: In rabbits, application of ice-cold water to the ear lowers the skin temperature by 10.3 degrees C and, within 3-4 sec, the temperature in the subcutaneous vein by 4.3 degrees C. A stepwise cooling of isolated subcutaneous artery or vein causes their constriction, and warming dilates the vessels with maximal amplitude when the temperature is changed by 8-12 degrees C. Further cooling or warming diminishes the response. Optimal constrictory responses of subcutaneous vessels to a standard dose of norepinephrine were observed at 38-32 degrees C.


This work has as its objective to add sand, up to 25 wt.%, to a clayey ceramic body used for roofing tiles fabrication. Specimens were prepared by extrusion and fired at 850oC. The evaluated properties were: plasticity, water absorption and flexural rupture strength. The microstructure of the fired ceramic was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that the sand improved the evaluated properties of the ceramic as well as its processing. The microstructure of the ceramic presented a minor amount of porosity as a function of the sand addition.


Author(s): Vanderscoff, Cameron; Stanley, Audrey | Abstract: Audrey Stanley is a Professor Emerita of Theater Arts at UC Santa Cruz, and the founding artistic director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz. In this oral history, Stanley addresses her life and career in education and theater, which spans from her youth in England to her ongoing tenure in Santa Cruz. Her narrative begins with her childhood in Whitstable, Kent, and London, where she was first introduced to theater through pantomimes at a young age, and was soon inspired to direct her inaugural production with a cast of local friends. Stanley relates both these experiences and their larger social context, discussing her education during the bombings and defense of England in World War II, and delineating the important role that theater and art played in that time of national trial. She follows this thread of interest through her experience at the University of Bristol, where the United Kingdom's first drama program was founded during her time as a student. As a result, Stanley emerged as one of the very first individuals in the country with a drama degree, and went to work as an educator setting up drama programs in a series of other English universities.Stanley's engagement with theater persisted and diversified through her work in universities in England and Canada, her UC Berkeley doctoral research on theatrical sites in ancient Greece, and her engagement with UCSC, where she has spent the majority of her career. She details the small-scale, experimental climate at Stevenson College and Cowell College upon her arrival and discusses the ensuing evolution of dramatic performance and theatrical education at the young university. After starting to build a career outside UCSC as a director, working at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and the Ashland Shakespeare Festival (where she was the first woman to direct a Shakespeare play), Stanley relates her decision to focus her career on the fledgling vision of a Shakespeare festival in Santa Cruz.This interview finds its heart in Stanley's ruminations on Shakespeare Santa Cruz, which became nationally renowned for its high-quality productions, marriage of scholarship and performance, generation of opportunities for students, and the unique beauty of its setting amongst the campus redwoods. Stanley relates both the triumphs of the festival—reflecting on individual productions, key collaborators, and its longevity—and its ongoing challenges with budget shortfalls, reflecting in particular on the issues of running a theater company with immediate fiscal needs in the densely layered financial and bureaucratic context of a large university.


Traditional approaches to stormwater management include construction of large, centralized end-of-pipe or interceptor solutions that can be extraordinarily expensive and contribute to other environmental impacts such as downstream flooding. The goal of this research is to look beyond conventional approaches to stormwater infrastructure and examine the effectiveness of various decentralized controls that use natural elements to dampen stormwater surges. Specifically, the research team examined highly distributed realtime control (DRTC) technologies for green infrastructure, such as advanced rainwater harvesting systems, dynamically controlled green roofs, wet detention basins, and underdrained bioretention systems. Particularly, the objective is to demonstrate that these DRTC systems can play a critical role in transforming our nation's urban infrastructure.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series

ISBN: 9781780406732 (eBook)


The widespread deployment of inexpensive communications technology, computational resources in the networking infrastructure, and network-enabled end devices poses an interesting problem for end users: how to locate a particular network service or device out of hundreds of thousands of accessible services and devices. This paper presents the architecture and implementation of a secure Service Discovery Service (SDS). Service providers use the SDS to advertise complex descriptions of available or already running services, while clients use the SDS to compose complex queries for locating these services. Service descriptions and queries use the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to encode such factors as cost, performance, location, and deviceor service-specific capabilities. The SDS provides a highlyavailable, fault-tolerant, incrementally scalable service for locating services in the wide-area. Security is a core component of the SDS and, where necessary, communications are both encrypted and authenticated. Furthermore, the SDS uses an hybrid access control list and capability system to control access to service information.


Decisions about choice of outcome measures outside of the economics context tend to focus on a two-way conflict between (I) the ideal form of measurement in any specific context and (II) what is practically feasible. But for measurement for economic purposes, there are two additional, related, conflicts: (III) what is required of the measure for it to be consistent with economic theory/the economic decision-making context, and (IV) what value judgements are acceptable within this theoretical approach.


Obese,normal, and underweight college-age subjects were divided into sub-groups of dieters and nondieters. Consumption following a preload was found to vary as a function of dieting, not obesity, with dieters exhibiting the "obese" response (absence of caloric compensation) irrespective of weight classification. Similarly, elevated levels of free fatty acids, normally found in the obese, were associated with dieting rather than obesity per se. Implications of these findings for current theories of obesity are discussed.


The aim of our study was to examine the frequency and characteristics of recurrent lower urinary tract infections (LUTIs) due to sexual intercourse (sex-induced cystitis - SIC) in female population of three districts of the rural Thebes targeted to investigate the influence of age and culture on its epidemiology. We examined 432 women between 15 and 65 years of age in female populations of three district of the rural areas of Thebes between May 2006 and January 2007 with symptoms of recurrent LUTIs. Women who reported a sexual intercourse 24-72 h before the onset of symptoms were evaluated as possible cases of SIC. Urinalysis was done during therapy, 10 days after completion of treatment and within 24 weeks after the initial therapy. Women with a positive urine culture were evaluated by an ultrasound examination of their urinary tract and those having abnormality of urinary tract were excluded from the study, while the remaining completed a simple questionnaire querying on several risk factors that could be possibly associated with SIC. The SIC, accounted for almost 40% of the recurrent cases, was the most frequent in non-menopausal women of age between 23-27 years and 40-47 years and affected almost equally women of all three groups (local, immigrants and rom). There were no statistically significant differences between the cultural groups in the frequency rate of SIC; however, the immigrant women study group showed a slightly lower frequency of SIC when compared to the other groups. Frequency of SIC was slightly higher during summer in all populations studied. The SIC being a neglected and often misdiagnosed disorder, represents a challenging and significant healthcare issue affecting mainly young women of lower socioeconomic groups independent of the ethnicity, behavioural and ethical issues.


Impulse radio systems transmit a number of ultrawideband pulses for each information bit. In a multiuser scenario, the pulses from a given user may have different signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SIR) and therefore a receiver that combines these signals with equal weight assignment is suboptimal. In this paper, a multiuser impulse radio system over an additive white Gaussian noise channel is considered and the performances of three types of receivers that employ different pulse combining schemes are investigated. Namely, a conventional matched filter receiver, a blinking receiver and a minimum mean square error (MMSE) receiver are considered. Assuming a large number of pulses per information bit, approximate expressions of bit error probability for the conventional matched filter and blinking receiver are presented. Then, conditions under which one receiver has a lower probability of error than the other are obtained. Also an MMSE receiver is proposed, which optimally combines the pulses but has higher complexity compared to the other types of receivers. Simulation studies are employed to compare the performances of the receivers and to verify the analytical expressions.


The present paper describes an electrical energy generation system that uses the methane gas produced by the biological processes at a controlled landfill as a source of primary energy; this installation is situated in Ca Asprete, in the municipality of Tavullia (Pesaro-Urbino), Italy, approximately 10 km from the town of Pesaro. The plant was officially opened in December 1998. The analysis of the plant begins with a brief description of the systems for extracting the biogas from the body of the landfill and for treating the biogas, and of the electromechanical equipment used to convert said fuel into electrical energy, concluding with the automated system for managing the plant. From the functional standpoint, the biogas plant was analyzed in its three main sections: · biogas collection-aspiration; · treatment and analysis; · conversion into electrical energy. The biogas collected is used to fuel two internal combustion engines coupled to two electrical generators, but before it is used at the power plant it is analyzed and treated to improve its quality and consequent energy efficiency.


We describe the design of high-performance parallel radix sort and merge sort routines for manycore GPUs, taking advantage of the full programmability offered by CUDA. Our radix sort is the fastest GPU sort and our merge sort is the fastest comparison-based sort reported in the literature. Our radix sort is up to 4 times faster than the graphics-based GPUSort and greater than 2 times faster than other CUDA-based radix sorts. It is also 23% faster, on average, than even a very carefully optimized multicore CPU sorting routine. To achieve this performance, we carefully design our algorithms to expose substantial fine-grained parallelism and decompose the computation into independent tasks that perform minimal global communication. We exploit the high-speed onchip shared memory provided by NVIDIA's GPU architecture and efficient data-parallel primitives, particularly parallel scan. While targeted at GPUs, these algorithms should also be well-suited for other manycore processors.


'Why is there no revolt?' People sympathetic to Russian workers naturally pose this question when faced with accounts of impoverishment, mass unemployment, unpaid wages, wholesale dismantling of social programmes, the pillaging of national wealth and destruction of the country's human and economic potential, and an illegitimate government that has made contempt for the law the centrepiece of its policy. Russian workers have suffered tremendously over the past years of capitalist restoration, even if their situation was far from ideal to begin with. While they have resisted, the resistance has obviously been ineffective. This was unexpected by most observers, given that the working class formed the vast majority of the Soviet population, was relatively well-educated, socially quite homogeneous, concentrated in giant enterprises, massively organized in trade unions, thoroughly exposed to socialist ideas (if not reality), and enjoyed a standard of living well above Third World levels.


In this work, we present a case study of the relevant timescales responsible for coupling between the changes of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions and the magnetospheric dynamics during the St. Patrick's Day Geomagnetic Storms in 2013 and 2015. We investigate the behavior of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) component Bz, the Perreault‐Akasofu coupling function and the AE, AL, AU, SYM‐H, and ASY‐H geomagnetic indices at different timescales by using the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method and the delayed mutual information (DMI). The EMD, indeed, allows to extract the intrinsic oscillations (modes) present into the different data sets, while the DMI, which provides a measure of the total amount of the linear and nonlinear shared information (correlation degree), allows to investigate the relevance of the different timescales in the solar wind‐magnetosphere coupling. The results clearly indicate the existence of a relevant timescale separation in the solar wind‐magnetosphere coupling. Indeed, while fluctuations at long timescales (τ > 200 min) show a large degree of correlation between solar wind parameters and magnetospheric dynamics proxies, at short timescales (τ < 200 min) this direct link is missing. This result suggests that fluctuations at timescales lower than 200 min, although triggered by changes of the interplanetary conditions, are mainly dominated by internal processes and are not directly driven by solar wind/IMF. Conversely, the magnetospheric dynamics in response to the solar wind/IMF driver at timescales longer than 200 min resembles the changes observed in the solar wind/IMF features. Finally, these results can be useful for Space Weather forecasting.


: Foot infections are common in the diabetic patient. They result from a interplay of neuropathy, ischemia, and metabolic alterations. The team approach in the management of diabetic foot infections can provide the most optimal and probably the most cost-effective care. The cornerstone of treatment is early recognition and prompt intervention. After diagnostic cultures are obtained, infections should be treated with appropriate antibiotics. Bony deformities should be corrected. The vascular status of the patient should be evaluated, and if necessary, treatment should be directed at improving blood flow to the affected foot.


A few open source software (OSS) products exhibit an abrupt and significant increase in downloads. However, the majority of OSS products fail to gain much interest. Identifying early success is important for catalyzing growth in OSS markets. However, previous OSS research has not examined early product success dynamics and assumes adoption to be a continuous process. We propose OSS takeoff in adoptions as a measure of eventual product success. Takeoff is a nonlinear inflection point separating the early development from the growth phase in the product lifecycle. Using arguments from the signaling literature, we propose that community activities send signals about product quality and reduce information asymmetry faced by potential adopters of OSS products. Estimating a Cox proportional hazard model using a large sample of OSS products from SourceForge, we find that takeoff times are significantly associated with signals of quality deficiency and improvement. Further, we find that target audience and product innovativeness moderate this relationship.


This paper analyzes the monetary profit for service providers according to QoS schemes in IP network services. First, we model the relationship between the QoS in transferring data in IP networks and the amount that customers are willing to pay (WTP) for the QoS based on utility theory, and we verify the model by a subjective experiment in Web page access. The model explains that WTP is an upper limit decreased by some power of the data transfer QoS. Secondly, by using the WTP model, we demonstrate that a best-effort service has an upper limit on accommodating customers to increase the provider's profit, and the profit tends to increase as the provider's network-scale becomes larger. Thirdly, we show that a service with QoS priority control is more effective at improving the profit than only a best-effort service, and the effect is especially noticeable for minor providers with a small market share.


The chondrocranium of the existing specimens of the larval Polypterus have been redescribed, and the earlier specimens figured for the first time. The development of the following structures have not been described previously in Polypterus: 1. The lateral commissure which forms first from the prootic and then the post-palatine process. 2. The taenia marginales, which arise as distinct cartilages. 3. The development of the visceral arches and the temporary fusion of the first and second hypobranchials and ceratobranchials. This development is then briefly compared with those of Scyllium, Amia, Lepidosteus, Acipenser, and Teleosts; a strong likeness being shown between it and that of Amia. The view of Goodrich is thus afforded additional support.


The issue of Sunday work has become a relevant social issue during the last decade, which has been the period of transition in Croatia. Aside from political discussions, Sunday work has triggered reevaluation of social values related to the work regulations. One of the major social actors whose attitude on the issue has been made public, is the Catholic Church. Since the majority of Croatia's population are Catholic, it seems relevant to consider the attitudes of Croatian citizens towards Sunday work and Sunday shopping. Looking at the religious belief as an implicit social norm, it seems appropriate to examine the influence of religiosity on consumer attitudes towards Sunday work and Sunday shopping in the context of Ajzen and Fishbein's (1975) Theory of Reasoned Action. Their postulate is that the final behaviour is a result of behavioral intention, which results from the interaction of attitude and subjective norm, and the model is represented by the regression equation. The data needed for this research were collected by an omnibus survey (N=1000) on a representative sample of Croatia's population. The results of the research show that the majority of participants go shopping on Sunday (65%), and 43% think that all shops should be closed on Sunday. As much as 57% of participants would agree to work on Sunday if they would be financially stimulated. There is almost a linear growth trend of the negative attitude towards Sunday work as a function of hourly wages raise. Furthermore, participants having a more negative attitude towards shops being open on Sunday, tend to shop less on this day. Taking into consideration the intention of Sunday work and Sunday shopping, the predictions of the Ajzen and Fishbein's model have been only partly confirmed. Employing both measures of behavioral intention, attitude proves to be the only component relevant for prediction. This result is in contrast with the theoretical expectations and the postulated model. The lack of influence of religiosity could be viewed as resulting from the usage of some strategies of neutralization of cognitive dissonance (Dunford and Kunz, 1973) or from the insufficient specificity of the measure of religiosity (Ajzen i Fishbein, 1977).


We investigate the methods by which a Reservoir Computing Network (RCN) learns concepts such as 'similar' and 'different' between pairs of images using a small training dataset and generalizes these concepts to previously unseen types of data. Specifically, we show that an RCN trained to identify relationships between image-pairs drawn from a subset of digits from the MNIST database or the depth maps of subset of visual scenes from a moving camera generalizes the learned transformations to images of digits unseen during training or depth maps of different visual scenes. We infer, using Principal Component Analysis, that the high dimensional reservoir states generated from an input image pair with a specific transformation converge over time to a unique relationship. Thus, as opposed to training the entire high dimensional reservoir state, the reservoir only needs to train on these unique relationships, allowing the reservoir to perform well with very few training examples. Thus, generalization of learning to unseen images is interpretable in terms of clustering of the reservoir state onto the attractor corresponding to the transformation in reservoir space. We find that RCNs can identify and generalize linear and non-linear transformations, and combinations of transformations, naturally and be a robust and effective image classifier. Additionally, RCNs perform significantly better than state of the art neural network classification techniques such as deep Siamese Neural Networks (SNNs) in generalization tasks both on the MNIST dataset and more complex depth maps of visual scenes from a moving camera. This work helps bridge the gap between explainable machine learning and biological learning through analogies using small datasets, and points to new directions in the investigation of learning processes.


Improving the intelligibility of speech in different environments is one of the main objectives of hearing aid signal processing algorithms. Hearing aids typically employ beamforming techniques using multiple microphones for this task. In this paper, we discuss a binaural beamforming scheme that uses signals from the hearing aids worn on both the left and right ears. Specifically, we analyze the effect of a low bit rate wireless communication link between the left and right hearing aids on the performance of the beamformer. The scheme is comprised of a generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) that has two inputs: observations from one ear, and quantized observations from the other ear, and whose output is an estimate of the desired signal. We analyze the performance of this scheme in the presence of a localized interferer as a function of the communication bit rate using the resultant mean-squared error as the signal distortion measure.


Experience of endocardial pacing in eighty-two patients with atrioventricular block after myocardial infarction is described. A unipolar pacing wire was passed into an antecubital fossa vein and passed into the right atrium and wedged into the apex of the right ventricle under radiological control using an image intensifier. All patients were attached to an external demand unit set at 60/min which will pace if there is asystole longer than 1 sec. The disadvantages of pacing are discussed. A fall in mortality occurred from 71% of unpaced patients to 38% of thirty-seven patients where demand pacing was given. When suppressant drugs (lignocaine, procainamide and quinidine) were given in addition to pacing the mortality dropped to 11% of twentyseven patients. The disadvantages of pacing are few and it is considered that suppressant drugs are only used with safety when a pacing system has been installed.


The United Kingdom Governments intent to embed collaborative Level 2 BIM into publicly procured building projects from 2016 (BIM Task Group, 2012) trails the General Services Administrations (GSA, 2012) earlier and similar initiative to require the adoption of BIM protocols in the USA from the 2007 fiscal year. The built environment scene is currently awash with a panoply of initiatives sharing a mission to disseminate the BIM message via around 350 organisations which represent built environment professional interests in the UK. These developments raise challenging and complex agendas for an industry which historically (Latham, Egan et al) has been perceived as being fragmented and lacking in the research and development resource base necessary to introduce and effectively disseminate new knowledge, understanding and practice. Race (2012) has noted that engagement with the BIM agenda should be tempered by the critical perspective which Shon (2009) argued is a key component of the reflective practitioners skill set. Technical design has been perceived as a core skill for the architectural technologist. Making reference to a range of theoretical models, this paper will critically assess the technologists contemporary engagement with BIM related paradigms. The paper will also review BIM in historical and broader contexts of object oriented technical design, both within the built environment and across other design and manufacturing industries. In considering how the architectural technologist may move forward as key built environment player, reference will also be made to relationships with co-professionals and BIM futures including digital design/fabrication.


Current projections indicate that by 2025, water scarcity will affect over one quarter of the world's population. This suggests that the need to manage water more efficiently will become more pressing during the next few years as the demand for water increases along with the expansion of economies and their populations. This paper investigates the economic impacts of efficient intraregional and/or inter-regional water reallocation, and examines their corresponding economic gains. A Ramsey-type growth model of a small, open, competitive economy is fitted to year 2000 Chinese data andthe empirical model is used to perform policy experiments. Within region water reallocation increases per-capita Chinese GDP by about 1.5% per year over the period 2000-2060. The aggregate potential welfare gain due to this reallocation is 1002.51 billion RMB. Transferring water from southern to northern China via the South-North Water Transfer Project, on average, has a smaller impact on per-capita GDP over the period 2000-2060, with an aggregate welfare gain of 557.23 billion RMB. Combining intra-regional and inter-regional water reallocations, on average, increases per-capita GDP by 0.38% per year over the period and the aggregate welfare gain from this combination is 1148.06 billion RMB.


Between 1995 and 2000, 22 cases with low velocity missile injuries of the spine and spinal cord were treated in three service hospitals. All were adult males, with a mean age of 30.7 years. The wounds were caused by splinters in 18 (82%) and bullets in 4 (18%). Twelve patients received more than one splinter. The cervical and thoracic spines were most frequently involved. In 7 cases, there were injuries to other organs. There was extensive initial deficit (quadriplegia, paraplegia) in 18 (82%) cases, while 4 (18%) had partial deficits. The patients were evaluated by spine radiographs. Myelography was done in 4, CT myelography in 11 and MRI in 4 patients. Two patients had intramedullary hematoma without any skeletal injury, and were treated conservatively. Seventeen patients were treated operatively, and associated injuries of other organs received priority management. Surgery was in the form of debridement, exploration of the spinal cord, hemostasis, decompression and dural repair. Steroids and antibiotics were given routinely. Three patients (2 with cervical and 1 with thoracic spine injury) died preoperatively, and 1 (with dorsolumbar injury) died in the postoperative period due to multi-organ injury. Patients with complete injury remained completely paralyzed, while those with an incomplete injury showed improvement in their neurological grades. The initial neurological grade is the best prognostic indicator, and these injuries are often accompanied by multi-organ injuries. There was no instance of postoperative meningitis or CSF leak. These injuries should be explored for debridement and dural repair.


Weight, height, and head circumference measurements of 4,167 Spanish-surnamed school-aged children were compared with similar data from 2,322 non-Spanish surnamed children who resided in the same Denver, Colorado neighborhoods. These data were also compared with data from six other studies. Both male and female Spanish-surnamed children were found to weigh less, be shorter, and have smaller head circumferences than non-Spanish-surnamed children living in the same Denver neighborhoods. The sizes of the children in these two populations residing in lower and lower-middle class neighborhoods were closer to each other than to the sizes of children from middle and upper-middle socioeconomic classes as measured in previous studies or to the sizes of children in the recently published cross-sectional National Center for Health Statistics study. Such comparisons suggest that growth retardation is more a reflection of socioeconomic factors than of ethnic-genetic factors.


This paper reports flocking, communal feeding and other aspects of sea-based social behaviour in the jackass penguin ( Spheniscus demersus). Penguins tend to occur within about 15 km of the mainland, but range farther afield from the islands used for breeding and/or roosting. Relatively large groups of 50 and more birds occur more than 50 km from the nearest island, but seldom more than 15 km from the mainland. The majority of the sea-going population consists of birds occurring in groups. Mean group size is eight birds. In any one particular group the members all tend to perform the same behaviour at the same time. The tendency to form foraging groups and the highly synchronized diving and cohesion of these groups indicate that this behaviour is socially facilitated, suggesting that it is adaptive in terms of both enhanced prey location and capture. Feeding penguins do not submerge for long and do not dive deeply. Birds in diving groups perform head-dipping movements which might signal readiness to dive and thus promote synchronous activity. The paper points out how little is known about jackass penguins at sea - the environment in which they probably spend the majority of their time. Lack of information on the birds at sea precludes proper interpretation of many land-based events attending the biology of the bird and its conservation.


In the fall of 1988, this study was conducted in the public schools of Helena, Montana, to see if a statistically significant relationship existed between the amount of musical experiences children had in early childhood and their language achievement as measured following the children's second year in elementary school. Parents of randomly selected third grade children completed the HOMES questionnaire to determine the musical experience of their children. Language achievement was determined by the CTBS scores in mechanical language, expressive language, reading, and spelling. Gender was also of interest in this study; therefore a two-way analysis of variance test was used with gender and musical experience being the two independent variables and one of the four language scores being the dependent variable. The test was run four times, once for each dependent variable. A chi-square test was also run to determine if either gender was given significantly more musical experience. Three hypotheses were tested for each language skill. No interaction of independent variables existed for any of the dependent variables, so main effects were tested for each. The high group for musical experience also was found to be significantly higher in language achievement for the skills of expressive language, reading, and spelling. Only mechanical language showed no such relationship. It was also the only skill area that did show a significant relationship to gender, with girls being higher. The chi-square test showed that girls received significantly more musical experience than boys. Because a strong relationship was found to exist between music and three areas of language development, it was recommended that parents, teachers, and other caretakers of young children provide environments rich in musical experience. Additionally, further research should be performed to determine which particular types of musical experience have the strongest relationship to language development. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD by Judy Ann Hove Harding A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana


Can we bypass the simplified theory (critical theory) of domination and oppression often used to characterize the current situation of enclosure of Palestinians in East Jerusalem? Our survey and research concern the pragmatic actions of the citizens of East Jerusalem to overcome enclosure and separatism. Despite the relations of force imposed by closure (the control of movement and of the mobility of people, the military presence, and the physical imprint of the fence), citizens create their own modes for regulating these injustices. These modes correspond to illegal or informal movements in order to cross the border between East Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, to benefit from economic activities or to obtain an administrative status. Pragmatic actions overcome the traditional break between the political and the moral, and challenge the collective norms (stemming from religion, resistance and patriotism). These practical actions also reveal forms of trust in the enemy (Israel), that contradict to some extent the norms and collective judgments within the community (where the sense of patriotism and honor dominates), appearing as tests for civility and human decency. They mark the emergence of individualism and subjectivity which could be linked to the notion of self-realization and freedom which are both values of liberalism, and consist in recognizing the capacities and capabilities which are also the sources of pluralism. Such an approach opens the perspective for the notion of the recognition at a non-institutional level.


In 1724, the prosecutor-general of the Grand Council of Malines, the supreme court of the Austrian Netherlands, opened a judicial investigation into the marquis of Westerlo, one of the highest aristocrats in the Low Countries. It was alleged that he had abused his power against a peasant from Herselt, one of the villages in the marquisate of Westerlo. The investigation ultimately led nowhere, but its records do reveal frequent and far-reaching abuses of power against the inhabitants of the marquisate. Moreover, they show that the villagers were not powerless but could organise themselves in various ways against their lord's coercive actions. Additionally, the case illustrates the gradual and growing penetration of the state apparatus into the administration of local seigneuries. Finally, this essay demonstrates the need for more research on the relationships between lords and villagers. This is a neglected field of inquiry although the majority of the population in the Austrian Netherlands lived in the countryside, large parts of which consisted of seigneuries.


The proliferation of commercial computerized systems to improve cognitive functions has helped many people, yet several key issues remain open. The current research focuses on the effect of feedback given to trainees in a computerized training system for visual attention. The visual attention skill was trained specifically to control temporal integration: a process in which a series of stimuli with a short break between them is combined together into one stimulus. Two training groups were compared: one with complete feedback during the training (Feedback group) and one without (No Feedback group), with 15 trainees in each group. The results demonstrated that the Feedback group's performance was significantly poorer compared to the No Feedback group as assessed by the number of errors in new sets (measured during training). The deterioration observed in performance during training is not a common phenomenon. We explain these results by the theory of overconfidence. Based on the research results, we assert that giving feedback during cognitive computerized training can lead to undesirable consequences also in training, and should be re-considered.


In experiments designed to elucidate the mechanism by which tolerance to bacterial pyrogens is developed, the following observations were made: 1. Animals whose febrile reactions to bacterial pyrogens were markedly diminished, as a result of repeated injections, showed increases in response following R-E blockade. 2. Pyrogenic substances disappeared from the circulating blood more rapidly in rabbits rendered pyrogen-tolerant than in normal animals. Lack of specificity was shown by the fact that rabbits previously injected with Eberthella typhosa bacterial vaccine were able to remove the pyrogens of Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from their blood more rapidly than normal animals. 3. R-E blockade-retarded the speed of disappearance of pyrogens from the circulating blood of animals which had been rendered relatively tolerant by previous injections of these substances. A possible mechanism for the development of unresponsiveness to bacterial pyrogens is suggested.


The 'law and . . .' field of legal scholarship verges on consensus about the co-constitution between law and nearly everything else. Co-constitution raises questions about how to differentiate law from other things. The contemporary turn from words towards the material brings fresh perspective on these questions by suggesting that law's differentiation is fabricated through materiality. This article considers whether and how material techniques that differentiate law might fabricate the difference of a thing not commonly understood by Western law as law. Its focus is an object created in Haida Gwaii in the late nineteenth century and now displayed in the British Museum. It shows that while techniques common to Western law differentiate this thing, competing materialities are also at work. Furthermore, jurisdictional choices are embedded in the fabrication of this thing's difference. Understanding law as differentiated materially does not escape the social and jurisdictional forces that underpin how the matter of law comes to matter.


Seismicity in eastern Canada hos tendency to occur in regions where ancient zones of weakness are reactivated by neotectonic processes. Seismicity along the St. Lawrence Valley occurs along steeply dipping Precambrian normal faults that were reactivated when the proto-Atlantic Ocean opened (600–700 MYA) and again when the Atlantic Ocean opened (150–200 MYA), subjecting the region along the valley to a horizontal compressive stress. Satellite imagery along the St. Lawrence and interconnected grabens delineates numerous faults (and linears) that partition the grabens and adjacent shield areas into megablocks that could be undergoing different vertical motion, thus providing a rationale as to why seismicity is not continuous along and adjacent to these grabens. The Charlevoix region, historically the most seismically active in eastern Canada, is unique in the sense that seismicity is occurring in a region where a crater impact area overlaps the St. Lawrence River. Shock waves from this meteor impact, which occurred about 350 MYA, likely reactivated and increased the permeability of these ancient zones of weakness along the St. Lawrence River; thus water from this river seeping down these permeable faults could contribute to current seismicity by effecting changes in pore pressure and fault gouge characteristics (frictional resistance). The Miramichi earthquake sequence, which commenced in January of 1982, is confined primarily to a granitic intrusion, and consequently it is hypothesized that seismicity is occurring along weakened linears that were generated during the formation (about 380 MYA) of the intrusion. The high horizontal stress field in the epicentral area indicates the possibility of stress enhancement of the tectonic stress field within the intrusion. A notable feature of the aftershock activity is the delineation of a conjugate, V-shaped pattern along a W-E vertical profile. Differences in focal depth, which range between 3–9 km for Miramichi hypocenters and 5 to 22 km for Charlevoix hypocenters, can be attributed to differences in the depth where brittle failure ends and viscoelastic processes start; different temperature-depth profiles are a major contributor as the heat flow is moderate (1.5 HFU) in the Miramichi region, and low (1.0 HFU) in the Charlevoix region. The correlation between postglacial rebound stresses and earthquake activity has been documented along the Boothia - Bell Arch system and Baffin Island - Baffin Bay region in northern and northeastern Canada respectively. However, whether postglacial rebound stresses can actually dictate the mode of failure or simply act as a triggering mechanism for earthquakes is a contentious issue. In addition, there is a dichotomy in terms of whether the neutral stress state exists with the ice bad on or off; the reason for the former view is that the ice bad has been on more than it has been off during the past 100,000 years so that transient stresses generated during loading would dissipate over this time span. Until these differences can be resolved, and vertical motion doe to postglacial rebound can be differentiated from tectonic movement and processes, the cause - effect relation between earthquake activity in eastern Canada and postglacial rebound remains uncertain.


In times of pervasive party membership decline and ageing of political parties, young people that join one of the professionalised former catch-all parties are a rare species. But this group is exceptionally important as future political decision makers are most probably among them. This work analyses the motivations, experiences and future perspectives of young members in the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). Based on rich data, both qualitative and quantitative, it models the differences between different types of party members, based on their motivation and their future perspectives between career building and exit.

The work uses two very different strands of literature, on individual participation and on party organisation change. On the individual level, it is based upon classic resources-based and incentive-based theories of political participation and on the organisation level, it draws upon the notions of the cartel party and electoral-professional party. The study is guided by three research questions that put the emphasis on the individual level: What made young party members join a party? How do these members experience the party? How do young party members envision their future in the party?

The results show differences and potential areas of conflict between members; between potential future decision makers and potential future grass-root members as well as between young and old and students and non-students. It supports the assumption that these professionalised parties cannot count on their old milieus to provide them with a stable membership. The young members decide about their future in the party depending on what influence the party offers them. But this perception differs between potential leaders and potential leavers. The gap between perceiving intra-party influence as sufficient or as insufficient potentially leads to a future further divide between party leadership and other members and should be an area of concern for party organisations.


The propagation of light energy in tissues is an important problem in phototherapy, especially with the increased use of lasers as light sources. Often a slight difference in delivered energy separates a useless, efficacious, or disastrous treatment. Methods are presented for experimental characterization of the optical properties of a tissue and computational prediction of the distribution of light energy within a tissue. A standard integrating sphere spectrophototneter measured the total transmission, Tt, total reflectance, Rt, and the on‐axis transmission, Ta, for incident collimated light that propagated through the dermis of albino mouse skin, over the visible spectrum. The diffusion approximation solution to the one‐dimensional (1‐D) optical transport equation computed the expected Tt, and Rt, for different combinations of absorbance, k, scattering, s, and anisotropy, g, and by iterative comparison of the measured and computed Tt, and Rt, values converged to the intrinsic tissue parameters. For example, mouse dermis presented optical parameters of 2.8 cm−1, 239 cm−1, and 0.74 for k,s, and g, respectively, at 488 nm wavelength. These values were used in the model to simulate the optical propagation of the 488‐nm line of an argon laser through mouse skin in vivo. A 1‐D Green's function thermal diffusion model computed the temperature distribution within the tissue at different times during laser irradiation. In vitro experiments showed that the threshold temperature range for coagulation was 60°–70° C, and the kinetics were first order, with a temperature‐dependent rate constant that obeyed an Arrhenius relation (molar entropy 276 cal/mol‐°K, molar enthalpy 102 kcal/mol). The model simulation agreed with the corresponding in vivo experiment that a 2‐s pulse at 55 W/cm2 irradiance will achieve coagulation of the skin.


Aortography revealed bilateral renal artery stenosis in a patient with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, normal serum electrolyte levels, normal excretion of hydroxycorticosteroids, and increased excretion of aldosterone. Following an attempt at surgical correction of the stenosis, the patient died of a myocardial infarction. The autopsy revealed two adrenal adenomas which were morphologically indistinguishable from aldosterone-producing tumors. Therefore, the patient's hypertension would most likely not have been cured by correction of the renovascular lesions alone. Because concurrence of primary aldosteronism and renal artery stenosis is probably not rare, it is suggested that patients with renal artery stenosis be explored for adrenal adenomas prior to correction of the stenosis.


In a field as rapidly expanding as digital signal processing (DSP), even the basic topics change over time, both in nature and relative importance. It is important, therefore, to have an up-to-date text that not only covers the fundamentals but also follows a logical development that leaves no gaps that readers must somehow bridge by themselves. Digital Signal Processing with Examples in MATLAB is such a text. The presentation does not focus on DSP in isolation but relates it to continuous signal processing and treats digital signals as samples of physical phenomena. The author introduces topics not usually addressed in signal processing texts, including the discrete cosine transform, multirate signal processing, signal coding and compression, least squares systems design, and adaptive signal processing. He also uses the industry-standard software MATLAB to provide DSP functions and examples. Designed for a one-semester, upper-level course but also ideal for self-study and reference, Digital Signal Processing with Examples in MATLAB is self-contained and rigorous. Samuel D. Stearns has been a distinguished member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is now a consultant. His principal technical areas are DSP and adaptive signal processing. Mathematical methods are essential tools for all physical scientists. The second edition of A Guided Tour of Mathematical Methods provides a tour of the mathematical knowledge and techniques that are needed by students in this area. In contrast to more traditional textbooks, all the material is presented in the form of problems. Within these problems the basic mathematical theory and its physical applications are integrated. The mathematical insights that the student acquires are therefore driven by their physical insight. Topics that are covered include vector calculus, linear algebra, Fourier analysis, scale analysis, complex integration, Green's functions, normal modes, tensor calculus , and perturbation theory. This edition contains new chapters on dimensional analysis, variational calculus , and the asymptotic evaluation of integrals. This book can be used by undergraduates and lower-level graduate students in the physical sciences. It can serve as a stand-alone text or as a source of problems and examples to complement other textbooks. Roel Snieder holds the Keck Foundation Endowed Chair of Basic Exploration Science at the Colorado School of Mines. His research focuses on wave propagation and inverse problems. and US$55.00 (paperback). Introductory Quantum Optics provides an elementary introduction to the subject of quantum optics, the study of the quantum mechanical nature of …


The induced defense system of plants is activated after the occurrence of damage by a herbivore. The objective of this work was to evaluate whether plants of Eucalyptus grandis previously attacked by larvae of Thyrinteina arnobia become resistant to cutting by the leaf-cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa. There was no significant difference in the lapse of time spent by the workers of this ant before they started cutting plants previously attacked or not. There was significant reduction in the size of leaf fragments cut by the ants. It was concluded that plants previously attacked were less attractive to the leaf cutter due to the activation of their induced defense system.


This study investigated the effects of formulated and commercial diets as starter feeds on the performance of Clarias gariepinus larvae in the hatchery. Two hundred larvae were randomly distributed in experimental tanks and were fed with a commercial diet Aqualis and Special formulated feed (poultry feed + fishmeal + vitamin C+premix) for 21 days. The result obtained revealed that there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the physico-chemical parameters in all treatments. Total heterotrophic bacteria, Vibro, Total coliform and Salmonela/ Shigella were identified in the microbial analysis of the fish waters in all treatments. The total heterotrophic, and Vibro counts in the tank waters were significantly higher in specially formulated diet than Aqualis starter feed. Total coliform count and Salmonela/Shigella were less than thirty (<30) in all the water samples. Fish fed Special feed had a higher survival rate than Aqualis. Special feed was also higher in length increase of larvae (8.96 ± 7.11 mm), than the larvae fed with Aqualis. There was steady reduction of the microbial flora as the fish became older. The weekly results showed that condition factors were less than one, in all the treatments, at the end of the third week.


Background
We have discovered that CD8+cells actively display quiescent status in tumor environment with several pathways. Moreover, heterogeneous immune responses from different patients' CD8+ cells have been confirmed by genomewide association study (GWAS). Therefore, heterogeneous immune responses of CD8+ cells from quiescent status to active status should be addressed by system biology for personalized immunotherapy.

Methods and Findings
After we measured mRNA expression level obtained from quiescent CD8+ cells of two liver cancer specimens, significant network with a discovery of their targeting compounds was uncovered in some subtle differences of mRNA gene expression detected in the heterogeneous responses of quiescent CD8 cells. Etoposide and taurine could inhibit REST (65%) and ERF (87%) in specimen-1; taurine inhibited both ERF and SKI and loratadine supressed SKI in specimen-2. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) showed 61+5.6% by etoposide and 45+9% by taurine in specimen-1 and demonstrated 48+6% by taurine and 45+4% by loratadine in specimen-2.

Conclusion
Our results demonstrate that heterogeneous immune responses of CD8+ cells can be analysed by system biology for further personalized immunotherapy.


This article is a concept about the urgency of applying the method of dakwah irsyad in Pondok Pesantren as an alternative solution to the application of punishment or sanction. With the imposition of punishment for students who violate the Pesantren rule, until the release of Pesantren, has actually ignored the hopes and aspirations of some santri and parents who actually have an interest in the quality of Pesantren education. In addition to punishment, there are actually methods of da'wah that can be applied in Pesantren in the effort to form and maintain the morals of the students. The method is irsyad Islam. Through interviews and analysis of the concepts and results of research on irshad methods, the author tries to offer a thought about the urgency of irshad methods in Pesantren. Among the techniques of the irsyad method are guidance and counseling or BK. There are two important things in this paper, namely: the urgency of applying irshad methods in Pesantren, and the proper form of irsyad application implemented in Pesantren. Ershad or BK appropriately applied in Pesantren is BK Islam, that is with approach of Al-Qur'an and Hadith. Furthermore, the practice of BK Islam in Pesantren is not merely the service of a BK teacher who is given at any time, but is the practice of guidance and counseling of Islam intensively in small groups. In the effort of effectiveness, Pesantren can cooperate with various parties including with the local Islamic University that has Department of BK Islam.Keywords: Islamic irsyad, da'wah, pesantren, and punishment.


Abstract Introduction: Chronic bronchitis (CB) is a clinically common and recurrent respiratory disease. However, many trials have shown that acupuncture can effectively treat CB. There is currently no systematic review of this therapy. The plan is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of this treatment in patients with CB. Methods and analysis: This systematic evaluation will entail an electronic and manual search of all acupuncture for CB from inception to December 31, 2020, regardless of the publication status or language. Databases include PubMed, Embase, Springer, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, the World Health Organization International Clinical Trial Registration Platform, the Chinese Medicine Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the China Science Journal Database, and the Wanfang Database. Other sources of information, including bibliographies and meeting minutes for identified publications, will also be searched. A manual search for grey literature, including unpublished conference articles will be performed. Additionally, any clinical randomized controlled trials related to acupuncture for CB, regardless of the publication status and language limitations, will be included in the study. Study selection, data extraction, and research quality assessments will be conducted independently by 2 researchers. The main result was the Change in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator function as measured by sweat chloride analysis or treatment effect. Secondary outcomes included Quality of life (eg, SF-36), change in Breathlessness, Cough, and Sputum Scale score, follow-up relapse rate, and adverse events. The system searches for randomized controlled trials of this therapy for CB. Implement the Cochrane RevMan V5.3 bias assessment tool to assess bias risk, data integration risk, meta-analysis risk, and subgroup analysis risk (if conditions are met). Mean difference, standard mean deviation, and binary data will be used to represent continuous results. Results: This study will provide a comprehensive review and evaluation of the available evidence for the treatment of CB using this therapy. Conclusion: This study will provide new evidence to evaluate the effectiveness and side effects of acupuncture on CB. Because the data are not personalized, no formal ethical approval is required. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020170287


Interest in bowhead whale stock structure has been high due to the species' extreme historical depletion, differential rates of recovery, the potential effects of climate change, and the need to set appropriate quotas for aboriginal hunts. We present an analysis of 42 linked and unlinked single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among 3 bowhead whale stocks and within the Bering/Chukchi/Beaufort Seas (BCB) stock, and compare results with previously published results of mtDNA control region sequences and 22 microsatellites. We performed tests of population structure (FST, χ2, STRUCTURE), population assignment, and estimates of effective population size (Ne), and evaluated different numbers of loci and samples to estimate the relative statistical power of SNPs and microsatellites. Results indicate that this number of SNPs provides similar power to microsatellites to detect low levels of differentiation (FST = 0.005−0.03) between bowhead populations with sample sizes of at least 20 per population. Neither marker performed well for Bayesian analysis of population structure (STRUCTURE) for the strata that had high diversity coupled with low differentiation. This example is valuable in cautioning against use of STRUCTURE to exclude demographic independence of relatively abundant populations. Microsatellites provided greater precision for estimates of Ne and for assignment tests. All 3 genetic marker types are consistent with the BCB stock being a single population. For microsatellites, differences were found between individuals born before 1949 and those born after 1979. SNPs are continuing to prove valuable as tools for understanding structure and demography of populations, and are likely to prove beneficial for long-term monitoring of bowhead whales.


Abstract I investigate how different legal regimes affect auditor's effort and investors' investment decisions when the auditor is subject to probability weighting and loss aversion, which are two important characteristics of Prospect Theory. Probability weighting encourages an auditor to overrate the audit risk and the likelihood of damages leading to inflated audit fees which could help to explain the BigN audit-fee premium. With loss aversion, an auditor is sensitive to the risk of damage compensation and, thus, tends to exert excessive caution which also generates excessive audit fees. Consequently, investors may choose not to hire an auditor and, as a result, may forego an otherwise profitable investment. These effects are more intense with a strict liability regime than with a negligence rule because with the latter, the auditor is not held liable when due care has been exerted. This removes the risk of incurring losses. The paper highlights the robustness of the negligence regime when preferences are unobservable.


The vehicle brands of today need to develop high quality products in a short period of time to satisfy the consumer needs and to stand out in the competition. To be able to do this simulation tools have been used more and more in the development process. This would enable quick evaluation of different concepts and setups without the need of building physical prototypes (though physical prototypes are still common to validate development in different stages). The goal of this thesis is to contribute to this trend by developing and evaluating a process of optimizing the control parameters of an EPAS (electronic power assist steering) system by solely using computer aided engineering (CAE) tools. This tuning is done to improve the steering feel for the driver. The process could then be used to improve the initial tuning of such a system or in a later stage completely parameterize it.In this project, a complete process from setting up the simulation environment to developing the optimization process of the parameters was developed. A vehicle model was simulated using the real time simulation software IPG CarMaker, parameterized by multi-body simulation results and tyre measurements. The steering system itself was modelled by the supplier in Simulink so that the entire vehicle could be co-simulated using both CarMaker and Simulink. To evaluate the performance of the steering system objective metrics were used, each of which had a target range.The optimization process itself utilizes the optimization tool Tomlab, which is a powerful Matlab toolbox. Tomlab uses a complex strategy of evaluating the response of a system when the relationship between the inputs (in this case the EPAS control parameters) and the outputs (in this case the objective metrics) is unknown. A cost function using the difference between the target metric value and the actual metric value was set up and the weighing factors for each of the tested metrics were determined by their sensitivity to the optimized parameter.The developed process was tested on three specific metrics for two specific parameters of the controller. These metrics were the friction feel, the torque build-up and the torque deadband, all three of which relates to the torque feedback of the steering wheel.All three metric values had room for improvement but after going through the developed process they could be adapted to be closer to the optimal target. These results need to be validated, but as a proof of concept the work described in this thesis shows that it is possible to parameterize a vehicle subsystem by only using CAE tools.


Abstract To think the borders of the metropolis beyond the representations associated with precariousness and crime presupposes recognizing the abundance and vitality of aesthetic practices and productions that are reconfiguring the discourses on the peripheries. In both Brazil and other Latin American countries, the emergence and diffusion of languages produced in the "margins" of cities call into question the center/periphery dualism - relativizing the existence of fixed boundaries, while proposing other ways of narrating different collective experiences. Commonly seen as a peripheral product, graffiti is an artistic language that express the multiplicity of agencies on the metropolitan edges. In the city of Medellín, Colombia, different groups formed mainly by young people from the edges have been taking on graffiti and hip hop as a resource to understand, narrate and distance themselves from the violence that crosses them. A significant sample of this type of collective experience is the Graffitour proposal, an "aesthetic, political and historical" route organized by the Centro Cultural Casa Kolacho in the Commune 13. Based on the assumption that the Graffitour transcends the simple representation of the medellinense periphery and constitutes a form of cultural and political organization to speak about the violence that appears in the city, this work reports the experience of having carried out this journey through Commune 13. In this sense, it aims to reflect on how discourses are produced on metropolitan edges in contemporary times and on the role of urban artistic manifestations in the interpretation of violence and in the construction of social memory.


Mobile devices become popular with the help of hardware improvements and new functions supported by many sensors. In this paper, we propose a mobile and multi-sensing fusion platform to integrate the unstructured streaming sensing data collecting as well as processing technology and build a QoS performance model to estimate the computing resource of the platform. We also demonstrate three mobile and multi-sensing fusion applications as the examples on the platform. Besides, we discuss the trend and challenges of combining the mobile and multi-sensing fusion technology and signal and information processing in mobile cloud computing in great detail.


There remains a lack of evidence on the implementation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems in low-resource settings, and in particular, of how adaptive instructional support can be implemented to support clinical training on smartphone devices. A core part of this challenge to determine an appropriate data and modelling approach to support adaptive instruction on mobile devices. Using data from a serious-gaming smartphone application for clinical training from Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper investigates models to support prediction of learner performance as a precursor to determining skill-mastery level. We explore Bayesian graph model configurations that predict unseen learner responses based on seen responses and investigate different combinations of these models that factor in time on task, and previous cumulative learning opportunities respectively. Our results show that a modelling approach that predicts learner performance while considering previous learning opportunities is more accurate than approaches that predicts learner performance based on time they spent on a learning task. Using time-on-task in combination with previous learning opportunities to augment prediction of learner performance produced no substantive increase on prediction accuracy compared to just using previous learning opportunities only. We discuss how our findings provide an avenue for introduction of adaptive scaffolding of feedback instruction, based on probabilistic performance thresholds informed by cumulative tries from previous attempts with the goal of helping the learner gain skill-mastery. Author


Copyright © 2009 BINUS Case Center. To order copies and request permission to reproduce materials, call 62-21-720-2222 or go to http://research.wherebusinessisreal.com. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the permission of BINUS Case Center. AMALIA E. MAULANA IDA KRISNAWATI


In this contribution we model flow‐induced anisotropy of polar ice in order to gain a better understanding for the underlying microstructure and its influence on the deformation process. In particular, a continuum‐mechanical, anisotropic flow model that is based on an anisotropic flow enhancement factor (CAFFE model) is applied. The polycrystalline ice is regarded as a mixture whose grains are characterized by their orientation. The approach is based on two distinct scales: the underlying microstructure influences the macroscopic material behavior and is taken into account phenomenologically. To achieve this, the orientation mass density is introduced as a mesoscopic field, i.e. it depends on a mesoscopic variable (the orientation) in addition to position and time. The classical flow law of Glen is extended by a scalar, but anisotropic enhancement factor. Four different effects (local rigid body rotation, grain rotation, rotation recrystallization, grain boundary migration) influencing the evolution of the grain orientations are taken into account. All modeling parameters are either measurable in or derivable from field observations or laboratory experiments. A finite volume method is chosen for the discretization procedure. Numerical results simulating the ice flow at the site of the EPICA ice core in Dronning Maud Land (referred to as EDML), Antarctica, are presented. They go beyond earlier results by Seddikit et al. (J. Glaciol. 2008; 54(187):631–642) in which only local rigid body rotation and grain rotation were accounted for. By comparing simulated and observed fabrics, we come up with reference values for the parameters in the constitutive equations for rotation recrystallization and grain boundary migration. Down to 2045 m depth, good agreement can be achieved; however, further down the observed fabric cannot be reproduced well due to numerical issues. Additionally, we study the influence of the two superposed deformation regimes of vertical compression and simple shear separately and demonstrate that the numerical problems are due to the predominant shear regime near the bottom, whereas vertical compression only produces stable results everywhere. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Eigenvolumes calculated from a linear transformation model were found previously to be linearly related to balloon volumes in excised hearts. The present study analyzed endocardial marker kinematics in intact, contracting left ventricles by biplane cinefluorography. Ejection fractions of the linear transformation model were compared by linear regression analysis with those of an ellipsoidal model, whose ejection fractions had been documented previously in closed and open-chest dog preparations. Data from 10 dogs indicated a correlation coefficient of 0.98 and a regression equation with close similarity to the line of identity. Ejection fractions calculated from the linear transformation model are concluded to be proportional to actual ejection fractions in intact, beating left ventricles.


Unintentional extubation can occur during pneumonectomy. Reintubation is sometimes difficult due to the position of the patient. Satisfactory ventilation can be achieved by means of an endotracheal tube inserted into the open bronchial stump, allowing elective reintubation to be performed transorally.


This paper gives an overview of the tunnel fire research, both experimental and theoretical work with the exception of computer modelling. The overview shows that the critical velocity for longitudinal flow in a tunnel is the single most well investigated fire phenomenon found in the tunnel fire research literature. This knowledge has reached a high level but there are still some areas that need to be investigated further. For example, very little work has been done on backlayering of smoke upstream a fire and cross-sectional effects on heat release rates, temperatures, flame lengths, fire spread and toxic conditions. Extensive work using model scale tunnels has contributed with new information and clarified many phenomena but the lack of good large scale experimental data is and will be a key issue in near future. This concerns mainly the correlation between heat release rate and maximum ceiling temperatures, the influence of ventilation on maximum heat release rate and fire growth rate and fire spread in and between vehicles. The extensive theoretical work which has been conducted concerning the effects of ventilation on heat release rates needs to be further investigated in large scale tests.


Architectural patterns are a helpful means for designing IT architectures, as they facilitate re-using proven knowledge (good practices) from previous exercises. Furthermore referencing a pattern in an architecture model helps improving the understandability of the model, as it directs to a comprehensive description of the pattern, but does not require to include the full description into the model. In this paper we describe how patterns can be woven into architecture models, focusing on deployment views of the IT infrastructure. Two different modeling approaches, Fundamental Modeling Concepts (FMC) and ArchiMate, are compared based on a real-world case concerning the infrastructure architecture of a large data center. This paper provides practical insights for IT architects from the industry by discussing the practical case and comparing both modeling approaches. Furthermore, it is supposed to intensify the exchange between industry experts and scientific researchers and it should motivate pursuing further research concerning patterns and IT infrastructure models.


In this paper we consider the lossy compression of a binary symmetric source. We present a scheme that provides a low complexity lossy compressor with near optimal empirical performance. The proposed scheme is based on b-reduced ultra-sparse LDPC codes over GF(q). Encoding is performed by the Reinforced Belief Propagation algorithm, a variant of Belief Propagation. The computational complexity at the encoder is O(≪ d ≫ .n.q. log2 q), where ≪ d ≫ is the average degree of the check nodes. For our code ensemble, decoding can be performed iteratively following the inverse steps of the leaf removal algorithm. For a sparse parity-check matrix the number of needed operations is O(n).


This dissertation is comprised of three different angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies on cuprate superconductors. The first study compares the band structure from two different single layer cuprates Tl{sub 2}Ba{sub 2}CuO{sub 6+{delta}} (Tl2201) T{sub c,max} {approx} 95 K and (Bi{sub 1.35}Pb{sub 0.85})(Sr{sub 1.47}La{sub 0.38})CuO{sub 6+{delta}} (Bi2201) T{sub c,max} {approx} 35 K. The aim of the study was to provide some insight into the reasons why single layer cuprate's maximum transition temperatures are so different. The study found two major differences in the band structure. First, the Fermi surface segments close to ({pi},0) are more parallel in Tl2201 than in Bi2201. Second, the shadow band usually related to crystal structure is only present in Bi2201, but absent in higher T{sub c} Tl2201. The second study looks at the different ways of doping Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8+{delta}} (Bi2212) in-situ by only changing the post bake-out vacuum conditions and temperature. The aim of the study is to systematically look into the generally overlooked experimental conditions that change the doping of a cleaved sample in ultra high vacuum (UHV) experiments. The study found two major experimental facts. First, in inadequate UHV conditions the carrier concentration of Bi2212 increases with time, due to themore » absorption of oxygen from CO{sub 2}/CO molecules, prime contaminants present in UHV systems. Second, in a very clean UHV system at elevated temperatures (above about 200 K), the carrier concentration decreases due to the loss of oxygen atoms from the Bi-O layer. The final study probed the particle-hole symmetry of the pseudogap phase in high temperature superconducting cuprates by looking at the thermally excited bands above the Fermi level. The data showed a particle-hole symmetric pseudogap which symmetrically closes away from the nested FS before the node. The data is consistent with a charge density wave (CDW) origin of the pseudogap, similar to STM checkerboard patterns in the pseudogap state.« less


Subradiant excitations, originally predicted by Dicke, have posed a long-standing challenge in physics owing to their weak radiative coupling to environment. Here we engineer massive coherently driven classical subradiance in planar metamaterial arrays as a spatially extended eigenmode comprising over 1000 metamolecules. By comparing the near- and far-field response in large-scale numerical simulations with those in experimental observations we identify strong evidence for classically correlated multimetamolecule subradiant states that dominate the total excitation energy. We show that similar spatially extended many-body subradiance can also exist in plasmonic metamaterial arrays at optical frequencies.


Johnsongrass [ Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.] is a malignant weed in the world, threatening biodiversity at invaded habitats in more than 50 countries. Because of similarity in morphological characters, S. halepense and its relatives, S. almum , S. nitidum , S. propinquum , S. sudanense , and S. bicolor , etc. was difficult to identify. As a supplementary methodolgy for morphology identification, a molecular detection method was established. Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCAR) marker is a recent established, reliabile, and stable molecular marker based on RAPD maker, an effective way for germplasm identification. In this study, one specific band of S.halepense was screened by 163 pairs of RAPD primers. According to the sequences of the band, a pair of special SCAR primers SH1/SH2 was designed and verified by 65 Sorghum DNA samples from all over the world. The results showed SCAR primers SH1/SH2 can be used to distinguish S.halepense and its relatives rapidly with three exceptions of Australia geotypes.


The author proposes a filter component to be included in a load-sharing algorithm to detect short-lived jobs not worth considering for remote execution. Three filters are presented. One filter, called History, detects short-lived jobs by using job names and statistics based on previous executions. Job traces are allocated from diskless work stations connected by a local area network and supported by a distributed file system. Trace-driven simulation is then used to evaluate History with respect to the other filters. Two load-sharing algorithms show significant improvement of the mean job response ratio when the History filter is added.<<ETX>>


The use and applicability of the guild concept to management is evaluated and questioned. Ecological problems are never as simple as implied in using one or two guild axes. A close examination of bird communities in a ponderosa pine forest reveals little relationship between guilds or guild blocks and the responses exhibited by indi- vidual bird species or bird species groups. Response guilds changed from year to year without any obvious changes in vegetation. A three-year composite analysis shows a clearer picture of the responses of ponderosa pine forest birds to the overall interactions between structure, weather, competition, and so on. The six response groups in the composite anal- ysis are species that (1) were absent in 1973 on most or all study plots and showed no preference for any forested site; (2) had their highest densities on the medium cut and light cut plots; (3) were absent in 1973 on most or all study plots and had their highest densities on the medium cut and light cut plots; (4) had their highest densities on the untreated, light cut, and medium cut plots; (5) had their highest den- sities on the untreated and light cut plots and were either absent or had greatly reduced densities on all other plots; and (6) were present only on the clearcut, except for the Rock Wren which was also on the medium cut and heavy cut plots. The overall correlation between species density and guild density was significantly higher for response guilds (e < 0.05) than for any of the structural or functional guilds. The whole concept of guild management needs much more re- search and development before it can be recommended as a management tool.


Recent research emphasizing the need for more business knowledge in information technology (IT) units and more technical knowledge in line functions largely overlooks the question of when maintaining either form of such "peripheral" knowledge—a costly endeavor—is valuable. Further application and process novelty are increasingly unavoidable in systems development projects but remain largely overlooked in theory. It is plausible that one type of peripheral knowledge is valuable under one type of novelty but not the other. I develop the idea that discriminating alignment between project novelty and peripheral knowledge is needed for them to enhance systems development performance. Thus, the valuable type of peripheral knowledge depends on whether a project involves novelty in the project concept or in its development processes. Further, we lack an explanation for how such discriminating alignment translates into improved project performance. I develop and test a middle-range theory built around two ideas to address these gaps. First, alignment between project novelty and peripheral knowledge must be discriminating to enhance systems development performance. Second, such discriminating alignment accelerates design convergence, which in turn enhances systems development performance. Tests using data from 159 projects support the proposed ideas. The primary contribution of this paper is therefore explaining when and how alignment between project novelty and peripheral knowledge in IT and client departments enhances systems development performance. The key implication is that greater application domain knowledge in the IT unit (technical knowledge in the client department) enhances performance in projects involving greater application novelty (process novelty).


This report introduces a new systolic algorithm for the sequence alignment problem. This work builds upon an existing systolic array for computing the edit distance between two sequences. The alignment array is meant to be used as the second phase in a two-phase design with a modiied edit distance array serving as the rst phase. An implementation on the SPLASH programmable logic array is described. Because of the extensive pipelining in the systolic array, computing an alignment on the array takes that same amount of time as computing just the edit distance. Compared to conventional computers, SPLASH implementation performs several orders of magnitude faster.


The gamma-ray sky has been observed with unprecedented accuracy in the last decade by the Fermi -large area telescope (LAT), allowing us to resolve and understand the high-energy Universe. The nature of the remaining unresolved emission [unresolved gamma-ray background (UGRB)] below the LAT source detection threshold can be uncovered by characterizing the amplitude and angular scale of the UGRB fluctuation field. This Letter presents a measurement of the UGRB autocorrelation angular power spectrum based on eight years of Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data products. The analysis is designed to be robust against contamination from resolved sources and noise systematics. The sensitivity to subthreshold sources is greatly enhanced with respect to previous measurements. We find evidence (with ∼3.7σ significance) that the scenario in which two classes of sources contribute to the UGRB signal is favored over a single class. A double power law with exponential cutoff can explain the anisotropy energy spectrum well, with photon indices of the two populations being 2.55±0.23 and 1.86±0.15.


Contemporary communities are no longer necessarily bound by the confines of a specific locality due to spatial mobility. My dissertation examines if and how mobile individuals may create community, the culture of one group, and the significance of place amidst mobility for creating community in modernity. I analyzed three years of ethnographic field notes and 44 interviews with individuals who attend the yearly arts event Burning Man in the Nevada desert. After the event, these burners return to their home environments, most of which are on the American west coast, but also spend a significant portion of their time traveling the world. I argue that regardless of the degree of spatial mobility, individuals in the extended global Burning Man community share common values, take part in relationships of mutual support, and have greater group commitments as a community. I focus on the urban context of Portland, Oregon and the role that place plays for mobile communities. I found that mobile actors create community by: (1) Turning the once place-based conception of the term into a group of collectively held action-oriented principles that include shared values and ideologies, identities, commitments, and lifestyles [and] (2) Transforming a variety of spaces into symbolic places of the community that help develop the solidarities of different extensions of the mobile group and provide sites of cultural integration. These places provide physical localities with which to produce and practice their counterculture, contribute to cultural integration and diffusion of various urban cultures, assist in the construction of a collective community identity, and reinforce a sense of mobile community belonging.


Basing on basic properties of coal gangue from No.1 mine of Pingdingshan Tian'an coal group, authors made coal gangue concrete with coal gangue instead of some aggregate, fly ash and slag instead of some cement. Coal gangue concrete was studied by the method of orthogonal experiment. Compression strength, its loss of strength after corrosion by sulphate, modulus of elasticity and its loss after freeze-thaw were analyzed. Optimum mix of coal gangue concrete was given by the integrated balance method. And Finally, SEM analysis on coal gangue concrete was researched. According to the experiment, Sulfate attacking on coal gangue concrete was little.


Benchmarking of watermarking algorithms is a complicated task that requires examination of a set of mutually dependent performance factors (algorithm complexity, decoding/detection performance, and perceptual quality). This paper will focus on detection/decoding performance evaluation and try to summarize its basic principles. A methodology for deriving the corresponding performance metrics will also be provided.


The Bibliotheque Medem (or Medem-Bibliotek, in Yiddish), in Paris, is the largest Yiddish library in Western and Central Europe, as well as a major Jewish cultural center. Founded in 1928 by a group of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who were aligned with the socialist Bund, its trajectory over eight decades (including the four years of the German occupation) is chronicled here. Today, the collections of the Bibliotheque Medem comprise 20,000 volumes in Yiddish and 10,000 titles in the Latin alphabet dealing with Jewish culture. In addition, it maintains about 30,000 uncataloged book volumes, extensive serial holdings, 300 posters, archives of a number of Yiddish authors, and a sound archive containing 7,500 recordings. Together with the libraries of the Alliance Israelite Universelle and the Seminaire Israelite de France (SIF), the Bibliotheque Medem is a principal partner in the Reseau Europeen des Bibliotheques Judaica et Hebraica (European Network of Judaica and Hebraica Libraries), which administers their union catalog and sponsors digitization projects of their holdings.


In Digital Signal Processing, the convolution and de-convolution with a very long sequence is ubiquitous in many application areas. The basic blocks in convolution and deconvolution implementation are multiplier and divider. They consume much of time. This paper presents a direct method of computing the discrete linear convolution, circular convolution and de-convolution. The approach is easy to learn because of the similarities to computing the multiplication of two numbers. The most significant aspect of the proposed method is the development of a multiplier and divider architecture based on Ancient Indian Vedic Mathematics sutras Urdhvatriyagbhyam and Nikhilam algorithm. The results show that the implementation of linear convolution and circular convolution using vedic mathematics is efficient in terms of area and speed compared to their implementation using conventional multiplier & divider architectures. The coding is done in Verilog HDL. Simulation and Synthesis are performed using Xilinx ISE design suit 14.2. Simulated results for proposed 4x4 bit Vedic convolution circuit shows a reduction in delay of 88% than the conventional method and 41% than the OLA method.


Objective To explore the relationship between occupation and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma, Barrett's Oesophagus, and Reflux Esophagitis. Methods In an all-Ireland case-control study, the FINBAR study, occupational information was collected in 224 out of 227 (98.7%) patients with Esophageal Adenocarcinoma; 222 out of 224 (99.1%) patients with long-segment Barrett's Oesophagus; 229 out of 230 (99.6%) Reflux Esophagitis, and 256 out of 260 (98.5%) controls. The reported occupations were coded according to the Finnish Classification of Occupations and then translated into the Nordic Occupational Cancer Project (NOCCA) occupational categories. Occupational exposures were assessed by the FinJEM job exposure matrix. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression adjusting for sex; age; location (Northern Ireland versus Republic of Ireland); educational level; alcohol drinking, tobacco smoking; total energy intake and fruits and vegetable consumption; and Body Mass Index. Results A statistically significant increased risk of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (OR 4.71, 95% CI: 1.14 to 19.40) and Barrett's Oesophagus (OR 6.97, 95% CI: 1.85 to 26.21) was found for 'Packers'. A significant association was found for 'manual handling of burdens' as assessed by FinJEM and Barrett's Oesophagus (OR 1.65, 95% CI: 1.03 to 2.63). Suggestive crude associations were found for Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (OR crude 1.82, 95% CI: 1.20 to 2.77) and Reflux Esophagitis (OR crude 1.46, 95% CI: 0.98 to 2.17) but these associations diminished after adjusting in the multivariable models: Barrett's Oesophagus (OR 1.45, 95% CI: 0.88 to 2.38), Reflux Esophagitis (OR 1.38, 95% CI: 0.78 to 2.46). Conclusions The data suggest that some occupations involved in ergonomic factors (physiological factors) associated to an increase of the intraabdominal pressure, could increase the risk of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma, Barrett's Oesophagus and Reflux Esophagitis, but further research is needed to confirm results.


1. The structure of the pituitary of the adult skate is described. 2. This gland shows two distinct regions of growth which can be correlated with increase of size of the animal. 3. The pars anterior can be subdivided into three regions differing by the staining reactions of their constituent cells: (a) an anterior region where deep-purple chromaphil cells are found; (b) a middle, where they are faintly basiphil; and (c) a posterior, where they are mainly acidophil. 4. It is suggested that these regions are homologous with the pars tuberalis, basiphil, and oxyphil areas respectively of the pars anterior of the mammalian pituitary. 5. The oxyphil cells show an iodine-leucobase reaction similar to that given by the oxyphil cells of the ox pituitary. 6. The ventral lobe is a completely separate structure from the pars intermedia, although it may run along the ventral surface of the latter for some distance. 7. The histology of the neuro-intermediate lobe is described.


The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the various types of contemporary intaroral anchorage mechanics that are being used with temporary anchorage devices (TADs) and to briefly mention the design and clinical use of these appliances. Original articles on "mini-implants in orthodontics, temporary anchorage devices, orthodontic miniscrews, mini-implants, and skeletal anchorage" were searched for on the PubMed database. Articles published between 2004 and May 2015 were used. References of 10 articles were also searched for and used. Beneslider, Miniscrew-supported EZ slider, Implant-supported Distal Jet, Mini-implant-Borne Pendulum B Appliance, Noncompliance-supported Maxillary Molar Distalization Appliance, Temporary Skeletal Anchorage Device-Supported Rapid Maxillary Expansion Appliance (RME), Mini-Implant-Supported Maxillary Expansion, Implant-Supported RME, Hybrid Hyrax, Frog Appliance, Palatally Anchored Mesialslider, Mousetrap Appliance, Lever Arm, and Mini-implant System were evaluated. In contemporary orthodontics, TADs have an important place. They can be combined with different intraoral mechanics and be efficiently used. The future of orthodontic intraoral anchorage may be based on TADs.


Encryption and decryption techniques protect the condentiality of information exchanged in a network whereas digital signature is electronic signing of data that provide
senders authentication using its secret key and verication using its public key and other domain parameters. A combination of encipherment and digital signing of message immunes it from most of the active attacks such as modification of data, masquerading and repudiation Elliptic curve discrete logarithmic problem (ECDLP) is the problem of finding the scalar multiplier knowing the corresponding points on an elliptic curve. ECDLP is very
complex and dicult to solve compared to any standard inverse operation of a one-way-trapdoor function such as Discrete Logarithm Problem or Factorization problem. Blind
signature allows a user to obtain a signature from an authority on any document, in such a way that the authority learns nothing about the message that is being signed. The blindness is an important property which distinguishes the blind signature from other signature schemes. Blind signature is an important cryptographic primitive used in protocols such as electronic voting systems and cash payment systems. Since an ECDLP enjoys a large space and time complexity and blind signature ensures anonymity of clients message while obtaining a signature from a trusted party, we aim at designing a blind signature scheme based upon ECDLP which is supposed to have a low computation cost and low communication overhead. The signature should be such that it has a small size, it is highly secured and is resistant to elliptic curve cryptography based attacks such as forgery attack, MOV attack etc.


Author(s): Samson, Judith Theresa | Advisor(s): Smith, Bradley R | Abstract: Algorithms for finding the shortest path between two nodes in a graph have been heavily studied for decades. Half a century ago solutions were found for the specific class of problems that involves finding the path of least length, when edges are weighted with a single metric. For example, although the Bellman-Ford and Dijkstra algorithms use different methodologies, both techniques depend on a single metric where the lengths of paths are found by adding path weights in the conventional way. The situation becomes more complicated when multiple metrics or single metrics other than simple Euclidean distance are involved. In these cases, the definition of ``shortest,'' or ``best'' is not straightforward. In addition, it is not always a simple matter to verify that packets in a distributed network are forwarded on best paths that are guaranteed loop-free. We call the set of edge weights, plus the rules that determine how paths are concatenated and compared, the path algebra. We find that the structure of a path algebra is the key to understanding how packets will be forwarded in a distributed network; specifically whether they will be forwarded on best, loop-free paths. This is independent of any path-finding algorithm. We show that ``best'' paths and loop-free paths are separate (albeit subtly related) properties, that are dependent on whether or not a path algebra is monotonic and strictly bounded. We examine examples of path algebras that possess various combinations of those two properties in order to illustrate how they affect the construction of forwarding paths. Finally, we prove that if a path algebra is monotonic and strictly bounded, it is guaranteed to produce forwarding paths that are best and loop-free. Previous works have introduced these ideas in separate contexts. We provide a consistent framework and prove general concepts that have only been introduced or discussed in special cases.


Copyright © 2020 Phcog.Net. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Cite this article: Aswathy V, Velkumary S, Pal GK, Gowsi K. Impact of 12 Weeks Practice of Chandranadi Pranayama on Cardiac Autonomic Functions, Perceived Stress Score and Biochemical Parameters in Pre-hypertensive Young Adult MalesA Pilot Study. Int J Clin Exp Physiol. 2020;7(3):112-8. ABSTRACT Background and Aim: Prehypertensive subjects pose significant future cardiovascular (CV) risk and lifestyle modification is considered as the first line of intervention for them. Few scientific trials revealed that regular composite yoga practices restore hemodynamic stability and reduces the CV risk in various diseases. However, there is a dearth of data on single yoga practice on cardiovascular health. Hence this study was undertaken to assess the impact of single slow pranayama (Chandranadi pranayama) practice for 12 weeks on cardiac autonomic functions, perceived stress score (PSS) and serum nitric oxide. Methods: The outcome parameters were recorded in thirty male prehypertensive subjects in the age group of 18 to 40 years at baseline and after intervention. They were divided into two groups, designated as control and pranayama group with fifteen subjects in each group. Pranayama group was given 27 rounds of chandranadi pranayama practice, an exclusive left nostril breathing followed by relaxation in shavasana for 10 min. The intervention was given for a period of twelve weeks. The parameters recorded were HR, BP, short-term heart rate variability (HRV), baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), PSS and the cardiac autonomic reactivity tests which included heart rate response to standing (30:15 ratio), heart rate response to deep breathing (E:I ratio) and isometric handgrip test (ΔDBDisg). Further, 3ml of venous blood was collected for serum nitric oxide and uric acid assay. Results: A significant decrease in PSS, HR, SBP, DBP and LF/HF ratio of frequency domain indices of HRV and a significant increase in BRS, 30:15 ratio, E:I ratio and serum nitric oxide was noted in pranayama group at 12 weeks, when compared with their baseline data. No significant changes were observed in control group at 0 and 12 weeks. Conclusion: In our study, 12 weeks of exclusive left nostril breathing practice found to normalize BP and HR, improved BRS, restored sympathovagal balance and reduced perceived stress in prehypertensive subjects, which signifies decreased CV risk in them.


The present study explored individual's connection between dreams and his waking life. Individuals' personal experiences of dreams, their existence, purpose, belief, and truthfulness were explored in relationship to their daily life functioning. Present study aimed at identifying the collective themes of participants with researchers' reflection. The sample of four adults (2 males, 2 females) with age range of 18-35 was recruited from different universities of Lahore. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted through interview schedule regarding participants' personal demographics, schedules and hours of sleep, belief on the occurrences and fulfillment of dreams. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was applied to analyze the data individually and collectively across all participants. Findings revealed that 10 themes were generated from the data that include curiosity about dream content, dream and real life connection, intuition about death, wish fulfillment in dreams, sense of morality in dreams, and information about personality through dreams etc. These themes help us in better understanding of dreams and waking life connection.