This paper analyzes mutual-fund performance from an investor's perspective. We study the portfolio-choice problem for a mean-variance investor choosing among a risk-free asset, index funds, and actively managed mutual funds. To solve this problem, we employ a Bayesian method of performance evaluation; a key innovation in our approach is the development of a flexible set of prior beliefs about managerial skill. We then apply our methodology to a sample of 1,437 mutual funds. We find that some extremely skeptical prior beliefs nevertheless lead to economically significant allocations to active managers.


In this study, we investigated the importance of brand involvement in retaining dissatisfied customers. We surveyed 377 customers dissatisfied with their shopping experience on the Lativ shopping website because of its dishonesty, and then analyzed the data using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that brand involvement had moderating effects that improved the possibility of repatronage in the presence of many negative messages. This fits with previous studies in which it was shown that inertia had no influence on customers, and clarifies our understanding of the importance of brand involvement as a buffer that decreases customer exit intentions following organizational failures. Finally, the findings contribute to theory and practice in relation to our investigation of the factors of consumers' intentions reflected in their dissatisfied responses, and the role of brand involvement in repatronage.


Theory on real effects suggests that more precise accounting does not necessarily improve investment efficiency. However, with investment efficiency mostly unobservable, empirical assessment of the theory is rare. This paper develops an empirical framework based on Kanodia, Singh, and Spero (2005) to structurally estimate the effect of imprecision in accounting measurement on investment efficiency. My estimates suggest that imprecision in accounting measurement has mitigated over-investment in capital expenditures and R&D by 28.6% and 4.9%, respectively. On average, firms still over-invest relative to the first-best full-information benchmark. In counterfactual analyses, my estimates suggest that the optimal investment efficiency could be achieved by reducing the current accounting precision by 4 percentage points (19.5 percentage points) in capital expenditures (R&D), which would increase investor welfare by 4.2% (22%). My study is among the first to provide a quantitative assessment of real effects and presents early evidence of excessive precision in accounting measurement.


In order to solve the problem of the response time of concrete pump distribution circuit unmatching pumping construcution requirement,which caused by selecting accumulator based on experience, the parameter configuration of the accumulator was quantitatively expressed. The response time of the distribution circuit is divided into switch time of S tube distribution valve and accumulated pressure differential time of the accumulator. In order to meet the requirements of the response time of the pumping construction, based on the existing parameter configuration of the accumulator, with dynamic characteristic equation and gas state equation respectively, the switch time of S tube distribution valve and accumulated pressure differential time of the accumulator is quantitatively calculated, and the parameters of the accumulator is configurated.Compared to the traditional accumulator choice method, namely selecting accumulator according to experience and testing whether the response time of the distribution circuit is reasonable, quantitative calculated parameter configuration of concrete pump accumulator is more accurate, and can fully meet the requirments of pumping construction. This method also provides theoretical basis for design and choice of engineering machinery accumulator.


Objective This paper examines the perspectives of consumers and their supporters regarding the use of seclusion and restraint in mental health settings. Methods Five focus groups for consumers and five focus groups for supporters were conducted in four Australian cities and in one rural location. The 66 participants were asked about strategies to reduce or eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint in mental health settings. Results All participants supported the reduction of the use of seclusion and restraint. Barriers to reducing these practices related to the environment, the effects of drug and alcohol issues, lack of a human rights focus and poor recognition of trauma, stigma and discrimination. Strategies for reducing or eliminating seclusion and restraint included workforce development, environmental and cultural changes. Conclusions Participants clearly identified that the status quo needs to change and conveyed urgency for action. Participants suggested that the involvement of supporters and a range of consumer roles are integral to reducing the use of seclusion and restraint. The findings support the current policy emphasis of working towards the elimination of these practices. What is known about the topic? Mental health policies across many jurisdictions support the reduction and elimination of restraint and seclusion. Evidence suggests those subjected to restraint and seclusion largely experience a range of harmful consequences. No studies focus on the views of supporters of consumers regarding the reduction and elimination of seclusion and restraint, whereas the views of consumers appear in a minority of international studies. What does this paper add? The research enabled an opportunity to hear from people who have been personally affected by and/or have lived experience of these coercive practices. Participants identified local reforms that can uphold the human rights of consumers. They suggested practices to increase accountability, peer support and family involvement, areas that have not been analysed in depth in any of the seclusion and restraint literature. What are the implications for practitioners? This paper will give healthcare services a deeper insight into how to reduce or eliminate restraint or seclusion from the perspective of those with lived experience.


During development of multicellular organisms, cell divisions need to be coordinated with the developmental program of the entire organism. Although the mechanisms that drive cells through the division cycle are well understood, very little is known about the pathways that link extracellular signals to the cell-intrinsic cell-cycle machinery. We used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system to study the control of cell-cycle progression during development of a multicellular organism. C. elegans provides a unique animal model in which developmental controls of cell-division can be identified genetically. Cell divisions can be followed in vivo by light microscopy, and the nearly invariant cell-lineage of C. elegans has been completely described. In addition, redundancy between genes is limited in C. elegans. Finally, powerful genetic techniques are available in C. elegans to study gene function.
To use C. elegans as a model system to identify developmental regulators of cell-cycle progression, we first needed to identify the basic cell-cycle machinery in C. elegans. We demonstrated that ncc-1 CDK1 is required specifically for entry into mitosis and progression through meiosis. In addition, an ortholog of CDK4/CDK6 kinases (cdk-4), and a D-type cyclin (cyd-1) are required for G1 progression of postembryonic somatic cells. Furthermore, a homolog of the mammalian Cip/Kip kinase inhibitors, cki-1, was shown to negatively regulate cell-cycle progression. Finally, we determined the role of lin-35 Rb, efl-1 E2F and dpl-1 DP in G1 progression and found that lin-35 and efl-1 are negative regulators of G1 progression while dpl-1 has aspects of both a positive regulator and a negative regulator. In each case, the C. elegans cell-cycle gene acts in a similar fashion as its mammalian counterpart.
These results established C. elegans as an attractive genetic system in which to study cell-cycle regulation, as results obtained in C. elegans will likely be applicable to cell-cycle regulation in mammals. The major strength of studies in C. elegans is the ability to use genetic techniques to identify novel genes. We performed several screens to identify novel regulators of G1 progression.
The cell-cycle regulators lin-35 Rb, efl-1 E2F and dpl-1 Dp are also members of the synthetic Multivulva (synMuv) gene family, which regulates vulval cell fate specification. Using a reverse genetic approach, we identified a role for three additional synMuv genes (lin-9 Aly, lin-15B and lin-36) as negative regulators of G1 progression. These genes all encode proteins for which no function in G1 regulation had previously been described.
In addition to this reverse getic approach, we performed classical genetic screens to identify novel targets of cyd-1 and genes that cooperate with lin-35 Rb during development of C. elegans. One of the identified mutations likely defines a gene that acts downstream of cyd-1. In addition, we have already identified mutations whose phenotype is rescued by loss of lin-35, and mutations that are lethal only when combined with inactivation of lin-35. These preliminary results show that these screens have great potential to identify novel cell-cycle regulators.


New forms of on-demand transportation such as ride-hailing and connected autonomous vehicles are proliferating, yet are a challenging use case for electric vehicles (EV). This paper explores the feasibility of using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to optimize a driving and charging policy for a ride-hailing EV agent, with the goal of reducing costs and emissions while increasing transportation service provided. We introduce a data-driven simulation of a ride-hailing EV agent that provides transportation service and charges energy at congested charging infrastructure. We then formulate a test case for the sequential driving and charging decision making problem of the agent and apply DRL to optimize the agent's decision making policy. We evaluate the performance against hand-written policies and show that our agent learns to act competitively without any prior knowledge.


Reinforcement learning competitions have formed the basis for standard research benchmarks, galvanized advances in the state-of-the-art, and shaped the direction of the field. Despite this, a majority of challenges suffer from the same fundamental problems: participant solutions to the posed challenge are usually domain-specific, biased to maximally exploit compute resources, and not guaranteed to be reproducible. In this paper, we present a new framework of competition design that promotes the development of algorithms that overcome these barriers. We propose four central mechanisms for achieving this end: submission retraining, domain randomization, desemantization through domain obfuscation, and the limitation of competition compute and environment-sample budget. To demonstrate the efficacy of this design, we proposed, organized, and ran the MineRL 2020 Competition on Sample-Efficient Reinforcement Learning. In this work, we describe the organizational outcomes of the competition and show that the resulting participant submissions are reproducible, non-specific to the competition environment, and sample/resource efficient, despite the difficult competition task.


We live in an increasingly heterogeneous society. The rate of international migration has contributed to cultural diversity in many nations. Libraries of all types have started to address cultural and linguistic diversity while providing information sources and services. According to The IFLA Multicultural Library Manifesto (2008), each individual has the right to a full range of library and information services, and libraries should serve all members of the community without discrimination. Special attention should be paid to cultural and linguistic groups which are underserved such as minorities, refugees, immigrants, including those with temporary residence permits. Public libraries are considered useful social instruments in the democratization of information. They are agents for social change and excellent tools for the integration of immigrants. They prepare immigrants for citizenship by introducing them to the values of their new nation, and frequently sustain them through the initial period of adaptation. They are spaces where patrons can readily access information, not only to increase their knowledge, but also to improve their abilities and skills in order to participate in society. As the key for life-long learning and success not only in school and the work place but also in daily life, information literacy skills must be developed by immigrants, refugees and foreign residents in order for them to integrate into their adopted country. Knowing how to access, use and communicate information effectively will enable the social inclusion of newcomers. Therefore, developing special information literacy programs to equip such groups with information literacy skills should be among the priorities of public libraries. In this study, the importance of information literacy skills in multicultural societies in terms of the social inclusion of immigrants will be underlined. Findings of a survey which has been conducted to ascertain information needs of foreign residents in Turkey and the level of fulfillment of their information needs will be presented. The findings of the research will also be used to make suggestions for developing information literacy programs which address the specific information needs of culturally and linguistically diverse communities.


It is good for everyone to know how to forget. --Ernest Renan The preface to Willa Cather's My Antonia is so replete with American mythology as to render it almost a parody of the national dream. We are quickly introduced by a nameless narrator to Jim Burden who has the typical American hero's "naturally romantic and ardent disposition ... [which] has been one of the strongest elements in his success."(1) Burden, who "loves with a personal passion the great country through which his railway runs" and is "still able to lose himself in those big Western dreams" (5), not only works to enable the construction of the great railroads that bind America together as a nation and an economic power, but also finances other, similar projects and expeditions all over America. He is a veritable fount of progress, but his success is clearly economic (his marriage is unhappy, his personal life evidently something of a failure) and is based on the expansion of America's size and economic and national power. Jim Burden's "burden" is, on one level, the "burden" of national expansion.(2) My Antonia is thus a classic American story of a romantic dreamer who invests himself in, implicitly sacrifices himself for, and loves beyond all else the nation in which he strives. The editors of Nationalisms and Sexualities argue that "Whenever the power of the nation is invoked ... we are more likely than not to find it couched as a love of country," a kind of "eroticized nationalism" that resonates throughout national discourse(s).(3) Such eroticized nationalism is clearly reflected in Burden's ardent passion for America, which is embodied in the figure of a woman, the Bohemian immigrant Antonia Shimerda. In this national romance, love of Antonia Shimerda is love of America; although Burden apparently sacrifices one (love of woman) for another (love of country), he actually redeems himself through service to the America that Antonia represents.(4) Antonia is not the real subject of the text but serves as the catalyst of other's imaginative powers, which produce the construction and commemoration of America's past, present, and future. For both the narrator and Jim Burden, "To speak [Antonia's] name was to call up pictures of people and places, to set a quiet drama going in one's brain" (6). As a figuration of America, Antonia becomes both less than and more than herself; for both the narrator and Burden, she "seemed to mean to [them] the country, the conditions, the whole adventure of [their] childhood" (5). That adventure of innocent childhood, anchored in the adult memory by the re/membered figure of an immigrant girl, is fixed forever by a text that is (ostensibly) male-authored: the text preserves a particular past by transforming personal memory into written, national history. In other words, Antonia's story is a palimpsest for that of America; her fortunes both represent and are subsumed by those of the nation. My Antonia can thus be read as a quite typical example of a text that participates in the construction of an American mythic past: the nation's history is embodied by and traced through a young immigrant girl's pioneer life, whose fortunes rise with the country's as she reaches fulfilment as both a mother of children and of the nation in which her children will prosper. As Antonia Shimerda develops from a rough, poor foreigner into a farm-owning American citizen, so does Nebraska develop from a prairie wilderness into a civilized state. And yet the preface is not an unselfconscious depiction of the American Dream; it also calls attention to itself as myth, as an artificial construct, a fiction within a fiction in the most self-conscious of ways. Readers are clearly warned that the past will be seen entirely through Jim Burden's perspective; as Burden says of his prospective narrative of Antonia's life: "I should have to do it in a direct way, and say a great deal about myself. It's through myself that I knew and felt her, and I've had no practice in any other form of presentation" (6). …


Thin films of PbZr0,52Ti0,48O3 (PZT) for applications in piezoelectric actuators were deposited by the pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD) over Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. The effect of different electrode and PZT deposition and processing conditions on the ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of the devices was investigated. X-Ray diffraction results showed that the deposition temperature for the electrodes had a strong influence on the PZT orientation; the increase in the electrode deposition temperature changes the PZT orientation from random or (111) to (001) depending also on PZT deposition pressure. From scanning electron microscope (SEM) pictures one could also observe that the deposition pressure affects the porosity of the PZT films, which increases with the pressure above 1×10-1 mbar for films deposited at room temperature. The measurement of the ferroelectric hysteresis curves confirmed that the structural changes induced by different processing parameters affected the ferroelectric properties of the material. The best ferroelectric properties including fatigue endurance were obtained for electrodes made at high temperature and for PZT deposited at 2×10-2 mbar and heat treated at 675°C for 30 minutes in an oxygen atmosphere. The piezoelectric coefficient d33, measured using a Michelson interferometer, had values in the range between 20 and 60 pm/V, and showed a strong dependence on the thickness of the PZT films.


Drug-induced gingival enlargement (GE) is a frequent adverse effect observed in patients treated with anticonvulsant, immunosuppressant, and some antihypertensive medications—the antiepileptic phenytoin being the main drug associated with GE due to its high incidence (around 50%). The molecular mechanisms behind drug-induced gingival overgrowth are still unknown. By reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, we demonstrate that the calcium-permeable ion channels TRPA1, TRPV1, and its capsaicin-insensitive isoform TRPV1b are expressed in human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs), the most abundant cellular type in periodontal tissue. Cultured HGFs responded with intracellular calcium elevations to phenytoin and to the canonical TRPA1 agonist allyl isothiocyanate. Application of phenytoin activated a nonselective cationic current in HGFs with a typical signature for TRPA1 channels. Moreover, this activation was blocked by HC030031, a specific TRPA1 blocker. Similarly, the use of shRNAs against hTRPA1 in HGFs reduced TRPA1 expression and activation by phenytoin. In addition, we show that phenytoin increased intracellular calcium levels in cells transfected with mouse or human TRPA1 channels. Responses to phenytoin were not observed in untransfected cells or cells expressing TRPM8 or TRPV1. The activation of HGFs by phenytoin was markedly reduced in the presence of antioxidant vitamins: ascorbic acid, folic acid, and αtocopherol. By performing cell proliferation assays, we found that phenytoin did not augment the proliferation rate of HGFs. In contrast, alcian blue and picrosirius red staining of long-term HGFs cultures indicated that phenytoin induces extracellular matrix accumulation of collagen. Collectively, these findings support an important role of TRPA1 channels in phenytoin-induced GE, provide insight into the pathophysiologic mechanism, and offer novel therapeutic opportunities for its treatment.


We derive scaling relations based on freefall and isotropy assumptions for the kinematic small-scale dynamo growth rate and amplification factor over the course of the mixing, saturation, and decay phases of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) in a fully ionized plasma. The scaling relations are tested using sets of three-dimensional, visco-resistive MHD simulations of the RTI. They are found to hold in the saturation phase, but exhibit discrepancies during the mixing and decay phases, suggesting a need to relax either the freefall or isotropy assumptions. Application of the scaling relations allows for quantitative prediction of the net amplification of magnetic energy in the kinematic dynamo phase and therefore a determination of whether the magnetic energy either remains sub-equipartition at all velocity scales or reaches equipartition with at least some scales of the turbulent kinetic energy in laboratory and astrophysical scenarios. As an example, we consider the dynamo in RTI-unstable regions of the outer envelope of a binary neutron star merger, and predict that the kinematic regime of the small-scale dynamo ends on the timescale of nanoseconds and then reaches saturation on a timescale of microseconds, which are both fast compared to the millisecond relaxation time of the post-merger.


Expo 2010 Shanghai China was a successful, splendid, and unforgettable event, leaving us with valuable experiences. The visitor flow pattern of the Expo is investigated in this paper. The Hurst exponent, the mean value, and the standard deviation of visitor volume indicate that the visitor flow is fractal with long-term stability and correlation as well as obvious fluctuation in a short period. Then the time series of visitor volume is converted into a complex network by using the visibility algorithm. It can be inferred from the topological properties of the visibility graph that the network is scale-free, small-world, and hierarchically constructed, confirming that the time series are fractal and a close relationship exists among the visitor volumes on different days. Furthermore, it is inevitable that will be some extreme visitor volumes in the original visitor flow, and these extreme points may appear in a group to a great extent. All these properties are closely related to the feature of the complex network. Finally, the revised linear regression is performed to forecast the next-day visitor volume based on the previous 10-day data.


As one of complex body, the strength of reinforced lime-soil with wheat straw was influenced by many factors. In order to gain quantitative contributed proportion, traxial compression tests of reinforced lime-soil, which took some factors like reinforced length, reinforced ratio and consolidation in account, were carried out by orthogonal design, and then evaluated by methods of range analysis and principal component analysis. Results are as follows. (1) Contributed proportion of consolidation is the highest, while, successively, of reinforce ratio and of reinforced length. Consolidation has the positive contribution to cohesion which the correlation coefficient can be up to 0.81, however, reinforced ratio takes negative contribution and the correlation coefficient is (-0.71). (2) The optimal reinforced condition of wheat straw is 20 mm in length and 0.25% in ratio as to the sample diameter of 61.8mm. (3) Results of principal component analysis and range analysis are both corresponded with that of experiment. These two kinds of statistics analysis methods are suitable in the domain of reinforced soil.


This Major Research Project examines the ways in which the trust that consumers have in fashion blogging as a form of user-generated fashion media may aid in the reproduction of conventional fashion hierarchies. Where consumers may assume that all blog content is created by bloggers themselves, other influences (from fashion "experts" and established brands) often play a large role in dictating content for bloggers. This research questions whether fashion
blogging has the potential to create a more open and democratic fashion market. To illustrate these ideas, the project engages in an in-depth case study of one popular fashion blogger, Chiara Ferragni and her blog, The Blonde Salad. Using a theoretical analysis based on concepts of capital discussed by Pierre Bourdieu, this research uses The Blonde Salad blog as an example to demonstrate the influences at play within the making of popular fashion blog content and to question power relations at play within the fashion blogosphere.


In this article, we investigate the impact of engaging in ruminative-style thoughts after exposure to workplace violence. Rumination is a form of self-focused thinking characterized by abstract and passive negative thoughts. In an experimental study in which student volunteers were exposed to simulated violence using a video manipulation, the unpleasant affect of participants instructed to ruminate about the violence persisted, while the affect of participants in a distraction condition was quickly repaired. In a field study of violence experienced by social workers in their everyday working lives, employees who had a high tendency to engage in ruminative thinking exhibited a stronger negative relationship between exposure to violence and poor well-being and health complaints compared with those who had a low tendency to ruminate. Together, our findings suggest that ruminative thinking may exacerbate the negative effects of workplace violence. Practitioner Points * Being subjected to violence at work can have negative implications for employees' health and well-being, but it is not always possible for organizations to prevent violent attacks (e.g., from members of the public). * Our findings indicate that the negative consequences of violence may be intensified when the victim engages in rumination, a negative type of thinking about the self that involves passive, abstract thoughts about what happened and the effects on one's life. * Organizations should therefore seek to discourage ruminative thinking among victims of workplace violence. Language: en


Research on effective leadership and emotional intelligence is growing. Yet, there still remains a gap on the relationships that exist between leadership and emotional intelligence especially on school effectiveness. Utilizing these connections, the main aim of this study was to identify the relationship of principals' leadership style and emotional intelligence and on school effectiveness. This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative approaches in gathering the data for this study. A total of 115 school principals participated in this study for the quantitative analysis while 8 school principals participated in the qualitative analysis. A focus group interview was also conducted for the development of the School Effectiveness Indicator Instrument (SEII) that measured the level of school effectiveness. Two other instruments that were adapted for this study were Bass and Avolio's Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ5X Form) that identified the principals' leadership styles, and Mayer - Salovey - Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) was used to operationalize emotional intelligence. The findings of this study are as follow. First, it indicated that the principals perceived themselves as exhibiting a highly transformational leadership style as compared to the other two leadership styles, namely transactional and laissez- faire. Second, it revealed that the principals assessed themselves as demonstrating more on managing emotions as compared to the other three emotional branches namely perceiving emotions, facilitating emotions, and understanding emotions. Third, it depicted that over the three years (2007 -2009), the schools in Sarawak occupied the three lower bands of school namely Band 3 (Fairly Low), Band 4 (Satisfactory) and Band 5 (High). Fourth, it revealed that there was a weak but significant relationship between the transactional leadership relationship and emotional intelligence while the other two leadership styles did not indicate any significant relationship. Fifth, there was no evidence to believe that principals' leadership style scores was significantly related to school effectiveness. Sixth, the findings indicated the existence of significant relationships between EI branches and school effectiveness. Seventh, there was no significant relationship between gender and leadership style scores. Eighth, findings indicated no significant relationship between salary grade and leadership style scores and finally, in terms of gender and salary grade, there was no significant difference in the EI as a whole. From the findings of the study, training and other professional development programmes may be more precisely formulated to empower secondaryschool principals in Sarawak and also in Malaysia as a whole. It also proposes some dimensions and indicators for school effectiveness that can be used as guidelines in measuring the level of school effectiveness in Malaysian schools.


Combatting noise on the platform The potential of quantum computers to solve problems that are intractable for classical computers has driven advances in hardware fabrication. In practice, the main challenge in realizing quantum computers is that general, many-particle quantum states are highly sensitive to noise, which inevitably causes errors in quantum algorithms. Some noise sources are inherent to the current materials platforms. de Leon et al. review some of the materials challenges for five platforms for quantum computers and propose directions for their solution. Science, this issue p. eabb2823 BACKGROUND The past two decades have seen intense efforts aimed at building quantum computing hardware with the potential to solve problems that are intractable on classical computers. Several hardware platforms for quantum information processing (QIP) are under active development. To realize large-scale systems based on these technologies, we must achieve error rates much lower than have been demonstrated thus far in a scalable platform, or devise a new platform entirely. These activities will require major advances in materials science and engineering, new fabrication and synthesis techniques, and new measurement and materials analysis techniques. We identify key materials challenges that currently limit progress in five quantum computing hardware platforms, propose how to tackle these problems, and discuss some new areas for exploration. Addressing these materials challenges will necessitate interdisciplinary approaches from scientists and engineers beyond the current boundaries of the quantum computing field. ADVANCES This Review constitutes a roadmap of the current challenges and opportunities for materials science in quantum information processing. We provide a comprehensive review of materials issues in each physical platform by describing the evidence that has led to the current understanding of each problem. For each platform, we present reasons for particular material choices, survey the current understanding of sources of noise and dissipation, describe materials limitations to scaling, and discuss potential new material platforms. Despite major differences among physical implementations in each hardware technology, there are several common themes: Material selection is driven by heterogeneity, impurities, and defects in available materials. Poorly controlled and characterized surfaces lead to noise and dissipation beyond limits imposed by bulk properties. Scaling to larger systems gives rise to new materials problems that are not evident in single-qubit measurements. OUTLOOK We identify three principal materials research frontiers of interest in this context. First, understanding the microscopic mechanisms that lead to noise, loss, and decoherence is crucial. This would be accelerated by developing high-throughput methods for correlating qubit measurement with direct materials spectroscopy and characterization. Second, relatively few material platforms for solid-state QIP have been explored thus far, and the discovery of a new platform is often serendipitous. It is thus important to develop materials discovery pipelines that exploit directed, rational material searches in concert with high-throughput characterization approaches aimed at rapid screening for properties relevant to QIP. Third, there are several materials issues that do not affect single-qubit operations but appear as limitations in scaling to larger systems. Many problems faced by these platforms are reminiscent of some that have been addressed over the past five decades for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor electronics and other areas of the semiconductor industry, and approaches and solutions adopted by that industry may be applicable to QIP platforms. Materials issues will be critical to address in the coming years as we transition from noisy intermediate-scale systems to large-scale, fault-tolerant systems. Quantum computing began as a fundamentally interdisciplinary effort involving computer science, information science, and quantum physics; the time is now ripe for expanding the field by including new collaborations and partnerships with materials science. Five quantum computing hardware platforms. From top left: Optical image of an IBM superconducting qubit processor (inset: cartoon of a Josephson junction); SEM image of gate-defined semiconductor quantum dots (inset: cartoon depicting the confining potential); ultraviolet photoluminescence image showing emission from color centers in diamond (inset: atomistic model of defects); picture of a surface-electrode ion trap (inset: cartoon of ions confined above the surface); false-colored SEM image of a hybrid semiconductor/superconductor [inset: cartoon of an epitaxial superconducting Al shell (blue) on a faceted semiconducting InAs nanowire (orange)]. IBM IMAGE, CC BY-ND 2.0; SEM IMAGE COURTESY OF S. NEYENS AND M. A. ERIKSSON; PHOTOLUMINESCENCE IMAGE COURTESY OF N. P. DE LEON; FALSE-COLORED SEM IMAGE COURTESY OF C. MARCUS, P. KROGSTRUP, AND D. RAZMADZE Quantum computing hardware technologies have advanced during the past two decades, with the goal of building systems that can solve problems that are intractable on classical computers. The ability to realize large-scale systems depends on major advances in materials science, materials engineering, and new fabrication techniques. We identify key materials challenges that currently limit progress in five quantum computing hardware platforms, propose how to tackle these problems, and discuss some new areas for exploration. Addressing these materials challenges will require scientists and engineers to work together to create new, interdisciplinary approaches beyond the current boundaries of the quantum computing field.


Among American women, the rate of breast cancer is only second to lung cancer. An estimated 12.4% women will develop breast cancer over the course of their lifetime. The widespread use of social media across the socio-economic spectrum offers unparalleled ways to facilitate information sharing, in particular as it pertains to health. Social media is also used by many healthcare stakeholders, ranging from government agencies to healthcare industry, to disseminate health information and to engage patients. The purpose of this study is to investigate people's perceptions and attitudes related to breast cancer, especially those that are related to physical activities, on Twitter. To achieve this, we first identified and collected tweets related to breast cancer; and then used topic modeling and sentiment analysis techniques to understand discussion themes and quantify Twitter users' perceptions and emotions with respect tobreast cancer to answer 5 research questions.


Studies were carried out to evaluate the functional influence of copper addition and Pb-Sb-Cu alloy melting temperature on the alloy electrical conductivity. The alloy was cast by pouring a stirred mixture of heated Pb-Sb alloy and powdered copper into a sand mould and then furnace cooled. Results of electrical test carried out indicate that the electrical conductivity of the Pb-Sb-Cu alloy increases with increase in the melting temperature of the Pb-Sb-Cu alloy. This invariably implied decrease in the electrical resistance and resistivity of the alloy with increase in the melting temperature, in accordance with findings that the minimum additional energy (energy gap) which a bonding electron must acquire to conduct electricity, decreases with decrease in the electrical resistance, resistivity and with increasing temperature. Increased copper addition (5- 45g) to the base alloy (Pb-Sb) was discovered to increase correspondingly the electrical conductivity. This is attributed to the increased melting temperature of the alloy as a result of increased impurity atoms in the alloys in the form of copper. In order to complement the experimental result, a model was derived and used as a tool for evaluating the functional influence of the two process parameters; copper input and alloy melting temperature on the electrical conductivity of Pb-Sb-Cu alloy. The derived model is expressed as; α = 0.0074 ɤ2 - 0.0031ɤ + 0.0325 T2 – 26.9945 T + 5693.357 The validity of the two-factorial model was found to be rooted on the expression 1.756 x 10-4 α - 1= 1.3 x 10-6 ɤ2 + 5.71 x 10-6 T2 – 5.44 x 10-7ɤ – 4.74 x10-3 T where both sides of the expression are correspondingly approximately equal. Statistical analysis of the derived model-predicted, regression model-predicted and experimental results for each value of copper mass-input and alloy melting temperature considered shows standard errors of 3.0470, 0.0002 & 4.3231% and 2.7140, 0.0004 & 2.2943% respectively. Furthermore, electrical conductivity per unit copper mass-input as obtained from derived model-predicted, regression model-predicted and experimental results are 0.7862, 0.7025 and 0.835 (Ωm)-1 g-1 respectively. Similarly, electrical conductivity per unit rise in the alloy melting temperature as obtained from derived model-predicted, regression model-predicted and experimental results are 2.0966, 2.2086 and 2.2267 (Ωm)-1 / 0C respectively. Deviational analysis indicates that the maximum deviation of derived model-predicted electrical conductivity from experimental results is less than 4%; implying over 96% viable model operational confidence level.


Recognising the increasing value of knowledge and technology transfer, the scientific and political communities in Germany have recently devoted much attention to academic entrepreneurship. Seeking to explore similarities and differences between academic employment and entrepreneurship, we interviewed 112 postdoctoral students from the four major German research organisations and 16 senior transfer managers whose responsibilities included spin-off facilitation.Our findings indicate that those involved in such occupations often believe that academic employment and entrepreneurship differ substantially on many levels. Both interviewed senior managers and postdoctoral students considered engaging in commercialisation activities to be a risky and serious undertaking and a significant career change. Simultaneously, the opinions and observations of postdoctoral students helped us identify a wide range of similarities between academic employment and entrepreneurship. Our findings can help make entrepreneurship more accessible to researchers, re-define the boundaries between scientific and commercial activities, and, ultimately, foster knowledge and technology transfer.


All students of kendo - the formal art and practice of Japanese swordsmanship - will welcome this manual by an advanced practitioner with a deep understanding of the martial art. The work begins with a history of kendo in Japan, followed by a study of basic equipment and its proper care and use and a detailed description of forms and rules - essential aspects of any martial art. Beginners will find this section particularly helpful because of the close attention paid to fundamental techniques of kendo, including the rare two-sword form (nitoryu), largely unknown outside of Japan. Each technique is accompanied by clear, easy-to-follow illustrations. The Nihon Kendo Kata and Shiai and Shinpan rules and regulations are useful references for those learning the Kata and participating in matches. The author, who is also a practicing physician, is attentive throughout to injury prevention and safety - concerns often overlooked in martial arts manuals. The elements of kendo philosophy, which can mystify even experienced practitioners, are explained in simple terms to aid understanding. The manual concludes with biographies of Japan's most celebrated swordsmen, an extensive glossary of kendo terms, and a history of kendo in Hawai'i, where it has been practiced for more than a century and where some of the world's top practitioners can be found.


Objectives Medical articles on Wikipedia are viewed over 10 million times a day and Wikipedia is arguably the most-read medical information platform on the internet. The quality and evidence-base of Wikipedia medical articles are improving but there is an ongoing need for refinement and updating. Editing and improving these articles represents a 'whole task' application of the steps in Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) while simultaneously contributing to an altruistic mission of knowledge sharing and health advocacy. Involving medical students in Wikipedia-editing initiatives provides an opportunity for application of EBM skills while also improving medical articles on Wikipedia. We developed an embedded longitudinal Wikipedia editing project as part of a first year critical appraisal course in the School of Medicine at Queen's University, Canada. Our goal was to evaluate the design and implementation of this project using student feedback in a structured survey. Method Students completed online training modules provided by Wikipedia and chose a medical article to improve. Students worked in small groups to assess their articles, made suggestions for improvement, and searched the literature for high-quality secondary sources containing suitable evidence. They posted suggested changes to the Wikipedia community for feedback and consulted with a faculty expert prior to making final page edits. All students completed a Wikipedia project evaluation form. Feedback was sought on the perceived strengths, weaknesses, struggles in project completion, and suggestions for improvement going forward. Using the Five-Dimensional Framework for Authentic Assessment (Gulikers, JTM et al., 2004), student feedback data was reviewed by two investigators (MW and LM) who independently identified barriers to/facilitators in project completion and assigned them into one of five dimensions relating to (1) the task (2) the physical/virtual context (3) the social context; (4) the result and (5) the criteria for evaluation. Results One hundred and one students made over 1000 edits to 16 articles, adding over 10 000 words to the pages, all with appropriate secondary source citations. Based on a preliminary review of the feedback data, students enjoyed applying the critical appraisal skills taught within the broader scope of the course (task), they liked making an improvement to a highly accessed public resource (result), they reported positive collaboration within their teams (social context), and they enjoyed learning about the process involved in forming and editing a Wikipedia medical page (task). Barriers to the project identified by the students included a lack of clarity regarding assignment expectations (task), frustration with Wikipedia coding (task), difficulty engaging with the Wikipedia editors/community (social context), distrust of Wikipedia editors as content experts (social context), and a perceived mismatch in efforts dedicated to the assignment and the resulting change/impact on their Wikipedia medical page (result). Conclusions Initial results highlight important barriers and facilitators identified by medical students in engaging with and completing the longitudinal Wikipedia assignment as part of their first-year critical appraisal, research and life long learning course. These results will inform the future delivery and assessment of this assignment in an effort to increase engagement among first-year medical students in improving one of the leading sources of online health information worldwide.


The European Union is made up of a diverse group of countries with variations across a multitude of factors: cultural, political, economical and social. Differences are also evident in population health and living conditions, as measured by numerous indicators at both macro and micro levels. Good health can be considered one of the most fundamental resources for social and economic prosperity. While improvements have been seen over the past few decades in both health status and the conditions in which people live and work, there continue to be wide disparities across the Member States, and between population groups within countries. The overall aim of this report is to review trends in health and living conditions in the EU and Candidate Countries (Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey), and describe relevant policy developments targeting health improvements and the reduction of health inequalities. We aim to present an overview of the key issues and not a comprehensive literature review or exhaustive analysis of the topics.


Health related outcomes for individuals with chronic symptoms of illness can be influenced by complex, socio-emotional processes. The primary interest of this study was to determine whether perceived social support lessens the negative emotional appraisals of illness experience (e.g. anger, fear, hostile interpretations of illness), and the role of these emotional appraisals in health outcomes for those diagnosed either with a conventional chronic illness (e.g. diabetes, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or a functional somatic syndrome (e.g. fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel). Data for this study were collected from a series of four surveys administered online, which included measures of perceived social support (MSPSS), emotional representations of illness (IPQ-R), and health outcomes (SF-36). The sample included 151 participants (129 Female, 22 Male), all of whom experienced chronic somatic symptoms for at least 3 months, with 57 classified as having a conventional diagnosis (CD) and 94 with a functional somatic syndrome (FSS). The results suggest a potential mechanism for the buffering effect of social support, such that those with higher levels of social support reported lower degrees of emotional representations. After controlling for demographic and illness-related variables, social support was a significant predictor of emotional representations of illness. Emotional appraisals of physical symptoms predicted a majority of the health dimensions of the SF-36; including social functioning, role limitations due to physical problems and emotional problems, emotional well-being, vitality, and overall perception of general health. The pattern of findings underscores the need to consider the influence of psychosocial processes on both psychological and physical well-being in populations adjusting to chronic illness.


In space-heating (SH) dominated climates, superinsulated building envelopes, such as passive houses (PH), are often promoted to drastically reduce SH needs. Using hydronic SH distribution in PH, thermal losses from pipes become a relatively large source of internal gains. Nevertheless, buildings with super-insulated envelopes have high utilization factors of heat gains so that the resulting SH distribution efficiency is currently unknown. The article investigates this energy efficiency with dynamic simulations (here using IDA-ICE) and a detailed modelling of the SH distribution system. Such detailed studies are rarely found in the scientific literature where generally the physics is modelled in an oversimplified way. The performance of standard and simplified SH distribution loops are compared and discussed. It is confirmed that the fraction of uncontrolled thermal losses from the SH distribution system is large (up to 50% of the heat delivered to the system can be emitted by pipes), but that the distribution efficiency is nonetheless kept high (above 90%). Compared to other forms of energy losses in superinsulated buildings, the present work suggests that the increase of energy use caused by thermal losses from the hydronic SH distribution remains a secondary problem.


The small intestine contributes to diabetic dyslipidemia through the overproduction of apolipoprotein B48 (apoB48)-containing chylomicron particles. An important regulator of chylomicron generation is dietary lipid absorption, underlining the potential involvement of intestinal lipid transporters for developing dyslipidemia. Intestinal expression of scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI) has been found to be upregulated in animal models of insulin resistance. Here we characterized the potential importance of SR-BI in contributing to chylomicron production and postprandial hypertriglyceridemia in vivo. Postprandial triglyceride (TG)-rich lipoprotein (TRL) production was characterized in hamsters treated with the SR-BI inhibitor to block lipid transport-1 (BLT-1) under healthy conditions or conditions of diet-induced obesity and dyslipidemia. BLT-1 (1 mg/kg) or vehicle was administered acutely in chow-fed hamsters or gavaged twice daily over 10 days during high-fructose, high-fat, high-cholesterol (FFC) feeding. Effects of acute SR-BI inhibition by BLT-1 were confirmed in healthy fat-loaded rats. Finally, plasma lipid levels were compared between SR-BI(-/-) mice and their wild-type counterparts fed either chow or a 12-wk high-fat diet. Acute BLT-1 treatment reduced postprandial plasma and TRL TG levels in healthy hamsters and rats. Chronic BLT-1 treatment of FFC-fed hamsters blunted diet-induced weight gain and fasting hypertriglyceridemia, and lowered postprandial TRL-TG, -cholesterol, and -apoB48 levels. Finally, SR-BI(-/-) mice displayed lower plasma and TRL TG levels relative to wild type, and diet-induced weight gain and postprandial hypertriglyceridemia were hindered in SR-BI(-/-) mice. We conclude that intestinal SR-BI is a critical regulator of postprandial lipoprotein production, emphasizing its potential as a target for preventing diabetic dyslipidemia.


The transmission characteristics of nasal tract energy to a nasal accelerometer were evaluated in relation to nasal tract airway resistance. Ten adult speakers repeated three utterances while recordings of nasal bone vibration, as detected by miniature accelerometers, were obtained simultaneously from both sides of the nose and referenced to a common throat signal. Average nasal-to-oral accelerometry ratios recorded from the more resistant side of the nose were significantly larger in magnitude than those recorded simultaneously from the less resistant side of the nose. While accelerometer ratio waveforms from each side of the nose essentially overlapped for some subjects, others displayed unilateral variations in accelerometer output as a function of time. The anatomic and physiologic condition of the nasal passage appears to be an important variable in the detection of nasal tract acoustic energy using the accelerometric technique.


Most film editors, whether they are working on motion pictures, broadcasts, live events, or video projects, all recognize that there is a process to editing. It involves planning, editing your story, adding transitions and effects, sweetening the audio, correcting the color, and creating the output. Apple has made it even easier to perform these tasks by combining their flagship nonlinear editor, Final Cut Pro, with other tools into a complete post-production package called Final Cut Studio. Edit Well: Final Cut Studio Techniques from the Pros is the book that in-the-trenches editors have been waiting for. It offers a holistic approach to using the tools in Final Cut Studio for those who are responsible for a variety of tasks beyond just straight editing. Written by the preeminent experts and practicing professionals in their fields, contributors include Kevin Monahan, Mary Plummer, Mark Spencer, Tom Wolsky, and Alexis Van Hurkman, to name a few. Each chapter features each pros own insight on a particular tool in the Studio, whether it be Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Motion and its 3D capabilities, or Color, a ground-breaking addition to the Studio for professional color grading. Inside the book youll find: Practical, step-by-step techniques that cover the complete digital video workflow: editing, effects, motion, audio, color correction, and DVD authoring. Hard-to-find techniques on using Color and the 3D capabilities found in Motion. Expert insight and commentary by top professionals and trainers. Best-practice methods in editing, with tips on when and how to use a particular tool in real-life scenarios. Keyboard shortcuts to help you simplify your workflow. References to video tutorials and audio interviews of top Final Cut Pro editors around the world, available for free on the companion Web site.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of IV diphenhydramine hydrochloride administration on cardiorespiratory variables in anesthetized dogs undergoing mast cell tumor (MCT) excision. DESIGN Randomized, blinded clinical trial. ANIMALS 16 client-owned dogs with MCTs. PROCEDURES In a standardized isoflurane anesthesia session that included mechanical ventilation, dogs received diphenhydramine hydrochloride (1 mg/kg [0.45 mg/lb], IV; n = 8) or an equivalent volume of saline (0.9% NaCl) solution (IV; control treatment; 8) 10 minutes after induction. Cardiorespiratory variables were recorded throughout anesthesia and MCT excision, and blood samples for determination of plasma diphenhydramine and histamine concentrations were collected prior to premedication (baseline), throughout anesthesia, and 2 hours after extubation. RESULTS Cardiorespiratory values in both treatment groups were acceptable for anesthetized dogs. Mean ± SD diastolic arterial blood pressure was significantly lower in the diphenhydramine versus control group during tumor dissection (52 ± 10 mm Hg vs 62 ± 9 mm Hg) and surgical closure (51 ± 10 mm Hg vs 65 ± 9 mm Hg). Mean arterial blood pressure was significantly lower in the diphenhydramine versus control group during surgical closure (65 ± 12 mm Hg vs 78 ± 11 mm Hg), despite a higher cardiac index value. Plasma histamine concentrations were nonsignificantly higher than baseline during maximal manipulation of the tumor and surgical preparation in the diphenhydramine group and during surgical dissection in the control group. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE IV administration of diphenhydramine prior to MCT excision had no clear clinical cardiorespiratory benefits over placebo in isoflurane-anesthetized dogs.


Electrodeposition has been utilized to fulfill the demand of high density indium bumping used in high energy physics applications. Previous studies have shown the capability of electrodeposition to achieve high yield and high density indium bumps. The challenge exists to improve the bump height uniformity and consistency of electroplated indium bumps across the wafer at ultra-fine pitches with the highest yield. This paper reports progress towards the electroplating indium bumping process assisted by megasonic agitation. Electroplating of indium onto non-patterned substrates was initially conducted to investigate the performance of the solution with megasonic agitation. Further trials were carried out on 4 inch silicon dummy wafers to create indium bumps at 50 μm pitch. The results reflect that bubbles created during the plating process with megasonic agitation can affect the quality of the deposit and the yield of indium bumping, under the experimental conditions used in this study.


Theobroma cacao L. (Malvaceae sensu lato) is one of the most important agricultural tree crops in the tropics. However, little is known about whether T. cacao is controlled via top-down (herbivore) or bottom-up (resource limitation) processes in plantations and in natural forests. This question was investigated in this study by planting seedlings of T. cacao in plots of primary and secondary tropical wet forest in northeastern Costa Rica, with a simultaneous planting of the same variety of seedlings in an adjacent reconstructed plantation that had a thin overstory of high canopy shade trees. Leaf growth and leaf damage (herbivory) were measured in the cacao grown under the contrasting systems over a three-year period, with one to two censuses per year. Seedlings grown in plantations were observed to have significantly higher amounts of leaf damage than seedlings grown in secondary or primary forest. Nonetheless, plantation-grown cacao grew much faster, had more leaves, and had larger leaves than forest-grown individuals. Furthermore, plantation-grown cacao plants were the only ones to produce flowers and fruits, and they did so within three years. This study demonstrates that the growth and survival of T. cacao is likely controlled by resource limitation (bottom-up control) rather than herbivory (top-down control), and that individuals in high light plantations reach reproductive status even with high rates of herbivore pressure. These findings can inform the choice of efficient cocoa farming system and management strategies to be adopted by cacao farmers in Costa Rica and other cocoa producing countries.


The electronic and magnetic properties of the delafossite CuFeO2 are investigated by means of electronic structure calculations. They are performed using density functional theory in the generalized gradient approximation, as well as the new full-potential augmented spherical wave method. The calculations reveal three different spin states at the iron sites. Using for the first time the experimentally determined low-temperature crystal structure, we find long-range antiferromagnetic ordering in agreement with experiment. In addition, our calculations show that nonlocal interactions as covered by the generalized gradient approximation lead to a semiconducting ground state.


Aim: To discover the incidence of diabetic retinopathy; to identify the influence of optimizing different parameters on progression of diabetic retinopathy in diabetic patients from Maramures. Methods and Material: We done a prospective study of 1269 persons with diabetes mellitus registered in healthcare system in Maramures County. We analysed the differences between 2007 and 2008 regarding different parameters (glycated haemoglobin - HbA1c, hypertension, lipid profile, body mass index - BMI and abdominal circumference). We analysed the influence of these modifications on the progression of diabetic retinopathy. Results: In 2007 the total number of patients with diabetic retinopathy was 246 but in 2008 the total number of patients with diabetic retinopathy increased to 250. In 2007 the total number of patients with diabetic maculopathy was 40 but in 2008 the total number of patients with diabetic maculopathy increased to 46. There was no significant influence after one year in optimizing glycaemic control (p=0.302) or cholesterol level (p=0.292) or triglycerides levels (p=0.054) or HDL level (p=0.831) or hypertension (p=0.413) or BMI (0.063) or abdominal circumference (p=0.068). Conclusions: Diabetes retinopathy incidence was 4 in 1269 or 0.3%. After one year any improvement in diabetes management has no significant positive influence on progression of diabetic retinopathy.


The authors showed that at the present time military much more servicemen, suffering from obstructive pulmonary disease, may receive medical examination in outpatient conditions. Series of researches allow us to perform a medical examination on an outpatient basis. The calculation of the cost-effectiveness of health services to such patients during a military medical examination in the hospital and clinics was made. Savings during the examination in the clinic for 1 patient was 2829 rubbles.


A programmable logic controller (PC) carries out a control algorithm under violations of theontological assumptions (VOA) when the plant does not meet one or more unstated but essential assumptions used in the design of the control algorithm. This paper presents a recovery technique based on the theory of Fuzzy State Fuzzy Output Finite State Machines (FSFO-FSM). The appeal of this approach is that the only known recovery results today are for fuzzy controllers. A common drawback of most linguistic models is that they are essentially static and thus not suitable to model the sequential behavior of a PC program. A FSFO-FSM can act as a sequentialmachine during the normal course of control, yet it possesses all the required linguistic properties during a VOA. This approach can enhance substantially the safety and operational range of existing PC and embedded control applications. This paper describes the control problem, presents results based on simulations, and show architectural constraints when applying this principle to real-world application.


For several years, American studies of different disciplines have established the so-called Scrabble score method as a measure of the linguistic complexity of names. This method scores each name according to defined rules, similar to the popular board game Scrabble, in which each word receives a score defined by the sum of the numerical values of their characters. The numerical Scrabble scores allow comparing and analyzing names in flexible and quantitative ways. In this study, we apply the Scrabble score method to given names in Germany for the first time, to test the value of such scores to understanding the linguistic complexity of names in Germany. The corpus for these analyses contains 90.000 given names based on the SOEP data (1984–2016). We calculated the Scrabble score for all given names following the German Scrabble rules and analyzed different aspects. The results demonstrate that it is possible to also gain interesting insights about names in Germany using the Scrabble score method. For instance, we show that the frequencies of letters in given names differs (more vowels, more like vowels sounding consonants) from that in the other lexicon of the German language. Likewise, the method reveals gender-specific characteristics of male and female names. In addition, high Scrabble scores indicate non-German given names. These three aspects of our study on names from the SOEP data illustrate that the Scrabble score method is suitable and productive for different questions about the linguistic complexity of given names in Germany.


A hypotensive effect of corinfar and its effect on the indices of the central and peripheral hemodynamics were studied in 50 patients with stage II hypertension. In 3 weeks BP was lowered at the expense of a considerable decrease in the total peripheral vascular resistance (TPVR) (by 29.6%) and regional vascular resistance (by 48%). It was accompanied by an increase in the peripheral blood flow (by 61%), a reflex activation of the sympathetic-adrenal system with an increase in heart rate and cardiac output (by 22%, p less than 0.001). An index of vein distensibility remained unchanged. The addition of propranolol removed signs of the sympathetic stimulation of the cardiac activity, improved vasodilatator tolerance, enhanced a hypotensive effect of corinfar causing a transient increase in TPVR and tension of the resistive vessels only. By the end of the 4th month of therapy these indices significantly decreased. A prolonged combined therapy with corinfar and propranolol resulted in a significant decrease in the resistance of resistive vessels in maximum vasodilatation characterizing the regression of arteriole structural changes. Besides there was a decrease in the wall thickness (p less than 0.01) and left ventricular myocardial mass (by 7.88 +/- 2.66 g, p less than 0.05) that was interpreted as a tendency to a decrease in a degree of hypertrophy of the left ventricle. The efficacy of corinfar therapy was higher in the patients with hypertension with a high initial tension of the peripheral vessels.


Legacy systems are often large and difficult to maintain, but rewriting them from scratch is usually not a viable option. Reenginering remains the only way to modernize them. We have been recently involved in a migration project aiming at porting an old, large (8 MLOC) legacy banking system to a modern architecture. The goal of the project is: (I) moving from an old, proprietary language to Java; (2) replacing ISAM indexed files with a relational database; (3) upgrading the character oriented interface to a modern GUI. One of the steps in the migration process deals with the elimination of unstructured code (unconditional jumps such as GOTO statements). In this paper we present four alternative strategies for GOTO elimination that we evaluated in the project. Each has pros and cons, but when used in a real case, it turned out that one produced completely unreadable code, hence it was discarded. The final choice was a combination of the three remaining strategies.


The quantity of personal data gathered by service providers via our daily activities continues to grow at a rapid pace. The sharing, and the subsequent analysis of, such data can support a wide range of activities, but concerns around privacy often prompt an organization to transform the data to meet certain protection models (e.g., k-anonymity or ε-differential privacy). These models, however, are based on simplistic adversarial frameworks, which can lead to both under- and over-protection. For instance, such models often assume that an adversary attacks a protected record exactly once. We introduce a principled approach to explicitly model the attack process as a series of steps. Specifically, we engineer a factored Markov decision process (FMDP) to optimally plan an attack from the adversary's perspective and assess the privacy risk accordingly. The FMDP captures the uncertainty in the adversary's belief (e.g., the number of identified individuals that match the de-identified data) and enables the analysis of various real world deterrence mechanisms beyond a traditional protection model, such as a penalty for committing an attack. We present an algorithm to solve the FMDP and illustrate its efficiency by simulating an attack on publicly accessible U.S. census records against a real identified resource of over 500,000 individuals in a voter registry. Our results demonstrate that while traditional privacy models commonly expect an adversary to attack exactly once per record, an optimal attack in our model may involve exploiting none, one, or more individuals in the pool of candidates, depending on context.


Agathis australis gum on acid hydrolysis with sulphuric acid yielded L-arabinose and D-galactose in 1:4 molar ratio with traces of L-fucose. The components of aldobiouronic acid and glucuronic acid were obtained by graded hydrolysis of degraded gum polysaccharide. The derivatives of aldobiouronic acid was obtained as methyl ester methyl glycoside.


Abstract This article readdresses Gramsci's use of Italian history, focusing on his judgement that the Italian Renaissance marked the start of a specifically Italian course of historical failure because it led directly to the Counter-Reformation, the Risorgimento and Fascism. It shows that Gramsci's political strategy after 1923 – on the need for a mass socialist movement – informed his historical opinions. His view of a regressive Renaissance contrasted the dominant historiographical consensus that saw it as the start of European modernity. Gramsci conceptualized modern European history according to a Reformation–Renaissance dichotomy that also determined his general sense of culture. By contrasting Catholic Italy (whose Renaissance had failed to lead to a Reformation) with the Protestant north (whose general Renaissance had formed a harmonious couplet with the Reformation), Gramsci reveals that his single greatest debt as a historian was to Weber rather than Marx or Croce.


Abstract What teachers know about their content area plays a role in how they effectively enhance the scientific literacy of their students. This leads to questions about teacher content knowledge as they enter the field. The Praxis Earth and Space Science: Content Knowledge Test is the most widely used licensure assessment for aspiring Earth science teachers in the United States. There are few previous reports on the personal and professional characteristics of those test-takers which would provide information about Earth science teacher candidates. This study presents findings based on analysis of trends in reported demographic variables and scaled scores for examinees assessed by the licensure exam from June 2006 to May 2016 in order to identify which have the highest correlation with their performance. Three major themes emerged as a result of the study: there is currently a large proportion of out of field teaching, a lack of diversity among test-takers, and underperformance of Black/African American test-takers when compared to their White counterparts as well as in females compared to males. Our analysis uncovered more subtle differences in performance based on undergraduate GPA and age group as well. Findings from this study suggest recommendations for improving focused recruitment and retention efforts to support identified at-risk populations enrolled in Earth science teacher preparation programs.


In this paper, we report on Muller Matrix (MM) based scatterometry (aka. optical critical dimension or OCD) simulation strategies for two sub-7nm fin structures: one with a SixGe1-x/Si/SixGe1-x/Si/SixGe1-x/Si nanosheet structure and its comparison with a hypothetical Si-only fin structure of similar dimensions at sub-7nm semiconductor technology nodes. Si-fins are providing the performance improvements necessary for the transistors used in current generation integrated circuits. Development of sub-7nm technology nodes requires further performance improvements including advanced structures including new materials. This demand for improved performance has created the need for new fabrication processes such as extreme ultraviolet lithography, self-aligned quadruple patterning etc., along with new metrology challenges for adequately monitoring the semiconductor process control during fabrication of these advanced nanostructures.1 New materials and structures, such as, Si/Si1-xGex (0≤x≤1) stacked nanosheet structures have recently been developed as one of the potential replacement for Si-based FinFETs.2,3 We have simulated two fin structures: one with Si-fins and another with 3 alternating stacks of Si1-xGex/Si (x=0.3). We have used Rigorous Coupled Wave Approximation (RCWA) to simulate OCD spectra for 0° – 360° azimuthal angles in 10° steps by keeping the fin pitch fixed at 24nm while systematically changing (1) the fin critical dimension (CD) from 5.0–7.5nm in 0.5nm steps, (2) thickness of the Si and Si1-xGex (x=0.3) nanosheets (NST) from 8.0–1.5nm in 0.5nm steps, (3) the fin bending angle (FBA) from 0°–2.5° in 0.5° steps, and (4) the undercut angle (ED) of the Si1-xGex NSTs from 0°–10° in 2° steps. Difference in etch-rate of Si and Ge could give rise to non-zero ED during NST formation. Both the fin structures possess mirror symmetry about two orthogonal planes perpendicular to the substrate and with one of the planes along the fin long-axis. For angles 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°, this mirror symmetry leads to absence of the cross-polarization terms in the simulated OCD spectra such that off-diagonal MM elements are zero over the simulated wavelength range. The broken mirror symmetry in other azimuthal angles leads to cross-polarization of the electrical field vectors which is seen in the off-diagonal MM elements becoming non-zero. Additionally, the off-diagonal MM elements show increased sensitivity and reduced correlation between the parameters under study which leads to a powerful metrology means for studying the critical fin-parameters for fast and reliable semiconductor process control in sub 7-nm technology nodes. All the non-zero MM-elements are found to be sensitive to changes in CD and NST with the off-diagonal elements showing greater sensitivity to the changes. At azimuthal angles <15°, MM23, MM31, and MM34 are highly sensitive to changes in etch undercut and fin bending angle defects.

References:
[1] D. Dixit et al., "Advanced applications of scatterometry based optical metrology," Proc SPIE 10145, 101451H (2017).
[2] N. Loubet et al., "Stacked nanosheet gate-all-around transistor to enable scaling beyond FinFET," VLSI Technol. 2017 Symp., T230–T231, IEEE (2017).
[3] R. Muthinti et al., "Advanced in-line optical metrology of sub-10nm structures for gate all around devices (GAA)," Proc SPIE 9778, 977810 (2016).


This paper explores the development of children's centres in England between 2004 and 2008, focusing on the newly created centres that have been located on primary and nursery school sites. Using both an analysis of policy documents and interview data from three urban local authorities, we examine the use of premises and the differing priorities of centre staff and school heads, particularly in relation to the balance of services between early years education, childcare and family support. We also explore governance issues, focusing especially on patterns of accountability. In so doing, we also examine the tensions that exist between children's centres located on primary and on nursery school sites and the schools themselves.


The paper presents the factors influencing Technological Learning in the furniture making industry in Southwestern Nigeria. This was with a view to recommending policy measures to enhance the performance of the furniture makers. The research covered Lagos, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti States because furniture makers are found in the nooks and cranies. of the states. The population sample consisted of 319 furniture makers. The research instruments employed were questionnaire, personal observation and focus group discussion approaches. The questionnaire was administered to furniture makers to elicit information on the factors influencing Technology Learning in the industry. Personal observation and focus group discussion were employed to obtain more information. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for data analysis. The research shows that learning in the furniture industry was mainly through on the job training (91.5%). Those who learn furniture work through formal education were 2.2% while the remaining respondents (6.3%) learnt furniture skills through both formal education and on the job training. The Technological Learning by the furniture makers was influenced by age, sex, period of apprentiship, education, financing of the apprentices and native language of instruction. State and Local government should encourage furniture makers in their domains to establish cluster villages where member firms could derive maximum benefits from clustering. This idea will no doubt enhance innovation among the entrepreneurs.


Objective To analyse the trends in mortality for the overall and major types of cancer, by sex, in Brazil and major regions for State Capitals and inland counties between 1980 and 2006. Methods Data were obtained from System of Mortality Information and from Brazilian Institute of Geography & Statistics. Magnitude of death rates from overall and major types cancers were corrected adding proportional distribution of 50% of ill-defined causes of death, and standardised by age group according to Standard World Population. Trend curves for Brazil and its major regions, for State Capitals and inland counties, by sex, and were evaluated by simple linear regression. Results Among men ascending mortality rates were observed for lung, prostate and colorectal cancers. Declining trends were seen for stomach cancer and oesophagus cancer remains stable. Among women, mortality rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancer increased, and cervical and stomach cancer declined markedly. Mortality trends varied among Brazilian major regions and exhibited distinct patterns for state capitals and inland counties. Conclusion Correction of mortality rates, based on redistribution of ill-defined causes of death, increased the overall cancer mortality in Brazil by 10% in 1980 and 5% in 2006. Among inland counties, and different from State Capitals, no decrease or stability in trend of mortality rates was found. Worse access to health services of diagnostic and treatment for cancer and less outreach of prevention actions among populations living away from big urban centers in Brazil, may be part of the explanation for these differences.


The rare earth nitrides (RENs) are a series of intrinsically ferromagnetic semiconductors with a range of contrasting magnetic properties across the series due to the filling of their 4f electron orbitals. The electrical conductivity of the RENs can be tuned via nitrogen vacancy doping to achieve conductivities ranging from insulating to metallic-like. It is these properties that have prompted their use in memory device structures in recent years, with the potential for integration with superconducting computing in the future. We report on the potential use of the RENs as ferromagnetic (FM) layers in tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) device structures for non-volatile memory storage devices.
In this thesis, we present a study on the use of gadolinium nitride and dysprosium nitride as the ferromagnetic layers in a range of device structures including magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) and in-plane conduction devices based on the giant magnetoresistance effect. First, we have fabricated and characterised GdN/AlN/GdN/Gd and GdN/GaN/GdN/Gd MTJ structures with a maximum TMR of 135% at 5 K for magnetic fields of ±8 T. The maximum difference in resistance between the high- and low-resistance states – corresponding to the anti-aligned and aligned magnetisation states – at 0 T was ~0.53%.
Following this, magnetic tunnel junctions and GMR-style devices have been fabricated using gadolinium nitride and dysprosium nitride as the two FM layers. In the MTJ, lutetium nitride was used as the tunnel barrier material (GdN/LuN/DyN), while in the GMR-style devices, Lu and Al were separately used as the conductive exchange blocking layers (GdN/Lu/DyN and GdN/Al/DyN). A maximum difference in resistance states of ~1.2% and ~0.04% at 0 T was observed at 5 K for the MTJ and GMR-style devices respectively. This is the first time that a difference in resistance between the aligned and anti-aligned configuration has been observed for these device structures in the absence of an external magnetic field, demonstrating the use of GdN and DyN in such non-volatile memory elements.
We also report electrical transport and optical spectroscopy measurements on a series of lutetium nitride thin films variously doped with nitrogen vacancies, along with the computed band structures of stoichiometric and nitrogen vacancy doped LuN. Here, we bridge the void between computation and experiment with a combined study of LuN focusing on its electronic properties. We find that stoichiometric LuN is a semiconductor with an optical bandgap of ∼1.7 eV. Its conductivity can be controlled by doping with nitrogen vacancies, which results in defect states at the conduction band minimum and valence band maximum. These results not only provide information on LuN but also help underpin understanding of the electronic properties of the entire rare earth nitride series.


In the framework of the IAI-OCP Policy Center project this paper offers a conceptual framework to examine natural resource management in Turkey, Morocco and Italy and its implications for social and economic development. It recognizes the multiplicity of actors involved in natural resource management at the local, national and global level. It then proceeds by 1) advancing a definition of natural resources to be used in the context of this project; 2) highlighting relevant emerging issues in the empirical debates on natural resource management within economics and politics; 3) developing a series of indicators aimed at assessing the dimensions of the management and use of natural resources. In general, this conceptual framework adopts a flexible and plural approach that reflects the multidisciplinary nature of natural resource management, and recognizes the importance of country-specific factors in the relationship between natural resource management and socio-economic development.


BACKGROUND
Approximately 4 million US travelers to developing countries are ill enough to seek health care, with 1500 malaria cases reported in the United States annually. The diagnosis of malaria is frequently delayed because of the time required to prepare malaria blood films and lack of technical expertise. An easy, reliable rapid diagnostic test (RDT) with high sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV), particularly for Plasmodium falciparum, would be clinically useful. The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of a RDT approved by the US Food and Drug Administration compared with traditional thick and thin blood smears for malaria diagnosis.

METHODS
This prospective study tested 852 consecutive blood samples that underwent thick and thin smears and blinded malaria RDTs at 3 hospital laboratories during 2003-2006. Polymerase chain reaction verified positive test results and discordant results.

RESULTS
Malaria was noted in 95 (11%) of the 852 samples. The RDT had superior performance than the standard Giemsa thick blood smear (p = .003). The RDT's sensitivity for all malaria was 97% (92 of 95 samples), compared with 85% (81 of 95) for the blood smear, and the RDT had a superior NPV of 99.6%, compared with 98.2% for the blood smear (p = .001). The P. falciparum performance was excellent, with 100% rapid test sensitivity, compared with only 88% (65 of 74) by blood smear (p = .003).

CONCLUSIONS
This operational study demonstrates that the US Food and Drug Administration-approved RDT for malaria is superior to a single set of blood smears performed under routine US clinical laboratory conditions. The most valuable clinical role of the RDT is in the rapid diagnosis or the exclusion of P. falciparum malaria, which is particularly useful in outpatient settings when evaluating febrile travelers.


Growth towards maturity is dependent on the presence of freedom, holiness and immortality. These are presented as divine qualities that are utterly lacking in human beings. However, while human beings are ignorant and weak, sinful and mortal the addressees of 1 Peter1 are reminded that they have also been begotten anew by the imperishable seed of God's Word, the Good News of Jesus Christ in order to share immortal life. This article looks first at human beings who as God's creatures are 'flesh', but are also enabled to acknowledge their 'fleshly' state, to appreciate ('desire' and 'taste') (2:2–3) the Gospel and to submit to God. The second part considers the saving role of Christ as the powerful yet rejected 'stone' placed and offered by God as the model and means to transcend the 'flesh' in the flesh (4:1–2). A final part focuses on the new birth and the growth process in which the fleshly desires and ways of living give way to a manner of life, which is a witness to God's saving power.


Angewandte Molekularbiologie, Universita$ t des Saarlandes, FR 8.3, Geba$ ude 2, Postfach 151150, D-66041 Saarbru$ cken, Germany K28 killer strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are permanently infected with a cytoplasmic persisting dsRNA virus encoding a secreted α/β heterodimeric protein toxin that kills sensitive cells by cell-cycle arrest and inhibition of DNA synthesis. In vivo processing of the 345 aa toxin precursor (preprotoxin; pptox) involves multiple internal and carboxy-terminal cleavage events by the prohormone convertases Kex2p and Kex1p. By site-directed mutagenesis of the preprotoxin gene and phenotypic analysis of its in vivo effects it is now demonstrated that secretion of a biological active virus toxin requires signal peptidase cleavage after Gly36 and Kex2p-mediated processing at the α subunit N terminus (after Glu-Arg49), the α subunit C terminus (after Ser-Arg149) and at the β subunit N terminus (after Lys-Arg245). The mature C terminus of the β subunit is trimmed by Kex1p, which removes the terminal Arg345 residue, thus uncovering the toxin's endoplasmic reticulum targeting signal (HDEL) which – in a sensitive target cell – is essential for retrograde toxin transport. Interestingly, both toxin subunits are covalently linked by a single disulfide bond between α-Cys56 and β-Cys340, and expression of a mutant toxin in which β-Cys340 had been replaced by Ser340 resulted in the secretion of a non-toxic α/β heterodimer that is blocked in retrograde transport and incapable of entering the yeast cell cytosol, indicating that one important in vivo function of β-Cys340 might be to ensure accessibility of the toxin's β subunit C terminus to the HDEL receptor of the target cell.


Abstract This paper considers general second kind integral equations of the form φ s − ∫ R k s , t φ t dt = ψ s (in operator form φ −  K kφ = ψ), where the functions k and ψ are assumed known, with ψ ∈ Y, the space of bounded continuous functions on R, and k such that the mapping s → k(s, · ), from R to L1(R), is bounded and continuous. The function φ ∈ Y is the solution to be determined. Conditions on a set W ⊂ BC(R, L1(R)) are obtained such that a generalised Fredholm alternative holds: If W satisfies these conditions and I −  K k is injective for all k ∈ W then I −  K k is also surjective for all k ∈ W and, moreover, the inverse operators (I −  K k) − 1 on Y are uniformly bounded for k ∈ W. The approximation of the kernel in the integral equation by a sequence (kn) converging in a weak sense to k is also considered and results on stability and convergence are obtained. These general theorems are used to establish results for two special classes of kernels: k(s, t) = κ(s − t)z(t) and k(s, t) = κ(s − t)λ(s − t, t), where κ ∈ L1(R), z ∈ L∞(R), and λ ∈ BC((R\{0}) × R). Kernels of both classes arise in problems of time harmonic wave scattering by unbounded surfaces. The general integral equation results are here applied to prove the existence of a solution for a boundary integral equation formulation of scattering by an infinite rough surface and to consider the stability and convergence of approximation of the rough surface problem by a sequence of diffraction grating problems of increasingly large period.


Interacting with example products is an essential and widely practiced method in engineering design, yet little information exists on how the representation (pictorial or physical) or interaction a designer has with an example impacts design creativity. This is problematic because without this knowledge we do not understand how examples affect idea generation or how we can effectively modify or develop design methods to support example usage practices. In this paper, we report the results of a controlled study with first year engineering design students (N = 89) developed to investigate the impact of a designer's interaction with either a two-dimensional (2D) pictorial image or a three-dimensional (3D) product (through visual inspection or product dissection activities) and the resulting functional focus and creativity of the ideas developed. The results of this study reveal that participants who interacted with the physical example produced ideas that were less novel and less functionally focused than those who interacted with the 2D representation. Additionally, the results showed that participants who dissected the product produced a higher variety of ideas than those that visually inspected it. These results contribute to our understanding of the benefits and role of 2D and 3D designer-product interactions during idea development. We use these findings to develop recommendations for the use of designer-product interactions throughout the design process.


Often far from home and loved ones, famed anthropologist Margaret Mead was a prolific letterwriter, always honing her writing skills and her ideas. To Cherish the Life of the World presents, for the first time, her personal and professional correspondence, which spanned sixty years. These letters lend insights into Mead's relationships with interconnected circles of family, friends, and colleagues, and reveal her thoughts on the nature of these relationships. In these letters--drawn primarily from her papers at the Library of Congress--Mead ruminates on family, friendships, sexuality, marriage, children, and career. In midlife, at a low point, she wrote to a friend, "What I seem to need most is close, aware human relationships, which somehow reinstate my sense of myself, as no longer living 'in the season of the narrow heart." This collection is structured around these relationships, which were so integral to Mead's perspective on life. With a foreword by her daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson, a renowned author and anthropologist in her own right, this volume of letters from Mead to those who shared her life and work offers new insight into a rich and deeply complex mind.


Malaria remains a major public health issue, infecting nearly 220 million people every year. The spread of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum around the world threatens the progress made against this disease. Therefore, identifying druggable and essential pathways in P. falciparum parasites remains a major area of research. One poorly understood area of parasite biology is the formation of disulfide bonds, which is an essential requirement for the folding of numerous proteins. Specialized chaperones with thioredoxin (Trx) domains catalyze the redox functions necessary for breaking incorrect and forming correct disulfide bonds in proteins. Defining the substrates of these redox chaperones is difficult and immunoprecipitation based assays cannot distinguish between substrates and interacting partners. Further, the substrate or client interactions with the redox chaperones are usually transient in nature. Activity based crosslinkers that rely on the nucleophilic cysteines on Trx domains and the disulfide bond forming cysteines on clients provide an easily scalable method to trap and identify the substrates of Trx-domain containing chaperones. The cell permeable crosslinker divinyl sulfone (DVSF) is active only in the presence of nucleophilic cysteines in proteins and, therefore, traps Trx domains with their substrates, as they form mixed disulfide bonds during the course of their catalytic activity. This allows the identification of substrates that rely on Trx activity for their folding, as well as discovering small molecules that interfere with Trx domain activity. Graphic abstract: Identification of thioredoxin domain substrates via divinylsulfone crosslinking and immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry.


This study empirically investigates the effects of structural reforms on bilateral trade flows of agricultural products. Specifically, the study jointly analyzes the impacts of three different reforms including financial reform, trade reform, and agricultural reform on agricultural trade. The results suggest that less restrictive credit constraints, reduced tariff rates, and less government interventions are likely to generate increase in total agricultural exports. The evidence further indicates that the impacts of the reforms vary considerably across less aggregated products as well as across reform forms. The results provide a solid policy foundation for pursuing structural reforms in order to stimulate trade and economic growth, given the fact that the index level of reforms has not reached the level of full liberalization yet


Methods commonly used to analyse oscillatory systems, such as short-time Fourier or wavelet transforms, require predefined oscillatory structures or ne-tuning of method's parameters. These limitations may be detrimental for an adequate component description and can introduce bias to the interpretation. This thesis addresses the challenge of identifying interacting components in a signal by introducing a model of coupled oscillators. The proposed model consists of two parts: Sturm-Liouville self-adjoint ordinary differential equation (ODE) and Kuramoto's coupling model. The resulting model, KurSL, is described by a set of coupled ODEs producing general amplitude- and frequency-modulated mutually interacting oscillations. The complexity of these equations depends on the definition of the coupling function, the number of oscillators and the initial state of each oscillator. Thus, the performance of the KurSL decomposition can be characterised in terms of the model parameters optimisation. After introducing the model, the thesis provides analysis and discussion of the KurSL with examples of its usage. The method is firstly tested on various synthetic data that were generated from simulated stationary and dynamical processes. Such testing allows capturing various characteristics that are desirable in coupled oscillatory components such as phase and amplitude dynamics. Subsequently, experiments were performed on empirical EEG signals recorded from patients with epilepsy. Validation of these experiments is through comparisons to different orders of the KurSL and to other time-frequency methods. Overall results indicate that the KurSL method provides a more detailed description of oscillatory processes than the Huang-Hilbert transform and it provides insights comparable to manually tuned short-time Fourier transform and Morlet-based wavelet time-frequency representations. However, the advantage of the KurSL is that the similar results can be achieved with a finite number of components. Moreover, in contrast to the mentioned representations which, due to finite resolution, are unable to localise time-frequency events precisely, the KurSL provides an instantaneous description. This exactness allows to identify any modulations in both time and frequency domains and thus better describe the behaviour of the analysed system.


Under German law the corporate endgame process of obtaining full control over a company offers multiple investment opportunities for investors with high investment flexibility, and is therefore particularly attractive to hedge funds. This paper investigates the determinants of hedge fund investment in corporate endgame processes based on a sample of 76 endgame situations of publicly listed German companies and investment data of 326 hedge funds. Examining characteristics of investment targets, we find that hedge funds invest in companies with a non-dominant majority owner and high stake of index funds as latter's inability to react in change of control situations creates a supportive investment environment for hedge funds. Hedge funds are most likely to invest after takeover consummation and before announcement of a new endgame transaction. Investigating the determinants of ongoing engagement after initial investment, we find that the presence of other institutional investors, especially hedge funds positively affects engagement likelihood, serving as a validation of the own investment approach. Abnormal performance and trading liquidity of target stock also positively affect hedge funds' engagement. The results indicate that the endgame process in Germany is an attractive investment opportunity for hedge funds, while hedge fund involvement also adds complexity to the corporate control process.


Background Dysphagia is a common complication after stroke and is associated with the development of pneumonia. This study aimed to summarize the relationship between dysphagia and pneumonia in post-stroke patients. Materials and Methods Articles published up to November 2021 were searched in the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, and Scopus databases. Studies that investigated the development of pneumonia in acute stroke patients with and without dysphagia were included. The methodological quality of individual studies was evaluated using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies-of Interventions tool, and publication bias was evaluated using a funnel plot and Egger's test. Results Of 5,314 studies, five studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results revealed that the incidence of pneumonia was significantly higher in the dysphagia group than in the non-dysphagia group (OR 9.60; 95% CI 5.75–16.04; p < 0.0001; I2 = 78%). There was no significant difference in the mortality rate between the two groups (OR 5.64; 95% CI 0.83–38.18; p = 0.08; I2 = 99%). Conclusion Dysphagia is a significant risk factor for pneumonia after stroke. The early diagnosis and treatment of dysphagia in stroke patients are important to prevent stroke-associated pneumonia.