We demonstrate a graphene-coated polymer film as a transparent piezoresistive strain sensor. Strain sensitivity was tuned by controlling the thickness and density of the graphene layer as well as the adhesion force between graphene and the substrate. Chemically reducing the graphene oxide, thereby maximizing its adhesion to the substrate, while minimizing the coating density and thickness resulted in excellent transparency and high gauge factors. The fabrication method presented allows design optimization of transparent, high-performance, and sensitivity-tunable piezoresistive sensors, which can make inroads into such applications as wide-area strain sensors, self-sensing flexible electronics, and intelligent structural health monitoring.


The path to success in engineering is through mathematics. In particular, students need to successfully complete an engineering calculus sequence of at least four courses to fulfill their requirements for an engineering degree. With the goal of increasing success in Engineering Calculus I, and consequently retaining engineering majors, the Department of Mathematics at Texas A&M University, through a grant from the National Science Foundation, established a summer program to bridge high school mathematics knowledge to requisite mathematics knowledge for Engineering Calculus I. Of the students who participated in the summer program, 81% raised their scores on the Mathematics Placement Exam (MPE) sufficiently to be cleared to register for Engineering Calculus in the fall. Students who did not raise their score above 21 out of 33, whether or not they participated in the summer program, had to take Precalculus before enrolling in Engineering Calculus L Because Precalculus is primarily taken as remedial preparation for Engineering Calculus I, the purpose of the course is to strengthen mathematics skills needed for the calculus course. As a result of participating in the summer bridge program, students were able to begin the engineering curriculum sooner, saving both time and money for their college education. The program continues to be expanded to provide support for more students throughout the engineering calculus sequence.


Many countries with generous social insurance are currently forced to cut back or modify their systems. At the same time many developing countries lack social insurance for large segments of the population. Health accounts may offer a way of implementing health insurance that keeps a lid on costs and provides better incentives than traditional public or private health insurance. This paper discusses health accounts and other savings-account based social insurance.


Ecole Polytechnique Montreal is currently completing its reform of the Mechanical Engineering curriculum according to the CDIO principles. In each year of this new undergraduate syllabus, students participate in a design project, which aims to gradually build the participants' practical experience in a collaborative product development context. In order to measure the academic and professional skills acquired during this project-based training process, a number of evaluation methods were customized in order to improve teamwork assessment. Besides the standard evaluation methods, the peer assessment system, the logbook assessment techniques, and the team mentoring approach are of particular interest. Peer assessment tools have been developed over the years to help students give feedback and qualify the contributions of other team members. The goal of these peer review evaluations is to build the ability of students to constructively comment on their performance. The introduction of student logbook evaluations further personalizes individual assessments in a project context. This initiative provides a unique insight on a student's progression, critical thinking capacities and his contribution to the project team effort. Finally, the team mentoring approach helps student teams to focus on the progress of the project and teachers to acquire a general view of the work achieved by the different teams. This paper will hence detail these progressive teamwork evaluation methods and then present elements of feedback from the various actors involved and also identify possible improvements to these new assessment methods.


Abstract Objectives Conventional neonatology practice is to place umbilical venous catheters (UVCs) in central position and to limit the use of low-lying catheters. Our objectives were to describe the practices and complications associated with UVCs and to evaluate the type of infusates used with either UVC position. Study Design A retrospective chart review was performed at four neonatal intensive care units to identify neonates who underwent UVC placement over a 2-year period. Infant demographics, UVC position, catheter days, fluid and medication characteristics, and specific complications were extracted. Results A total of 2,011 neonates who underwent UVC placement were identified during the 2-year period. Of these, 641 UVCs (31.9%) were identified in the low-lying position. Centrally positioned UVCs were associated with lower gestational age and were left in situ for a longer duration than low-lying UVCs. Infusions of hyperosmolar solutions and vasopressors were significantly higher in central UVCs, though they were used in a significant number of low-lying UVCs. Complications, while not statistically different, were three times higher in low-lying UVCs. Conclusion Despite conventional teaching, low-lying UVCs were used in nearly one-third of infants in this cohort. Parenteral nutrition, antibiotics, and vasopressors were infused through central and low-lying UVCs. There was no statistically significant difference in complication rates between UVC positions.


BACKGROUND
Heart failure (HF), defined as a complex clinical syndrome that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the ventricle to fill with or eject blood, is a leading cause of mortality and hospitalization for adults older than 65 years in the industrialized countries. The characteristics and outcome of patients with HF have been described by several epidemiological studies and large scale clinical trials, performed mainly in the United States and Europe. Very little information is available on this issue in Japan.

METHODS AND RESULTS
The Japanese Cardiac Registry of Heart Failure in Cardiology (JCARE-CARD) is designed to prospectively study the characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of a broad sample of patients hospitalized with HF at teaching hospitals throughout Japan between January 2004 to June 2005 and the outcomes, including death and hospital readmission, will be followed through 2006 (mean follow-up at least 1 year). Participating cardiologists identify patients admitted for worsening of HF symptoms. Demographics, medical history, severity, treatment, and outcome data are collected and entered into a database via secure web browser technology. As of June 2005, baseline data for 2,676 patients with HF have been registered from 164 participating hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS
The JCARE-CARD will provide important insights into the management of patients with HF in routine clinical practice in Japan, thus providing the framework for improved management strategies for these patients.


Purpose: Low load BFR (LLBFR) training can produce similar strength gains as high load resistance (HLR) training, especially in cases where persons may not have the ability to toelrate heavy loads. The purpose of this study was to compare changes in strength, power, and hypertrophy between HLR (70% 1RM) and LLBFR (30% 1RM). Methods: Sixteen healthy individuals, ages 23-21 (8 male, 8 female) were randomized into HLR and LLBFR groups. Obtained baseline measurements included 1-repetition maximum (1RM), thigh circumference, and vertical jump height. Each group performed back squat, Bulgarian split squat, barbell step ups, and lunges. The HL group trend 3x weekly at 3 x 8 repetitions with 2-3 minutes rest and the LLBFR trained 2x weekly for repetitions of 30-15-15-15 with 30 seconds rest between sets and 2-3 minutes rest between exercises. Results: Significant differences were found within groups for pre-post vertical jump height, left thigh circumference, and 1RM squat. No significant difference was found between LLBFR and HLR groups in measures of vertical jump height or 1RM squat. Conclusion: LLBFR using compound, closed kinetic chain exercises may be effective for strength training in persons who may not be able to tolerate higher loads.


1. Statistical approaches for inferring the spatial distribution of taxa (Species Distribution Models, SDMs) commonly rely on available occurrence data, which is often non-randomly distributed and geographically restricted. Although available SDM methods address some of these problems, the errors could be more directly and accurately modelled using a spatially-explicit approach. Software to implement spatial autocorrelation terms into SDMs are now widely available, but whether such approaches for inferring SDMs are an improvement over existing methodologies is unknown. 2. Here, within a simulated environment using 1000 generated species' ranges, we compared the performance of two commonly used non-spatial SDM methods (Maximum Entropy Modelling, MAXENT and Boosted Regression Trees, BRT) to a spatially-explicit Bayesian SDM method (Integrated Laplace Approximation, INLA), when the underlying data exhibit varying combinations of clumping and geographic restriction. Finally, we tested whether any recommended methodological settings for all methods were further impacted by spatially non-random patterns in these data. 3. Spatially-explicit INLA was the most consistently accurate method, being most or equal most accurate in 5 out of 8 data sampling scenarios. Within high-coverage sample datasets, all methods performed fairly similarly, but when sampling points were randomly spread BRT had a 1-3% greater accuracy over the other methods and when samples were clumped, spatial-INLA had a 4%-8% better in AUC score. Alternatively, when sampling points were restricted to a small section of the true range, all methods were on average 10-12% less accurate, with higher variation among the methods. None of the recommended settings for the different methods were found to be sensitive to clumping or restriction of data, except the complexity of the INLA spatial term. 4. INLA-based modelling approaches can be successfully used to account for spatial autocorrelation in an SDM context and, by taking account of random effects, produce outputs that can better elucidate the role of covariates in predicting species occurrence. Given that it is often unclear what the drivers are behind data clumping in an empirical occurrence dataset, or indeed how geographically restricted these data are, spatially-explicit INLA-based SDMs may be the better choice when modelling the spatial distribution of target species.


The increasing popularity of computing clouds continues to drive both industry and research to provide answers to a large variety of new and challenging questions. We aim to answer some of these questions by evaluating performance and scalability when an n-tier application is migrated from a traditional datacenter environment to an IaaS cloud. We used a representative n-tier macro-benchmark (RUBBoS) and compared its performance and scalability in three different test beds: Amazon EC2, Open Cirrus (an open scientific research cloud), and Emulab (academic research test bed). Interestingly, we found that the best-performing configuration in Emulab can become the worst-performing configuration in EC2. Subsequently, we identified the bottleneck components, high context switch overhead and network driver processing overhead, to be at the system level. These overhead problems were confirmed at a finer granularity through micro-benchmark experiments that measure component performance directly. We describe concrete alternative approaches as practical solutions for resolving these problems.


The purpose of this study is to determine if and how male or female everyday languagesdiffer. The study is based on ten interviews with five men and five women living inHalmstad, who are between the ages of 22-29. The interview results were analyzed andcompared with previous research on the subject. The result shows that there is adifference between the male and female informants use of language. Women laughing,using italics, hedges, the word sa 'so' and response signals to a greater degree than men.The reason may be that men and women basically use different conversation styleswhen they communicate, that men prefer a public speech, intended to provideinformation and knowledge. Women on the other hand, use a private speech with thestarting point to create community and belonging.


A novel algorithm for frequency offset tracking in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is proposed. The algorithm is based on decision-feedback and assumes differential reception. It makes it possible to track the frequency shift of an OFDM signal transmitted over a frequency dispersive channel. The channel is assumed to be time invariant for each OFDM sub-carrier. The processing is performed in the base band part and does not require any processing in the RF stage. A novel multicarrier phase locked loop (MPLL) for frequency shift tracking is described. The MPLL explores some unique features of the OFDM. A low-complexity real-time algorithm is obtained. It is shown that a receiver based on the suggested algorithm works well even for a relatively low signal to noise ratio (SNR) and its performance closely approaches that of differential detection without a frequency offset. We show that the proposed frequency offset compensation may be used in a tracking mode in OFDM receivers and may be implemented for high frequency (HF) communication, digital audio broadcasting, underwater acoustic communications or digital subscriber lines.


The health care system is a level of the larger social system, within which it must seek and find its equilibrium. This organic concept leads to a more realistic assessment of needs and goals, and can make a significant contribution in helping reshape national health policy. It also suggests a re-examination of a two-tiered approach to health benefits: a universally available level of care deemed essential for meeting social needs, and an optional coverage level directed toward meeting those individual life goals which may exceed social needs.


Video streaming is one of the increasingly popular, as well as demanding, applications on smartphones today. In this paper, we consider a group of smartphone users, within proximity of each other, who are interested in watching the same video from the Internet at the same time. The common practice today is that each user downloads the video independently using her own cellular connection, which often leads to poor quality.
 We design, implement, and evaluate a novel system, MicroCast, that uses the resources on all smartphones of the group in a cooperative way so as to improve the streaming experience. Each phone uses simultaneously two network interfaces: the cellular to connect to the video server and the WiFi to connect to the rest of the group. Key ingredients of our design include the following. First, we propose a scheduling algorithm, MicroDownload, that decides which parts of the video each phone should download from the server, based on the phones' download rate. Second, we propose a novel all-to-all local dissemination scheme, MicroNC-P2, for sharing content among group members, which outperforms state-of-the-art peer-to-peer schemes in our setting. MicroNC-P2 is designed to exploit WiFi overhearing and network coding, based on a local packet broadcast framework, MicroBroadcast, which we developed specifically for Android phones. We evaluate MicroCast on a testbed consisting of seven Android phones, and we show that it brings significant performance benefits without battery penalty.


Fabric keyboard is a field of smart textile. It can overcome many disadvantages of conventional keyboard. In order to study the fabric keyboard switch, trapezia structures of two kinds of orifice dimension are designed for example 8 wefts and 16 wefts. Different roots of conductive wires are woven into the down layer of the orifice part for each kind of orifice dimension. 4 and 8 roots of wires are woven for 8 wefts. 4, 8 and 16 roots of wires are woven for 16wefts. Then the immediate regain, connection pressure, connection ratio and contact resistance are tested and analyzed for every kind of fabric keyboard switch. It is concluded that 8 wefts orifice dimension and 8 roots of wires woven into the down layer of the orifice part is a better project. These findings may assist in recommendations regarding the further development of flexible fabric keyboard.


We consider the problem of offering an optimal price when demand is unknown and must be learned by price experimentation - a variant of the multi-armed bandit problem. In each period, the retailer must decide on a price while using knowledge already acquired to weigh the benefits of exploring other prices versus maximizing revenue. Other algorithms proposed for such problems either learn the price-demand relation for each price separately or determine the parameters of an assumed parametric demand function. We instead combine Gaussian process regression with Thompson sampling as a nonparametric learning algorithm that can learn any functional relation between price and demand. This GP-TS algorithm scales significantly better with the number of price vectors than do existing approaches, yet it makes no restrictive assumptions on the price-demand relationship's functional form. We show how to apply the algorithm to finite inventory settings that consider both single and multiple products and also to settings in which exogenous contextual information can affect prices. One advantage of the algorithm is that its performance depends not on the number of price vectors over all products but only on the number of products considered. For each setting considered here, we benchmark our approach to existing algorithms. The GP-TS algorithm's learning performance is far superior to that of its peers, especially when there are increases in the number of products to learn concurrently. Finally, we propose extensions that enable the application of our algorithm when demand follows a Bernoulli or Poisson distribution.


This article analyses 'Neoliberalism' from a historical perspective, as a transnational political movement with a strong epistemic bent, engaged in reconfiguring state institutions and building a competitive market order. Drawing on methodological insights from Intellectual History and Political Economy, it focuses on the epistemic engagement of early Neoliberal thinkers in the field of historiography. By examining the writings of prominent intellectuals who participated in the Mont Pèlerin Society, such as Friedrich Hayek, Karl Popper, T.S. Ashton, Walter Eucken, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman, the article assesses the role of historical interpretation in Neoliberal discourse, highlighting its connection with economic theory.


The wide band gap and strong piezoelectric effects make GaN-based materials attractive for visible and ultraviolet optoelectronic applications, especially for optical integration devices. The optical waveguide is a fundamental component of integrated optical devices. The measurement of the propagation loss is essential for waveguide characterization, where the loss is due to absorption and scattering. The conventional methods require the measurement of the absolute optical power, polishing of sample edges, and, sometimes, the sliding of a coupling prism. Therefore, the conventional techniques are not very convenient or controllable. In this paper, a straightforward method has been proposed to characterize the attenuation of guided modes in GaN layer by employing a CCD system. As an optical mode propagates in the waveguide, the light is scattered and a characteristic light track appears on the waveguide surface. It is assumed that the scattered light is proportional to the guided mode intensity. By taking a digital picture of the track for each guided mode, the light intensity variation along the track is obtained. We used this technique to measure the attenuation of guided optical modes in multi-mode GaN layers grown by MOCVD on (0001) sapphire substrates. The results demonstrate that the CCD technique is a fast, convenient and reliable method to characterize attenuation in optical waveguides.


In the study, some concepts such as heart, voice, word, line, poem, epic, idea in the poems of Turkmen national poet Mahtumkulu Firâkî and Uzbek national poet Abdulla Oripov were analyzed in terms of metaphorical transfers. As it is known, the classical Turkmen literature of Firaki, who lived in the 18th century, Oripov, on the other hand, are two prominent figures of modern Uzbek Literature. In the research, the relationship between language and thought was examined and it was aimed to draw attention to the meanings attributed to the aforementioned concepts and the conceptual thought structure, contemplation power, mental journey, inner voice and expression style of both poets. The concept of metaphor, which was initially focused on by philosophy, has become a common concept applied by many disciplines, especially literature, over time. Metaphorical elements determined by using the document analysis method; It has been categorized on the basis of ontological, structural, orientation metaphors that were formulated as conventional metaphors by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in the 1980s. In addition, metonymic uses and some indirect (perifrastic) elements are also included. It is aimed to analyze some cultural codes in Turkmen and Uzbek literature through the literary heritage of these artists.


Due to increasingly improved disability outcomes, and the resultant significantly improved life span, of the multiple sclerosis (MS) population, questions regarding cognitive aging and the prevalence of comorbid Alzheimer disease (AD) have emerged. We describe neuropsychological and MRI-based changes that occurred in an 84-year-old MS patient with comorbid amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a precursor to AD) and cerebrovascular pathology. The neuropsychological examination demonstrated impairment in cognitive processing speed as well as in verbal and visual memory-domains that are potentially affected by any, or all, of the three co-existing diseases. Amyloid-based PET imaging showed increased focal uptake within the gray matter of the occipital lobe. We highlight how these clinical and radiologic observations can inform future research that could elucidate interactions between MS, a probable AD diagnosis, and cerebrovascular pathology in elderly individuals with MS. A comprehensive neuropsychological examination of multiple cognitive domains of individuals with MS may aid in the differential diagnosis of late-in-life cognitive decline.


Current status of the mortgage financing of forest rights is introduced. Significance of the development of mortgage financing of rural forest rights is analyzed, indicating that the mortgage financing of rural forest rights is an inevitable trend of rural reform development, Mortgage financing of forest rights in rural China is an effective vector for the farmers' income increase project with financial support, explores the great potential of forest resources, promotes the coordinated development of forestry and financial services. Major obstacles for the mortgage financing of forest rights at present is pointed out. which are the high assessment fees. the complex mortgage valuation. the unsound element market of forestry, and the lack of risk protection mechanism. Countermeasures for the development of mortgage financing of forest rights is out forward. For instance, both government and Forestry Bureau should strengthen the circulation services, establish smooth evaluation mechanism, establish companies for rural assets platform, increase the interest subsidies for forest right mortgage and the risk compensation, strengthen the team construction and improve the service system.


Negative density dependence (NDD) and environmental filtering (EF) shape community assembly, but their relative importance is poorly understood. Recent studies have shown that seedling's mortality risk is positively related to the phylogenetic relatedness of neighbours. However, natural enemies, whose depredations often cause NDD, respond to functional traits of hosts rather than phylogenetic relatedness per se. To understand the roles of NDD and EF in community assembly, we assessed the effects on seedling mortality of functional similarity, phylogenetic relatedness and stem density of neighbouring seedlings and adults in a species-rich tropical forest. Mortality risks increased for common species when their functional traits departed substantially from the neighbourhood mean, and for all species when surrounded by close relatives. This indicates that NDD affects community assembly more broadly than does EF, and leads to the tentative conclusion that natural enemies respond to phylogenetically correlated traits. Our results affirm the prominence of NDD in structuring species-rich communities.


We investigate local and global properties of timelike geodesics in three static, spherically symmetric spacetimes. These properties are of its own mathematical relevance and provide a solution of the physical 'twin paradox' problem. The latter means that we focus our studies on the search of the longest timelike geodesics between two given points. Due to problems with solving the geodesic deviation equation, we restrict our investigations to radial and circular (if exist) geodesics. On these curves we find general Jacobi vector fields, determine by means of them sequences of conjugate points and with the aid of the comoving coordinate system and the spherical symmetry we determine the cut points. These notions identify segments of radial and circular geodesics which are locally or globally of maximal length. In de Sitter spacetime all geodesics are globally maximal. In CAdS and Bertotti–Robinson spacetimes, the radial geodesics which infinitely many times oscillate between antipodal points in the space contain infinite number of equally separated conjugate points and there are no other cut points. Yet in these two spacetimes each outgoing or ingoing radial geodesic which does not cross the centre is globally of maximal length. Circular geodesics exist only in CAdS spacetime and contain an infinite sequence of equally separated conjugate points. The geodesic curves which intersect the circular ones at these points may either belong to the two-surface θ = π/2 or lie outside it.


The Propionibacterium species possess several attributes that would allow them to survive in an estuarine ecosystem. This investigation is concerned with the distribution and survival of the Propionibacterium sp. in the Great Bay Estuary at New Hampshire. To aid in the enumeration of propionibacteria, a selective medium was developed that demonstrated greater than 99.9% selectivity from skin samples. Failure to detect propionibacteria from water, sediment, fish, and shellfish prompted an investigation into factors that may influence survival. Temperature appears to be the major factor affecting the Propionibacterium's ability to establish a niche. An increase in salinity had a stimulatory effect on the animal strains, resulting in shorter generation times. Conversely, an increase in salinity caused an increase in the generation time of the dairy isolate; yield, however, was not affected. The propionibacteria's ability to tolerate the concentrations of salts found in seawater may have significant industrial implications. One of the problems facing industrial fermentations is the requirement for large amounts of fresh water; converting fermentations to seawater, without detrimental effects, would eliminate much of the water availability problems facing the fermentation industry.


Abstract Stevia extracts are obtained from Stevia rebaudiana commonly used as natural sweeteners. It is ∼250–300 times sweeter than sucrose. Common use of stevia prompted us to investigate its genotoxicity in human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Stevia (active ingredient steviol glycoside) was dissolved in pure water. Dose selection was done using ADI (acceptable daily intake) value. Negative control (pure water), 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 μg/ml concentrations which were equivalent to ADI/4, ADI/2, ADI, ADI × 2 and ADI × 4 of Stevia were added to whole-blood culture. Two repetitive experiments were conducted. Our results showed that there was no significant difference in the induction of chromosomal aberrations and micronuclei between the groups treated with the concentrations of Stevia and the negative control at 24 and 48 h treatment periods. The data showed that stevia (active ingredient steviol glycosides) has no genotoxic activity in both test systems. Our results clearly supports previous findings.


The Great Barrier Reef Lagoon (GBRL) is an area of great biodiversity containing 350 species of corals, 10 of which are endemic to the region. In recent years many threats to this ecosystem have been revealed, such as crown-of-thorns starfish and coral bleaching as well as excess concentrations of nutrients and sediments. Information on the effects of water quality and also the amounts of nutrients and sediments that reefs are subjected to is limited. This is especially true for inshore reefs where issues of water quality are most important.

This work focuses on the Rockingham Bay and Family Islands region. In this region a reef in Lugger Bay near Mission Beach was selected for a detailed study. It is a highly marginal reef (a reef occurring close to perceived environmental thresholds for coral survival) with high levels of sediments and organic matter and close to the mouths of two rivers: the Tully and the Hull. This makes the reef one of the most at threat from eutrophication and increases in sediment. Part of this work was to document all the physical conditions of the reef including currents, wind speed and direction, light levels, temperature, nutrients, and suspended sediment concentration (SSC). The reef's health and age were also found by means of photographic surveys and core samples respectively.

The main results from the study showed a reef surviving in extreme physical conditions. The SSC on the reef were very high, exceeding 200 mg/l for 28% of the time. Light extinction was common, occurring on 49% of the days that data was recorded. The local rivers did not have much effect on the SSC or nutrient concentrations on the reef. The Tully River only has a wet-season average SSC of 23 mg/l and a maximum of 230 mg/l; resuspension was much more significant. Coral cover on the reef was reasonable, about 57%, and algae only covered 12% of the coral. However, coral species biodiversity was low, with one species of Porites making up 85% of the coral cover. These results indicate that some species of coral are able to survive in areas of high sediment and nutrient concentrations, and that clean rivers in the GBRL are not a great threat to coral reefs.

The SSC data was also used to develop an empirical model, which predicts SSC for a specific site using just wind data. The model is accurate enough to be used in environmental monitoring to predict an expected SSC, which can be prepared with observed SSC from a site where marine construction is taking place so it can be determined whether the work has increased the SSC to a dangerous level. This makes it an important tool as many such construction projects occur in the GBRL each year and there is no other accurate method of determining what the natural SSC would be if work was not taking place.

A new instrument was also developed to infer nutrient concentrations in the water column, to try to overcome problems with existing methods. The instrument works by measuring the speed at which algae grow on a glass plate using a fluorometer. Tests were made to determine how well algal growth would relate to nutrient concentrations, if other factors like temperature, light levels and algal type were not controlled. Results showed that growth was too dependent on these other factors to be a good indicator of nutrient concentrations. The sensor could, however, be used to determine the effect nutrients have on algal growth, which in itself is a potential threat to corals.


Industry analysts expect spending on legal cannabis usage worldwide to reach $57 billion by 2027 and the North American market segment to climb from $9.2 billion in 2017 to $47.3 billion a decade later (Forbes 2018). Currently, NYSE & NASDAQ stock exchanges only trade eleven marijuana related companies. As cannabis usage increases in popularity, many investors seek to evaluate the merits of marijuana stocks. Our research analyzes 3-year trends of the ten publicly traded cannabis companies in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries by comparing the profit margins of each as well as their respective GIC sub-group averages. We specifically examine return on equity (ROE) and apply DuPont Analysis to disaggregate ROE into return on assets (ROA) and financial leverage (FL). An inspection of these elements yields a clear understanding of profit margin and asset turnover to further explain what makes a successful pot based business. Our preliminary results show Aphria, Inc., (APHA) as the leader in profitability when compared to its competitors. Aphria rises to the top as the only company that maintained a positive profit margin from 2016 to 2018 as well as a positive ROE. Aphria's profit margin increased significantly from 4.72% in 2016 to 20.54% in 2017 and then soared to 79.77% in 2018. Influenced more by profit margin than financial leverage, which remained fairly steady at 1.05 in 2016, 1.14 in 2017 and 1.13 in 2018, Aphria's ROE and ROA increased all three years.


The fact that the Koran is a divine word, has always been a magnet in itself for Muslims to always explore God's guidance in it. Scholars and scientists from various disciplines in every age have read it from various aspects. However, the Koran always proves that he will not be discussed by humans, not bound by place and time. One feature of reading the Koran is the interpretation approach. Interpretation itself has many features, ranging from analytical, thematic interpretations, seen from the aspects of fiqh, language, science, and so on. Keyword: Text, Context, Verses of Reckoning, Muhammadiyah.


The Lives of Saint Dominic in Medieval French and Their Relationship to the Latin Sources Although much work has been done on the Latin version of James of Voragine's Legenda aurea (written in the 1260s), a Latin legendary of saints' lives set out in the order of the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar, not much has been done on the medieval French translations, and little on that of the life of Saint Dominic. Nothing has been done on the medieval French translations of Jeans de Mailly's Abbreviatio in gestis sanctorum written a little earlier. This thesis contains editions of the Old and Middle French translations or adaptations of both Latin sources containing the life of Saint Dominic. The French manuscripts have been divided into groups or families where the texts are almost the same. The groups contain between one and five manuscripts. De Mailly's text, being older, contains fewer episodes than the fuller Voragine version of the life of Saint Dominic. The oldest French manuscript in this group is the oldest of the whole corpus (c.1275) and is written in an eastern French dialect and, thus, is of great linguistic value. There are two main translations of the Legenda aurea version: that of a mysterious author, Jehan Beleth, and the very popular Jean de Vignay translation written for Jeanne de Bourgogne in the 1330s. The oldest extant de Vignay manuscript spawned about twenty copies during the following one hundred and seventy years. De Vignay's translation was the most popular in the Middle Ages. Apart from the translations of Jean de Mailly's Abbreviatio and the Jehan Beleth and Jean de Vignay translations, there are a further seven groups of translations of the Legenda aurea. These are either adaptations of or a mixture of translations of the Legenda aurea with possible borrowings from Jean de Vignay. This thesis includes a hagiographical/historical chapter which gives an overview of the world in which Saint Dominic lived and worked, a literary chapter commenting on the content of the manuscripts to explain what is happening where and when, and linguistic commentary at the beginning of each group of manuscripts comparing the French translations with the Latin sources, and linguistic commentary concentrating on dialectal features. The medieval French manuscripts provide scholars with a rich mine of linguistic data, demonstrating the evolution of the French language from about 1275 to 1500 (from the later Old French to the Middle French periods). As the manuscripts are copies of earlier ones, one can see the same sentence written in different dialects and the gradual changes in the French language over a period of two


A robust passivity-based control (PBC) algorithm is proposed for the position tracking system of a linear switched reluctance motor (LSRM). By using the modelling analysis of the drive system, a full-order nonlinear controlled model is first developed. Then, on the basis of the state error equation, the proposed robust PBC algorithm is derived from the view points of energy dissipation, control stability and algorithm robustness. The resultant design provides a total structural solution for the control law with the winding excitation scheme integrated into the algorithm. The proposed algorithm guarantees global stability of the whole servo system. It can also overcome the inherent nonlinear characteristics of the system and make the whole system robust to uncertainties and bounded disturbances. Both simulations and experimental implementations are carried out on the proposed LSRM drive system to investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the experimental and the simulation outputs match very well. The proposed algorithm is effective for the high precision position tracking of the LSRM, with high robustness to the system uncertainties and bounded disturbances.


The Honey Lake fault is a major strike-slip fault in northeastern California that accommodates northwest-directed right-lateral shear in the northern Walker Lane. We reexamine the fault's paleoseismic history and slip rate by evaluating a natural stream bank exposure of the fault and offset terrace riser. Structural and stratigraphic relations within the modern stream cut, radiocarbon ages, and a detailed topographic survey of the offset terrace riser are used to estimate a Holocene fault slip rate of 1.7–0.6 mm/yr or more. We also interpret the occurrence of at least four surface-rupturing earthquakes during the last 7025 calendar years before present (B.P.). Three of the surface-rupturing earthquakes occurred prior to 4670 calendar years B.P. and have interevent times that range between 730 and 990 yr. The stratigraphic record is limited after ~4670 calendar years B.P., and records evidence for at least one more subsequent surface-rupturing earthquake.


This study uses transaction records of index futures and index stocks, with bid/ask price quotes, to examine the impact of stock market order imbalance on the dynamic behavior of index futures and cash index prices. Spurious correlation in the index is purged by using an estimate of the "true" index with highly synchronous and active quotes of individual stocks. A smooth transition autoregressive error correction model is used to describe the nonlinear dynamics of the index and futures prices. Order imbalance in the cash stock market is found to affect significantly the error correction dynamics of index and futures prices. Order imbalance impedes error correction particularly when the market impact of order imbalance works against the error correction force of the cash index, explaining why real potential arbitrage opportunities may persist over time. Incorporating order imbalance in the framework significantly improves its explanatory power. The findings indicate that a stock market microstructure that allows a quick resolution of order imbalance promotes dynamic arbitrage efficiency between futures and underlying stocks. The results also suggest that the unloading of cash stocks by portfolio managers in a falling market situation aggravates the price decline and increases the real cost of hedging with futures. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 27:1129–1157, 2007


Zinc oxide is used as a white pigment in cosmetics, but has the disadvantage of having photocatalytic activity. A certain amount of sebum on the skin is decomposed by ultraviolet rays in sunlight due to the photocatalytic activity of this cosmetic, causing damage to the skin. In this study, a new white pigment for cosmetics was prepared by shaking a mixture of zinc oxide and various condensed phosphate solutions or condensed phosphoric acid to react the surface of zinc oxide to phosphate. The chemical composition, particle size distribution, photocatalytic activity, hue, and smoothness of the resulting powder materials were examined. The condensed phosphoric acid treatment caused some of the zinc oxide to react with the zinc phosphate. The reaction was relatively advanced in the samples prepared in a protonated solution. Most of the sample powders were of a size suitable for white pigments for cosmetics. The condensed phosphoric acid treatment suppressed the photocatalytic activity of the zinc oxide. The obtained samples had sufficiently high reflectance in the visible light range. Judging from the particle size and the photocatalytic activity, the sample prepared with polyphosphoric acid is most suitable as a white pigment for cosmetics.


The aims of this research are to identify and analyze the exchange rate pass through towards domestic price in Indonesia. The aforementioned objective is reflected through the short-term and long-term influence variable, inflation fluctuation response due to other macroeconomic shock variable, which then reveals the characteristics of pass-through degree in Indonesia. The data used on this research was the quarter time series data from 1997 Q3 until 2017Q4. The variable used in this research were Consumer Price Index, Rupiah exchange value per Dollar, Import Price Index and SBI Interest Rate. The resource of the data variable were from Bank Indonesia and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The method being employed was Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The result of the research shows that in the long-term and short-term period, all variable influences inflation by a different lag. Moreover, the impulse response function assessment reveals that shock variable of import price index receives a positive response by consumer price index. The result of variance decomposition assessment also concludes that the import price index has the biggest contribution.


A separate and distinct interaction with both the actual e-vendor and with its IT Web site interface is at the heart of online shopping. Previous research has established, accordingly, that online purchase intentions are the product of both consumer assessments of the IT itself-specifically its perceived usefulness and ease-of-use (TAM)-and trust in the e-vendor. But these perspectives have been examined independently by IS researchers. Integrating these two perspectives and examining the factors that build online trust in an environment that lacks the typical human interaction that often leads to trust in other circumstances advances our understanding of these constructs and their linkages to behavior.

Our research on experienced repeat online shoppers shows that consumer trust is as important to online commerce as the widely accepted TAM use-antecedents, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Together these variable sets explain a considerable proportion of variance in intended behavior. The study also provides evidence that online trust is built through (1) a belief that the vendor has nothing to gain by cheating, (2) a belief that there are safety mechanisms built into the Web site, and (3) by having a typical interface, (4) one that is, moreover, easy to use.


We report on recent developments within the framework of the no-core symplectic shell model (NCSpM) that complements the no-core shell model (Navrátil, Vary, and Barrett) by exploiting the algebraic features of the symplectic shell model (Rowe and Rosensteel) while also allowing for high-performance computing applications, but in highly truncated, physically relevant subspaces of the complete space. The leading symplectic symmetry typically accounts for 70% to 90% of the structure of the low-lying states, a result that is only moderately dependent on the details of the selected inter-nucleon interaction. Examples for6Li,12C,16O, and20Ne are shown to illustrate the efficacy the NCSpM, and as well the strong overlap with cluster-like and pairing configurations that dominate the dynamics of low-lying states in these nuclei.


Estimates of rates of organic matter degradation by bacterial sulfate reduction in aquifers are few, and all are obtained by indirect means. Here we present the first direct radiotracer measurements of in situ rates of sulfate reduction for an aquifer (Romo, Denmark). Sulfate reduction occurs in distinct reaction zones within the aquifer at rates that vary greatly over short lateral distances. In situ rates of sulfate reduction are significantly higher than previous indirect estimates. In contrast, rates of sulfate reduction in aquifers are orders of magnitude lower than in marine and limmic environments, emphasizing the low reactivity of natural organic matter in aquifers.


The study reviews the main features of literary name-giving, author dictionaries, name dictionaries and literary name dictionaries, mainly based on Hungarian historical data and research results, highlighting key connections. It first reviews the research questions that arise in connection with literary names to examine to what extent they can and should be applied in the compilation of literary name dictionaries. The study details the types and editorial methods of Hungarian author dictionaries, and especially, how proper names are processed within these. It examines the antecedents of and connections between the dictionaries of Hungarian literary names currently being prepared or planned and offers overviews of the dictionaries of two scholars who wrote in English and the onomasticon of a contemporary English researcher. The paper then reviews lexicon-like works that list the names of literary heroes and which can be of use in the creation of literary name dictionaries. Finally, a plan for a dictionary of literary names, the Dictionary of Jókai's Literary Names is presented, highlighting its place among author dictionaries and onomastic works. The author emphasises the challenges that the 10-million-word oeuvre presents in collecting items and examines the difficulties of selecting entry headwords and philological, textual questions. The paper is closed with a few insights into the structure of the word entries being prepared, and data management issues that still need to be solved.


To investigate the suggestion that the incidence of polycythemia vera has increased in recent decades, we ascertained secular trends in the incidence of polycythemia vera in Olmsted County, Minnesota, over the 55‐year period, 1935–1989. The inpatient and outpatient medical records of all potential cases of polycythemia vera in Olmsted County residents were reviewed and the diagnostic criteria of the Polycythemia Vera Study Group were applied. We found no indication of an increase in the age‐ and sex‐adjusted incidence of polycythemia vera, which averaged 1.9 per 100,000 person‐years (95% C.I., 1.4–2.5) over the study period. Incidence rates increased with age, and age‐adjusted incidence rates were greater for men (2.8 per 100,000 person‐years; 95% C.I., 1.8–3.9) than for women (1.3 per 100,000 person‐years; 95% C.I., 0.7–1.9), with the highest incidence rate (23.5 per 100,000 person‐years) among men aged 70–79 years. Survival was reduced in this inception cohort of 50 cases, compared to that expected for individuals of like age and sex (P < 0.0001); median survival following diagnosis was 7.2 years. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Alumina ceramic, Al2O3, presents a challenge to laser micro-structuring due to its neglible linear absorption coefficient in the optical region coupled with its physical properties such as extremely high melting point and high thermal conductivity. In this work, we demonstrate clean micro-structuring of alumina using NIR (λ=775 nm) ultrafast optical pulses with 180 fs duration at 1kHz repetition rate. Sub-picosecond pulses can minimise thermal effects along with collateral damage when processing conditions are optimised, consequently, observed edge quality is excellent in this regime. We present results of changing micro-structure and morphology during ultrafast processing along with measured ablation rates and characteristics of developing surface relief. Initial crystalline phase (alpha Al2O3) is unaltered by femtosecond processing. Multi-pulse ablation threshold fluence Fth ~ 1.1 Jcm-2 and at low fluence ~ 3 Jcm-2, independent of machined depth, there appears to remain a ~ 2μm thick rapidly re-melted layer. On the other hand, micro-structuring at high fluence F ~ 21 Jcm-2 shows no evidence of melting and the machined surface is covered with a fine layer of debris, loosely attached. The nature of debris produced by femtosecond ablation has been investigated and consists mainly of alumina nanoparticles with diameters from 20 nm to 1 micron with average diameter ~ 300 nm. Electron diffraction shows these particles to be essentially single crystal in nature. By developing a holographic technique, we have demonstrated periodic micrometer level structuring on polished samples of this extremely hard material.


Ceramic, honeycomb-type diesel particulate filters (DPF) are commonly used in a wide range of on- and off-road diesel-powered vehicles and equipment to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions to mandated levels. While the majority of the trapped PM can be removed from the filter through regeneration, incombustible ash builds up in the filter over time. The ash deposits are generally found accumulated in a porous layer along the channel walls, or packed as end-plugs towards the back of the filter channels. Ash accumulation in the filter restricts exhaust flow, reduces the filter's soot storage capacity, and negatively impacts fuel consumption.In order to mitigate these deleterious impacts on filter operation, the particulate filter is periodically removed for ash cleaning. This study examines the effects of vibrations to remove and dislodge ash deposits from diesel particulate filters, particularly the ash accumulated toward the back of the channels and packed in plugs. Fundamental measurements of ash properties, combined with experiments utilizing full-size, field-aged particulate filters were conducted to ascertain the effects of specific vibration frequencies and acceleration levels on ash plug break-up and transport out of the DPF channels. The results show considerable potential for the application of controlled vibrations in an offline cleaning system to aid in the removal of ash deposits plugging filter channels, thereby reducing the ash-related impact on vehicle fuel consumption and extending the useful life of the particulate filter.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Experimental studies have found that a decision maker prefers spreading good and bad outcomes evenly over time. We propose, in an axiomatic framework, a new model of discount factors that captures this preference for spread. The model provides a refinement of the discounted utility model while maintaining dynamic consistency. The derived discount factors incorporate gain/loss asymmetry recursively: the difference between average future utility and current utility defines a gain or a loss, and gains are discounted more than losses. This notion of utility smoothing can induce a preference for spread: if bad outcomes are concentrated on future periods, moving one of the bad outcomes to today would be beneficial because such an operation eliminates a large loss and replaces it with a small gain. Copyright The Econometric Society 2008.


BMGT 205 Prof Business Communication 3 BMKT 325 Principles of Marketing 3 BGEN 361 Principles of Business Law 3 BMGT 448 Entrepreneurship 3 BMGT 463 Entrepreneurial Experience 3 Take one of the following accounting courses: 3 ACTG 201 Principles of Financial Acct ACTG 202 Principles of Managerial Accounting ACTG 220 Survey of Accounting EIND 373 Production Inventory Cost Analysis Take one of the following management courses: 3 BMGT 335 Management and Organization EIND 300 Engineering Management & Ethics Take one of the following finance courses: 3 BFIN 322 Business Finance EGEN 325 Engineering Economic Analysis AGBE 345 Ag Finance and Credit Analysis Take two of the following electives: * 6 ACTG/BFIN 441 Financial Statement Analysis


Pervasive computing is all about making information, data and services available everywhere and anytime. The explosion of huge amounts of data largely distributed and produced by different means (sensors, devices, networks, analysis processes, more generally data services) and the requirements to have queries processed on the right information, at the right place, at the right time has lead to new research challenges for querying. For example, query processing can be done, locally in the car, on PDA or mobile phone or it can be delegated to a distant server accessible through Internet. Data and services can therefore be queried and managed by stationary or nomad devices, using different networks. The main objective of this chapter is to present a general overview of existing approaches on query processing and our vision on query evaluation in pervasive environments. It illustrates, with scenarios and practical examples, existing data and streams querying systems in pervasive environments. It describes the evaluation process of (i) mobile queries and queries on moving objects, (ii) continuous queries and (iii) stream queries. Finally, the chapter introduces our vision of query processing as a service composition in pervasive environments.


We study the distributions of citations received by a single publication within several disciplines, spanning broad areas of science. We show that the probability that an article is cited c times has large variations between different disciplines, but all distributions are rescaled on a universal curve when the relative indicator cf = c/c0 is considered, where c0 is the average number of citations per article for the discipline. In addition we show that the same universal behavior occurs when citation distributions of articles published in the same field, but in different years, are compared. These findings provide a strong validation of cf as an unbiased indicator for citation performance across disciplines and years. Based on this indicator, we introduce a generalization of the h index suitable for comparing scientists working in different fields.


Introduction Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has an established independent association with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, there are few data examining this relationship in severely obese populations, wherein any detrimental effect of OSA on metabolic health may conceivably be drowned out by the impact of morbid obesity. We assessed the relationship of OSA severity and nocturnal hypoxaemia with metabolic health in a cohort of severely obese patients attending sleep units across Europe. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 1,434 participants in the European Sleep Apnea Cohort (ESADA) study with a body mass index (BMI) ≥35 kg/m2, using multivariate regression analysis to assess T2DM prevalence according to OSA severity indices. Patients with diabetes were identified by history and medication prescription, and by screening for undiagnosed diabetes with glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) measurement. The relationship of OSA severity with glycaemic control was assessed in diabetic subjects. Multivariate linear regression and multivariate analysis of co-variance were used to examine the relationship of HbA1c levels with OSA severity in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Results In a cohort of predominantly male (63.5%) and severely obese (mean BMI 40.3 kg/m2) individuals, 32.2% had T2DM. Although the likelihood of T2DM was significantly greater in the highest AHI quartile than the lowest (unadjusted OR 1.78; 95% CI: 1.29–2.47), this relationship lost significance following adjustment for anthropometric, demographic, and clinical factors (adjusted OR 1.21; 95% CI: 0.83–1.76; p = 0.33). However, severity of nocturnal hypoxaemia remained a predictor of T2DM prevalence despite adjustment for confounding factors (adjusted OR for most severe mean nocturnal SpO2 quartile 2.23; 95% CI: 1.50–2.20; p < 0.001), as well as predicting the likelihood of poor diabetic control (adjusted OR 1.87; 95% CI: 1.06–3.30; p = 0.03). In further analyses, HbA1c levels were independently predicted by OSA severity indices and nocturnal hypoxaemia in both non-diabetic and diabetic subjects, while adjusted mean HbA1c levels were significantly higher in patients with more severe sleep disordered breathing. Conclusion Metabolic health in severely obese sleep patients appears to be significantly worse in those subjects with more severe sleep disordered breathing, with a particularly strong relationship with the degree of nocturnal hypoxaemia.


The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is applying statistical process control techniques to monitor processes and measure the results of efforts to improve a process. Statistical process control techniques have been used for decades by the manufacturing industries and have translated well into the service industries. This article describes the successful use of control charts in improving processes within an engineering department.


Colloid infusions can cause metabolic acidosis. Mechanisms and relative severity with different colloids are incompletely understood. We compared haemodilution acid-base effects of 4% albumin, 3.5% polygeline, 4% succinylated gelatin (all weak acid colloids, strong ion difference 12 mEq/l, 17.6 mEq/l and 34 mEq/l respectively), 6% hetastarch (non-weak acid colloid, strong ion difference zero) and 0.9% saline (crystalloid, strong ion difference zero). Gelatin weak acid properties were tracked via the strong ion gap. Four-step ex vivo dilutions of pre-oxygenated human venous blood were performed to a final [Hb] near 50% baseline. With each fluid, base excess fell to approximately −13 mEq/l. Base excess/[Hb] relationships across dilution were linear and direct (R2 ≥0.96), slopes and intercepts closely resembling saline. Baseline strong ion gap was −0.3 (2.1) mEq/l. Post-dilution increases occurred in three groups: small with saline, hetastarch and albumin (to 3.5 (02) mEq/l, 4.3 (0.3) mEq/l, 3.3 (1.4) mEq/l respectively), intermediate with polygeline (to 12.2 (0.9) mEq/l) and greatest with succinylated gelatin (to 20.8 (1.4) mEq/l). We conclude that, despite colloid weak acid activity ranging from zero (hydroxyethyl starch) to greater than that of albumin with both gelatin preparations, ex vivo dilution causes a metabolic acidosis of identical severity to saline in each case. This uniformity reflects modifications to the albumin and gelatin saline vehicles, in part aimed at pH correction. By proportionally increasing the strong ion difference, these modifications counter deviations from pure saline effects caused by colloid weak acid activity. Extrapolation in vivo requires further investigation.


Extended Summary It is now widely believed that sedimentary basins are formed by one of two processes: extension of the continental lithosphere, followed by subsidence (McKenzie 1978a); or flexure due to a load superimposed by thrusting (Beaumont 1981; Jordon 1981). Only basins formed by extension will be considered. In most basins of interest to oil companies the extensional phase is no longer in progress, and the faulting history and geometry can only be investigated using seismic reflection profiles. However, in the Aegean area and in the Basin and Range province of the western U.S.A. the extension is presently active, and the faulting geometry is clearly visible at the surface. Furthermore the Aegean in particular is seismically very active, and indeed it was the seismic movements which originally suggested the extensional model (McKenzie 1978b). Detailed studies of the seismicity and focal mechanisms and of aftershock distributions after large shocks show the movements in three dimensions to depths of 10–12 km. Two such studies have been carried out on Greek earthquakes (Soufleris & Stewart 1981; Soufleris et al. 1982; Jackson et al. 1982). The geometry of these and earlier historical breaks show that many huge prisms of the lithosphere 100 km or more long, separated by faults at 20–30 km intervals, are moving at the same time. As in the Basin and Range these fault systems consists of a considerable number of normal faults which are sub-parallel and dip in the same direction. Most of Central Greece from the Gulf of Corinth to Evvoia and most of western Turkey consists of such blocks. The faults extend to a depth of 10 km with little change in dip, and the deformation is not produced by the movement of a thin surface layer. Under such circumstances terms such as allochthonous and autochthonous have little meaning and there is no tectonic basement. The geometry of the fault system is controlled by the requirement that the faults must not intersect. In both the Aegean and the Basin and Range two generations of faulting can be recognized, and the extension in both areas has probably increased the surface area by up to a factor of two. Though much less is known about the fault geometry on continental margins and beneath the North Sea there are some indications that it resembles that in the two areas discussed above. An important feature of the stretching model for basin formation is that it predicts both the subsidence and the heat flow if the amount of extension is known. Hence the temperature history of any horizon within the basin can be obtained. This history in turn controls the maturation of any organic material in the sediments. It is then straightforward to use the temperature history together with Arrhenius' law to follow the history of a chemical reaction. If the activation energy and frequency factor of a reaction are known such calculations allow an accurate test of the model. Alternatively the argument can be reversed and the temperature history used to estimate the reaction constants if these are not known. Three organic geochemical reactions can be used for this purpose: the isomerization of steranes at 20-C; hopanes at 22-C, and the conversion of mono- to triaromatic steroid hydrocarbons. All three reactions yielded sensible estimates for the activation energy of the reactions: about 90 kJmol−1 for the isomerization reactions and 200 kJmol−1 for the aromatization (Mackenzie & McKenzie, 1983). The different activation energies cause the isomerization and aromatization reactions to proceed at different rates in different basins, and there is therefore no single measure of maturity. These three reactions preceed the main phase of oil generation, and hence can provide reliable estimates of the variation of maturity with depth before the oil generation window is reached. The vitrinite reflectance is little changed by a temperature history which drives all three reactions to completion. The other major application of these reactions is to estimate uplift. For example, in the Paris Basin all three reactions are commonly complete in rocks which are now at the surface. Hence this material must once have been buried at depths which were sufficiently great for the reactions to proceed on a geological time scale, or 2–3 km. These estimates are a factor of two or more greater than geological estimates, and suggest that the deeper parts of the basin were preferentially uplifted, probably by the reactivation of the normal faults as thrusts.


The Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) and the large international accounting firms have all emphasized that accountants must be able to work with unstructured problems to be successful in today's business environment. Measures of this ability are essential if accounting educators are to assist students in improving their abilities to work with unstructured problems. However, there appears to be no measure that has been widely accepted as being the 'best' measure. This study considers whether two linguistic performance measures might be usable by accounting educators for this purpose. We use data obtained from a student assessment centre to consider two measures of linguistic performance, idea density and grammatical complexity. We incorporate five criteria in deciding whether these measures could be usable: (1) whether the measures are related to students' performance when solving unstructured problems; (2) whether the measures distinguish between the ability to work with unstructured compared to structured problems; (3) ease of obtaining necessary information from students; (4) ease of scoring, and (5) robustness of the findings after considering other variables that may have an effect. Our results indicate that subjects' linguistic performance as measured by idea density meets these five criteria. However, grammatical complexity is not related to performance for either type of problem. These results were found even after controlling for the effects of other variables such as grade point average (GPA), experience, and personality variables. Because the measures can be obtained from virtually any written work produced by students, the information to be scored is relatively easy to obtain. Scoring is also relatively straightforward.


To combine the advantages of both stability and optimality‐based designs, a single network adaptive critic (SNAC) aided nonlinear dynamic inversion approach is presented in this paper. Here, the gains of a dynamic inversion controller are selected in such a way that the resulting controller behaves very close to a pre‐synthesized SNAC controller in the output regulation sense. Because SNAC is based on optimal control theory, it makes the dynamic inversion controller operate nearly optimal. More important, it retains the two major benefits of dynamic inversion, namely (i) a closed‐form expression of the controller and (ii) easy scalability to command tracking applications without knowing the reference commands a priori. An extended architecture is also presented in this paper that adapts online to system modeling and inversion errors, as well as reduced control effectiveness, thereby leading to enhanced robustness. The strengths of this hybrid method of applying SNAC to optimize an nonlinear dynamic inversion controller is demonstrated by considering a benchmark problem in robotics, that is, a two‐link robotic manipulator system. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The aim of the paper is to develop intelligent pillow to monitor the heart rate by using fiber optical sensor. The research is focused upon allowing more automation of patient care, an especially important matter for the elder population or bed ridden patients, which is a rapidly growing fraction of much of the world population today. The fiber-optical sensor is built into pillow. Patients can determine their heart rate by just lying on the pillow and the device will not cause any disturbance to patients and at the same time still monitoring the heart rate. ECG electrodes and finger clip / ear lobe clip probes (using IR LED and photodiode technology) are commonly used for monitoring heart rate. Unfortunately, they are inconvenient and inadequate for long-term, everyday measurements. Fiber-optical sensing overcomes many of these challenges by using light rather than electricity and standard optical fiber in place of copper wire. Optical fibers are nonconductive, electrically passive, immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI)-induced noise, and able to transmit data over long distances with little or no loss in signal integrity. Using the concept of light and the benefits of using fiber optical sensors to detect the heart rate, PPG(photoplethysmogram) is being used in this project. A photoplethysmogram (PPG) is an optically obtained plethysmogram, a volumetric measurement of an organ. A PPG is often obtained by using a pulse oximeter which illuminates the skin and measures changes in light absorption. KeywordsFiber optical sensor, Heart rate, IR LED, Photodiode/phototransistor, Photoplethysmogram, PPG, Pulse oximeter.


Latin hypercube is a sampling technique for searching n dimensional space. Like Monte Carlo methods, it retains random qualities, and yet Latin hypercube is consistently more effective than Monte Carlo. Despite this fact, not a single paper has been published in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics on its use. Field analysis is a long way from delivering vectorized solutions where a vector of inputs can be processed. Stochastic algorithms are exceptionally inefficient compared to their deterministic counterparts. The best optimization tool would be a deterministic method which quickly and effectively interrogates the search space. Latin hypercube sampling, combined with pattern search solutions, comes close to achieving that objective. An improved solution for the magnetic TEAM Workshop problem 22 is presented using these tools.


The primary goal of this GO! Series title is to teach Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 quickly and easily, with an approach that is based on clearly-defined projects. A key feature of the book is the use of Microsoft procedural syntax: steps begin with where the action is to take place, followed by the action itself. The instruction is error-free, clearly written, and logically arranged. This book provides users with the skills to solve business problems using the computer as a tool. GO! with Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, Brief, 1/e contains a CD-ROM for additional learning opportunities. This edition covers the following topics: getting started with PowerPoint; designing a presentation; formatting a presentation using animation, tables, and charts. Ideal for students and individuals seeking a project-based introduction to PowerPoint 2007.


Many DNN-enabled vision applications constantly operate under severe energy constraints such as unmanned aerial vehicles, Augmented Reality headsets, and smartphones. Designing DNNs that can meet a stringent energy budget is becoming increasingly important. This paper proposes ECC, a framework that compresses DNNs to meet a given energy constraint while minimizing accuracy loss. The key idea of ECC is to model the DNN energy consumption via a novel bilinear regression function. The energy estimate model allows us to formulate DNN compression as a constrained optimization that minimizes the DNN loss function over the energy constraint. The optimization problem, however, has nontrivial constraints. Therefore, existing deep learning solvers do not apply directly. We propose an optimization algorithm that combines the essence of the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) framework with gradient-based learning algorithms. The algorithm decomposes the original constrained optimization into several subproblems that are solved iteratively and efficiently. ECC is also portable across different hardware platforms without requiring hardware knowledge. Experiments show that ECC achieves higher accuracy under the same or lower energy budget compared to state-of-the-art resource-constrained DNN compression techniques.


The aging population represents an emerging challenge for healthcare since elderly people frequently suffer from chronic diseases requiring continuous medical care and monitoring. Sensor networks are possible enabling technologies for ambient assisted living solutions helping elderly people to be independent and to feel more secure. This paper presents a multi-sensor system for the detection of people falls in home environment. Two kinds of sensors are used: a wearable wireless accelerometer with onboard fall detection algorithms and a time-of-flight camera. A coordinator node receives data from the two sub-sensory systems with their associated level of confidence and, on the basis of a data fusion logic, it operates the validation and correlation among the two sub-systems delivered data in order to rise overall system performance with respect to each single sensor sub-system. Achieved results show the effectiveness of the suggested multisensor approach for improving fall detection service in ambient assisted living contexts.


Rational expectations theory instructs empirical researchers to uncover the values of 'deep' structural parameters of preferences and technology rather than the parameters of decision rules that confound these structural parameters with those of forecasting equations. This paper reevaluates one method of identifying and estimating such deep parameters, recently advanced by Hansen and Singleton, that uses intertemporal efficiency expressions (Euler equations) and basic properties of expectations to produce orthogonality conditions that permit parameter estimation and hypothesis testing. These methods promise the applied researcher substantial freedom, as it is apparently not necessary to specify the details of dynamic general equilibrium to study the behavior of a particular market participant. In this paper, we demonstrate that this freedom is illusory. That is, if there are shifts in agents' objectives which are not directly observed by the econometrician, then Euler equation methods encounter serious identification and estimation difficulties. For these difficulties to be overcome the econometrician must have prior knowledge concerning variables that are exogenous to the agent under study, as in conventional simultaneous equations theory.


The paper uses eclectic entrepreneurship theories to identify and develop strategies aimed at creating passion and arousing entrepreneurial interests among Nigerian academics and graduates. The concern of the paper stems from the fact that most graduates of Nigerian tertiary institutions are seen milling around private and public establishments seeking for both solicited and unsolicited job opportunities as if being self employed is a crime. The University and the academics hardly look outside the box to see investment and research yearning opportunities that could robustly create streaming funding. The paper sees entrepreneurship as the process of generating sound investment ideas and the applications thereof. Consequently, entrepreneurs are discussed as those who exhibit rare and sound investment ideas and who characteristically take the ideas to the industry where values are infused. Descriptive survey design using conversation and discourse analyses was adopted. The major finding of the paper is that there is significant lack of a workable model that reflects the Nigerian ecosystem in terms of appropriately utilizing academic intellectual potentials and as well inculcating entrepreneurial spirits into the undergraduates at all levels. The implication of this is that graduates leave the university system without a vision and /or an idea of how to create job opportunities. As a result of the findings, the paper suggests the establishment of incubation centers, entrepreneurship clubs, role model interactions and mentoring among others in the tertiary institutions in Nigeria.


The widespread occurrence and persistence of modern day seagrass habitats has led many to hypothesize that grazing on seagrasses is minimal. On a global scale this may well be true as the numbers of large vertebrate herbivores (e.g. sea turtles, manatees and dugongs) and waterfowl, grazers that can greatly alter seagrass density, have been dramatically reduced in coastal ecosystems. Nonetheless, numerous observations indicate that smaller herbivores (e.g. the bucktooth parrotfish Sparisoma radians), grazers that may not be able to reduce seagrass density substantially, still com- monly feed on seagrasses in the subtropical and tropical western Atlantic Ocean. These observations led us to quantify the role that seagrass herbivory plays in modern-day seagrass food webs. In the first phase of this study, digitally scanned seagrass leaves were clipped to ropes and placed at 3 sites in Hawk Channel, in the northern Florida Keys (USA). Areal loss from the tethered leaves provided a daily estimate of seagrass grazing rates. These losses, coupled with local estimates of net above- ground primary production, allowed us to determine the proportion of seagrass production consumed at our study sites during 4 separate seasons. We found that seagrass grazing varied greatly both spa- tially and seasonally at our sites but, on average, grazers consumed virtually all of the aboveground production at 2 of the 3 sites. When experiments were repeated in the summer of a second year at 6 sites, seagrass grazing again varied greatly among sites, but at 3 of the sites most of the daily pro- duction of seagrass shoots was consumed by small herbivorous fishes. These results suggest that while it is undoubtedly true that modern day grazing by mammals, turtles and waterfowl on seagrass is reduced, small vertebrate grazers consume substantial amounts of seagrass production in the northern Florida Keys.


Voriconazole is a major antifungal drug with activity against endemic fungi, Candida and Aspergillus species in immunocompromised patients. Voriconazole has a good bioavailability, an high protein binding percentage in plasma and is metabolized in liver via CYP2C19. It presents important neuro- and hepatotoxicities. Some studies determined trough concentrations of voriconazole in plasma using liquid chromatography coupled with UV or tandem mass detection. These studies showed a relationship between trough concentrations of voriconazole and efficacy or toxicity. Indeed, some studies reported a relationship between a lack of clinical response and concentrations below 1 or 2 μg/mL according to the localization of infection, while toxicities are frequently observed at concentrations above 5 μg/mL. Some particular populations will have to be taken into account such as children, patients with hemodialysis-dependent renal deficiency or hepatic insufficiency, cystic fibrosis patients or those treated concomitantly with interfering drugs. According to our survey, therapeutic drug monitoring of voriconazole appears recommended. However, controlled studies are still necessary to validate it prospectively and to evaluate pharmacokinetically-based methods proposed for individual dose adjustment.


Sustainable development in the EU: a political and economic explanation (by Salvo Creaco) - ABSTRACT: Seeking to identify the principal actions needed to make sure that the process towards sustainability be given a much wider impulsion, the Fifth Environmental Action Programme of the EU underlined the increasing need for the application of a broader range of instruments aimed at influencing decisions which affect the environment. In this perspective economic tools were seen as the most adequate and powerful instruments available for efficient use and management of natural resource base in addition to and complementary not only to direct regulations but also to social pressure, negotiation and other forms of moral suasion. Thus, at the beginning of the 1990s, the European environmental policy began a transformation from merely growth-oriented model to sustainable development, moving into its second stage of environmental agenda. Widening the portfolio of policy instruments represents a main aspect of the Sixth Environmental Action Programme as well. In the search for innovative and sustainable solutions to the problems of the internalisation of the negative as well as positive impacts of production and consumption patterns on the environment, the new Programme requires, inter alia: encouraging reforms of subsidies that have considerable negative effects on the environment and are incompatible with sustainable development; analysing the environmental efficiency of tradable environmental permits as a generic instrument and of emission trading with a view to promoting and implementing their use where feasible; promoting and encouraging the use of fiscal measures such as environmentally related taxes and incentives, at the appropriate national or Community level; promoting the integration of environmental protection requirements in standardisation activities. In order to analyse whether the process towards sustainability started in 1992 has taken roots, several evaluation studies revealed that broadening the range of instruments had proved to be more difficulty than envisaged when the recent European environmental policy was adopted. With the inevitable consequence that the most common environmental policy solution had frequently continued to be direct regulations. The scant progress in widening the range of instruments for control and behavioural change confirms the existence of a large disagreement between the normative prescriptions of economic theory and decisions effectively taken within the political process. If a large divergence between theory and practices often prevails, the relevant issue is then to understand why EU and Member States have failed to refer to the proposed wider box of instruments. In this direction, this paper points out the usefulness of the contribution that public choice theory can provide for understanding why particular environmental instruments are actually adopted and implemented. According to the individualistic approach of public choice, the paper deals with the issue concerning the choice and implementation of environmental policy tools through the analysis of the functioning of two strictly connected markets: the political market and the para-political market, and tries to give an explanation as to why in representative democracies, in which forces may be identified as demand and supply, an incentive-oriented environmental policy has many difficulties of being implemented.


In principle, studying Biology is the study of living creatures that are in the neighborhood students. Biology learning process begins since a child to know and begin to interact with the living beings around him. Through these activities a child will gain early knowledge. Children prior knowledge have either true or false. Therefore, in biology learning often found their students who have misconceptions. Misconceptions that occur in students should not be allowed to happen drawn or shown continuously. This is because of misconceptions can interfere with the formation of the right frame. One of the tools that can be used to measure the understanding of the concept and detect misconceptions of students is a concept map. So that misconceptions do not happen to go on, concept map can be applied in learning activities. The application of concept maps in learning activities can be done through the implementation of a learning model. One of learning biology model in which there are drafting a concept map is remap coople (Reading + Concept Mapping + Cooperative Learning). Remap coople a learning model that requires students to read as its foundation, and then proceed to make a concept map before learning begins, and used cooperative learning model in learning.


A reverse phase liquid chromatographic (RP-LC) method was developed for the quantification of the related impurities of Tofacitinib citrate drug substance. The method was optimized using buffer (prepared by dissolving 2.72gr potassium di hydrogen phosphate and 1.0gm of 1-Octane sulphonoic acid sodium salt anhydrous taken in 1000mL milli-Q-water and then pH was adjusted to 5.5 with dilute potassium hydroxide solution) along with Acetonitrile 90:10v/v as mobilephase-A, and Acetonitrile: Buffer in the ratio of 70:30v/v as mobile phase-B. The flow rate was set at 1.0 mL min-1, wavelength at 210nm and the column temperature was maintained at 25°C. The capability of stability indicating method developed was demonstrated by studying the degradation products generated during the forced degradation studies under the following conditions i) water hydrolysis, ii) at 75% relative humidity, iii) oxidative, iv) thermal v) sunlight, vi) acid, vii) base, and viii) photolytic degradation. The developed method can be used for the determination of synthetic and degradation impurities in the regular quality control analysis for the drug substance.


In 1961, 553 Cornish china clay workers had been exposed to kaolin dust for periods exceeding five years, and evidence of kaolinosis was seen in 48 (9%). No kaolinosis was found in men who had been exposed for less than five years. Workers in the more heavily exposed jobs of milling, bagging, and loading showed a prevalence rising from 6% in those with between five and 15 years' exposure to 23% in those exposed for more than 15 years. Men who had been intermittently and less heavily exposed in the older, out-dated drying plants needed 25 years' exposure before reaching the highest prevalence of 17%. Massive fibrosis has been observed in two cases in the industry and also in two men who have left the industry. Six men needed anti-tuberculous chemotherapy, but none had a positive sputum. Preventive measures now include pre-employment chest examination, but the problems of dust control have not yet been satisfactorily solved.


As a follow-up of a study on design strategies to improve Korea`s Korean coast guarduniforms, this study set out to propose Korean coast guard uniforms of a new concept that would meet the changing needs of the times and match the advanced technology and work environments. Three concepts of classical, nautical and techno chic were identified from the design strategies of the previous study. Using the results from a prototype show and preference survey, the investigator divided items into design, color, material, and detail and reflects demands for each of them. As a result, design was examined in four aspects of identity, acknowledgement, unity, and practicality and focused its improvement factors on design differentiated from other organizations` uniforms including ground police, segmentation of size system, adjustment of the length of upper garment to consider activity, and changes to the lines and silhouette to give out a modern image. As for color, the focus was placed on differentiated colors from other organizations` uniforms including ground police through dark blue and ocean color, change toward colors that reflect environmental characteristics, and unity in colors between the summer and winter uniform. As for material, the focus of improvement was put on elasticity, resistance against contamination, warmth retention, texture, wearing sensation, and functionality by taking into account convenience for field workers on coast guard vessels and branch offices who have much time in contact with ocean environments in order to make the materials high-grade. As for detail, structural details were added to give out a modern image such as changing the detail lines, efficiency of storage space, buttons, sleeve hems, ironing lines, and neck collars by taking into account environmental characteristics. The significance of the study lies in that it proposed a development model for large-scale uniform copy design by establishing copy design that secures functionality and is proper for an organization`s social and cultural environment.


Chromodomain helicase DNA-binding 5 (CHD5), which is a member of the CHD family, has been identified as a tumor suppressor gene in a variety of malignancies. The aim of the current study was to clarify the clinical significance of CHD5 expression in gastric cancer. CHD5 expression was evaluated using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 154 specimens resected from patients with gastric cancer from January 2011 to December 2013, and assessed its relationships with clinicopathological characteristics and survival. In vitro cell proliferation, invasion, and migration assays and western blotting analysis were performed to clarify the role of CHD5 in human gastric cancer cell lines. Of a total of 154 patients, 57 (37.0%) exhibited low CHD5 expression, which was significantly associated with positive lymphatic invasion (P=0.032), advanced pT status (P=0.011), and advanced pStage (P=0.014). Overall survival (OS) in patients with low CHD5 expression was significantly worse compared with patients with high CHD5 expression (hazard ratio, 1.96; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-3.45; log-rank P=0.023). Cox multivariate analysis for OS revealed that CHD5 expression was an independent prognostic factor with age and pN status. In vitro, the upregulation of CHD5 in gastric cancer cells with low CHD5 expression significantly decreased cell proliferation, migration and invasion. CHD5 was associated with the regulation of multiple cancer-related targets, including p53 and enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) in western blotting analysis. In conclusion, since CHD5 regulated multiple cancer-related targets, its expression may be a useful prognostic biomarker in patients with gastric cancer.


The EDC 2010 project has identified two main drivers of change with respect to European development cooperation. The first is the degree of commitment to Europe, the second the commitment to poverty reduction. The interaction of these two gives four possible European futures: at one extreme, a strong commitment both to coherent European action and to poverty reduction; at the other, a weak commitment to both Europe and poverty reduction; and, in between, two intermediate positions.


How employee ownership can pay bottom-line benefits? Today, more than 25 percent of American workers own stock in their employers. You can shop at employee-owned supermarkets such as Publix, buy Gore-Tex fabric from employee-owned W.L. Gore & Associates, and sip coffee served by employee owners at Starbucks. Now Corey Rosen, John Case, and Martin Staubus present convincing evidence that employee ownership can be much more than just a good benefit program. Done right, it can be the foundation for a new - and more effective - model of management. Drawing on first-hand studies of dozens of companies from large corporations to local retailers, the authors show that the "equity model" enables firms to grow faster and more profitably than conventionally run competitors. Vivid examples of both winning and failed attempts at employee ownership reveal the key concepts that make the model successful, and suggest how managers can adapt these strategies for use in their own companies. This lively and practical guide delivers a sound business case for making employees true partners in a firm's success.


Addressing the various legal issues raised by uploading a document onto an open archive or publishing it in a open access review


Due to the increasing limitations of water resources, application of desalination plants is expanding. One of the constraints associated with desalination plant operation is the production of concentrated solution, which is known as brine and can lead to critical challenges in the environment due to its high level of salinity. In this regard, many different disposal options used recently to control and prevent the environmental issues may be caused by the brine. Evaporation ponds, surface water discharge, and deep well injection are considered as the most well-known options to properly dispose concentrated brine. However, the application of these methods is highly restricted by capital cost and their limited uses. The treatment methods vary in terms of their ability in organics removal and can be divided into three different conventional groups as biological, physicochemical, and oxidation. In recent years, more attention has been paid to membrane-based technologies due to their economic performance in recovering precious resources and providing potable water with high recovery rates. This book chapter provides some critical reviews on recent technologies including treatment operations and disposal options to manage concentrated solutions from desalination plants. Finally, electrodialysis, forward osmosis, and membrane distillation as emerging membrane processes are examined in this chapter.


Applications of collaborative networks are increasingly emerging in diverse domains such as, for instance, elderly care. The growth in the elderly population imposes an urgent need to develop new approaches to care provision. Integration of a number of technologies such as multiagent systems, federated information management, safe communications, hypermedia interfaces, rich sensorial environments, and increased intelligence in home appliances represents an important enabling factor for the design and development of virtual elderly support community environments. In this paper, the experience in developing an infrastructure based on mobile agents combined with federated information management mechanisms is described, as well as its initial evaluation as a basis to support the development of vertical valued-added services.


Livestock is more important to the Mauritanian economy (13% of National Gross Domestic Product) compared with just 4% from crop production. It is surprising, therefore, that irrigation has so far contributed little to animal productivity given the limited carrying capacity and irregular inter-annual production of the extensive rangeland, and the need to import fodder concentrates to sustain livestock during the hot-dry season (April to June). Our hypothesis is that growing irrigated sorghum and cowpea planted late in the mild-dry season (December-January after rice harvest (November-December) would improve profitability and sustainability of irrigation schemes. The objective is to replace fodder concentrates, currently purchased abroad, by fodder grown in irrigation schemes. To test our hypothesis we performed an extensive survey of 12 villages located within a significant gradient of rainfall from West to South-East along the northern bank of the Senegal River and used a simulation model constructed to study interactions between traditional and irrigated grain and/or fodder crop. The results of this study reveal how the introduction of irrigated sorghum and cowpea sown late in the mild-dry season would, even at relatively moderate yields (2.8-4.1 and 1.4-2.1 t grain ha-1, for sorghum and cowpea, respectively), provide additional grain required by smallholder farmers and reduce costs of livestock production (30%). In addition, the introduction of these crops increases by 31 to 54% the household net agricultural production of households having only small ruminants and by 14 to 23% of households having both small ruminants and cattle. Extending the irrigated cropping season shares the depreciation costs over more crops and improves the sustainability of the irrigation schemes. The regions that would most benefit from these additional irrigated crops are Trarza and Gorgol where the demand and hence prices of sorghum and cowpea grain and fodder are higher than in the other regions.

 Key words: Mauritania, livestock, irrigated rice, irrigated sorghum, irrigated cowpea, household net agricultural production.


that salicylate relieves symptomsthrough an action only on higher nervous centresand not on the diseaseprocess. An interesting point arising from the discovery is a possible danger in the therapeuticuse of the drug as well as the apparentparadoxof a metabolic stimulant being also an antipyretic. Salicylate stimulates the sweating mechanismand this leads to the antipyresis. If for any reason, such as serious dehydration or electrolyte depletion, the sweatingmechanismfails, hyperpyrexiamay result from the increasedmetabolic activity. The drug is often given in near toxic doses for full therapeuticeffect, and the acute rheumatic syndrome known as cerebral rheumatism merits closer examination. The clinical symptoms which have been noted resembleclosely those associatedwith salicylateoverdosage,and the patients,die with hyperthermia. Reid suggeststhat cerebral rheumatism with death in hyperpyrexia "is synonymous with salicylate overdosagein a rheumaticpatient who, because of dehydrationand electrolyte depletion or for any other reason, is incapable of sweating". How the increased metabolismcan affect the progressof the rheumatic condition is not suggested,and obviously much work remains to be done, but at least the finding gives more hope for understandingthe current views.