Purpose: Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) is a crucial aspect of treating type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Daily individual decisions affect patient health, well-being, and long term outcomes. This pilot study evaluated what best educates and motivates patients to improve glucose control. Method: 17 participants with T2DM were recruited from Penn Rodebaugh Diabetes Center to attend 3 monthly diabetes support group meetings, and receive American Association of Diabetes Educators education. Weight and hemoglobin A1C (A1C) were measured at baseline and completion. Fitbit Activity Trackers were provided, as well as bi-weekly communication to reinforce behavior change. Pre and post-study surveys assessed nutrition, activity, monitoring blood glucose, and taking medication. Two sided paired t-test was performed to compare change in A1C and weight. A type I error rate of 0.was used for statistical significance. Results: 15 participants completed the study. DSME interventions resulted in a statistically significant decrease in mean A1C from 8.5% to 7.7% with a mean A1C reduction of 0.8% in 3 months (p-value=0.01). Mean weight decreased 4.80 lb (p-value=0.0001). 11 remained on same medications, and 1 required reduced insulin. 3 added a glucagon-like peptide receptor agonist (GLP-1RA), with 1 adding a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor. 7 increased daily steps wearing Fitbit, while 8 reported no motivation. 10 increased weekly exercise, and 11 increased daily activity. All benefited from bi-weekly reinforcement, and reported improved nutrition. Food replica models aided visual reinforcement. Conclusion: DSME in a group setting can motivate self-care and reduce both A1C and weight, however, the study met challenges. Time per patient spent coordinating was substantial. Food models and phone communication to reinforce lifestyle modification were useful. Research is needed to determine what provides long-term sustainability in a busy clinical practice. Disclosure L. McLeer Maloney: None. J. Flood: None. N. Alamuddin: Consultant; Self; Novo Nordisk Inc.. M. Al Mukaddam: None.


Single-determinant (SD) fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo (FNDMC) gains popularity as a benchmark method scalable to large noncovalent systems, although its accuracy limits are not yet fully mapped out. We report on an interesting example of significant SD FNDMC accuracy variations in middle-sized hydrogen-bonded dimer complexes, formic acid (FA) vs methanediol (MD), distinct by the maximum bond order (2 vs 1). While the traditional SD FNDMC schemes based on bias cancellation are capable of achieving benchmark (2%) accuracy for MD, this has not been the case for FA. We identify the leading systematic error source in energy differences and show that suitably designed Jastrow factors enable SD FNDMC to reach the reference accuracy for FA. This work clearly illustrates the varying accuracy of the present-day SD FNDMC at the 0.1 kcal/mol scale for a particular set of systems but also points out promising routes toward alleviation of these shortcomings, still within the single-reference framework.


The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the time efficiency of digital chairside and labside workflows with a conventional workflow for single-unit restorations. The time efficiency in this specific sense was defined as the time, which has to be spent in a dental office by a dental professional performing the relevant steps. A model with interchangeable teeth on position 36 was created. These teeth were differently prepared, responding to several clinical situations to perform single-unit restorations. Different manufacturing techniques were used: For the digital workflows, CEREC Omnicam (CER) and Trios 3 (TN/TI) were used. The conventional workflow, using a dual-arch tray impression technique, served as the control group. For the labside workflow (_L) and the conventional impression procedure (CO), the time necessary for the impressions and temporary restorations was recorded and served as operating time. The chairside workflow time was divided by the time for the entire workflow (_C) including scan, design, milling and finishing the milled restoration, and in the actual working time (_CW) leaving out the chairside milling of the restoration. Labside workflow time ranged from 9 min 27 s (CER_L) to 12 min 41 s (TI_L). Entire chairside time ranged from 43 min 35 s (CER_C) to 58 min 43 s (TI_C). Pure chairside working time ranged from 15 min 21 s (CER_CW) to 23 min 17 s (TI_CW). Conventional workflow time was 10 min 39 s (CO) on average. The digital labside workflow and the conventional workflow require a similar amount of time. The digital chairside workflow is more time consuming.


Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) offer an opportunity for non-invasive characterization of metastatic cancer, including the ability to follow subtype evolution, development of resistance, tissue homing biomarkers, and changes in cell signaling mechanisms required for metastasis and continued growth and survival of the tumor. Analysis of CTCs and translation of a CTC assay into a clinical test has been difficult due to issues of obtaining high purity, high yield preparations and/or isolating individual CTCs. This is further compounded by the heterogeneity of CTCs, hurdles in profiling their molecular signatures, and difficulty correlating CTC number/subtype to actionable therapy. We pursued a detailed analysis of CTC gene expression using whole transcriptome TempO-Seq targeted sequencing, a highly sensitive, direct lysis, addition only assay. As this assay does not require purified CTC isolation or RNA extraction, there is no risk of CTC nor RNA loss. We exploited the single cell sensitivity of TempO-Seq to profile enriched CTC preparations prepared by RosetteSep gradient centrifugation, allowing us to characterize the phenotypes of CTCs within a high background of normal blood cells. To handle this large and potentially overwhelming background we developed and exploited a proprietary method of sample normalization that increased the sensitivity and consistency of CTC gene signature measurements. We demonstrated that the TempO-Seq assay could detect a single MCF7 (EpCAM+) Luminal-like cell in a background of 1,000 MDA MB 231 (EpCAM-) Basal-like cells (positive for an Endothelial Mesenchymal Transition, EMT), and vice versa. Next, we prepared mixtures of different proportions of these cultured cells spiked into normal blood, enriched the model "CTCs" using RosetteSep, and profiled the bulk preparation. Proportional discrimination of cell-specific signatures were obtained with as few as 40 spike-in cells. Finally, we profiled enriched CTC preparations from the blood of patients with metastatic breast cancer. The results demonstrated that the expression of HER2, ER, and EpCAM could be measured as well as biomarkers of drug resistance, bone/brain homing, EMT, and all 50 Hallmark cell signaling pathways. TempO-Seq EpCAM gene level correlated with the percent EpCAM+ cells measured by flow analysis while EMT signature levels correlated inversely. Patients with HER2- primary tumor and HER2+ CTCs could be identified, as could patients with elevated chemotherapy resistance pathways. These data demonstrate that it is possible to profile CTC phenotypes that are important in metastases and useful for selecting therapy using a bulk CTC preparation combined with the sensitivity of the TempO-Seq whole transcriptome assay. This suggests the opportunity for the development of a predictive test using currently available purification platforms without need for expensive specialized equipment or separation into single cells. Citation Format: Bruce Seligmann, Marilyn Marron, Milos Babic, Elliot Imler, Peter Shepard, Pavani Chalasani, Alison Stopeck, Joanne Yeakley. Detection of gene expression biomarkers from enriched CTC preparations [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1729. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1729


BACKGROUND
Cross-sectional studies suggested that consumption of sulfur amino acids (SAAs) including methionine and cysteine is associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in humans and T2D-related biomarkers in animals. But, whether higher long-term SAA intake increases the risk of T2D in humans remains unknown.

OBJECTIVES
We aimed to investigate the association between long-term dietary SAA intake and risk of T2D.

METHODS
We analyzed data collected from two different cohorts of the Framingham Heart Study, a long-term, prospective, and ongoing study. The Offspring cohort (1991-2014) included participants from fifth through ninth exam, and Third-Generation cohort (2002-2011) included participants from first and second exam. After excluding participants with a clinical history of diabetes, missing dietary data or implausible total energy intake, 3,222 participants in the Offspring and 3,205 participants in the Third-Generation cohort were included. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. The relations between energy-adjusted total SAA (methionine and cysteine) intake or individual SAA intake (in quintiles) and risk of incident T2D were estimated via Cox proportional hazards models after adjusting for dietary and non-dietary risk factors. Associations across the two cohorts were determined by direct combination and meta-analysis.

RESULTS
During the 23 years follow-up, 472 participants reported a new diagnosis of T2D in the two cohorts. In the meta-analysis, the Hazard Ratios (95% Confidence Interval) of T2D comparing the highest with the lowest intake of total SAAs, methionine, and cysteine were 1.8 (1.3, 2.5), 1.7 (1.2, 2.3), and 1.4 (1.0, 2.1), respectively. The association of SAA intake with T2D was attenuated after adjusting animal protein intake in sensitivity analyses.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that excess intake of SAA is associated with higher risk of T2D. Dietary patterns that are low in SAA diet may help in preventing T2D.


MEX is a multinational company, specializing in international trade and production of handmade carpets. It plans to enter China by selling its products. Furthermore, it wants to reduce the risk in its holding of US dollars. To integrate these two objectives, MEX will invest in an office property and take it as its representative office in China. In this report, we have first explored the opportunities and challenges involved with selling MEX's products in China. Our analysis employs the International Entry Modes Choice model and Porter's 5-forces model to present a structured evaluation of the many alternatives. We recommend that MEX employ a differentiation strategy in marketing its products. Second, we integrate MEX's real estate investment requirement with its location choice of its subsidiary office in China. Using research methods and results from the literature, we prepare the most appropriate choices for MEX from alternative cities, business districts, and buildings.


Occipital neuralgia, while typically idiopathic in presentation, is a common form of posttraumatic headache. It is associated with severe pain in the greater, lesser, and/or third occipital nerves, and often accompanied by tenderness or trigger points in the surrounding musculature. OnabotulinumtoxinA (ONA) has been recently utilized in nerve blocks to treat occipital neuralgia, but current literature supporting such use is scarce. We describe a case of occipital neuralgia in a patient following C1 fracture and vertebral artery dissection due to gunshot injury. Successful treatment with bilateral ONA nerve blocks led to an 80% - 90% improvement in pain, with decreased Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain scores immediately following treatment and upon follow-up 1 month later.


Internet applications are commonly implemented with the implicit assumption that network traffic is transported across the Internet without modification and without having application-level data being monitored; we refer to this end-to-end integrity. Put simply, most applications assume that the data they send will be received intact by the host they are communicating with (barring transient errors and normal packet loss). This expectation is encoded in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Open Internet Order, which states that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should not impose "unreasonable interference" with customers' network traffic. However, it is increasingly common for ISPs to deploy middleboxes that silently manipulate customers' traffic in ways that impact security, privacy, and integrity.
This paper describes a methodology to test for such end-to-end modifications, as well as evidence of multiple ISPs that modify customers' traffic in-flight. We use a HTTP/S proxy service with millions of end hosts in residential networks to study the behavior of over 14K networks worldwide. Using this system, we route benign traffic via over 1.2M hosts in these networks to test for end-to-end integrity. We find end- to-end integrity violations including hijacking of certain DNS responses—often sending users to pages with advertisements—by AT&T, Verizon, and Cox Communications (as well as a number of non-US ISPs). We also find content injection in web pages—often adding trackers or advertisements to web pages or censoring content—by a number of non-US ISPs as well. Worse, we find evidence that a number of hosts' web requests are being monitored, suggesting that subscriber browsing data is being shared with third parties.
Given the increasing amounts of critical and privacy-sensitive information that is exchanged online, we recommend that regulators leverage active auditing technologies to inform and enforce current and future policies. Our methodology can be deployed with low overhead and is scalable to millions of hosts and


The power converter connected to energy source and linear electric generator is crucial powertrain and converting component, and it is mainly used in hybrid electric vehicle. For switching the states of release energy and absorb energy quickly and smoothly, the accuracy of converter model is very important for designing of control system. The performances of converter can be evaluated by modeling and simulation before produce actual circuitry, so the converter model is created in average model switch network. Simulation results have a distinction between the two models with average model switch network and state equations separately. In comparison the average model switch network is more identical to practical system, so it is more valid for guiding design of control system of converter.


By policy design, consumers are supposed to save money when they invest in solar energy. This paper presents a case study of what happens when a church goes solar and the finances go wrong. Following the installation of solar-photovoltaic panels, the Arizona church—in the Valley of the Sun, among the sunniest places in the country—decreased its energy consumption, but its electric bills went up. Through oral-history interviews of key stakeholders, the author investigates what happened, and what could be done to prevent other religious institutions and nonprofits from experiencing the church's fate.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Associations between genetic variants in the hepcidin regulation pathway and iron status have been reported in previous studies. Most of these studies were conducted in populations of European descent and relatively few studies have been conducted in Chinese populations. In this study, we evaluated associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the hepcidin regulation pathway, serum ferritin (SF) and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) in Chinese adolescents.

METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN
In total, 692 students from rural boarding schools were selected from six cities in China. The participants were divided into case and control groups according to criteria for SF and sTfR. Furthermore, 33 SNPs in TMPRSS6, TF, TFR2, BMP2, BMP4, HJV, CYBRD1, HFE, IL6, PCSK7, HAMP, KIAA1468, and SRPRB were selected. Associations between the genetic variants and SF or sTfR were detected.

RESULTS
For SF, rs4820268 in TMPRSS6 was associated with an SF <25 ng/mL status. Carriers of the G/G genotype of rs4820268 exhibited significantly lower SF levels than A allele carriers did (p=0.047). For sTfR, rs1880669 in TF, rs4901474 in BMP4, and rs7536827 in HJV were significantly associated with an sTfR >=4.4 mg/L status. However, in general linear model analysis, after adjustment for age, sex, and location, only rs1880669 exhibited a stable association with higher sTfR levels (p=0.032).

CONCLUSIONS
We found rs4820268, in TMPRSS6 that was associated with a low SF level, as previously reported, and a new association between 1880669 in TF and sTfR.


The purpose of the study is to establish the factors which determine employees' commitment in an organization. In pursuit of this objective, the methodology which was used included field surveys, face to face interviews, observations and review of relevant documents. Analysis was done using qualitative and quantitative methods. The Survey data were analyzed using SPSS [statistical packages for social sciences] and excel programs. Data were transcribed and synthesized descriptively, which involved calculation for percentages. The findings show that factors that determine employees' commitment In an organization are varied and included pay packages, promotions, training,
management feed back and job satisfaction. Based on these findings, the study recommends that organizations should increase job satisfaction with attractive compensation packages, fair promotions and fair training opportunities. It further recommends that organizations should provide
attractive work policies and scheme of work, provide attractive work environment, establish a good rewarding system and ensure employees'job security


Organ failure is a devastating condition. Transplant offers the hope of "cure" to many patients with end-stage organ failures. The process of organ transplant is highly complicated involving many stakeholders. Important issues, including medical, legal, administrative and ethical, have to be resolved in order to implement a successful organ transplant system and prevent abuses. As such, legislative control of organ transplants is a necessity. Most organ transplant laws cover the donation procedure, types of consent required, establishment of the transplant waiting lists, allocation of organs, certification of brain death, performance of the transplant procedure, and management of post-transplant issues. The regulatory system in the United States builds on the foundation of individual rights and explicit decisions are required for the donation of organs. The operations of the transplant system are largely outsourced to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network under a contractual agreement. In contrast, the Singapore system builds on a presumed consent mechanism where residents and citizens are automatically considered as donors upon their death unless they have registered an objection. The operations of the transplant system are centrally managed by the National Organ Transplant Unit within the Ministry of Health. The two systems reflect the unique social and cultural backgrounds of the two countries and they meet the different needs of their people. However, recommendations are made for the United States to strengthen its regulatory system in terms of the need to regulate living donor organ transplants and expand the role of the Food and Drug Administration to ensure the quality and effectiveness of organs and tissues for transplantation.


Abstract.  A flexible list sequential πps sampling method is introduced and studied. It can reproduce any given sampling design without replacement, of fixed or random sample size. The method is a splitting method and uses successive updating of inclusion probabilities. The main advantage of the method is in real‐time sampling situations where it can be used as a powerful alternative to Bernoulli and Poisson sampling and can give any desired second‐order inclusion probabilities and thus considerably reduce the variability of the sample size.


A system for recording and processing of data obtained in tensile tests is described. The electronics (hardware) consists of signal amplifiers (load and elongation), digital voltmeters with binary code decimal output, serializer, and incremental magnetic tape recorder. The operation sequence is controlled by a system of relays, time delays, and an electronic clock. The computer program calculates not only the typical mechanical properties such as yield stress, ultimate stress, and uniform and total elongation, but also more sophisticated properties such as strain-hardening coefficient and Reed-Hill coefficient, which are difficult to obtain by other means. The computer output is in the form of tabulated data and plotted curves. The system has been used in over 300 tests of Zircaloy and aluminum samples. Most of the tests were done on irradiated ring samples cut from the cladding of boiling water reactor fuel rods, but also tube- and plate-type samples have been tested. There was good agreement between the computer-generated values and the values calculated by conventional methods.


Importance
Sickle cell disease (SCD) and cystic fibrosis (CF) are severe autosomal recessive disorders associated with intermittent disease exacerbations that require hospitalizations, progressive chronic organ injury, and substantial premature mortality. Research funding is a limited resource and may contribute to health care disparities, especially for rare diseases that disproportionally affect economically disadvantaged groups.

Objective
To compare disease-specific funding between SCD and CF and the association between funding and research productivity.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This cross-sectional study examined federal and foundation funding, publications indexed in PubMed, clinical trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, and new drug approvals from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2018, in an estimated US population of approximately 90 000 individuals with SCD and approximately 30 000 individuals with CF.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Federal and foundation funding, publications indexed in PubMed, clinical trial registrations, and new drug approvals.

Results
From 2008 through 2018, federal funding was greater per person with CF compared with SCD (mean [SD], $2807 [$175] vs $812 [$147]; P < .001). Foundation expenditures were greater for CF than for SCD (mean [SD], $7690 [$3974] vs $102 [$13.7]; P < .001). Significantly more research articles (mean [SD], 1594 [225] vs 926 [157]; P < .001) and US Food and Drug Administration drug approvals (4 vs 1) were found for CF compared with SCD, but the total number of clinical trials was similar (mean [SD], 27.3 [6.9] vs 23.8 [6.3]; P = .22).

Conclusions and Relevance
The findings show that disparities in funding between SCD and CF may be associated with decreased research productivity and novel drug development for SCD. Increased federal and foundation funding is needed for SCD and other diseases that disproportionately affect economically disadvantaged groups to address health care disparities.


The synthesis of well-defined α,ω-dihydroxyl telechelic multiblock copolymers by sequential in situ chain extensions via aqueous Cu(0) mediated living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) is reported. The rapid disproportionation of Cu(I)Br in the presence of Me6-TREN in water has been exploited to generate Cu(0) and [Cu(II)Br2/Me6-TREN] in situ, resulting in rapid reaction rate and narrow molecular weight distributions. Under optimized conditions, a telechelic heptablock copolymer was obtained within 2 hours with a final dispersity of ∼1.1 while the monomer conversion was >99% for each block. A range of acrylamides and acrylates have been successfully incorporated within the same polymer backbone, including N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), N,N-diethylacrylamide (DEA) and N,N-dimethylacrylamide (DMA) and poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate (PEGA480). The thermo-responsive nature of these materials was subsequently demonstrated via cloud point measurements as both a function of molecular weight and backbone functionality. In addition, the typically unwanted hydrolysis of the α- and ω-end groups in aqueous media was further exploited via isocyanate post-polymerization modifications to alter the end group functionality.


Biodiesel is the best alternative fuel to Petroleum Diesel, as it is renewable and environmental friendly. The attenuation of ultrasonic waves of fixed frequency of2 MHz for two commercially available biodiesels, Cotton Seed Oil Methyl Esters (CSOME) and Palm Stearin Methyl Esters (PSME) and their blends with Petroleum Diesel (PD), were studied using an ultrasonic interferometer after long – term storage of two years. Between the two biodiesels, CSOME is rich in unsaturated Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) and the PSME in saturated FAME. The results showed that there was distortion in the amplitude variation of ultrasonic waves and indicates the presence of insoluble particles due to scattering of ultrasonic waves. The two biodiesels and blends followed a specific trend of amplitude distortion. The ultrasonic absorption estimated was found to be lower than fresh biodiesels and blends except for 30 %, 40 % and 50 % volume blends of PSME biodiesel for which ultrasonic absorption was more than the corresponding fresh blends. The percentage of changes in ultrasonic absorption was in the range 56.92 to 95.86 for stored CSOME blends.For PSME blends the corresponding range was 45.71 to 121.53.The change in ultrasonic absorption for PSME blends was sharp when compared to CSOME blends. The net ultrasonic attenuation is majorly due to scattering. The nature of scattering was different for both the biodiesels and blends that were reflected in amplitude distortions. Ultimately, it was concluded that the ultrasonic attenuation strongly depends on fatty acid profiles of biodiesels.


A model was developed to explain the magnitude of the potential drop over the deposit for non-conductive powders during electrophoretic deposition (EPD). The magnitude of the potential drop over the deposit is explained in terms of a reduced ion transport through the deposit, as controlled by the pore potential that is related to the thickness of the electrostatic double layer relative to the pore radius and the magnitude of the surface potential of the powder particles. This model was validated for EPD of Al2O3 powder from ethanol-based suspensions with HNO3 addition. The specific resistivity of the deposit could be related to the calculated potential in the pores of the deposit.


Related individuals often have similar phenotypes, but this similarity may be due to the effects of shared environments as much as to the effects of shared genes. We consider here alternative approaches to separating the relative contributions of these two sources to phenotypic covariances, comparing experimental approaches such as cross‐fostering, traditional statistical techniques and more complex statistical models, specifically the 'animal model'. Using both simulation studies and empirical data from wild populations, we demonstrate the ability of the animal model to reduce bias due to shared environment effects such as maternal or brood effects, especially where pedigrees contain multiple generations and immigration rates are low. However, where common environment effects are strong, a combination of both cross‐fostering and an animal model provides the best way to avoid bias. We illustrate ways of partitioning phenotypic variance into components of additive genetic, maternal genetic, maternal environment, common environment, permanent environment and temporal effects, but also show how substantial confounding between these different effects may occur. Whilst the flexibility of the mixed model approach is extremely useful for incorporating the spatial, temporal and social heterogeneity typical of natural populations, the advantages will inevitably be restricted by the quality of pedigree information and care needs to be taken in specifying models that are appropriate to the data.


Introduction Background: Occupational therapists (OT) and speech-language pathologists (SLP) are unique within their skills. Both professions work closely together in a collaborative manner to improve child and family outcomes. Purpose:The aim of this study is to develop evidence based interprofessional educational modules to improve outcomes between occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists when working with a child who demonstrates sensory processing disorder. Aim of the study: 1.Understand the impact of interprofessional collaboration OTs and SLPs when working with a child with sensory processing deficits 2.Understand the influence of educating SLPs on sensory processing 3.Demonstrate the Methodology Research Design: Mixed Methods Study using Pre-test Post-test and Qualitative Method Initial stage of study: 5 Speech Language Pathologists to determine Face Validity and 5 Occupational Therapists to determine Content Validity. Results Phase 1: Complete Phase 2: Recruitment is to begin September 2018 Phase 3: Recruitment to begin Spring 2019 Conclusions Conclusion to be determined upon Phase 2 CompletionImplications for practice: In this study, we have sought to demonstrate the value of interprofessional collaboration between occupational therapy and speech therapy graduate students treating sensory processing issues in pediatric clients. There is a growing body of research emphasizing sensory processing as an important component of human behavior, affecting health care practices and increasing among children in the United States (Dunn, 2007). Individuals with sensory processing challenges, mostly children, can experience disruptions to their daily routines, decreased participation at home and school, and attention issues that cause challenges during speech therapy sessions and that may hinder treatment outcomes. Our study has aimed to increase the body of knowledge pertaining to sensory processing challenges in relation to speech therapy specifically, such as ways that speech therapists can identify sensory processing challenges among their pediatric clients and make necessary referrals for occupational therapy services to increase therapy outcomes, as well as to demonstrate effective collaboration and interprofessional education practices between  occupational therapists and speech therapists to be furthered by future research.


Relevance of research topic. One of the features of foreign economic activity is vulnerability because of fluctuations of the global market environment, which requires the use of mechanisms for its regulation using financial instruments, methods and leverage. Formulation of the problem. Effective regulation of foreign economic activity, which would correspond to its actual goals and objectives, requires the formation of financial regulatory levers system. Analysis of recent research and publications. The issues of financial mechanism and financial regulation functioning today are the subject of detailed research in the professional scientific literature on finance. Scientific interest is also caused by studies of modern financial regulatory mechanisms in various areas of the national economy, in particular, regulation in the sphere of foreign economic activity. Selection of unexplored parts of the general problem. Nowadays there is no consensus on the essence of financial leverage, its features and place in the structure of the financial mechanism. There is a lack of research on the problems of using financial levers within the framework of the mechanism for regulating foreign economic activity. Setting the task, the purpose of the study. Classification of financial levers of foreign economic activity regulation and specification of their composition as to methods and instruments of regulation. Method or methodology for conducting research. The system and structural approach, the method of logical analysis, the method of comparison were used. Presentation of the main material (results of work). In the paper the importance of applying financial levers in foreign economic activity regulation is grounded. Based on the essence of financial regulation, the structure of the financial mechanism, the goals and composition of the system of foreign economic activity financial regulation, the classification of financial levers for its regulation has been proposed. Directions of financial levers actions, forms of levers implementation, methods of regulation, and levels of regulation are highlighted as classification signs. In the framework of the proposed classification by regulation methods, a set of financial levers is presented in relation to the corresponding methods and instruments for foreign economic activity regulation. The field of application of results. Research of foreign economic activity financial regulation problems, educational process (in the preparation of the relevant sections of textbooks and tutorials for courses "Finance", "Foreign Trade"). Conclusions according to the article. The specific features of financial levers of foreign economic activity regulation are their multi-level influence on it, orientation at obtaining strengthening or retaining effect in accordance with the goals the state sets in the sphere of foreign economic activity regulation. Each lever is used within the relevant regulatory instruments and putting them in motion, and is aimed at the implementation of the regulatory action. Financial levers of regulation are interconnected into a single system and should be used comprehensively in foreign economic activity regulation.


This article examines the role of the consumption-wealth channel in explaining asymmetric effects of monetary policy changes. Towards this end, we draw upon available literature on the consumption function and behavioural finance to construct a framework for asymmetric effects of monetary policy caused by the impact of wealth changes on aggregate consumption. We then employ data from the UK to examine the validity of the proposed framework. In the context of a liberalized economy with easy access to consumer credit, wealth reduction due to monetary tightening is expected to have weaker impact on spending than increase in wealth. Our results validate the above hypothesis.


Self-supervised models are increasingly prevalent in machine learning (ML) since they reduce the need for expensively labeled data. Because of their versatility in downstream applications, they are increasingly used as a service exposed via public APIs. At the same time, these encoder models are particularly vulnerable to model stealing attacks due to the high dimensionality of vector representations they output. Yet, encoders remain undefended: existing mitigation strategies for stealing attacks focus on supervised learning. We introduce a new dataset inference defense, which uses the private training set of the victim encoder model to attribute its ownership in the event of stealing. The intuition is that the log-likelihood of an encoder's output representations is higher on the victim's training data than on test data if it is stolen from the victim, but not if it is independently trained. We compute this log-likelihood using density estimation models. As part of our evaluation, we also propose measuring the fidelity of stolen encoders and quantifying the effectiveness of the theft detection without involving downstream tasks; instead, we leverage mutual information and distance measurements. Our extensive empirical results in the vision domain demonstrate that dataset inference is a promising direction for defending self-supervised models against model stealing.


Achieving superior situation awareness is a key task for military, as well as civilian, decision makers. Today, automatic systems provide us with an excellent opportunity for assisting the human decision maker in achieving this awareness. Due to the potential of information overload one important aspect is to understand where to focus attention. Anomaly detection is concerned with finding deviations from normalcy and it is an increasingly important topic when providing decision support, since it can give hints towards where more analysis is needed. In this paper we explore trajectory clustering as a means for representing normal behavior in a coastal surveillance scenario. Trajectory clustering however suffers from some drawbacks in this type of setting and we therefore propose a new approach, spline-based clustering, with a potential for solving the task of representing the normal course of events.


present the lesions become more prominent, oedematous, and brilliant in colour.2 The rash is more prominent on the flanks, abdomen, shoulders, upper arms, and back and has a special predilection for the palms and soles.3 There may well be associated slightly tender superficial lymphadenopathy. If these points are remembered there is little diagnostic difficulty, as the maculopapular eruption associated with ampicillin therapy starts most commonly on the extensor aspects of the limbs, especially over the knees and ankles, is uncommonly associated with any general reactions,' and, most important of all, rarely occurs less than four days after the start of ampicillin therapy.5 -We are, etc., J. R. W. HARRIS J. D. H. MAHONY J. SYDNEY MCCANN Department of Venereology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast


OBJECT
Clinical studies use both disease-specific and generic health outcomes measures. Disease-specific measures focus on health domains most relevant to the clinical population, while generic measures assess overall health-related quality of life. There is little information about which domains of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) are most important in determining improvement in overall health-related quality of life, as measured by the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), after lumbar spinal fusion. The objective of the study is to determine which clinical elements assessed by the ODI most influence improvement of overall health-related quality of life.

METHODS
A single tertiary spine center database was used to identify patients undergoing lumbar fusion for standard degenerative indications. Patients with complete preoperative and 2-year outcomes measures were included. Pearson correlation was used to assess the relationship between improvement in each item of the ODI with improvement in the SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) score, as well as achievement of the SF-36 PCS minimum clinically important difference (MCID). Multivariate regression modeling was used to examine which items of the ODI best predicted achievement for the SF-36 PCS MCID. The effect size and standardized response mean were calculated for each of the items of the ODI.

RESULTS
A total of 1104 patients met inclusion criteria (674 female and 430 male patients). The mean age at surgery was 57 years. All items of the ODI showed significant correlations with the change in SF-36 PCS score and achievement of MCID for the SF-36 PCS, but only pain intensity, walking, and social life had r values > 0.4 reflecting moderate correlation. These 3 variables were also the dimensions that were independent predictors of the SF-36 PCS, and they were the only dimensions that had effect sizes and standardized response means that were moderate to large.

CONCLUSIONS
Of the health dimensions measured by the ODI, pain intensity, walking, and social life best predicted improvement in overall health-related quality of life, as measured using the SF-36 PCS.


We studied the presence of possible Aphanomyces astaci infections in eight Turkish narrow-clawed crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus ) populations by analyzing the prevalence and genotypes of the disease agent A. astaci . The qPCR analyses revealed A. astaci infection in seven of the studied eight populations, with the agent level A2 or higher. The agent levels among the infected populations varied from A0 to A5, i.e., from negative to high level of infection, based on qPCR ranking. Based on the sequencing of the chitinase gene and the mitochondrial ribosomal rnnS and rnnL subunits, we detected both A (As) and B (PsI) haplogroups of A. astaci in our samples, with each of the studied populations being carriers of only one haplotype. The results confirm previous detections of A. astaci in Turkish narrow-clawed crayfish populations and reveal, that both A and B haplogroup A. astaci carriers exist widely in A. leptodactylus populations of Turkey.


Cyanoformaldehyde (HCOCN) molecule has recently been suspected towards the Sagittarius B2(N) by the Green Bank telescope, though a confirmation of this observation has not yet been made. In and around a star forming region, this molecule could be formed by the exothermic reaction between two abundant interstellar species, H2CO and CN. Till date, the reaction rate coefficient for the formation ofthis molecule is unknown. Educated guesses were used to explain the abundance of this molecule by chemical modeling. In this paper, we carried out quantum chemical calculations to find out empirical rate coefficients for the formation of HCOCN and different chemical properties during the formation of HCOCN molecules. Though HCOCN is stable against unimolecular decomposition, this gas phase molecule could be destroyed by many other means, like: ion-molecular reactions or by the effect of cosmic rays. Ionmolecular reaction rates are computed by using the capture theories. We have also included the obtained rate coefficients into our large gas-grain chemical network to study the chemical evolution of these species in various interstellar conditions. Formation of one of the isotopologue(DCOCN) of HCOCN is also studied. Our study predicts the possibility of finding HCOCN and DCOCN in the ice phase with a reasonably high abundance. In order to detect HCOCN or DCOCN in various interstellar environments, it is necessary to know the spectroscopic properties of these molecules. To this effect, we carried out quantum chemical calculations to find out different spectral parameters of HCOCN for the transition in electronic, infrared and rotational modes. We clearly show how the isotopic substitution (DCOCN) plays a part in the vibrational progressions of HCOCN.


This paper proposes an adaptation of the collision probability used in the measure of the available bandwidth designed for Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) and which is described in ABE~\cite{abe}. Instead, we propose a new ABE+ that includes a new function to estimate the probability of losses. This new function has been specially designed for Vehicular Ad hoc Networks, to be suited to the high mobility and variable density in vehicular environments. In this analysis we do not only consider the packet size, but also other metrics, such as, density and speed of the nodes. We include the ABE+ algorithm in the forwarding decisions of the GBSR-B protocol~\cite{TrippLatin12}, which is an improvement of the well-known GPSR protocol. Finally through simulations, we compare the performance of our new ABE+ compared to the original ABE. These results show that ABE+ coupled with GBSR-B achieves a good trade-off in terms of packet losses and packet end-to-end delay.


Empirical studies of collegial courts typically analyze the dispositional votes of judges. Theoretical models of collegial courts, by contrast, typically assume that judges care about, and choose, policies. In this paper, we use data on the behavior of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (from the Spaeth Supreme Court Database, 1953-2008) to show that this discrepancy is not innocuous: dispositional votes are different from policy choices, and that difference has implications for understanding the doctrine the Court produces. We present evidence that disposition coalitions differ from policy coalitions in a significant number of cases, and argue they differ along ideological lines. For this reason, we claim dispositional votes are not an adequate proxy for policy choice. Our preliminary analysis establishes two other claims. First, we show that within a natural court, policy coalitions are diverse rather than homogeneous. Second, we present evidence that the ideological content of opinions moves in tandem with the ideological makeup of the policy coalition supporting the majority opinion.


The objective of this research is to investigate the effect that various factors have on an information system's life span by understanding how the factors affect an information system's stability. The research builds on a previously developed two-stage model of information system change whereby an information system is either in a stable state of evolution in which the information system's functionality is evolving, or in a state of revolution, in which the information system is being replaced because it is not providing the functionality expected by its users. A case study surveyed a number of systems within one organization. The aim was to test whether a relationship existed between the base value of the volatility index and certain system characteristics. Data relating to some 3,000 user change requests covering 40 systems over a 10-year period were obtained. The following factors were hypothesized to have significant associations with the base value of the volatility index: semantic relativism (generation of language of construction), system size, system age, and the timing of changes applied to a system. Significant associations were found in the hypothesized directions except the timing of user changes was not associated with any change in the value of the volatility index.


The debt level of graduating dental students is increasing annually. Six of Canada's 10 dental schools responded to a survey designed to ascertain the level of student debt on entering and graduating from dental school. For the academic year 1993-94, the average starting debt for students was $2,013.89 and the average graduating debt was $25,671.30. On average, dental students accumulated more than $23,600 in debt while pursuing their dental education. Of those students who completed the survey, 57.89 per cent relied on their parents for assistance, and 76.69 per cent received student/government loans. The level of student debt was independent of age, gender and parents' income.


By studying the optical brightness surface density of the globular cluster NGC 6388, it has been recently proposed that it harbors a central intermediate-mass black hole with mass $\simeq 5.7\times 10^3$ M$_{\odot}$. We expect that the compact object in the center of NGC 6388 emits radiation in the $X$-ray band as a consequence of the accretion from the surrounding matter. We searched for $XMM$-Newton and $Chandra$ observations towards NGC 6388 to test this hypothesis. The $Chandra$ satellite disentangles several point-like $X$-ray sources, probably low mass $X$-ray binaries, well within the core radius of the globular cluster. However, three of them, coinciding with the cluster center of gravity, remain unresolved. Their total luminosity is $L_X^{Obs}\simeq 2.7\times 10^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$. If one of these sources is the $X$-ray counterpart of the intermediate-mass black hole in NGC 6388, the corresponding upper limit on the accretion efficiency, with respect to the Eddington luminosity, is $3\times 10^{-9}$. This measurement could be tightened if moderately deep radio observations of the field were performed.


Purpose This qualitative study in patients with type 2 diabetes and health care professionals (HCPs) aimed to investigate which factors they perceive to enhance or impede medication information provision in primary care. Similarities and differences in perspectives were explored. Methods Eight semistructured focus groups were conducted, four with type 2 diabetes patients (n=25) and four with both general practitioners (n=13) and health care assistants (n=10). Sessions were audio and video recorded, transcribed verbatim, and subjected to computer-aided qualitative content analysis. Results Diabetes patients and HCPs broadly highlighted similar factors as enablers for satisfactory medication information delivery. Perceptions substantially differed regarding impeding factors. Both patients and HCPs perceived it to be essential to deliver tailored information, to have a trustful and continuous patient–provider relationship, to regularly reconcile medications, and to provide tools for medication management. However, substantial differences in perceptions related to impeding factors included the causes of inadequate information, the detail required for risk-related information, and barriers to medication reconciliation. Medication self-management was a prevalent topic among patients, whereas HCPs' focus was on fulfilling therapy and medication management responsibilities. Conclusion The findings suggest a noteworthy gap in perceptions between information provision and patients' needs regarding medication-related communication. Medication safety and adherence may be improved if HCPs collaborate more closely with diabetes patients in managing their medication, in particular by incorporating the patients' perspective. Health care systems need to be structured in a way that supports this process.


The role of the ocean in the response of the climate system to an increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration is investigated by using a system of numerical models, ICMMG-PlaSim. The results of this study are summarized as follows: a) the ocean, to some extent (up to 20%), contributes to the increase in the annual mean state and to the decrease in the amplitude of seasonal oscillations (by 2-3%), which ultimately leads to insignificant changes in the summer period and to a significant mitigation of winter, b) the ocean stabilizes the annual mean state of the Arctic oscillation, making it practically unchanged with increasing CO2 concentration but, at the same time, contributes to the significant increase in the amplitude of the seasonal cycle of this oscillation, c) the ocean enhances the temperature (or thermal) component of the seasonal variation associated with the appearance of additional areas freed from ice cover, with an additional average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere at the ice edge. Besides, the ocean enhances the seasonal oscillations of this component, so that the summer manifestations become much stronger, d) our tests have revealed that the role of the Arctic dipole under global warming is insignificant. These conclusions, though, may undergo significant changes under a more detailed consideration of carbon cycles in the atmosphere, ocean, and land.


This two-part article reports on the results of qualitative data derived from the study on the impact of pediatric cancer pain on the family. Part I of this two-part article explores the family caregivers' description of a child with cancer, the helplessness experienced in the management of the child's pain, and the impact of pain on the entire family. Study findings support existing literature identifying inadequate assessment and management of pediatric cancer pain. Parents identified the benefits of pain management teams for the child and for themselves. Family caregivers also identified the stresses associated with managing pain at home. Part II will describe the role of the parents in managing their child's pain. This study provided valuable information that can enable health care professionals with an opportunity to intervene not only with the child but also with the family.


This paper studies temporary policy incentives designed to address capital overhang by inducing asset demand from buyers in the private market. Using variation across local geographies in ex ante program exposure and a difference-in-differences design, we find that the First-Time Homebuyer Credit induced a cumulative increase in home sales of 397 to 546 thousand, or 7.8 to 10.7 percent, nationally. We find little evidence of a sharp reversal of the policy response; instead, demand comes from several years in the future. The program likely sped the process of reallocating homes from distressed sellers to high value buyers, which stabilized house prices. The response is concentrated in the existing home sales market, implying the stimulative effects of the program were less important than its role in accelerating reallocation.


Drought and salinity are the two major environmental constraints that severely affect global agricultural productivity. Plant-specific HD-Zip transcription factors are involved in plant growth, development and stress responses. In the present study, we explored the functional characteristics and regulation of a novel HD-Zip (I) gene from chickpea, CaHDZ12, in response to water-deficit and salt-stress conditions. Transgenic tobacco lines over-expressing CaHDZ12 exhibited improved tolerance to osmotic stresses and increased sensitivity to abscisic acid (ABA). Physiological compatibility of transgenic lines was found to be more robust compared to the wild-type plants under drought and salinity stress. Additionally, expression of several stress-responsive genes was significantly induced in CaHDZ12 transgenic plants. On the other hand, silencing of CaHDZ12 in chickpea resulted in increased sensitivity to salt and drought stresses. Analysis of different promoter deletion mutants identified CaWRKY70 transcription factor as a transcriptional regulator of CaHDZ12 expression. In vivo and in vitro interaction studies detected an association between CaWRKY70 and CaHDZ12 promoter during stress responses. Epigenetic modifications underlying histone acetylation at the CaHDZ12 promoter region play a significant role in stress-induced activation of this gene. Collectively, our study describes a crucial and unique mechanistic link between two distinct transcription factors in regulating plant adaptive stress response.


Much of the critical evaluation of United States immigration novels has overlooked the multitude of works that are written in languages other than English. In fact, with the exception of a few recent and notable books, discussions of immigrant narratives rarely include any non-English writings. (1) By considering these overlooked works, the way we understand America shifts from the perspectives of those who have, linguistically, assimilated successfully to those whose narratives challenge the monolinguistic "melting pot." For multilingual authors, the decision to write in a native language is often a political one that lays a claim for the primacy of the ethnic voice over the Americanized one. Choosing to write of their experiences in native languages, these authors assert a resistance to linguistic assimilation' that is often matched by highly critical portrayals of the United States. To read and analyze non-English immigration writings is to bring neglected voices into the American conversation on immigration and assimilation. This essay will consider two Yiddish narratives written by authors who chose Yiddish over English: Lamed Shapiro's 1910 Oyfn yam (On the Sea) and Jacob Glatshteyn's 1938 Ven Yash iz geforn (When Yash Went Forth). Both authors were adept at English but made the decision to use the native language, I believe, as a means to communicate specifically with a Jewish, Yiddish-speaking audience. (2) The readership either still lived in Eastern Europe or had immigrated to the United States. The novels document the pressures Jews face, or will face, in the United States, and show ways for Jewish readers to retain their ethnic and religious identity against these pressures. As is typical of other Yiddish immigration works, the hazards of assimilation are the focus, and Yiddish, a language resistant to assimilation, a tool to fight the pressures of Americanization. (3) As Matthew Frye Jacobson has suggested, a question that comes to the forefront in non-English narratives is how much the author writes from the perspective of an emigrant rather than an immigrant (110). By remaining linguistically housed in the original language and writing for like language users, the narratives speak as much about the community and place from which the immigrant originates as about the specifics of Americanization. Therefore these narratives not only offer neglected perspectives on America, but also expand our understanding of the lands and communal systems of different immigrant groups. In American Jewish immigration novels written in English, Americanization is frequently a hazardous process filled with struggles to find a secure identity that incorporates both Jewish and American cultural influences. The dilemmas of Americanization are played out in a variety of forms: struggles with parents who are representative of "Old World" values (See Yezierska, Schneider, and Levin), disillusionment that economic success is not matched by personal fulfillment (See Cahan and Ornitz), and intermarriages with Christians that offer an outward sign of assimilation accompanied by family discord. (4) Most Jewish works in English before the 1920s, though marked by ambivalence, were nevertheless fairly optimistic about the process of assimilation. (5) In the late 1920s and 1930s, a shift occurred matching the rise of nativist pressures, and a number of writings appeared that challenged the American dream and the virtues of Americanization (see Fine, "American-Jewish"). Examples include Ludwig Lewisohn's 1928 novel The Island Within, which documents the discriminations faced by Jews in America, even those most overtly assimilated, and Michael Gold's 1930 proletarian novel, Jews Without Money, which portrays the abuse of poor immigrants on the Lower East Side by greedy capitalists and corrupt leaders. Jewish immigration novels in English by Yiddish-speaking natives offer important insights into how linguistically assimilated immigrants understand the tensions of acclimation. …


Baltimore—Protecting computer systems from intruders often means trading away convenience for security. But two approaches described last month at the National Information Systems Security Conference in Baltimore could boost security without hampering users. One would rely on swarms of autonomous programs to monitor a system for intruders. The other, called "software forensics," would examine hacker programs for stylistic clues that could help investigators track down the few "hacker kingpins" thought to be responsible for most malign programs. Details of both projects can be found at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/coast/coast.html.


In order to become independent learners, the students must develop self-regulation learning competences.
The self-regulated learning process is closely connected to the student, the environment and the teacher, and it has been scientifically proved that it can be of three types: internal, external or mixed; thus, the internal one can be associated with the goal or the intrinsic motivation of the student, the external one deals with external factors and the mixed one relates to both the student and the teacher equally. An external factor can be the learning environment, in this case, the e-learning system.
Analysing the features that e-learning systems need to become an appropriate environment for the improvement of these competences in students, I have discovered a lack of representation in this research area.
The paper introduces such a mechanism which is designed to develop the students' metacognitive competences, the ones connected to self-regulated learning, an aspect which has not been approached so far in the e-learning environment. The mechanism used for developing the self-regulatory competences is the feedback, offered automatically and periodically by the e-learning system.
We consider feedback as being the communication between the system and the learner, derived from a task or a process and it is individual, adapted feedback.
The feedback module was designed, implemented based on the eFront e-learning system and tested. The module is automatically executed, once the time for monitoring student activity has run up, which can be correlated with the periodicity of offering feedback automatically (in the case of the tested prototype - one week). Based on the monitoring time during execution, the database interrogation is performed and only the student tasks that were completed within that particular time interval are considered. Depending on student profile, the feedback messages to be sent to the student are created, both in the form of internal messages and in the form of e-mail or text message. For every feedback message sent, an entry is created in the database so as to allow for later monitoring of the students' evolution based on the feedback sent to them.


Implication, taken from the root "implicate", means directing; like the implication of smoke for fire. The denotative meaning of implication is: forming a meaning in mind by imagining the word. Word visualizetion in the human's mind is done through different means such as: structure of the word, role of the word in the clause, use of the dictionary, style and manner of pronouncing a word, and phonemes in a word. The present study tries to analyze" Fī Al-isteāde Supplication "from Al-sahifa Al-Sajjādiyya based on the trends of phonology. Also, it tries to show the role of phonemes, having been used in Al-sahifa Al-Sajjādiyya, in communicating the message to the reader. In this article, the fact that the interrelatedness of form and content is obviously seen in all the supplications of Al-sahifa Al-Sajjādiyya is unraveled. The most important finding of this research is that all the phonemes employed in Al-sahifa are used as they are appropriate to the context. When Imām Sajjād is talking about God's mercy, he uses soft and delicate sounds but when he is talking about heavenly retribution, he uses harsh and bitter sounds in a manner that one cannot replace one with another. The sounds have such an effect on the text that we can appreciate their meanings by merely listening to them.


Vegetation indices (VIs) such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are widely used for assessing vegetation cover and condition. One of the NDVI's significant disadvantages is its sensitivity to aerosols in the atmosphere, hence several atmospherically resistant VIs were formulated using the difference in the radiance between the blue and the red spectral bands. The state‐of‐the‐art atmospherically resistant VI, which is a standard Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) product, together with the NDVI, is the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). A different approach introduced the Aerosol‐free Vegetation Index (AFRI) that is based on the correlation between the shortwave infrared (SWIR) and the visible red bands. The AFRI main advantage is in penetrating an opaque atmosphere influenced by biomass burning smoke, without the need for explicit correction for the aerosol effect. The objective of this research was to compare the performance of these three VIs under smoke conditions. The AFRI was applied to the 2.1 µm SWIR channel of the MODIS sensor onboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra and Aqua satellites in order to assess its functionality on these imaging platforms. The AFRI performance was compared with those of NDVI and EVI. All VIs were calculated on images with and without present smoke, using the surface‐reflectance MODIS product, for three case studies of fires in Arizona, California, and Zambia. The MODIS Fire Product was embedded on the images in order to identify the exact location of the active fires. Although good correlations were observed between all VIs in the absence of smoke (in the Arizona case R 2 = 0.86, 0.77, 0.88 for the NDVI–EVI, AFRI–EVI, and AFRI–NDVI, respectively) under smoke conditions a high correlation was maintained between the NDVI and the EVI, while low correlations were found for the AFRI–EVI and AFRI–NDVI (0.21 and 0.16, for the Arizona case, respectively). A time series of MODIS images recorded over Zambia during the summer of 2000 was tested and showed high NDVI fluctuations during the study period due to oscillations in aerosol optical thickness values despite application of aerosol corrections on the images. In contrast, the AFRI showed smoother variations and managed to better assess the vegetation condition. It is concluded that, beneath the biomass burning smoke, the AFRI is more effective than the EVI in observing the vegetation conditions.


ABSTRACT Wetland acreage has declined continentally in the USA. With the loss of natural wetlands, farmed wetlands may be a surrogate for natural wetlands. Seasonally, flooded rice fields are commonly managed wetlands on the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain. This study had two objectives: (1) catalog arthropod diversity in rice fields; (2) investigate if detrital subsidies could elicit trophic cascades that reduce nuisance organisms. In 2013 and 2014, experimental rice plots were established, and detritus was applied to half of the plots in each year. Floating pitfall traps, aquatic D-net sweeping, Gee crawfish traps and root/sediment corers were used to sample for arthropods. Over the two growing seasons, 143 different species were sampled from 13 orders, totaling 49,251 individuals. Detrital subsidies neither elicited a detectable trophic cascade nor did they significantly alter the rice field arthropod community. Contrary to previous studies, results suggest that macroinvertebrate communities in farmed wetlands are resilient to alterations possibly due to the long-term agricultural use.


Avian incubation temperatures oscillate within narrow limits to ensure proper embryonic development. However, field observations and experimental studies have found that some species can tolerate very low incubation temperatures, either regularly or occasionally. We artificially incubated eggs from five domestic species, which represent a range of egg sizes, to examine whether a diversity of avian species could exhibit an unusual hypothermia tolerance, as observed in the field. We found that eggs of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), pigeon (Columba livia domestica), Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) and budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) survived the incubation period and hatched after experiencing 10°C hypothermia for 6 h each day. However, embryos of white-rumped munia (Lonchura striata) died after 10 days of hypothermia. Our results showed that unusual hypothermia tolerance occurs in several avian species. This phenomenon might have been selected through the evolutionary history of birds. Future research should identify the importance of phylogeny, egg size and embryonic stage in tolerance to hypothermia.


Background The prevalence of smoking is declining; however, it continues to be a major public health burden. In England, primary care is the health setting that provides smoking cessation support to most smokers. However, this setting has one of the lowest success rates. The iQuit in practice intervention (iQuit) is a tailored web-based and text message intervention developed for use in primary care consultations as an adjunct to routine smoking cessation support with the aim of increasing success rates. iQuit has demonstrated feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness. Objective This definitive trial aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of iQuit when used as an adjunct to the usual support provided to patients who wish to quit smoking, compared with usual care alone. Methods The iQuit in Practice II trial is a two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a 1:1 individual allocation comparing usual care (ie, pharmacotherapy combined with multisession behavioral support)—the control—with usual care plus iQuit—the intervention. Participants were recruited through primary care clinics and talked to a smoking cessation advisor. Participants were randomized during the initial consultation, and those allocated to the intervention group received a tailored advice report and 90 days of text messaging in addition to the standard support provided to all patients. Results The primary outcome is self-reported prolonged abstinence biochemically verified using saliva cotinine at 6 months after the quit date. A sample size of 1700 participants, with 850 per arm, would yield 90% power to detect a 4.3% difference in validated quit rates between the groups at the two-sided 5% level of significance. The Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee approved the study in February 2016, and funding for the study was granted from May 2016. In total, 1671 participants were recruited between August 2016 and July 2019. Follow-up for all participants was completed in January 2020. Data analysis will begin in the summer of 2020. Conclusions iQuit in Practice II is a definitive, pragmatic RCT assessing whether a digital intervention can augment the impact of routine smoking cessation support in primary care. Previous research has found good acceptability and feasibility for delivering iQuit among smoking cessation advisors working in primary care. If demonstrated to be cost-effective, iQuit could be delivered across primary care and other settings, such as community pharmacies. The potential benefit would likely be highest where less behavioral support is delivered. Trial Registration International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 44559004; http://www.isrctn.com /ISRCTN44559004. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/17160


This article examines coalition rhetoric across two political dimensions. These are the economic and social spheres. To conduct this analysis, the article examines how elites frame their rhetoric towards drawing out specific reactions from their audiences by using their individual political credibility. For the Liberal Democrats, this implies 'progressive' forms of rhetoric, whilst for the Conservatives a more 'market orientated' form of rhetoric is utilised. Through emotive and/or logical language, it becomes possible for such elites to construct appealing rhetoric for their chosen audience. Central to both, however, is the national interest. The importance of the national interest overrides previous ideological concerns, given that it enables the coalition to claim governing legitimacy. Broadly defined, the national interest is conflated as the growth of capital, the promotion of 'wealth creation', enabling social welfare. In terms of the coalition, tied to this interest are economic and social reforms designed to promote a specific reconceptualisation of morality rooted in more traditional values. Consequently, this article presents a rhetorical assessment of the coalition tied to its economic and social reform agenda.


Composite powders in the calcium carbonate (CC) – hydroxyapatite (HA) system with carbonate content up to 50 wt. % were synthesized by the precipitation from aqueous solution and characterized in detail. Specific area of the powders decreases with an increase in carbonate content due to appearance of large elongated CC crystals of about 0,5 micrometer size. The use of highly active to sintering nanodisperse powders resulted in lowering of sintering temperature below 7200C, preventing thermal decomposition. Ceramics of about 20 wt.% carbonate content revealed the highest strength of about 77 MPa, having the grain size of about 100 nm. According to in vitro testing, the materials are non toxic for human fibroblast cells.


Detailed physical profile of eight transplanted loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta. nests were obtained from Virginia and northeastern North Carolina and reburied in Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge (BBNWR), Virginia Beach, Virginia during the summers of 1987, '88, and '89 to determine if the physical location of the egg within the nest had an affect on sex determination. Transplanted nests were reburied in sandy substrate at a depth of 15-60 cm on south facing dunes, and a Campbell Scientific data-logger logged synchronously environmental data. The following data were collected: temperatures at various locations within a nest, net absorbed radiation, ambient temperature, rainfall (cm), substrate moisture content, and tide cycles. To understand the determination of sex, a time series analyses was employed to explain the variability, the periodicity, and the irregular oscillations of the temperature data. The regression analysis, using the periodicity of the spring/neap cycles, indicated a significant diurnal and spring/neap tidal affect. The 29.5 and 14.7 day cycle were significant. In addition, a delayed heating affect on the dune temperatures was noted 3-5 days after the lowest tides of the full and new moon cycles which consistently occurred at approximately 3:00 P.M. Temperature records in nests at BBNWR were consistent with those producing a predominance of male hatchlings (<28.0C). Temperatures which produced females did exist, but were infrequent. Maximum beach face heating resulted in elevating temperatures from 1-3C at the 37cm depths. This affect could produce females in late summer and early fall. Physical parameters varied with depth, time of day, and season (summer/fall). The results of this study are important to conservation of sea turtles because they contribute much to the knowledge of how nest manipulation may control sex ratios. Using the approach developed in this study, a mathematical model to predict sex ratios could be developed that would be applicable for various physical regimes found on most major nesting beaches of various sea turtles around the world.


Nonlinear three-dimensional (3-D) magnetostatic field problems are solved using integral equation methods (IEM). Only the nonlinear material itself has to be discretized. This results in a system of nonlinear equations with a relative small number of unknowns. To keep computational costs low the fully dense system matrix is compressed with the fast multipole method. The accuracy of the applied indirect IEM formulation is improved significantly by the use of a difference field concept and a special treatment of singularities at edges. An improved fixed point solver is used to ensure convergence of the nonlinear problem.


In this study, the viability of weather index insurance in managing drought risk for Australian wheat farmers is considered. The relationship between wheat yield and
rainfall index is examined as a prerequisite for the analysis of hedging efficiency of the insurance contracts. Also, the prospects of diversifying a pool of insurance
contracts was analysed and opinions were sought from stakeholders on policy issues.

The relationship between wheat yield and Cumulative Standardized Precipitation Index was estimated for 23 shires (counties) in Queensland and 40 in Western
Australia over the period 1971 to 2010. The relationship was found to differ across locations but overall, it was sufficiently high to permit the use of the index as a proxy
for calculating insurance payouts. It was also found that the hedging efficiency of the insurance varies by locations and was higher in locations with higher rainfall
variability.

The major contribution of this study is that when prices were allowed to vary over the period considered, hedging efficiency reduces relative to the constant price
assumption. This result suggests that previous studies did not capture the cost of price stabilization or it could be said that the natural hedge between yield and price
reduces the willingness of farmers to pay for weather insurance. Although, the efficiency was not sufficiently high to permit the use of the model in this study in
that improvements will be required to make it marketable, some important policy recommendations are evident from the results. Also, the loss ratio analysis indicated
that risk pooling would reduce the burden to the insurer over the long term. However, it was noted that insurers will be able to diversify moderate drought risks than intense droughts while farmers may be willing to hedge intense drought risks. Policy recommendations made in this study therefore aim at bridging this chasm. Also, there was no significant correlation between hedging efficiency and the measures of the relationship even when the yield-index relationship was disaggregated at the corresponding quantiles to the efficiency levels.

Furthermore, the results from farmers' interview show that; 'it is against the DNA of farmers to pay taxes and they spend one dollar to save 30 cents'. This attitude of
suboptimal choices reduces the tax delivered to the government coffers and farmers who were probably capable of being profitable avoid declaring profits because they
were avoiding taxes. It was clear from the interviews that farmers detest welfare approach to risk management but would prefer the market options because it facilitates self-reliance and mutual obligation which the government of Australia aims to promote.

However, demands for such market options like weather index insurance have been known to be low and the hail and fire insurance that has been in the market for a long
time is not meeting the needs of the farmers. The poor uptake of weather insurance was traced to systemic risk, basis risk, lack of incentives and low awareness of the
option among farmers. Although, there have been attempts to offer the product, the problem of moral hazard it is purported to resolve is the bane of its uptake because
farmers are morally hazardous investors who use insurance as a financial option when production outlook is bleak.

It was recommended that the government should give tax incentives on insurance premium in addition to the recent welfare provision for farmers to encourage them to
make optimal decisions to become profitable. Doing otherwise could unnecessarily inflate the value of assets used to earn the welfare supports. It was noted that state
stamp duties on insurance should be abolished otherwise; insured farmers will be paying the cost of assisting their uninsured counterparts. Should this policy be implemented, it is expected that the rural debt trend recently put at $66 billion will be alleviated as the cost of capital to the rural sector decreases. Finally, the history and future of agro-risk management was documented, the legal and regulatory requirements for the smooth running of this policy recommendation and the necessary theories are also explored and related to the analyses.


The surveillance of maritime areas with remote sensing is vital for security reasons, as well as for the protection of the environment. Satellite-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) offers large-scale surveillance, which is not reliant on solar illumination and is rather independent of weather conditions. The main feature of vessels in SAR images is a higher backscattering compared to the sea background. This peculiarity has led to the development of several ship detectors focused on identifying anomalies in the intensity of SAR images. More recently, different approaches relying on the information kept in the spectrum of a single-look complex (SLC) SAR image were proposed. This paper is focused on two main issues. Firstly, two recently developed sub-look detectors are applied for the first time to ship detection. Secondly, new and well-known ship detection algorithms are compared in order to understand which has the best performance under certain circumstances and if the sub-look analysis improves ship detection. The comparison is done on real SAR data exploiting diversity in frequency and polarization. Specifically, the employed data consist of six RADARSAT-2 fine quad-polacquisitions over the North Sea, five TerraSAR-X HH/VV dual-polarimetric data-takes, also over the North Sea, and one ALOS-PALSAR quad-polarimetric dataset over Tokyo Bay. Simultaneously to the SAR images, validation data were collected, which include the automatic identification system (AIS) position of ships and wind speeds. The results of the analysis show that the performance of the different sub-look algorithms considered here is strongly dependent on polarization, frequency and resolution. Interestingly, these sub-look detectors are able to outperform the classical SAR intensity detector when the sea state is particularly high, leading to a strong clutter contribution. It was also observed that there are situations where the performance improvement thanks to the sub-look analysis is not so noticeable.


This comparative essay argues that Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas (1938) and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (2000-2001) advocate a cosmofeminism "from the side" that refuses loyalty to nation-states at war that do violence to their own citizens while claiming to protect them. With attention to the texts' differing historical contexts and forms, the essay challenges the new cosmopolitan discourse contrasting above versus below, old versus new, and high versus low cosmopolitanisms and argues that Three Guineas and Persepolis share a gendered cosmopolitanism—a cosmofeminism from the side—based in women's second-class citizenship and resistance to nationalist patriotism. The essay claims that Woolf's iconic line, "As a woman, I have no country," attacks the nation-state from an anarchist/pacifist perspective, rather than promoting global feminism, as the statement is typically read. The essay contrasts Satrapi's standpoint as political exile loyal to her reviled nation but not to its violent regime with Woolf's pacifist anarchism.


The primary aim of this research was to investigate the fundamental acoustic properties of several cementitious materials, the influence of mix design parameters/constituents, and finally the effect of the physical and mechanical properties of cementitious material concrete/mortar on the acoustic properties of the material. The main objectives were:
 To understand the mechanism of sound production in musical instruments and the effects of the material(s) employed on the sound generated; To build upon previous research regarding selection of the tested physical/mechanical properties and acoustic properties of cementitious materials; To draw conclusions regarding the effect of different constituents, mix designs and material properties upon the acoustic properties of the material; To build a model of the relationship between the acoustic properties of a cementitious material and its mix design via its physical/mechanical properties.
In order to meet the aim, this research was conducted by employing the semi-experimental (half analytical) method: two experimental programmes were performed (I and II); a mathematical optimization technique (least square method) was then implemented in order to construct an optimized mathematical model to match with the experimental data.
In Experimental Programme I, six constituents/factors were investigated regarding the effect on the physical/mechanical and acoustic properties: cementitious material additives (fly ash, silica fume, and GGBS), superplasticizer, and basic mix design parameters (w/c ratio, and sand grading). 11 properties (eight physical/mechanical properties: compressive strength, density, hardness, flexural strength, flexural modulus, elastic modulus, dynamic modulus and slump test; and three acoustic properties: resonant frequency, speed of sound and quality factor (internal damping)) were tested for each constituents/factors related mortar type. For each type of mortar, there were three cubes, three prisms and three cylinders produced. In Experimental Programme I, 20 mix designs were investigated, 180 specimens produced, and 660 test results recorded.
After analysing the results of Experimental Programme I, fly ash (FA), w/b ratio and b/s ratio were selected as the cementitious material/factors which had the greatest influence on the acoustic properties of the material; these were subsequently investigated in detail in Experimental Programme II.
In Experimental Programme II, various combinations of FA replacement level, w/b ratios and b/s ratios (three factors) resulted in 1122 test results. The relationship between these three factors on the selected 11 properties was then determined. Through using regression analysis and optimization technique (least square method), the relationship between the physical/mechanical properties and acoustic properties was then determined.
Through both experimental programmes, 54 mix designs were investigated in total, with 486 specimens produced and tested, and 1782 test results recorded.
Finally, based upon well-known existing relationships (including, model of compressive strength and elastic modulus, and the model of elastic modulus and dynamic modulus), and new regressioned models of FA-mortar (the relationship of compressive strength and constituents, which is unique for different mixes), the optimized object function of acoustic properties (speed of sound and damping ratio) and mix design (proportions of constituents) were constructed via the physical/mechanical properties.


performed " partly " with the object of " giving egress to faeces." It was a genuine case of intestinal obstruction with faecal vomiting; but, as it proved to be wholly due to accumulation of faeces in a subject of chronic constipation, it was referred to as above, and in my last paper it is classed as a case of chronic constipation (Case 27). Every one of these case reports is an abstract of an abstract; and, though carefally made, details of some importance may be occasionally omitted accidentally. In this manner I have unintentionally misled Mr. Carwardine, and no doubt others. He is too powerful an ally in upholding appendicostomy for me to dispute with him about any question of priority. I congratulate him sincerely on the cases of appendicostomy for intestinal obstruction he mentions. They should deserve publication and prove instructive. Apologizing for the length of this, I am, etc.,


Prior-data fitted networks (PFNs) were recently proposed as a new paradigm for machine learning. Instead of training the network to an observed training set, a fixed model is pre-trained offline on small, simulated training sets from a variety of tasks. The pre-trained model is then used to infer class probabilities in-context on fresh training sets with arbitrary size and distribution. Empirically, PFNs achieve state-of-the-art performance on tasks with similar size to the ones used in pre-training. Surprisingly, their accuracy further improves when passed larger data sets during inference. This article establishes a theoretical foundation for PFNs and illuminates the statistical mechanisms governing their behavior. While PFNs are motivated by Bayesian ideas, a purely frequentistic interpretation of PFNs as pre-tuned, but untrained predictors explains their behavior. A predictor's variance vanishes if its sensitivity to individual training samples does and the bias vanishes only if it is appropriately localized around the test feature. The transformer architecture used in current PFN implementations ensures only the former. These findings shall prove useful for designing architectures with favorable empirical behavior.


Marine products is one of main contributors to maritime economy in Indonesia, but marine product industries' contribution to the GDP and coastal community welfare in Indonesia are considered low. Aruna Indonesia is a start-up that links fishermen as individual and cooperatives with the end buyers through the utilization of Information Technology (IT). Fishermen place their products on Aruna Indonesia website thus the end buyers can order the products online. Aruna Indonesia establishment is seen as one of mushrooming phenomenon of ecommerce in Indonesia, as well as the solution to marine products closed distribution chain problems. Fishermen as Aruna Indonesia partners require the engagement and support in ecommerce. The problem identification of this study is how significant is the digital platform towards marine products marketing to support fishermen welfare in Indonesia. This research uses qualitative method with interview and literature study data collection. Research result shows that the utilization of digital platform can ease and enlarge marine products marketing and increase the fishermen welfare as partners.


The effect of restraint stress on central neurotransmission was evaluated in mice and rats. Noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) levels and their primary metabolites were measured in discrete brain regions following exposure to stress. Mice and rats demonstrated a similar response to stress in some brain regions. Both species responded to stress with lower NA and 5-HT in the locus coeruleus compared to non-stressed controls. Dopaminergic activity, assessed by DA turnover, was elevated in the hypothalamus. While DA turnover was suppressed in the amygdala, 5-HT turnover was similarly elevated in both species. In most cases, however, there were differences in biogenic neurotransmission between mice and rats in response to stress. In particular, NA levels were suppressed by stress in the dorsal cortex of mice, but in the rats NA levels were decreased in the hypothalamus. While stress produced lower DA levels in the hypothalamus, DA levels demonstrated a marked increase in the amygdala of mice. Stress was also associated with a decrease in DA levels in the rat striatum and with an increase of DA turnover in the locus coeruleus of mice. On the other hand, 5-HT was suppressed in the mouse striatum and in the rat hypothalamus and amygdala, while 5-HT turnover was markedly decreased in the hippocampus and dorsal cortex of rats alone. In conclusion, the changes in the central neurotransmission which are evoked by stress appear to be species-specific in most cases, a fact which may trigger discrete alterations in homeostatic mechanisms.


Throughout its short history, software development has been characterized by harmful disconnects between important activities e.g., planning, development and implementation. The problem is further exacerbated by the episodic and infrequent performance of activities such as planning, testing, integration and releases. Several emerging phenomena reflect attempts to address these problems. For example, the Enterprise Agile concept has emerged as a recognition that the benefits of agile software development will be sub- optimal if not complemented by an agile approach in related organizational function such as finance and HR. Continuous integration is a practice which has emerged to eliminate discontinuities between development and deployment. In a similar vein, the recent emphasis on DevOps recognizes that the integration between software development and its operational deployment needs to be a continuous one. We argue a similar continuity is required between business strategy and development, BizDev being the term we coin for this. These disconnects are even more problematic given the need for reliability and resilience in the complex and data-intensive systems being developed today. Drawing on the lean concept of flow, we identify a number of continuous activities which are important for software development in today's context. These activities include continuous planning, continuous integration, continuous deployment, continuous delivery, continuous verification, continuous testing, continuous compliance,continuous security, continuous use, continuous trust, continuous run-time monitoring, continuous improvement (both process and product), all underpinned by continuous innovation. We use the umbrella term, ``Continuous *'' (continuous star) to identify this family of continuous activities.


This guideline provides a framework for the arrangement of point-of-care testing (POCT) services, previously known as near patient testing (patient self-testing not covered). POCT is defined as any analytical test performed outside the laboratory. Primary users are often non-laboratory healthcare workers. The guidance applies to units within hospitals as well as general practioner surgeries, community clinics and pharmacies. The head of the haematology laboratory or a point of care coordinator must take responsibility for all aspects of the POCT service, including quality and training. Depending on the size and nature of the POCT practice, a local POCT manager may also be required. Equipment selected should have received a successful independent performance evaluation. If an independent evaluation has not been performed the purchaser should assess the device according to the protocol in this document. POCT devices should generate results that are comparable to those of the local laboratory. An accredited external quality assessment programme and internal quality control system must be established. Manufacturers promoting POCT devices designed for non-laboratory sites, e.g. pharmacies, should undertake training and annual competency assessment, perhaps using a web-based system. A diagram to illustrate the stages for the implementation of a POCT service is illustrated.


ABSTRACT. A spatially comprehensive evaluation of poly chlorinated biphenyl (PCB) inventories in white perch, channel catfish, small prey fish, amphipods and sediment within four zones of the Delaware River Estuary was completed during two seasons (fall 2001 and spring 2002). Highest sediment PCB concentrations occurred adjacent to urbanized and industrialized stretches of the estuary. Whole organism t-PCB body burdens (on a wet weight basis) reflected the spatial distributions in sediment PCB concentrations. However, there was considerable variation in PCB concentrations among individual catfish and perch fillets within zones that were not significantly reduced by lipid normalization. This variation suggests that within a zone many factors (e.g., dietary shifts, small-scale heterogeneity in sediment contamination, and non-equilibrium conditions in contaminant partitioning) drive PCB bioaccumulation. With increasing down-estuary distances, all biota except for perch had enhanced concentrations of more chlorinated congeners, especially nona- and deca-chlorinated biphenyls. Specific congeners such as PCB 206 and 209 may act as indicators of unique local sources of contamination within the lower portions of the Delaware River Estuary.


Static bug detection tools help developers detect code problems. However, it is known that they remain underutilized due to various reasons. Recent advances to incorporate static bug detectors in modern software development workflows can better motivate developers to fix the reported warnings on the fly. In this paper, we study the effectiveness of the state-of-the-art (SOA) solution in tracking warnings by static bug detectors and propose a better solution based on our analysis of the insufficiencies of the SOA solution. In particular, we examined four large-scale open-source systems and crafted a data set of 3,452 static code warnings by two static bug detectors. We manually uncover the ground-truth evolution status of the selected warnings: persistent, resolved, or newly-introduced. Moreover, upon manual analysis, we identified the critical reasons behind the insufficiencies of the SOA matching algorithm. Finally, we propose a better approach to improve the tracking of static warnings over software development history. Our evaluation shows that our proposed approach provides a significant improvement in the precision of the tracking, i.e., from 66.9% to 90.0%.


GaN films doped with rare earth (RE) elements have attracted considerable attention due to the unique optical luminescent properties of the RE intra 4ƒ(n)-shell electron transitions which lead to sharp blue (Tm), green (Er) and red (Eu) emissions. This paper presents an overview of investigations of GaN films implanted with each of these ions using a combination of electron-beam and optical techniques. The ion implantations were performed under a wide range of conditions, covering variations in fluences, energies and temperatures and followed by different high-temperature annealing steps. The resulting RE:GaN films were analysed using an electron probe micro-analyser modified to allow cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy. Elemental microanalysis data obtained by wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis (WDX) is correlated with simultaneously collected room temperature CL spectra. WDX allows the quantification of the RE elemental concentrations in GaN down to ∼ 0.03 at. % in very thin layers (∼ 100 nm deep). Furthermore, by varying the incident electron beam energy, details concerning the depth profile of RE implants can be determined. The effects of both implantation conditions and rapid thermal annealing on the depth profile and on the luminescence properties are reported. CL measurements performed on annealed samples reveal sharp visible and near IR emission lines characteristic of the RE 3+ intra-4ƒ(n) atomic shell transitions.


Stochastic gradient decent~(SGD) and its variants, including some accelerated variants, have become popular for training in machine learning. However, in all existing SGD and its variants, the sample size in each iteration~(epoch) of training is the same as the size of the full training set. In this paper, we propose a new method, called \underline{ada}ptive \underline{s}ample \underline{s}election~(ADASS), for training acceleration. During different epoches of training, ADASS only need to visit different training subsets which are adaptively selected from the full training set according to the Lipschitz constants of the loss functions on samples. It means that in ADASS the sample size in each epoch of training can be smaller than the size of the full training set, by discarding some samples. ADASS can be seamlessly integrated with existing optimization methods, such as SGD and momentum SGD, for training acceleration. Theoretical results show that the learning accuracy of ADASS is comparable to that of counterparts with full training set. Furthermore, empirical results on both shallow models and deep models also show that ADASS can accelerate the training process of existing methods without sacrificing accuracy.