate (n = 69; PI ≥ 95th centile/no/unilateral notching) and abnormal (n = 108; PI ≥ 95th centile/bilateral notching). Pregnancy outcomes and placental pathology were compared between groups. Results Women in the normal group delivered later than those in the abnormal group (30.1 ± 3.5 vs. 28.0 ± 3.5 weeks; mean ± standard deviation; p = 0.03). Their placentas exhibited higher rates of chronic intervillositis (15.8 vs. 0.9%; p = 0.01), chorangiosis (15.8 vs. 0.9%; p < 0.0001), and massive perivillous fibrin deposition (21.1 vs. 7.4%; p = 0.05), but had lower rates of uteroplacental vascular insufficiency (26.3 vs. 79.6%; p < 0.0001). Conclusion Approximately 10% of pregnancies with early-onset IUGR and abnormal UAD exhibited normal UtAD waveforms. They delivered later, and their placentas exhibited unusual placental pathologies.


This thesis describes a project using a qualitative study approach. It explores the utilization of the pre-registration period as preparation for clinical nurse leadership relevant to work in contemporary health care. The empirical focus of this study was to fundamentally address only the perceptions of senior student nurses about to qualify, of their own leadership development during their programme. Using focus groups with a total of 35 third year pre-registration students about to qualify as nurses provided a rich and detailed description of what inhibited and enhanced the development of their leadership skills. Alongside this, the students' perceptions of qualities and competencies required specifically for contemporary nurse leader roles were identified. No substantive studies exist in the United Kingdom exploring the experiences and perceptions of student nurses regarding nurse leadership during their training. It is distinctive as it challenges the state of nurse leadership in healthcare and the expected developmental needs for it. Students recognised the need to be prepared for leadership during their pre-registration programme and questioned the use of the standard theoretical approach for its development. They asked instead for skills to deal with difficult conversations, unexpected power struggles, challenging and dealing with inappropriate behaviour and introducing evidence into practice in areas of resistance. The study makes an important contribution to education as the findings can inform leadership development throughout the pre-registration nursing programmes within England. It also raises the question as to whether nursing needs more leaders, or just for nurses to take the professional responsibility for their own practice.


Malaysia is considered as a very low seismic region country. However countries that border Malaysia such as Indonesia and Philippines are the two most seismically active countries with frequent earthquakes. The close proximity of these countries means that Malaysia is prone to risk of distance earthquakes. As such, anticipated problem associated with earthquakes must be dealt with. There is several problems expected need to be justified in this disaster phenomenon. Area of higher risk to be affected by earthquake need to be identified. To date, many building in Malaysia are not designed to withstand seismic load which means that they are susceptible to collapse in the event of earthquakes. School buildings contain large numbers of public user during most of the times. A sustainable approach of visual assessment and detailed analysis are needed to ensure the school building sustainability towards an earthquake threat. An ATC-21 evaluation and a finite element analysis were performed on a 4 storey standard school building in order to evaluate its performance should it be subjected to seismic waves. Results from the analysis were used to compare with the structures actual capacity and a potential improvement to the building can be identified. The assessment methods engaged no destructive in-situ test and the cost involved in the assessment are kept to a minimum. The final outcome of the study produces a guideline and database that served as a potential maintenance proposal and reference for engineering community in the future.


The Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) has been installing smoke alarms city wide for more than three decades. Though data on each visit are entered into a database, no system existed for using these data for planning or evaluation. The objective of this study is to use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and existing databases to 1) determine the number of residences in need of a home visit; 2) determine total visits, visits per household, and number of homes entered for eligible households; and 3) demonstrate integration of various data via GIS for use in prevention planning. The tax assessment database was queried to determine the number of eligible (as determined by BCFD policy) residences in need of a visit. Each attempted BCFD home visit was coded to identify, if the BCFD personnel interacted with residents ("pass door") and installed alarms. Home visits were geocoded and compared to the tax assessment database to determine city wide pass door rates. Frequency of visits was run by individual residences to measure efficiency. A total of 206,850 residences met BCFD eligibility for a home visit. In 2007, the BCFD attempted 181,757 home visits and 177,213 were successfully geocoded to 122,118 addresses. A total of 122,118 eligible residences (59%) received a home visit. A total of 35,317 residences (29%) received a repeat visit attempt. The pass door rate was 22% (46,429) of all residences. GIS technology offers a promising means for fire departments to plan and evaluate the fire prevention services they provide.


This work presents a procedure for the use of probabilistic modelling techniques in the assessment of safety parameters of existing timber structures, when influenced by two types of actions. The parameters of the models have been defined as probabilistic variables, and Monte Carlo simulation technique was taken into account for safety evaluation. The case study here examined concerns four king post trusses on which a safety evaluation method was conducted to determine a target reliability index. Since the structures presented a high level of deterioration, a model considering the variation of the residual cross-section and the influence of environment in resistance was taken into account. Time dependent deterioration models have also been considered. With the results given by the different used models, it was possible to obtain probabilities of failure and respective reliability indices, as well as time evolution deterioration curves for a deteriorated historical structure.


Abstract. Developing a more mechanistic understanding of soil respiration is
hampered by the difficulty in determining the contribution of different
organic substrates to respiration and in disentangling autotrophic-versus-heterotrophic and aerobic-versus-anaerobic processes. Here, we use a
relatively novel tool for better understanding soil respiration: the
apparent respiration quotient (ARQ). The ARQ is the amount of CO2 produced
in the soil divided by the amount of O2 consumed, and it changes
according to which organic substrates are being consumed and whether oxygen
is being used as an electron acceptor. We investigated how the ARQ of soil
gas varied seasonally, by soil depth, and by in situ experimental warming
(+4 ∘C) in a coniferous-forest whole-soil-profile warming
experiment over 2 years. We then compared the patterns in ARQ to those of
soil δ13CO2. Our measurements showed strong seasonal
variations in ARQ, from ≈0.9 during the late spring and summer to
≈0.7 during the winter. This pattern likely reflected a shift from
respiration being fueled by oxidized substrates like sugars and organic
acids derived from root and root respiration during the growing season to
more reduced substrates such as lipids and proteins derived from microbial
necromass during the winter. This interpretation was supported by δ13CO2 values, which were lower, like lipids, in the
winter and higher, like sugars, in the summer. Furthermore,
experimental warming significantly changed how both ARQ and δ13CO2 responded to soil temperature. Wintertime ARQ and δ13CO2 values were higher in heated than in control plots,
probably due to the warming-driven increase in microbial activity that may
have utilized oxidized carbon substrates, while growing-season values were
lower in heated plots. Experimental warming and phenology change the sources
of soil respiration throughout the soil profile. The sensitivity of ARQ to
these changes demonstrates its potential as a tool for disentangling the
biological sources contributing to soil respiration.


Guillemin, M., Murset, J. C., Lob, M., and Riquez, J. (1974).British Journal of Industrial Medicine,31, 310-316. Simple method to determine the efficiency of a cream used for skin protection against solvents. Most of the industrial organic solvents coming into contact with the skin are absorbed through it and enter the blood. They can then be detected in the breath, the analysis of which makes it easy to evaluate skin absorption. Such an evaluation can be made with and without the use of a skin protective (barrier) cream. A comparison of the results allows the efficiency of the cream to be tested. An example of the application of this method is described. The solvent was toluene and the cream tested was composed mainly of talc, glycerol, and water. Ten male volunteers exposed their hands to liquid toluene for 10 minutes. The elimination of the solvent was followed by breath analysis up to 3 hours after the exposure. Two or more sets of exposure were made under different conditions with and without the protective cream. The results show a good standard of efficiency when the cream is carefully and deeply applied. The efficiency of the cream was determined by testing the difference between the decay curves obtained with and without the barrier cream. A relative efficiency was estimated as a percent diminution of solvent excretion by taking the excretion after exposure of unprotected skin as 100%. It is shown that skin absorption for toluene compared with lung absorption may be important and has to be estimated where total exposure is concerned. The method devised here appears to offer simplicity. It is presented as a laboratory test to show the intrinsic value of the cream but its applicability in the field is also considered.


While the literature on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in academia has increased over the past two decades, there is a dearth of research concentrating on LGBTQ graduate students and faculty of color. The present paper provides an overview of LGBTQ people of color's experiences across different educational systems and academic levels, from K-12 education to faculty positions. Specific to higher education, social determinants to academic success for LGBTQ people of color are identified - ranging from systemic and interpersonal discrimination, mental health issues, and social support. One organization that has attempted to queer the academy is the LGBTQ Scholars of Color National Network, which was created in 2014 to connect and advance the LGBTQ people of color in academia. Data from the network is introduced – highlighting participants' need for a network for queer and trans people of color (N = 368), as well as value of having such a network (N = 132). Results support the need to disrupt educational systems by "queering" and "browning" a pipeline for LGBTQ people of color in academia. In doing so, I push to dismantle the inequities experienced by LGBTQ faculty of color and to increase awareness of systemic oppression in higher education.


After his term as governor, William Miller (ca. 1783-1825) was appointed to a diplomatic position in Central America but died en route to taking up the post. Born in Warren County [4], he was the second son of Thomas Miller, Jr. His mother is thought to have been a daughter of Allen Love of Brunswick County, Virginia. Upon the death of his father in the early 1790s, young Miller inherited a plantation of 930 acres. His early education was apparently at Warrenton Male Academy, under the Reverend Marcus George [5]. He enrolled in the University of North Carolina [6] in 1802, but left school prior to graduation. By 1809 he was a resident of Warrenton and was engaged in the practice of law. Miller married Lydia Anna Evans in 1816, but their union was to prove only of brief duration. She died in 1818 at her father's home near Petersburg, Virginia. Their only child, William, Jr., followed her in death while still a small boy.


Rainfall is the key climatic variable that governs the regional hydrologic cycle and availability of water resources. Recent studies have analysed the changes in rainfall patterns at global as well as regional scales in Australia. Recent studies have also suggested that any analysis of hydroclimatic variables should be performed at the local scale rather than at a large or global scale because the trends and their effects may be different from one location to the other. Because no studies were found specific to the Yarra River catchment, which is an important catchment in Victoria, Australia, this study performs a spatiotemporal trend analysis on long‐term rainfall records at 15 measuring stations within the catchment. The Mann–Kendall test was used to detect trends, and Sen's slope estimator was used to calculate the slopes in both monthly and annual rainfall. Moreover, a cumulative summation technique was used to identify the trend beginning year, and prewhitening criteria were tested to check for autocorrelation in the data. The results showed that the monthly rainfall has generally decreasing trends except in January and June. Significant decreasing rainfall trends were observed in May (among the autumn months of March, April and May) at most stations and also in some other months at several stations. A decreasing trend was also observed in the annual rainfall at all stations. This study indicates that there has been a consistent reduction in rainfall over the catchment, both spatially and temporally over the past 50 years, which will have important implications for the future management of water resources. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This article considers issues of education and preparation relevant to psychology trainees in departments of family medicine. Special issues unique to training in a medical setting, such as confusion about professional identity and divergence in world views, are discussed. This article also addresses a range of relational issues, including trainee relationships with residents, patients, and attending physicians. Supervision of the psychology trainee is also considered, eg, teaching, counseling, and advocacy supervisor roles. This article concludes with specific suggestions and guidelines for future training of psychologists in family medicine settings.


The aim of this study was to characterize patterns of energy balance through lactation of cows kept under constant feeding conditions. Danish Holstein, Danish Red, and Jersey cows were studied during consecutive lactations and remained on the same dietary treatment throughout. They were fed a normal (13.55 MJ of digestible energy/kg of dry matter) or a lower energy diet (12.88 MJ of digestible energy/kg of dry matter) ad libi-tum throughout lactation. Energy balance was calculated using the effective energy (EE) system in such a way that energy balance equated to body energy reserve change. In the EE system the energy values assigned to feeds are directly equivalent to the energy requirements of the animal; 1 MJ of EE supply has the same energy value as 1 MJ of lipid loss from the body. The resulting body energy change data were analyzed using a linear spline model. There was no evidence to suggest that different combinations of breed and parity required different knot placements. The Holstein mobilized significantly more body energy in early lactation than the Danish Red and Jersey breeds. Parity 1 cows mobilized significantly less than parity 2 and 3 cows. There was a significant interaction between breed and parity in the first half of lactation due to parity 1 Jersey cows having a greater mobilization than would be expected of the difference between parities in the other breeds. As lactation progressed, the differences between parities and between breeds decreased. Cows on the higher energy diet had a more positive energy balance. Within breed and parity, the following possible predictors of individual differences in body energy change were examined: fatness-corrected live weight, condition score at calving, and genotype. There was no difference in the predicted cow effect or residual energy balance profile when grouped according to quartiles of corrected live weight or according to condition score at calving. During the period of most negative energy balance (d 14) there 5291 was no significant relationship between live weight and intake, suggesting that, within diet type, the systematic patterns of body energy change through lactation in cows that were kept under stable and sufficient nutritional conditions cannot be accounted for by environmental factors such as constrained intake or condition score at calving. Thus, these patterns appear to have a genetic basis. The proportion of the phenotypic variation (remaining after accounting for fixed effects) accounted for by additive genetic effects varied through …


The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literatures on chronic poverty and conflict, map out current policy debates and identify areas for future research. It is estimated that one third of the world's population is exposed to armed conflict, and a disproportionate number of conflicts take place in poor countries. These conflicts are not temporary emergencies but have systemic and enduring features. The chronically poor increasingly live in contexts of chronic insecurity. In addition to their direct impacts, violent conflicts have major development costs, and global poverty targets are unlikely to be achieved in a context of growing insecurity. The nature of the links between conflict and poverty are explored by critically examining three propositions. First, conflict causes chronic poverty. The macro and micro impacts of conflict are examined with a particular focus on how rural livelihoods and entitlements are affected. Conflict has a more severe impact than other external shocks because of the deliberate destruction of livelihoods. Chronic insecurity increases chronic poverty, but the impacts vary according to a range of factors including age, ethnicity, gender and region. Classic conceptualisations of vulnerability may not apply; conflict may reverse pre-existing power relations causing new groups to become politically vulnerable. Second, poverty causes conflict. The processes through which chronic poverty generates grievance leading to violent conflict are examined. Chronic poverty by itself is unlikely to lead to conflict - the chronically poor often lack political voice and organisation. However, horizontal inequalities and social exclusion, particularly when they coincide with identity or regional boundaries may increase a society's predisposition towards violent conflict. Such background conditions can be exploited by political entrepreneurs. Chronic poverty may also be a significant factor in sustaining wars as violent crime and predation become the only viable livelihood strategy for the chronically poor. Third, resource wealth causes conflict. The argument that greed rather than grievance causes conflict is briefly examined. High value primary commodities such as diamonds and timber provide opportunities for rebel groups to finance their military activities. It is argued that rebels generate a loud discourse of grievance to hide their real economic motives. The 'greed-grievance' debate merits further examination, but rather than framing the debate in 'either-or' terms, the key seems to be in understanding the interaction and synergies between the two. Finally, three broad alternative policy approaches are mapped out: working around conflict (donors avoid the issue of conflict or treat is as a negative externality); working in conflict (donors recognise the need to be more sensitive to conflict dynamics and adapt policies and programmes accordingly); and working on conflict (a more explicit focus on conflict management and resolution). It is argued that working around conflict is in the long run likely to be counterproductive, and that if chronic poverty is going to be more effectively addressed, donors need to develop approaches for working in and on conflict, drawing upon and adapting rural livelihoods approaches that were developed in more stable contexts.


The article discusses the importance of creativity as one of the core competencies of knowledge workers in universities functioning in the knowledge-based economy. In the theoretical part of this article the essence of knowledge management (KM) is characterized. In particular, definition, objectives and processes of knowledge management are described, as well as benefits from KM and barriers to KM are presented. The attention is also paid to the knowledge workers, their definition, characteristics as well as roles they perform in organizations in which they work. Further part of this article focuses mainly on results of the research on knowledge workers creativity and competences. The main objective of the study was to determine whether competences characteristic of knowledge workers are correlated with the level and the style of creativity. An additional objective was to make a comparative analysis between humanistic, technical and agricultural fields of study. The questionnaire survey conducted among working students was the main source of primary data used in the process of qualitative and quantitative analysis. The method of documents' examination as well as descriptive, analog and heuristic methods were used in this article. On the basis of obtained data the level of creativity and creative style of creative workers were studied, as well as correlations between competences characteristic of knowledge workers, and both the style and the level of creativity were calculated. The Drawing Test of Creative Thinking by Urban and Jellen was used to measure the level of creativity among respondents, and the KAI questionnaire by Kirton was used to measure the style of creativity. The final part of the article includes conclusions resulting from the results of the research and theoretical considerations.


ABSTRACT— Conventional distributed arithmetic (DA) is popular in field programmable gate array (FPGA) design, and it features on-chip ROM to achieve high speed and regularity. In this paper, we describe high speed area efficient 1-D discrete wavelet transform (DWT) using 9/7 filter based new efficient distributed arithmetic (NEDA) Technique. Being area efficient architecture free of ROM, multiplication, and subtraction, NEDA can also expose the redundancy existing in the adder array consisting of entries of 0 and 1. This architecture supports any size of image pixel value and any level of decomposition. The parallel structure has 100% hardware utilization efficiency.


This report can be relied on by the addressee, the Marine Institute, only. ABPmer accepts no liability for the use by or reliance on this report or any of the results or methods presented in this report by any party that is not the addressee of the report. ABPmer shall not be liable to any party other than the Marine Institute in relation to the contents of the report.


BACKGROUND
Corticosteroids, delivered systemically and by inhalation, are widely used for the treatment of multiple acute respiratory illnesses in children. However, the level of evidence to support the utility of this therapy varies between these different acute respiratory illnesses.

OBJECTIVE
To summarize the evidence regarding the utility of corticosteroids in the management of common acute pediatric respiratory conditions and to highlights the controversies regarding their use.

METHODS
Literature search of manuscripts describing the evidence regarding the efficacy of corticosteroids (systemic and inhaled) in the management of: acute asthma exacerbation among school age children, acute episodic wheeze among preschool children, viral croup, and acute viral bronchiolitis.

RESULTS
Current evidence indicates that systemic corticosteroids provide benefits for the treatment of acute asthma exacerbations in school age children, mainly in the acute care setting. In addition, high dose inhaled corticosteroid therapy administered in the Emergency Department appears to have comparable effect for the prevention of asthma-related hospital admission as systemic corticosteroids in this age group. In contrast, most available studies have not shown benefit for systemic corticosteroids during acute wheezing episodes in preschool children. Systemic corticosteroids decrease symptoms and the rate of hospital admissions in patients with severe croup; however, corticosteroids have no role in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis and their use in this condition should be discouraged.

CONCLUSION
Corticosteroids treatment response varies between the acute respiratory illnesses presented in this review. Future research should aim to fill the current gaps-of-knowledge regarding the utility this intervention such as the identification of specific wheezing phenotypes among preschool children which might benefit from systemic corticosteroids as a treatment for acute viral wheeze.


Objective: To determine whether, when the vasomotor capacity of the coronary arterioles is exhausted at rest, myocardial blood volume decreases in order to maintain a normal capillary hydrostatic pressure, even at the expense of myocardial oxygen delivery. Methods: 18 dogs were studied. In group 1 (n  =  9), coronary driving pressure (CDP) was reduced by 10–80 mm Hg below normal by a stenosis; in group 2 (n  =  9), it was increased 20–80 mm Hg above baseline by increasing aortic pressure with phenylephrine. Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) was undertaken to measure the myocardial blood volume fraction and myocardial blood flow (MBF). Results: In group 1 dogs, as CDP was reduced, both coronary blood flow (CBF) and MBF decreased. Myocardial blood volume fraction also decreased and myocardial vascular resistance increased, while coronary sinus Po2 decreased. In group 2 dogs, as CDP was increased, epicardial CBF increased but MBF remained unchanged because of a decrease in myocardial blood volume fraction. Myocardial vascular resistance decreased, however, implying the presence of coronary arteriovenous shunting, which was supported by a progressive increase in the coronary sinus Po2. Conclusions: When arteriolar tone is exhausted so that CBF becomes dependent on CDP, myocardial blood volume decreases in order to maintain a constant capillary hydrostatic pressure, which takes precedence over myocardial oxygen delivery. These novel findings implicate capillaries in the regulation of CBF beyond the autoregulatory range.


A new cyan long-lasting phosphorescence (LLP) phosphor Ca3(PO4)2:Eu2+,Dy3+ was synthesized by a solid state reaction and its LLP properties were investigated for the first time. The Ca3(PO4)2:Eu2+,Dy3+ phosphor exhibits two emission bands centered at 480 nm and 573 nm, which are ascribed to the 4f65d1–4f7 electronic transition of Eu2+ ions and the transition from 4F9/2 to 6H13/2 of Dy3+ ions, respectively. After removal of the excitation source, the bright cyan LLP could be observed for 5 h by the naked eye. Besides, the yellow LLP component originated from the persistent energy transfer (PET) from Eu2+ ions to Dy3+ ions. The incorporation of Dy3+ ions creates more appropriate energy traps and evidently enhances the LLP behavior of Ca3(PO4)2:Eu2+ phosphor. A schematic model is constructed to convey trapping/detrapping processes and PET in the material.


A series of mononuclear nickel(II) thiolate complexes (Et4N)Ni(X-pyS)3 (Et4N = tetraethylammonium; X = 5-H (1a), 5-Cl (1b), 5-CF3 (1c), 6-CH3 (1d); pyS = pyridine-2-thiolate), Ni(pySH)4(NO3)2 (2), (Et4N)Ni(4,6-Y2-pymS)3 (Y = H (3a), CH3 (3b); pymS = pyrimidine-2-thiolate), and Ni(4,4'-Z-2,2'-bpy)(pyS)2 (Z = H (4a), CH3 (4b), OCH3 (4c); bpy = bipyridine) have been synthesized in high yield and characterized. X-ray diffraction studies show that 2 is square planar, while the other complexes possess tris-chelated distorted-octahedral geometries. All of the complexes are active catalysts for both the photocatalytic and electrocatalytic production of hydrogen in 1/1 EtOH/H2O. When coupled with fluorescein (Fl) as the photosensitizer (PS) and triethylamine (TEA) as the sacrificial electron donor, these complexes exhibit activity for light-driven hydrogen generation that correlates with ligand electron donor ability. Complex 4c achieves over 7300 turnovers of H2 in 30 h, which is among the highest reported for a molecular noble metal-free system. The initial photochemical step is reductive quenching of Fl* by TEA because of the latter's greater concentration. When system concentrations are modified so that oxidative quenching of Fl* by catalyst becomes more dominant, system durability increases, with a system lifetime of over 60 h. System variations and cyclic voltammetry experiments are consistent with a CECE mechanism that is common to electrocatalytic and photocatalytic hydrogen production. This mechanism involves initial protonation of the catalyst followed by reduction and then additional protonation and reduction steps to give a key Ni-H(-)/N-H(+) intermediate that forms the H-H bond in the turnover-limiting step of the catalytic cycle. A key to the activity of these catalysts is the reversible dechelation and protonation of the pyridine N atoms, which enable an internal heterocoupling of a metal hydride and an N-bound proton to produce H2.


An upper bound on the rate-distortion function for discrete ergodic sources with memory is developed by partitioning the source sample space into a finite number of disjoint subsets and bounding the rates for each subset. The bound depends only on the mean vectors and covariance matrices for the subsets and is easy to compute. It is tighter than the Gaussian bound for sources that exhibit clustering of either the values or covariances of successive source outputs. The bound is evaluated for a certain class of pictorial data using both one-dimensional and two-dimensional blocks of picture elements. Two-dimensional blocks yield a tighter bound than one-dimensional blocks; both result in a significantly tighter bound than the Gaussian bound.


In the tropics and subtropics, most fires are set by humans for a wide range of purposes. The total amount of burned area and fire emissions reflects a complex interaction between climate, human activities, and ecosystem processes. Here we used satellite‐derived data sets of active fire detections, burned area, precipitation, and the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR) during 1998–2006 to investigate this interaction. The total number of active fire detections and burned area was highest in areas that had intermediate levels of both net primary production (NPP; 500–1000 g C m−2 year−1) and precipitation (1000–2000 mm year−1), with limits imposed by the length of the fire season in wetter ecosystems and by fuel availability in drier ecosystems. For wet tropical forest ecosystems we developed a metric called the fire‐driven deforestation potential (FDP) that integrated information about the length and intensity of the dry season. FDP partly explained the spatial and interannual pattern of fire‐driven deforestation across tropical forest regions. This climate‐fire link in combination with higher precipitation rates in the interior of the Amazon suggests that a negative feedback on fire‐driven deforestation may exist as the deforestation front moves inward. In Africa, compared to the Amazon, a smaller fraction of the tropical forest area had FDP values sufficiently low to prevent fire use. Tropical forests in mainland Asia were highly vulnerable to fire, whereas forest areas in equatorial Asia had, on average, the lowest FDP values. FDP and active fire detections substantially increased in forests of equatorial Asia, however, during El Niño periods. In contrast to these wet ecosystems we found a positive relationship between precipitation, fAPAR, NPP, and active fire detections in arid ecosystems. This relationship was strongest in northern Australia and arid regions in Africa. Highest levels of fire activity were observed in savanna ecosystems that were limited neither by fuel nor by the length of the fire season. However, relations between annual precipitation or drought extent and active fire detections were often poor here, hinting at the important role of other factors, including land managers, in controlling spatial and temporal variability of fire.


Concrete without reinforcement is brittle which is intensified in high strength concrete. Fibers have been utilized to improve the tensile and bending performance of concrete. Fibers  primarily control the propagation of cracks and limit the crack width. Carbon fiber reinforced concretes are reliable structural materials with superior performance characteristics compared to conventional concrete. The addition of carbon fiber in concrete has been found to improve several properties, primarily cracking resistance, ductility and fatigue life. This paper reports a study on the mechanical and fracture properties of high strength concrete reinforced with different volume fractions of carbon fiber. Four different volume fractions between the range of 0.25% and 1.00% were chosen. Carbon fiber improved the compressive strength, load bearing capacity, fracture energy and toughness of concrete. Fiber volume fraction was more prominent factor in this regard. Fracture parameters showed better performance beyond 0.50% fiber inclusion.


In designing a microstructural materials system, there are several key questions associated with design representation, design evaluation, and design synthesis: how to quantitatively represent the design space of a heterogeneous microstructure system using a small set of design variables, how to efficiently reconstruct statistically equivalent microstructures for design evaluation, and how to quickly search for the optimal microstructure design to achieve the desired material properties. This paper proposes a new descriptor-based methodology for designing microstructural materials systems. It is proposed to use a small set of microstructure descriptors to represent material morphology features quantitatively. The descriptor set should be able to cover microstructure features at different levels, including composition, dispersion status, and phase geometry. A descriptor-based multiphase microstructure reconstruction algorithm is developed accordingly that allows efficient stochastic reconstructions of microstructures in both 2D and 3D spaces for finite element analysis (FEA) of material behavior. Finally, the descriptor-based representation allows the use of parametric optimization approach to search the optimal microstructure design that meets the target material properties. To improve the search efficiency, this paper integrates state-of-the-art computational design methods such as design of experiment (DOE), metamodeling, statistical sensitivity analysis, and multi-objective optimization, into one design optimization framework to automate the microstructure design process. The proposed methodology is demonstrated using the design of a polymer nanocomposites system. The choice of descriptors for polymer nanocomposites is verified by establishing a mapping between the finite set of descriptors and the infinite dimensional correlation function.


TERM (The Enormous Regional Model) is a "bottom-up" CGE model of Australia which treats each region as a separate economy. TERM was created specifically to deal with highly disag-gregated regional data while providing a quick solution to simulations. This makes it a useful tool for examining the regional impacts of shocks that may be region-specific. We include some details of how we prepared the TERM database, using a national input-output table, together with regional data showing output (for agriculture) and employment (in other sectors) for each of 144 sectors and 57 regions [the Australian statistical divisions]. Using a 38-sector, 45-region aggregation of the model, we simulate the short-run effects of the Australian drought of 2002-03, which was the most widespread for 20 years. The effects on some statistical divisions are extreme, with income losses of up to 20 per cent. Despite the relatively small share of agriculture in Australian GDP, the drought reduces GDP by 1.6 per cent, and contributes to a decline in unemployment and to a worsening of the balance of trade.


-- Offers a traditional CliffNotes "TM" treatment of a literary novel, with updated and new content. -- Includes Life and Background of the Author, Introduction to the Novel, A Brief Synopsis, List of Characters, Critical Commentaries, Glossaries, Character Analyses, and Critical Essays. -- Enhanced by collaboration with Webster's New World "TM" College Dictionary, which provides authoritative glossary definitions. -- Provides a Character Map, a one-page spread that graphically illustrates the relationships between characters. -- Supplemented by CliffNotes "TM" Review, which reinforces learning with fun and practical activities, and CliffNotes "TM" Resource Center, which provides the reader with additional resources for further study. -- Contains reader-friendly icons for theme, literary device, style & language, and character insight. -- Includes a comprehensive Index.


This paper is devoted to the step-up dc/dc converter family with a cascaded quasi-Z-source network (qZS-network). The cascaded (two-stage) qZS-network could be derived by the adding of one diode, one inductor, and two capacitors to the traditional quasi-Z-source inverter (qZSI). The proposed cascaded qZSI inherits all the advantages of the traditional solution (voltage boost and buck functions in a single stage, continuous input current, and improved reliability). Moreover, as compared to the conventional qZSI, the proposed solution reduces the shoot-through duty cycle by over 30% at the same voltage boost factor. Theoretical analysis of the two-stage qZSI in the shoot-through and non-shoot-through operating modes is described. The proposed and traditional qZS-networks are compared. A prototype of a step-up dc/dc converter with the cascaded qZS-network was built to verify the theoretical assumptions. The experimental results are presented and analyzed. Finally, a further optimization method of the cascaded qZS-network is proposed, and some practical design issues are discussed.


Abstract Whether humans or climate change caused the extinction of megafaunal populations is actively debated. Caves in the Lagoa Santa provide mixed assemblages of megafauna and human remains; however, it remains uncertain the extent to which humans and megafauna interacted or overlapped temporally. Here we present the first paleoecological record from lowland South America that tracks the decline of megafauna and its ecological implications. We provide a data set for pollen, charcoal, and Sporormiella, from two lakes in southeastern Brazil that span the last 23,000 yr. The data showed reduced abundances of Sporormiella and an inferred megafaunal population decline that began 18,000 yr ago, with the functional extinction occurring between 12,000 and 11,500 yr ago. Population declines coincided with wet events. The age of the final megafaunal decline is within the range of the first human occupation of the region. Our data are consistent with climate causing the population collapse, with humans preventing population recovery and inducing extinction. We did not observe some of the ecological repercussions documented at other sites and attributed to the megafaunal extinction. Habitat-specific ecological consequences of the extinction add to the heterogeneity of late Pleistocene and early Holocene landscapes.


This paper discusses the organization and motivation for a workshop devoted to the experimental use of 3D computer graphics to model the human figure. The workshop introduced a simple technique for modeling a leg by lofting a series of circles into the appropriate shape using sketches drawn from life. This approach links the expressive world of drawing to the impersonal mechanical tasks of computer modeling. The workshop also served as an introduction to 3D modeling and the MAYA 3D Computer Graphics Software Graphical User Interface. The drawing exercises of Kimon Nicolades are discussed and provide inspiration to explore alternatives to photo-realistic modeling that reflect the artistic legacy of early modernist experiments such as cubism and futurism.


Purpose: The prevalence and its impact on mortality of sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy (SICM) remain controversial. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we investigated the prevalence and prognosis of SICM. Materials and Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Embase. Titles and abstracts were evaluated based on the following criteria: (1) published in English, (2) randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, or cross-sectional studies, (3) ≥ 18 years with sepsis, (4) reporting the prevalence and/or comparison of short-term mortality between those with and without SICM, defined as the new-onset reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) within 72 h on admission or from the diagnosis of sepsis. The random-effect model was used for all analyses. This meta-analysis was registered at PROSPERO (CDR42022332896). Results: Sixteen studies reported the prevalence of SICM and the pooled prevalence of SICM was 20% (95% confidence interval [CI], 16-25%; I2  =  89.9%, P < 0.01). Eleven studies reported short-term mortality and SICM was associated with significantly higher short-term mortality (The pooled odds ratio: 2.30, 95% CI, 1.43-3.69; I2  =  0%, P  =  0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of SICM was 20% in patients with sepsis, and the occurrence of SICM was associated with significantly higher short-term mortality.


Neoplastic lumbosacral plexopathy is a frequent and disabling complication in subjects with cancer. Its clinical presentation is characterized by pain, muscle weakness, sensory complaints in one or occasionally both limbs associated with the tumoral symptoms. The presence of autonomic symptoms is less frequent; one of these is the "hot and dry foot". We present two patients, one with prostatic cancer and the other with myxoid liposarcoma, who developed a lumbosacral plexopathy as a manifestation of the extension of the neoplastic process; in both cases there was in addition a clear difference in the temperature of the affected limb. Although infrequent, the "hot and dry foot" it constitutes an early sign of metastatic plexopathy which facilitates the differential diagnosis with preforaminal lumbosciatic radiculopathies.


Folk music is one medium used by the Dalits of India in response to the oppression they face under the country's caste system. This thesis describes research conducted on the effects of music composed by a radical Dalit Christian pastor in South India nicknamed ' Parattai.' The main aims were to investigate how Parattai's religiously affiliated Dalit folk music transformed people, and whether or not its popularity and use had been maintained since Parattai's death in 2005. The primary data was collated from twenty six semi-structured interviews which took place in Tamil Nadu state between December 2006 and April 2007. The secondary data comprises literature on caste and inequality, and grassroots responses involving religion and music. This research found that Parattai' s music was effective because it declared a proud Dalit identity. Parattai embraced and reclaimed the musical and dance styles, vernacular languages, food, and religious ideologies of Dalits so as to transform Dalits from the inside out. Parattai's music continues to empower people with the appreciation of their own strengths. However, further promotion of his folk music style would ensure enduring transformation and activism towards the equality of all Dalits.


A new type of membrane with potential-controllable functions was prepared by grafting polyaniline to the surface of track-etch Nucleopore membrane with a vacuum deposited gold layer (PANI-membranes). Because of the cylindrical shape of these pores, a nanocylinder of the desired conducting material is obtained in each pore. A potential applied to PANI-membranes governs the properties of the conducting layer, such as charge and its distribution, conformation, and density and, hence, controls the diffusion rate of substances through these membranes. The variation in diffusion rates of different substances with different potentials applied to PANI-membranes provides the basis for the application of these membranes in separation processes and sensors.


Use of smart directional antennas in handheld devices to generate a narrow beam in different directions for mmWave/TeraHertz communications present significant challenges. Devices using such antennas may have to scan several different directions in three-dimensional (3D) space to discover another user or an access point, a process that can result in problematic delays. Moreover, small movements of a user/device in the form of rotation and/or displacement may cause the discovered link to be lost. This paper proposes adaptive link discovery algorithms for devices in both infrastructure/ad hoc networks and evaluates their performance in terms of time-to-discovery. We show that one of the two proposed methods provides guaranteed discovery. We use an inertial measurement unit sensor to help intelligently rediscover a lost/degraded link. We propose sensor assisted link prediction methods for low-latency rediscovery in 3D space. We evaluate the effectiveness of our prediction-based rediscovery methods by testing them with real datasets representing various user/device 3D rotation patterns. We show that the smoothing based rediscovery can reach the prediction accuracy to 100% when two antenna sectors are searched, and it reduces the time-to-rediscovery by up to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${S}\text{x}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${S}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> times) as compared to the time-to-discovery, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${S}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the number of antenna sectors.


The analysis of the failure mechanisms of spinal fixation systems and the stress distribution patterns within vertebral bodies constitutes an indispensable demand for the clinical evaluation of these systems. In this paper the influence of various parameters on the failure of fixation systems due to the pull-out phenomenon of the fixation screws is explored. To achieve this goal a Finite Element Model of the human lumbar vertebral bone and of the transpedicular fixation screw is designed simulating the main characteristics of commercial fixation pedicle screws. The parameters studied include the type of the bone-screw interface as well as some geometrical characteristics of the screws and the vertebral bone. The analysis revealed the different behavior of the pedicle screwvertebral bone system and the different stress diffusion mechanisms activated according to the interface type. It was, also, concluded that the performance of pedicle screws under pull-out loads could be improved by increasing the thread depth.


ABSTRACT A series of large-eddy simulations of spatially developing turbulent boundary layers with uniform blowing at moderate Reynolds numbers (based on free-stream velocity, U∞, and momentum thickness, θ) up to Reθ ≈ 2500 were performed with the special focus on the effect of intermittent (separated in streamwise direction) blowing sections. The number of blowing sections, N, investigated is set to be 3, 6, 20, 30 and compared to N = 1, which constitutes the reference case, while the total wall-mass flux is constrained to be the same for all considered cases, corresponding to a blowing amplitude of 0.1% of U∞ for the reference case. Results indicate that the reference case provides a net-energy saving rate of around 18%, which initially decreases at most 2% points for N = 3 but recovers with increasing N, where the initial reduction of the drag reduction is found to be related to the shorter streamwise length of the intermittent blowing sections. The physical decomposition of the skin friction drag through the Fukagata-Iwamoto-Kasagi (FIK) identity shows that the distribution of all components over each blowing section has similar trends, resulting in similar averaged values over the whole control region.


This paper analyses the behavior of the augmented Lagrangian algorithm when it deals with an infeasible convex quadratic optimization problem. It is shown that the algorithm finds a point that, on the one hand, satisfies the constraints shifted by the smallest possible shift that makes them feasible and, on the other hand, minimizes the objective on the corresponding shifted constrained set. The speed of convergence to such a point is globally linear, with a rate that is inversely proportional to the augmentation parameter. This suggests us a rule for determining the augmentation parameter that aims at controlling the speed of convergence of the shifted constraint norm to zero; this rule has the advantage of generating bounded augmentation parameters even when the problem is infeasible.


Background: Despite the expansion of ethics consultation services, questions remain about the aims of clinical ethics consultation, its methods and the expertise of those who provide such services. Objective: To describe physicians' expectations regarding the training and skills necessary for ethics consultants to contribute effectively to the care of patients in intensive care unit (ICU). Design: Mailed survey. Participants: Physicians responsible for the care of at least 10 patients in ICU over a 6-month period at a 921-bed private teaching hospital with an established ethics consultation service. 69 of 92 (75%) eligible physicians responded. Measurements: Importance of specialised knowledge and skills for ethics consultants contributing to the care of patients in ICU; need for advanced disciplinary training; expectations regarding formal-training programmes for ethics consultants. Results: Expertise in ethics was described most often as important for ethics consultants taking part in the care of patients in ICU, compared with expertise in law (p<0.03), religious traditions (p<0.001), medicine (p<0.001) and conflict-mediation techniques (p<0.001). When asked about the formal training consultants should possess, however, physicians involved in the care of patients in ICU most often identified advanced medical training as important. Conclusions: Although many physicians caring for patients in ICU believe ethics consultants must possess non-medical expertise in ethics and law if they are to contribute effectively to patient care, these physicians place a very high value on medical training as well, suggesting a "medicine plus one" view of the training of an ideal ethics consultant. As ethics consultation services expand, clear expectations regarding the training of ethics consultants should be established.


This paper discusses how and why dynamic maps are better suited to the requirements of humanities scholars than conventional cartography or GIS systems. It highlights some of the strengths of dynamic maps and shows their value to humanities computing projects. However, there are also a number of weaknesses with existing technology and techniques. These are discussed and possible ways forward are suggested. It illustrates some of the issues by reference to the experiences of two case study projects that have been conducted at the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at King's College London.


Z-mode wave converted from O-mode heater wave is considered as the pump wave in Tromso HF heating experiments for the parametric excitation of lower hybrid decay mode together with electron Bernstein sidebands in the region above the O-mode reflection layer. This is the process, suggested by Mishin et al. [1997], which generates superthermal electrons by the excited lower hybrid waves. These superthermal electrons produce plasma waves in the region above the O-mode reflection layer, with frequencies much greater than the heater wave frequency, as observed by Isham et al. [1990, 1996]. Our detailed analyses of this process are carried out for two experimental cases wherein the pump wave frequencies are near the third and fifth harmonic electron cyclotron frequencies, respectively. The results show that the minimum threshold field of the instability in either case is less than 0.2 V m−1. However, because the wavelength of the instability is also short, the collisionless dampings restrict the instability occurrence to narrow wavelength and frequency ranges. For 1 V m−1 pump field intensity, the instability can be excited in less than 1 ms. Since the excited lower hybrid waves are strongly Landau damped, superthermal electrons are efficiently generated by them.


The unexpected appearance of a large watercolor of Adam and Eve Asleep, similar in size, technique, and finish to the three known watercolors from the series done for John Linnell in 1822, is a surprise. So, perhaps, is the fact that it is a surprise. The fact that all three of the known Paradise Lost watercolors are fully completed works, unlike the series of illustrations to Dante and to The Pilgrim's Progress, both left incomplete at Blake's death, may well have put off speculation about what would seem to have been intended as a complete set of near copies of the twelve subjects of the series done for Thomas Butts.


College is a place of many things: a place to learn, a place to make new friendships, a place to discover what interests you, and so much more. Some have always dreamed of attending a college or university, while for others, higher learning is not their desired goal. What distinguishes these two types of people from each other is influenced by many factors. Some of these include place of residence, family income, family structure, education level of the parents, race, and gender. It is not incorrect to say that the family is one of the greatest influences on a child's decision to pursue higher education. While most of the research in the past has looked at the magnitude of many factors at once, I specifically plan to analyze how strong the effects of family income, family structure, and the education level of the parents are on a child's decision to acquire a college education.


A commercial company established in 1600 to monopolize trade between England and the Far East, the East India Company grew to govern an Indian empire. Exploring the relationship between power and knowledge in European engagement with Asia, "Indian Ink" examines the Company at work and reveals how writing and print shaped authority on a global scale in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Tracing the history of the Company from its first tentative trading voyages in the early seventeenth century to the foundation of an empire in Bengal in the late eighteenth century, Miles Ogborn takes readers into the scriptoria, ships, offices, print shops, coffee houses, and palaces to investigate the forms of writing needed to exert power and extract profit in the mercantile and imperial worlds. Interpreting the making and use of a variety of forms of writing in script and print, Ogborn argues that material and political circumstances always undermined attempts at domination through the power of the written word. Navigating the juncture of imperial history and the history of the book, "Indian Ink" uncovers the intellectual and political legacies of early modern trade and empire and charts a new understanding of the geography of print culture.


Objectives Pregnancy represents a dynamic period when both work conditions and worker assessment of occupational psychosocial stressors may change. We undertook longitudinal repeated measurements of job control, efforts, reward, and overcommitment in pregnant working women to assess direction and magnitude of change across pregnancy. Method The Job Content and Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaires were given to 61 working pregnant women recruited at 8–12 weeks gestation and repeated 3 more times across the pregnancy. Demographic data, self-rated (SR) health and stress measures, and blood pressure (BP) data were also collected at each visit. Results were analysed using multilevel linear regression models and generalised estimating equations. Results 56 subjects (91%) completed at least two waves; 42 (69%) completed all four. Progressive declines in job efforts, rewards, and overcommitment were noted across pregnancy; ERI remained stable. Job Control increased. Black subjects showed evidence of lower job control but also lower effort-reward imbalance across pregnancy, contrasted with Whites/Hispanics. Overcommitment showed the strongest negative association with indices of maternal health, including BP, and SR stress and health. The strongest associations of job constructs with maternal health were noted at mid-second trimester (20–24 weeks) with a decline thereafter. Conclusions Correlations between occupational psychosocial stressors and intermediate pregnancy-related outcome variables are greatest in early-to-mid-pregnancy. Declining effort and increased control across pregnancy suggest that, in this group, work conditions may be improved, either by the employer or worker, as pregnancy progresses. The possibility of a critical period when associations between work stressors and pregnancy outcomes is also suggested by these results.


Contemporary data flows in science, business, government, and media draw numbers from two kinds of places. In some places, numbers are assembled and assigned through observing, counting, and measuring. In other places, numbers are assembled in a different way. Such places are usually defined mathematically as functions and implemented algorithmically in software. The numbers that come from them are not necessarily assigned to anything in the world as facts, keys, or codes. They are functional numbers. The time-space signature of calculation that results from the convolution of these two different supply chains of numbers has textures and traits that directly affect the unfolding of events. This paper reconstructs a symptomatic crisis event, the 2009 A/H1N1 'swine flu' influenza pandemic, from the standpoint of number flow in and around epidemiological models. In their sometimes drastic reshaping of lived space-times, epidemics generate and attract a plethora of numbers relating to human/non-human populations, human/non-human biology, vectors of infection, patterns of urban mobility, media use, clinical practice, and laboratory tests. Examining some key mathematical functions, data sets, plots, and computer model code, the paper reconstructs how these different kinds of numbers mix or 'convolve'. It suggests that the convolution of numbers to predict and control epidemics, or to disentangle different aspects of events more generally, might provoke us to think of how numbers multiply in multiple ways.