The present work aimed to study the phenotypic and pathogenic diversity of 40 Colletotrichum isolates obtained from mango trees in the Northeast of Brazil and to identify different species of this pathogen, incitant of anthracnose, through the analysis of the ITS sequence of the ribosomal DNA. As for the morphologic and cultural characterization, the colonies of the isolates presented diversity in relation to color and aspect, being more common the color white-ash, characteristic of C. gloeosporioides. Expressive variations were not observed in the morphology of the 40 isolates. The conidia were predominantly hyaline and unicellular varying in shape from rod to cylindrical. All isolates produced appressoria of different shapes and in different amounts, and 10 isolates showed setae. In relation to mycelial growth and growth rate the isolates were classified in seven groups. Twenty-two isolates exhibited growth rate >10mm/day, considered typical of C. gloeosporioides species. The isolates were pathogenic to detached leaves of mango, inducing anthracnose symptoms such as dark lesions slightly depressed, and presenting variations of aggressiveness. In the specific identification based on the analysis of the ITS sequence of the ribosomal DNA, 36 isolates amplified with the primer CgInt, specific for C. gloeosporioides and with the primer ITS4. Isolates CM1, CM4, CM5 and CM10 did not amplify products for none of the specific primers, being identified as Colletotrichum spp. The results of this work demonstrate that Colletotrichum isolates obtained from mango trees present large morphophysiologic and pathogenic variability, and also that, possibly exists more than one species of Colletotrichum that causes anthracnose in mango trees in the Northeast of Brazil.


The two-dimensional excitons of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers make these materials extremely promising for optical and optoelectronic applications. When the excitons interact with the electromagnetic field, they will give rise to exciton-polaritons, i.e., modes that propagate in the material plane while being confined in the out-of-plane direction. In this work, we derive the characteristic equations that determine both radiative and polaritonic modes in TMDC monolayers and we analyze the dispersion and decay rate of the modes. The condition for the existence of exciton-polaritons can be described in terms of a strong-coupling regime for the interaction between the exciton and the three-dimensional continuum of free-space electromagnetic modes. We show that the threshold for the strong-coupling regime critically depends on the interplay between nonradiative losses and the dielectric function imbalance at the two sides of the monolayer. Our results illustrate that a fine control of the dielectric function of the embedding media is essential for realizing exciton-polaritons in the strong-coupling regime.


A straight-line extractor that produces line descriptions from aerial images is described. The input to the line extractor is in the form of an edge image, where the contrast and direction of each edge pixel is specified. The system scans the edge image left to right and top to bottom and assigns a line label for each scanned edge pixel, thereby generating a label image. At the end of this process, each edge pixel has a line label associated with it, and edge pixels that belong to the same line will be assigned the same line label. In addition, with each line label, a record that stores the end points, the average contrast, and the pixel support of the line is generated. The label image is used as a spatial index to further link fragmented lines. The authors also describe techniques for eliminating many of the physically insignificant lines, given that the domain of interpretation is aerial images dominated by man-made objects. >


Differential marketing is a strategy opposed to competitive convergence mainly characterized by seeking development in differences. Therefore, marketing of agricultural products dominated by rural cooperative economic organizations has an important practical role. Taking Manas County in Xinjiang Province as an example, agricultural marketing system dominated by rural cooperative economic organizations develops rapidly, mainly reflected in â' constructing agriculture industry association based on characteristic industry and superior industry â'i establishing professional economic association, â'¢ setting up professional technique research association based on scientific research institutes and institutions of higher educations, â'£ forming professional cooperatives based on grass-roots supply and marketing departments. However, there are still some problems, and differential marketing of agricultural products can improve the cohesion of rural cooperative economic organizations. Four aspects should be paid attention to during the concrete strategy application of differential marketing of agricultural products, which are precisely making target market positioning, promoting pollution-free agricultural products, perfecting benefit affiliating mechanism, and improving information service level.


The central goal of this qualitative research study was to uncover major implicit assumptions that students with different levels of training in the discipline apply when thinking and making decisions about chemical reactions used to make a desired product. In particular, we elicited different ways of conceptualizing why chemical reactions happen (chemical causality), how these processes occur (chemical mechanism), and how they can be controlled (chemical control). In each of these areas we characterized conceptual modes with different explanatory power and explored how they were applied by participants when facing different types of questions. Our findings suggest potential paths in the development of understanding about chemical reactions in the context of making specific substances. Our study also highlights the benefits of analyzing students' understanding not only by focusing on implicit cognitive elements, but by using disciplinary crosscutting concepts as lenses of analysis.


The antigenic structure of M. leprae and M. lufu was comparatively studied for the first time. M. lufu was found to have M. leprae-specific protein with a molecular weight of 36 kDa. M. leprae and M. lufu were similar in their fractional composition of proteins and an antibody response to determinants with equal molecular weights in patients with different forms of leprosy and its varying severity. The findings may improve a diagnostic system in leprosy by using M. lufu antigens as an alternative.


The purpose of this study was (a) to investigate preservice teacher education students' (n=145) performance on the Academic Misconduct Survey (AMS), a measure of self-reported academic misconduct, and (b) to examine the relationship between AMS scores and scores on the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a measure of principled moral reasoning. A large percentage of participants reported engaging in academic misconduct. No significant association between scores on the AMS and the DIT was found. Results of the study indicate the need for additional research that examines ethical behaviors and moral reasoning in prospective and practicing teachers. ********** Over the past 50 years, numerous studies have reported that cheating, academic dishonesty, and other forms of academic misconduct among college students appear to be the rule rather than the exception, and the "deviant" student has been described as one who has not engaged in academic misconduct at one time or another (Hollinger & Lanza-Kaduce, 1996). Research interest in college student cheating began in the early 1960s when Bowers (1964) surveyed more than 5,000 undergraduate students at 99 different institutions. Bowers found that three out of four students admitted to various kinds of academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, copying another student's test answers, sneaking crib notes into exams, collaborating with other students on homework assignments when not permitted by the instructor, or lying to the instructor about reasons for late papers. McCabe and Trevino (1993) found similar results in a survey of over 6,000 undergraduate students at 31 campuses. Two of three of those surveyed admitted engaging in questionable academic behaviors, such as using unauthorized crib notes on a test, copying from another student on a test, or collaborating with other students on homework assignments without instructor approval. More recent studies consistently report rates of cheating over 70 percent (see Chidley, 1997; Hollinger & Lanza-Kaduce, 1996; Lupton, Chapman, & Weiss, 2000) with cheating behaviors similar to those described by Bowers (see Hollinger & Lanza-Kaduce, 1996; Lupton, Chapman, & Weiss, 2000; Tang & Zuo, 1997; Thorpe, Pittenger, & Reed, 1999). Causes of College Student Cheating Investigations of specific causes of academic dishonesty usually are divided into two categories: (a) studies that focus on situational and institutional factors, and (b) studies that focus on individual traits of students. Situational and Institutional Factors A number of situational and institutional factors associated with academic misconduct have been identified. Students most likely to cheat have lower academic standing, are more concerned about attaining high grades than gaining knowledge, and are enrolled in larger rather than smaller institutions (Bowers, 1964; Nowell, & Laufer, 1997; Smith, Nolan, & Dai, 1998; Tang, & Zuo, 1997; Thorpe, Pittenger, & Reed, 1999). Also, rates of cheating are higher when instructors trust students to be honest, and rates are lower when students perceive a strong threat of being caught and punished (Hollinger & Lanza-Kaduce, 1996). Finally, students who attend college to obtain a credential or license are more inclined to cheat than those who attend for other reasons (Daniel, Blount, & Ferrell, 1991; McCabe & Trevino, 1996; Stern & Havlicek, 1986). According to McCabe and Trevino (1996), Today's college students ... have come to college to get a credential-a credential that will allow them to pursue a chosen career. How they get that credential is often less important than simply getting it. As a student at a major university ... said to us, "It's amazing how many students don't think twice about cheating or copying others' work. It shows how little they understand what an education really is. …


Attention mechanism, including global attention and local attention, plays a key role in neural machine translation (NMT). Global attention attends to all source words for word prediction. In comparison, local attention selectively looks at fixed-window source words. However, alignment weights for the current target word often decrease to the left and right by linear distance centering on the aligned source position and neglect syntax distance constraints. In this paper, we extend the local attention with syntax-distance constraint, which focuses on syntactically related source words with the predicted target word to learning a more effective context vector for predicting translation. Moreover, we further propose a double context NMT architecture, which consists of a global context vector and a syntax-directed context vector from the global attention, to provide more translation performance for NMT from source representation. The experiments on the large-scale Chinese-to-English and English-to-German translation tasks show that the proposed approach achieves a substantial and significant improvement over the baseline system.


Partial discharge (PD) is an important issue since it is considered as one of the greatest threats to insulation system of high voltage equipment. Existence of PD signifies that there is a weak point in an electrical insulation system and the existence of PD not only indicates that electrical aging is occurring, but also mechanical, thermal or environmental aging processes may be present. Materials such as solid, liquid and gaseous that are used for insulation purpose are imperfect and always contaminated. Most of the solid insulation has impurity in the form of air bubbles (void) which created a small fragile zone in the insulator during the manufacturing process and is a common source of PD. Due to the void, the insulation region is weakens resulting in the appearance of PDs with the application of high voltage. On the other hand, partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) or also known as the breakdown voltage is the lowest voltage at which the PD events are detected. The PDIV due to PD in a void is a random phenomenon. The designing of an insulation system depends critically on the magnitude of this voltage. It is crucial to comprehend the property of the insulating materials for optimal solution in terms of insulating ability and costing. Therefore, accurate PD and PDIV models with the presence of void are highly needed to develop solid insulating materials with high breakdown strength. Lacking of these PD models will lead to difficulties in understanding the PD behavior and characteristics. As a result, assessing the insulation condition becomes a complicated process. In addition to that, an accurate artificial neural network (ANN) PD prediction system shall be the solution to help the electrical engineers in general and high voltage engineers particularly to develop a high quality insulation material that is more reliable and cost effective. This thesis presents an artificial intelligence based technique for partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) prediction in a void of solid dielectric. This study involves the development of a MATLAB Simulink model for single void of solid dielectric for PD characterization. It also involves the development of hybrid ANN evolutionary programming (EP) for the prediction of PDIV of solid dielectric of different sizes of void. This study has also implemented an optimization technique using EP to improve the accuracy of the prediction system by finding an optimal number of learning rate and momentum constant. EP is an express search technique that is widely chosen to simplify the calculation process and also to fine tuning the result. The result of simulations has proven that the input signals such as supply voltage and supply voltage frequency are important for PD characterization. Comparative studies were done in term of the accuracy of the prediction system that was evaluated by the value of correlation coefficient, R. The result showed that the optimized ANN has able to produce a high value of R near to unity and the error was reduced tremendously. The convergence and generalization ability of the combined ANN-EP has improved outstandingly with the optimization process.


ELID grinding is widely used as a high-productivity and super-precision grinding method for hard and brittle materials. It continues grinding stably with metal bonded diamond wheel due to its in-process dressing. Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a novel precision finishing process for hard and brittle materials. In this paper, ELID grinding and MRF are adopted to get high surface quality and remove subsurface damage of hard and brittle materials. The results show that this combination gives attention to both efficiency and quality and can be used to replace conventional optics manufacturing.


Abstract : This report describes the measurement, reduction, and basic analysis of transport layer protocol (transmission control protocol and user datagram protocol) data collected from large-scale tactical radio network tests. The large volume of data collected necessitates using distributed processing on high-performance-computing (HPC) clusters to reduce and analyze data in a timely fashion. Traditional methods using database ingest and queries on high-end servers cannot handle the increasing scale of current datasets, and processing times are estimated to be on the order of days versus hours using HPC. The requirement for the use of HPC was anticipated, and efforts to develop this capability resulted in a highly capable process that is expected to handle future large-scale tactical network testing.


In presence of nano-In2O3 which were synthesised via a reverse microemulsion, Polyaniline/nano-In2O3 composites were prepared by in-situ polymerization of aniline in 5-sulphosalicylic acid(SSA) aqueous solution. They were characterized by means of TEM, XRD and FTIR.. TEM and XRD showed that the average diameter of In2O3 particles was 15nm with a narrow size distribution and with a high degree of crystallization. The FTIR suggested that the structure of PAn-SSA was not be changed by the mixture of In2O3. Sensitivity of the composites to 100~1000ppm NH3 were studied, the results reveal that polyaniline/nano-In2O3 composites have short response time and good reversibility, the gas sensitive of composites to NH3 under 300ppm increased linearly with the increasing concentration of NH3 and decreased with the increasing of In2O3 concentration. Long-term stability of polyaniline/nano-In2O3 composites were also investagated, it can be concluded that the organic-inorganic hybrid materials have better environmental stability.


The clinical diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) can be supported by several biochemical markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) such as 14-3-3 proteins and tau protein. Unfortunately, none of the currently known markers are suited for screening or seems to be directly related to the pathophysiological process. A marker fulfilling these criteria might facilitate the early detection and might also serve in monitoring drug efficacy. Recently, the extracellular signal-regulated kinase ERK1/2 was detected in CSF of patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. Furthermore, ERK1/2 was reported to be activated in brains of animals infected with pathological prion protein. Therefore, we investigated CSF of 19 patients with CJD, 23 patients with other dementias including patients with Alzheimer's disease, and 12 patients with other neurological disorders. The measurement of ERK1/2 in the CSF samples was performed with an electrochemiluminescence assay and Western immunoblot. ERK1/2 and doubly phosphorylated ERK1/2 (pERK1/2) were detected in all patient groups. Significantly elevated mean levels of total ERK1/2 and pERK1/2 were found in the CJD patients. This increase was also observed in a CJD case that was negative for 14-3-3 protein or in CJD cases that had low levels of tau protein. Western immunoblot analysis suggested that ERK2 was the predominant form of ERKs present in our CSF samples. This pilot study suggests that ERK1/2 is a potential CSF biomarker for CJD, directly associated with the pathophysiological processes. Analysis of larger sample cohorts including other diseases with rapid neurodegeneration are required to confirm our findings.


Abstract. The (re)construction of the ecological continuity is stated as one of the main objectives of the European Water Framework Directive for watershed management in Europe. Analysing the social, political, technical and scientific processes characterising the implementation of different projects of ecological continuity in two adjacent peri-urban territories in Ile-de-France, we observed science-driven approaches disregarding the social contexts. We show that, in urbanized areas, ecological continuity requires not only important technical and ecological expertise, but also social and political participation to the definition of a common vision and action plan. Being a challenge for both, technical water management institutions and "classical" ecological policies, we propose some social science contributions to deal with ecological unpredictability and reconsider stakeholder resistance to this kind of project.


It has been previously shown that fibrinogen (FG) associates specifically with human umbilical vein and bovine aortic endothelial cells (EC) in culture and induces EC migration. In the present study, we have investigated whether the FG-EC interaction is mediated by an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) recognition specificity and whether EC membrane proteins related to platelet GPIIb-IIIa are involved. Highly purified radioiodinated human FG, containing no detectable fibronectin, interacted with cultured human and bovine EC in suspension in a time-dependent and specific manner. The binding was inhibited by EDTA. Two polyclonal antibodies to platelet GPIIb-IIIa, which immunoprecipitated a heterodimer molecule from EC, inhibited FG binding to EC. These same antibodies inhibited FG-induced EC migration in a dose-dependent manner as measured in a Boyden chamber. Preabsorption of the antibodies with purified platelet GPIIb-IIIa markedly reduced both inhibitory activities. A series of synthetic RGD-containing peptides inhibited FG binding to EC and FG-induced EC migration. Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp (GRGD) was the most active peptide tested in inhibiting FG binding and EC migration (ID50 of 30 microM), and conservative substitutions in the RGD sequence markedly reduced inhibitory activity (ID50 greater than 1,000 microM). These results indicate that FG binding and EC migration are events mediated by an RGD recognition specificity and that EC surface proteins immunologically related to the GPIIb-IIIa complex on platelets are involved in this recognition.


Assuming that higher dimensions existed in the early stages of the universe where the evolution was inflationary, we construct an open, singularity-free, spatially homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model to study the effects of dimensional reduction that may have taken place during the early stages of the universe. We consider dimensional reduction to take place in a stepwise manner and interpret each step as a phase transition. By imposing suitable boundary conditions we trace their effects on the present day parameters of the universe.


Abstract Dense crossbar arrays of non-volatile memory (NVM) devices represent one possible path for implementing massively-parallel and highly energy-efficient neuromorphic computing systems. We first review recent advances in the application of NVM devices to three computing paradigms: spiking neural networks (SNNs), deep neural networks (DNNs), and 'Memcomputing'. In SNNs, NVM synaptic connections are updated by a local learning rule such as spike-timing-dependent-plasticity, a computational approach directly inspired by biology. For DNNs, NVM arrays can represent matrices of synaptic weights, implementing the matrix–vector multiplication needed for algorithms such as backpropagation in an analog yet massively-parallel fashion. This approach could provide significant improvements in power and speed compared to GPU-based DNN training, for applications of commercial significance. We then survey recent research in which different types of NVM devices – including phase change memory, conductive-bridging RAM, filamentary and non-filamentary RRAM, and other NVMs – have been proposed, either as a synapse or as a neuron, for use within a neuromorphic computing application. The relevant virtues and limitations of these devices are assessed, in terms of properties such as conductance dynamic range, (non)linearity and (a)symmetry of conductance response, retention, endurance, required switching power, and device variability. Graphical Abstract


To analyse the sensitivity of blade geometry and airfoil characteristics on the prediction of performance characteristics of wind farms, large-eddy simulations using an actuator disc (ACD) method are performed for three different blade/airfoil configurations. The aim of the study is to determine how the mean characteristics of wake flow, mean power production and thrust depend on the choice of airfoil data and blade geometry. In order to simulate realistic conditions, pre-generated turbulence and wind shear are imposed in the computational domain. Using three different turbulence intensities and varying the spacing between the turbines, the flow around 4-8 aligned turbines is simulated. The analysis is based on normalized mean streamwise velocity, turbulence intensity, relative mean power production and thrust. From the computations it can be concluded that the actual airfoil characteristics and blade geometry only are of importance at very low inflow turbulence. At realistic turbulence conditions for an atmospheric boundary layer the specific blade characteristics play an minor role on power performance and the resulting wake characteristics. The results therefore give a hint that the choice of airfoil data in ACD simulations is not crucial if the intention of the simulations is to compute mean wake characteristics using a turbulent inflow.


Density, purity, grain, and grain size distribution are the key factors that influence the transparency of an optical ceramics. To achieve high transmittance, efforts should be made to eliminate or minimize scattering or absorption of light. The aim of this paper is to verify the effect of two-step sintering technique for translucent alumina. The density and transmittance of the samples were enhanced by pre-heat treating at 800°C for 50 hours before the high temperature sintering. Abnormal grain growth was successfully suppressed by a two-step sintering technique and a small amount of MgO as additives. It is a very effective technique for designing homogeneous microstructure and high transparency in high purity alumina.


Once considered as a serious public health issue only in developed countries, now overweight and obesity have dramatically increased in low- and middle-income countries, especially in urban settings (WHO, 2008). The main purpose of this study is to explore the economic incentives for this rapid growth in obesity rates, by studying variations in obesity over time and across geographic regions in the United States. Although a number of researchers and policymakers have devoted significant resources to address the recent rapid rise in obesity in the United States, "the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased sharply since the mid 1970s" (Centers for Disease Control, 2008) and most of this increase occurred in the 1980s and 1990s (Cutler, et al., 2003). More importantly, changes in food prices have also occurred over the past 30 years and have occurred simultaneously with the obesity epidemic (Finkelstein, et al., 2005). In this study, we investigate how the decline in food prices in the last three decades affects the long-run growth of obesity rates. We take the advantage of the large panel data that cover for the time periods with the fastest growth of obesity rates, by using metropolitan samples from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and information on prices of food at home and food away from home from these major metropolitan areas for years 1976 to 2001. Specifically, instead of using absolute food prices, we explore the impacts from changes in relative prices of food at home and food away from home (i.e. food prices relative to prices for a market basket of consumer goods and services in these metropolitan areas), as well as changes in prices of food at home and food away from home on the growth in obesity rates during this time frame. We also control for the changes in contextual factors and changes in value of female in these metropolitan areas. Our findings reveal the important fact that changes in relative food prices can explain about 20 percent of the obesity growth during this time period and such effect is more pronounced for the low-educated. The results of the study provide an interpretation of the long-run growth of obesity rates in urban settings.


Nowadays, almost everybody has access to Internet by an electronic device. Either it is within a mobile, a tablet, a computer or any other devices. So, thanks to the Internet access we are connected all over the world. In this project is where we treat, the combination of health, mobile and medicine. The wide use of the mobile technologies is opening new and innovative shapes to improve the benefit of the health and the sanitary attention. From this technology are born the mobile applications where it can help to the consumers to manage their own health and welfare, and they have access to useful information when and where they want to. Increasingly the consumers use the applications of health. It is necessary to say then that Internet is in the patients pocket, and thanks to Internet is easier each own health personal management. All this group of ideas have given to the creation of AAAida, a social platform created by Alteraid, one spin-off formed by teachers of the EETAC (UPC). This social platform offers a special follow-up especially to the big people and at same time the peace to their familiars. The information shares as a social network between the familiars and the doctors. This project is based on an application that consists with a managing control board of cases of a day Hospital or day Medical Centre. This application will use for the follow-up and evolution of a patient by means of any device, since it will adapt to the resolution of each of them. The application can reduce the sanitary expense because it allows to have controlled the health of the patients by intelligent device uses.


Background: Contact isolation precautions are recommended to prevent the transmission of MRSA and VRE. However, when infection prevention measures such as hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, and chlorohexidine (CHG) patient bathing are in place, it is unclear whether routine use of contact isolation precautions is needed. Methods: Acquisition or infection due to MRSA or VRE were monitored via two methods: 1) CDC NHSN reporting of MRSA and VRE bacteremia with designation as hospital onset or community onset; 2) Characterization of routine clinical cultures by an experienced infection preventionist (IP). In January 2015, routine contact isolation precautions for endemic MRSA and VRE were suspended. The hospital-wide monthly rates of MRSA and VRE acquisition and infection from 2014-2015 were analyzed by Poisson regression to determine whether the change in practice was associated with a change in infection rates. Results: There was no significant difference in the rate of acquisition or infection due to MRSA or VRE when comparing rates in the 12 months before and after the cessation of routine contact isolation precautions. Table 1 catalogs the rate of acquisition and infection due to MRSA and VRE for 2014 and 2015. High rates of hand hygiene (2014: 93.5% compliance, 2015: 91.4% compliance) and environmental cleaning (2014: 93.6% of 22805 surfaces cleaned, 2015: 96.3% of 27411 surfaces cleaned) were documented. The method of CHG bathing and monitoring program were changed during the observation period precluding comparison. Conclusion: When hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, and CHG bathing are adequately maintained, routine contact isolation for endemic MRSA and VRE is unnecessary


This paper presents the results of an analysis of proposed metrics to assess fighter aircraft agility. A novel framework for classifying these metrics is developed and applied. A set of transient metrics intended to quantify the axial and pitch agility of fighter aircraft is evaluated with a high fidelity, nonlinear F-18 simulation. Test techniques and data reduction method are proposed, and sensitivities to pilot introduced errors during flight testing is investigated. Results indicate that the power onset and power loss parameters are promising candidates for quantifying axial agility, while maximum pitch up and pitch down rates are for quantifying pitch agility.


Background and Aim: According to available statistics, AIDS is still one of the most deadly diseases in the world which killed 1.8 million people in 2010. This study aimed to assess the effect of educational program on knowledge, attitude and behaviors of disease transmission in patients with AIDS. Material and Methods: This research is a quasi experimental study which involved 92 patients with AIDS / HIV Saravan and Sarbaz in 2012. Due to the low number of patients with the sampling, the method was census. Researcher-developed questionnaire included demographic information, knowledge questions, questions of attitude and performance in a preliminary test and again in the second test(after implementing the curriculum) were  used. Experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaire and its reliability coefficient alpha 0.72 was confirmed. To describe data, the parameters of the central (mean) and dispersion (standard deviation) for the analysis of independent t-tests, paired t-test,  Chi-square and Pearson correlation were used. Results: Before the intervention, the mean score of knowledge, attitude and behavior was not significantly different between the two groups. T-test results showed that the mean scores of all variables after training in the experimental group has significantly increased (p<0/001). There was a significant correlation between knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Conclusion: Survey results indicate that the training program on knowledge, attitudes and behaviors to promote effective prevention of HIV transmission and to increase the knowledge and attitudes can promote the preventive behaviors.


This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of Infra-Red (IR) Linear Variable Optical Filter (LVOF)-based micro-spectrometers. Two LVOF microspectrometer designs have been realized: one for operating in the 1400 nm to 2500 nm wavelength range and another between 3000 nm and 5000 nm. The IR LVOFs have been fabricated in an IC-Compatible process using resist reflow. The LVOF provides the possibility to have a small size, robust and high-resolution micro-spectrometer in the IR on a detector chip. Such IR microspectrometers can be fabricated at low-cost in high volume production and have huge potential in applications such as liquid identification (e.g. water in alcohol, water in oil) and gas sensing. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keyword: microspectrometer; IR; Linear-Variable Optical Filter


We calculate the expected nHz-μHz gravitational wave (GW) spectrum from coalescing massive black hole (MBH) binaries resulting from mergers of their host galaxies. We consider detection of this spectrum by precision pulsar timing and a future pulsar timing array. The spectrum depends on the merger rate of massive galaxies, the demographics of MBHs at low and high redshift, and the dynamics of MBH binaries. We apply recent theoretical and observational work on all of these fronts. The spectrum has a characteristic strain hc(f) ~ 10-15(f/yr-1)-2/3, just below the detection limit from recent analysis of precision pulsar timing measurements. However, the amplitude of the spectrum is still very uncertain owing to approximations in the theoretical formulation of the model, to our lack of knowledge of the merger rate and MBH population at high redshift, and to the dynamical problem of removing enough angular momentum from the MBH binary to reach a GW-dominated regime.


The ability to image biological tissues is critical to our understanding of a range of systems and processes. In the case of in situ living tissue, such imaging is hampered by the innate mechanical properties of the tissue. In many cases, this provides challenges in how to process large amounts of image data which may contain aberrations from movement. Generally, current tools require the provision of reference images and are unable to maintain temporal correlations within an image set. Here, we describe a tool–Tify–which can accurately predict a numerical quality score versus human scoring and can analyse image sets in a manner that allows the maintenance of temporal relationships. The tool uses regression-based techniques to link image statistics to image quality based on user provided scores from a sample of images. Scores calculated by the software correlate strongly with the scores provided by human users. We identified that, in most cases, the software requires users to score between 20–30 frames in order to be able to accurately calculate the remaining images. Importantly, our results suggest that the software can use coefficients generated from consolidated image sets to process images without the need for additional manual scoring. Finally, the tool is able to use a frame windowing technique to identify the highest quality frame from a moving window, thus retaining macro-chronological connections between frames. In summary, Tify is able to successfully predict the quality of images in an image set based on a small number of sample scores provided by end-users. This software has the potential to improve the effectiveness of biological imaging techniques where motion artefacts, even in the presence of stabilisation, pose a significant problem.


In this paper, we propose a distributed fault localization protocol, called Parallel Limited Perimeter Vector Matching (P-LVM) protocol, for localizing multi-link failures in all-optical networks. The P-LVM protocol is based on the Limited Perimeter Vector Matching (LVM) protocol for localizing single-link failures in all-optical networks. To handle multi-link failures, it tries to separate each failure in a small perimeter area after identifying each perimeter area with its corresponding failure and then localize the failures in parallel respectively in a distributed manner. Through simulation results, we show that the P-LVM protocol can effectively localize multi-link failures that occur simultaneously or at different times in all-optical networks.


Hypocalcemia, i.e. a low serum total calcium or ionized calcium concentration, can occur in a number of common pathological conditions including hypoalbuminemia, chronic renal failure, hypoparathyroidism, pseudohypoparathyroidism, vitamin D deficiency, magnesium deficiency, and certain types of bone diseases (1). While these listed medical conditions are well known, other preanalytical causes can also result in hypocalcemia and thus affect patient care. Recently we encountered the following 2 cases with hypocalcemia.

Case 1 is a 19-year-old man who presented to our hospital with a white blood cell count of 483 × 109/L (reference interval, 4–11 × 10 …


ABSTRACT Stories of Indigenous resistance to colonisation were central to the Australian History wars and remain an area of contestation in Australian History. In recent years, documentaries by Indigenous directors have played a significant role in challenging orthodox histories of colonial conflict and Indigenous resistance. This paper reflects on this work by considering the production, form and style of Jandamarra's War (2011) and Keepers of the Story: Jandamarra (2010), two historical documentaries by Indigenous director Mitch Torres that retell the story of the Bunuba freedom fighter Jandamarra from what she describes as a 'Bunuba perspective'. It argues that by combining Indigenous storytelling practices with a process of textual hybridisation, Torres enacts a set of new historical practices that allows Bunuba people to reclaim Jandamarra's story as their own, indeed as a story that comes from and belongs to their country. I therefore propose to consider Torres' work not only as a new manifestation of the Jandamarra legend but as an historically significant strategic act of keeping the story of Jandamarra 'alive' by renegotiating the terms of its telling and reasserting its place in country.


Clinicians who treat persons with Parkinson&s disease will soon be able to offer them the first drug to be approved for the treatment of Parkinson&s in 3 years. The FDA recently approved carbidopa, levodopa, and entacapone (Stalevo, Novartis/Orion Pharma) for the treatment of persons with idiopathic Parkinson&s disease. This new product is indicated as a substitute for immediate-release carbidopa/levodopa and entacapone previously administered as individual drugs, and as a replacement for immediate-release carbidopa/levodopa therapy (without entacapone) when patients experience end-of-dose "wearing-off." Stalevo will be available during the third quarter of 2003.


New three-dimensional analogue modelling experiments have been carried out to simulate the development of offset and segmented asymmetric rift systems. High-resolution digital photography, combined with animations and 3D reconstructions, has enabled the detailed study of the progressive 4D evolution of these complex rift fault systems. In particular, this paper focuses upon the growth of faults at the early stages of development and the formation of accommodation zones where the rift fault architectures change along-strike. These sandbox analogue models simulate the development of asymmetric oblique rifts where the extension direction was at an average angle of 60° to the rift axis, controlled by the underlying baseplate configuration. Segmented rifts were generated by discrete offsets in the baseplates of the sandbox models. In all models the rift border faults were controlled by the orientations (and offsets) of the baseplates beneath the models whereas the intra-rift faults generally initiated at high angles to the extension direction. With increased stretching, both the rift border faults and the intra-rift faults propagated along-strike, producing segmented fault systems separated by relay ramps that were breached as fault linkage occurred. Kinks along the fault traces indicate these linkage points. In all models the asymmetric extension produced a dominant border fault system on the static rift margin, whereas the moving rift margin was characterized by domino-style extensional fault systems dipping into the centre of the rift basins. In the segmented rift models, zones of offset were characterized by complex accommodation zones formed by arrays of oppositely dipping faults. In serial cross sections the accommodation zones consisted of complex conjugate fault systems formed by the overlapping tips of oppositely dipping faults. Three-dimensional visualizations of the completed models, together with fault displacement analyses using Traptester, allowed detailed analyses and geometric reconstructions of these accommodation zones. The asymmetric oblique and segmented rift models display many structural similarities to the segmented rifts of the Central and Northern North Sea rifts as well as to those in the Northern Ethiopian rift system, and in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt.


Understanding of genetic diversity among a breeding population is an important requirement for crop improvement as it allows for the selection of diverse parental combinations and formation of heterotic pools for genetic gain. This study was carried out to determine genetic diversity within and among 51 farmer-preferred cassava (Manihot esculenta) landraces and 15 elite accessions grown in Uganda. Twenty six simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers used for genetic diversity assessment in this study revealed a total of 154 alleles, of which 24% were unique alleles present only in landraces. The genetic diversity and observed herozygosity in landraces were slightly higher than in elite accessions. Elite accessions clustered with some of the landraces indicating that there were some alleles in common. However, 58.8% of the landraces fell into 3 different clusters independent of the elite accessions. Including these landraces with unique alleles in cassava breeding schemes will increase the chances of producing farmer preferred adapted elite cultivars. The study also revealed genetic differentiation among accessions from different regions providing an opportunity for establishment of heterotic pools within a breeding programme.


: The free radical nitric oxide (NO) is endogenously produced by enzymes known as NO synthases. NO in the airways is involved in a number of pathophysiological processes, such as airway inflammation, allergic reactions, and asthma. Asthma is a multifactorial disease that is caused by environmental and genetic factors. Genome wide screening approaches in families revealed evidence for linkage between chromosomal region 12q and allergic diseases, increased serum IgE levels as well as the development of asthma. The gene encoding for neuronal NOS (NOS1) is an attractive candidate gene for asthma, not only because it is localized in chromosomal region 12q24. Experimental studies in animals and humans suggest that NOS1 plays an important role in asthma. For instance, in a murine model of allergic asthma, NOS1 has been shown to be important for the development of bronchial hyperresponsiveness, since mice deficient for the nos1 gene were less responsive to airway challenge than both wild-type mice and mice deficient for the nos2 gene. Case-control studies in humans revealed allelic associations between polymorphic markers in the NOS1 gene and the diagnosis of asthma. Furthermore, increased concentrations of NO in the airways of asthmatics are closely related to the size of an intronic (AAT)(n)-repeat polymorphism in the NOS1 gene. The purpose of this review is to summarize studies that provide evidence for an involvement of NOS1 in the genetics of asthma.


When School Fits Me: The Role of Regulatory Fit in Academic Engagement and Learning Sylvia del Carmen Rodriguez What factors boost student motivation? Three studies were designed to test whether fit (Higgins, 2000) between students' goals or beliefs and the message conveyed by academic tasks increases engagement and learning. Given past research (Rodriguez, Romero-Canyas, Downey, Mangels & Higgins, 2011) showing that fit between beliefs about the interdependence of the self and task framing led to better performance, Study 1 tested the hypothesis that students would be more motivated to select tasks that fit their beliefs about the interdependence/independence of the self. Results showed that students tended to select math tasks consistent with their beliefs and this subsequent selection predicted greater math performance. Though Study 1 explored how fit affects students' choices, it did not address the learning processes that are influenced by fit. Hence, studies 2 and 3 were undertaken to investigate this issue. Study 2 specifically looked at students' experience studying. Drawing from the persuasion literature, it was explored whether fit can impact persuasion through "feeling right" about one's evaluative response to a persuasive message and can also increase engagement during the act of studying to enhance performance. Students were asked to focus their studying on either the persuasiveness of an article's message or on their opinion of its proposal. Results indicated that among students who experienced regulatory fit (vs. non-fit) and focused on a science article's persuasive message, the more positive their attitudes were about studying, the more persuasive they perceived the article to be; and the more negative their attitudes about studying, the less persuasive they perceived the article to be. When students under fit instead focused on their opinion of the article's proposal, regulatory fit but not study attitudes predicted perceived persuasiveness. Reading comprehension of the text, which captured their strength of engagement in the studied material, was directly enhanced by fit. While in Study 2 participants were explicitly told how to focus their attention on the task, it is also important to investigate the role of attention as students progress through a task. Study 3 tested how students naturally allocate attention during a challenging verbal task that resulted in poor performance. It was investigated whether fit between students' achievement goals and task framing helped them correct their errors. In order to identify the attentional mechanisms that explain how fit may help, event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Participants completed the initial task with two blocks. One block was framed to emphasize mastery goals (e.g. effort, learning, mastery of knowledge) and another was framed to emphasize performance goals (e.g. outperforming others as to demonstrate one's competency). For each task question, participants received performance feedback (wrong vs. right) and learning feedback (correct answer). Subsequently, participants were given a surprise retest on all items answered incorrectly from the initial task. Results showed that fit between achievement goals and task framing led to greater correction of items at retest. Furthermore, ERP analyses and structural equation modeling identified different attentional pathways through which fit led to better learning. Whereas in the performance frame model the pathway was through greater sustained attention to negative performance feedback, in the mastery frame model it was through greater processing of the correct answer. Overall, these three studies draw from different literatures to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how regulatory fit can boost student engagement and learning.


THE DEVASTATING and often hidden effects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism in our society have recently been documented in testimony before the Congress.1,2It is estimated that in 1983 alone, taking into consideration health care costs, loss of productivity, and all other factors, alcohol abuse cost our society $117 billion.3,4Among the hidden costs are goods and services never produced or delivered and premature loss of life. These effects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism are as damaging to our nation's economy as they are to our health.5 Alcohol abuse and alcoholism devastate families and contribute to a wide range of other health and social problems, such as birth defects, mental illness, other drug use, accidents, family violence, teenage suicide, and homelessness. Thus, if we could successfully address the alcohol problem in society today, many of the other health and social problems we face would be dealt a


Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is a widely used technique for determining the orbits of objects in space with high accuracy. There are at least 40 satellite laser ranging stations located in 23 countries. These stations are part of an international scientific collaboration, the International Laser Ranging Service, based at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, USA, which collects, merges, analyzes, and distributes data. There are seven known laser ranging stations in China. The average laser power employed at most of the of the Chinese stations is below 1 watt, although experimental systems of approximately 40 watts have been used to characterize objects such as space debris. This paper describes the potential effects of satellite laser ranging on earth-imaging satellites. It posits that although there are some circumstances that will result in permanent damage, in most cases laser ranging would have a low probability of permanent damage to the satellite's sensitive imaging sensor (detector). Due to the low probability of damage, laser ranging is an ineffective anti-satellite weapon. Nonetheless, the potential for even some damage warrants development of international rules governing satellite laser ranging.


Over the past few decades, advances in information and communication technologies, and particularly the digitisation of information, have brought about radical changes in the way media can be produced, distributed and shared. The exchange of information, once predominately the domain of the written word, now also embraces the digital technologies of audio and video. User-generated multimedia content proliferates, and the presence of audio and video adds dimensions that greatly increase the amount of information an audience can assimilate, adding a richness and depth to the messages we want to convey.

This paper presents and discusses a creative approach to the use of digital multimedia production tools incorporated in the Open University's 60 credit level 2 module, T215 Communication and Information Technologies. These tools are used in a way that:

- explores new ways to help people understand technical concepts;
- supports the development of students' technical skills;
- provides opportunities for students to be creative;
- provides an alternative to traditional text-based assessment.

We briefly explain the key decisions made by the module team during the design stages of the teaching materials and explain the common assessment framework used throughout the different blocks of the module. We then draw on the experience of two presentations of the module, each attracting around 500 students, to examine how students have engaged with the video creation activities and to identify issues that arise in supporting students for these tasks in a distance learning environment. Finally we discuss the success of the assessment task: a 30-second video designed to explain a technical concept related to one of the module topics.


Financial Management basically deals with raising of financial resources and its proper allocation in order to maximize shareholders wealth. For a successful running of an organization fixed and current assets play a crucial role as organization generally invests in these options. A firm's working capital consists of its investments in short-term assets like cash and bank balance, inventories, receivable and short term investments. Therefore, the working capital management mainly refers to the management of all these individual current assets. In this research paper an attempt has been made to study the components of working capital and the possible implications of working capital management policies on profitability of ONGC Limited. The paper also attempts to analyze the correlation between liquidity, profitability and return on investments of ONGC. The study is based on secondary data collected from annual reports of ONGC for the period 2000 to 2012. In this paper there is an application of correlation and regression analysis to identify the significant impact of Working capital management on the profitability. Working capital Management is essential as it might have a direct impact on profitability and liquidity.


Enamel hypoplasia is a dental pathology that forms when an individual is exposed to physiological stress in early life while tooth crowns are developing. Biological anthropologists utilize these enamel defects as indicators of growth interruption and interpret them as reflective of factors pertaining to health status and cultural practices that influence health. Over decades of research, numerous studies have noted a pattern in the distribution of linear enamel hypoplasia across the dentition. It is suggested that the anterior dentition presents the highest frequency of defects, followed by the premolars, with molars most rarely exhibiting hypoplasia. This apparent differential susceptibility pattern has resulted in the preferential study of the anterior dentition in anthropology, however little research has been conducted into the validity or cause of this developmental phenomenon. Through examination of the literature, the observed higher frequency of enam2el hypoplasia in the anterior dentition substantiates the existence of this differential distribution pattern. Further investigation reveals that the cause of this varying susceptibility has not been sufficiently explored, leading to a number of inconclusive explanations. Examination of these theories – ranging from the chronology of tooth development, specifics of crown morphology, and variations in genetic control – indicate that there is no single causal variable, but that a multitude of factors are responsible. From this research it is apparent that further study is necessary to fully understand why the anterior teeth appear to be more susceptible to hypoplastic defects than their posterior counterparts.


Abstract There is limited information on the cost burden associated with follicular lymphoma (FL) and how it compares to other non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) subtypes. We examined the direct medical costs associated with FL and estimated the incremental 3-year cost of FL compared to other NHL subtypes. Using the linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare dataset, we identified 16,691 NHL patients aged 66 years or older who were diagnosed with NHL between 2007 and 2013. The mean 3-year cost among the full NHL sample was $120,120 (standard error (SE) 839). The mean 3-year cost per patient was $114,443 (SE 1738) for FL and $121,402 (SE 950) for non-FL subtypes. The incremental 3-year cost of FL compared to non-FL was US$-5458 (95% confidence interval: US$-9325 to US$-1590). Longitudinally, FL was less costly than other NHL subtypes in the first year only, and became more expensive in the second and third years.


We report a 29 years old woman with a chronic tophaceous gout, whose disease started at the age of 18. On clinical examination, the blood pressure was elevated. The laboratory assessment showed a serum uric acid of 15 mg/dl, a urinary uric acid of 155 mg/24 h, a creatinine clearance of 59 ml/min/1.73 m2 and a uric acid excretion fraction off 1.3% (normal 7 to 12%). The clinical and laboratory features of this patient suggest the diagnosis of a familial juvenile gouty nephropathy (Rev Med Chile 2001, 129: 666-670)


Silica aerogels are well-known ultra-light materials with potential applications such as thermal superinsulation (thermal conductivity at ambient conditions < 0.020 W.m-1.K-1), but their mechanical fragility limits their large-scale usage. To reinforce silica aerogels, we used cellulose aerogel ("aerocellulose") as a reinforcing matrix. We describe the synthesis and properties of new hybrid cellulose-silica aerogels prepared by impregnation of cellulose alcogel by a polyethoxydisiloxane sol, followed by drying with supercritical CO2. Two impregnation routes were tested: diffusion-controlled and introduction of sol into matrix by forced flow; the latter strongly decreased the impregnation time. Nanostructured organic-inorganic aerogels made of interpenetrated cellulose and silica networks were obtained. The apparent density of the hybrid materials was between 0.1and 0.2 g/cm3 and the BET specific surface area increased from about 250-300 cm2/g for aerocellulose to 700-800 cm2/g for the hybrid organic-inorganic aerogels, confirming the formation of a silica aerogel network in the pores of the aerocellulose matrix. Hybrid aerogels were also prepared from chemically hydrophobised cellulose and silica; they show contact angle with water of 140. Research leading to these results was funded within the 7th EU Framework Program, (FP7/2007-2013), under grant agreement n260141, AEROCOINS project.


An ex-ante impact analysis of EC Cohesion Policy investment programmes for the period 2007-2013 was recently carried out on behalf of the European Commission (DG Regional Policy) using three different economic models: the QUEST II model of DG-ECFIN, the ECOMOD model of EcoMod Network/Free University of Brussels and the COHESION system of HERMIN models of GEFRA/EMDS. The main results were published in the most recent Fourth Cohesion Report (EC, 2007), and it turned out that different models gave different results. In some cases the differences were very big and pointed to quite different conclusions about the impact of the European Cohesion Policy on growth and employment impacts. In order to progress the debate on the usefulness of model-based policy impact analysis, we first set out the wider context within which EC Cohesion Policy is designed, implemented and evaluated. We then present a brief summary of the main findings of the model-based analysis in terms of impacts on aggregate GDP and total employment. We conclude with a discussion of possible reasons why two of the models – QUEST and HERMIN may be producing different results.


ABSTRACT Between 1894 and 1909, Walter Wellman (1858–1934), a Chicago-based journalist and explorer, organized and led five expeditions to reach the North Pole. Wellman launched his most ambitious undertaking in 1906, constructing an extensive base camp complete with an airship hangar on the shoreline of Virgohamn, a small harbor on Danskøya in the Svalbard archipelago. In 1907 and 1909, Wellman's two flights in the dirigible airship America marked the first time a motorized airship had flown in the Arctic. In the summer of 1993, the author surveyed and mapped the extent of the remains of Wellman's camp to discover and document any surviving wreckage of America, and to observe the impact of tourist traffic on the site. This paper describes the 1993 survey of Wellman's base camp at Virgohamn and offers suggestions for its preservation.


Abstract Background This review of reviews aimed to: (1) summarize the evidence from published reviews on the effectiveness of mass-media campaigns to promote physical activity (PA) or PA-related determinants (intermediate psychological and proximal outcomes) and (2) to identify policy-relevant recommendations related to successful PA campaigns. Methods An extensive literature search was performed on 1 March 2021. Reviews that evaluated the impact of campaigns on distal (e.g. PA) and/or proximal outcomes of PA (awareness, knowledge, etc.) and that targeted the general population or subsets were included. Quality of reviews was assessed using the AMSTAR-2 tool. Policy-relevant recommendations were systematically derived and synthesized and formulated as good practice statements. A protocol was registered beforehand (ID: CRD42021249184). Results A total of 1915 studies were identified, of which 22 reviews were included. The most consistent evidence was found for the effectiveness of mass-media campaigns on proximal outcomes, while the evidence for distal outcomes was mixed. Good practice statements were derived: (1) to achieve behaviour change, mass-media is an important component of larger, multilevel and multicomponent strategies; (2) mass-media strategies should be coordinated and aligned at local- and national-level and be sustained, monitored and resourced at these levels and (3) media should be tailored to reduce socioeconomic inequalities. Conclusions Mass-media can play an important role in the promotion of PA. In general, evidence was more inconsistent for effectiveness on distal outcomes than for proximal outcomes. Policy-relevant recommendations include that mass-media strategies should be resourced, coordinated, aligned, sustained, monitored and evaluated on the local and national level.


In recent years, IoT applications have drawn a great deal of attention, both in academia and industry. A crucial requirement of any infrastructure serving the IoT market will be to guarantee ubiquitous connectivity to the low-cost, low-powered devices distributed all over the globe. It is widely accepted that this requirement will not be met by the terrestrial network alone. There will be, in fact, vast areas of the globe where the terrestrial infrastructure deployment will be unfeasible or not economically viable, thus leaving those areas un- or under-served. For this reason, several studies and projects are addressing the use of a Non-Terrestrial Network component to seamlessly complement and extend the terrestrial network coverage in future systems.
The design of these extremely complex systems requires manifold analyses at different levels of abstraction, from satellite constellation and ground segment architecture aspects, to the evaluation of the air interface behaviour, in order to evaluate the system performance. The aim of this work is to perform a detailed analysis of the SatCom system aspects, trying to be as accurate as possible but without getting lost in unnecessary details, in order to provide a comprehensive set of tools, organised in a simulation platform, to support the design and performance evaluation of the system. Notably, simulation softwares play an important role in this framework; however, a full-featured simulation tool does not yet exist for the evaluation of the described emerging technologies. ESA M2M Simulator (ESiM2M) is a System-Level Simulator, developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency, which is intended for closing this gap, as a tool for the design and analysis, from a system-level point of view, of Satellite-IoT systems. This work is primarily focused on the description of the ESiM2M simulation tool and the results derived with the latter from analyses on Satellite-IoT systems.


This report has focused on the actions of melatonin and how it serves as a timekeeping hormone in the seasonal reproductive process of the ewe. In this short-day breeder, the characteristics of the 24-hour secretory profile of melatonin are highly susceptible to regulation by photoperiod. Changes in the nature of the melatonin pattern, in turn, provoke changes in hypothalamic/pituitary activity and the ability of estradiol to inhibit gonadotropin secretion. These latter changes drive the seasonal occurrence of estrous cycles. Special emphasis was placed on how melatonin codes for daylength in the ewe. Evidence was evaluated for two current theoretical models (phase and duration of the nighttime melatonin rise) and the importance of change in the melatonin pattern was stressed. Clearly, the systems which respond to the melatonin signal and convert it into changes in hypothalamic activity are highly complex. Nevertheless, solid concepts are beginning to emerge and rich questions continue to arise, making this a fertile area for future research.


This report basically discusses the research done and basic understanding of the chosen
topic, which is Study on Epoxy Mastic Coating of Submerge Structure (Jackets, Buoy,
and Ballast Tank). The objective of the project is to study the performance the chosen
coating with different surface roughness and the corrosion properties of the sample. This
study also includes the effect of barnacle to the coating system especially in the marine
environment. Submerge structure e.g. jackets of offshore platform, buoy, and also ballast
tank wiii fail when painting or coating failure. When coating fail, seawater corrosion,
oxygen corrosion and microbiologically induced corrosion (MIC) wiii contribute and
lead to the mass failure. Corrosion is the main threat in the oil and gas industries and
miiiions of dollar has been expense by oil and gas company to study the corrosion
behavior so that they can encounter corrosion and prevent it before corrosion attacks the
piping, equipments and other steels attached. In order to achieve optimum perfurmance
of the coating system, the right choosing of coating specification, surface preparation
and application technique is very important. Coating can fail if inappropriate surface
preparation is chosen since this criteria are important to the adhesion of the coating itself
and the respective substrate surface. At the end of the project, we wiii know the result
expected on epoxy coating adhesion, corrosion properties and also it barnacle effects


S~mple models and an example from the published literature suggest how consumer mobility can alter the relative importance to producers of consumption (predation and herbivory) and competition follow~ng a disturbance that opens habitat for colonization. Highly mobile consumer species often can colonize disturbed habitat at juvenile and adult life stages with high per capita consumption rates. In contrast, consumers with limited mobility, as well as sessile or sedentary prey, can be restricted to colonization of disturbed habitat by reproductive propagules, and initially have low per capita consumption, and low biomass and per capita production, respectively. Following a disturbance, the relationship between potential consumption and production can differ in important ways from that prior to the disturbance if consumer and prey species differ markedly in mobility, but may be similar to that prior to the disturbance if consumers and prey are both l~mited to colonization by reproductive propagules. Functional responses of consumers, and growth rates of consumers relat~ve to producers, can determine how strongly consumer mobility will influence post-disturbance interactions. In California (USA) kelp forests, sea urchins may be able to colonize disturbed patches as adults or can be restricted to colonization by larval settlement depending on habitat characteristics and how their foraging behavior affects sea urchin susceptibility to winter storms. On Naples Reef, near Santa Barbara, California, recovery of macroalgae including giant kelp was inhibited under grazing by adult urchins but was rapid when sea urchins colonized through larval settlement.


The objective of this paper is to investigate what would be the optimal strategy for voluntary trunk movement, which would minimize hip, knee and ankle torques demanding as well minimal upper limb participation during Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)-assisted sit to stand motion in person suffering from Spinal cord injury. Our results suggest that paraplegic patients should bend their body forward in order to use linear momentum of the trunk in sit off phase, i.e. they should generate the motion similar to the one of healthy subjects. Those results have been experimentally tested using a closed-loop controller for FES-assisted standing-up. The controller should automatically trigger leg stimulation in optimal moment with respect to the trunk motion in order to decrease arm participation during rising phase of the motion.


We investigate the turbulent multiphase flow inside a nine-hole common rail Diesel injector during a full injection cycle of ISO 4113 diesel fuel into air by implicit large-eddy simulation (LES). The simulation includes a prescribed needle movement obtained from a one-dimensional multi-domain simulation. The injector geometry is represented by a conservative cut-element-based immersed boundary method with subcell resolution, which has been developed for the application in the context of cavitating liquid flows. We employ a barotropic two-phase two-fluid model, where all components (i.e. air, liquid diesel, gaseous diesel) are represented by a homogenous mixture approach. The cavitation model is based on a thermodynamic equilibrium assumption. Compressibility of all phases enables full resolution of collapse-induced pressure wave dynamics. The analysis of the turbulent flow field reveals that the opening and closing phase are dominated by small-scale turbulence, while in the main injection phase large vortical structures are formed in the needle volume and reach into the nozzle holes. Violent collapse events of cavitation structures are detected during the closing phase in the nozzle holes and after closing in the sac hole region. A comparison with LES results with a fixed injector needle at different lift positions shows a good agreement for large needle lifts, while the needle movement has significant effects on important flow features at low needle lifts.


OBJECTIVE
To compare, in horses undergoing laparotomy for colic, the effects of administering or not administering a loading intravenous (IV) bolus of lidocaine prior to its constant rate infusion (CRI). Effects investigated during isoflurane anaesthesia were end-tidal isoflurane concentration (Fe'ISO), cardiovascular function, anaesthetic stability and the quality of recovery.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective, randomized clinical study.

ANIMALS
Thirty-six client-owned horses.

METHODS
Horses were assigned randomly to receive lidocaine as a CRI (50 μg kg(-1)  minute(-1) ) either preceded (LB) or not preceded (L) by a loading dose (1.5 mg kg(-1) IV over 15 minutes). Lidocaine infusion (LInf) was started (T0) within 20 minutes after induction of general anaesthesia and discontinued approximately 30 minutes before the end of surgery. Anaesthetic depth, Fe'ISO, intra-operative physiological parameters and quality of recovery were assessed or measured. Data were analysed using one-way anova, t-test, Fisher test, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests as appropriate (p < 0.05).

RESULTS
Mean ± SD Fe'ISO was 1.21 ± 0.08% in group LB and 1.23 ± 0.06% in group L. Heart rate was significantly higher in group L than in group LB at times T5-T15, T25, T35 and T95. No difference was found between groups in other measured physiological values, nor in any measure taken to improve these parameters. Recovery phase was comparable and satisfactory in all but one full term pregnant horse in group L which fractured a femur during recovery.

CONCLUSION
Preloading with a lidocaine bolus prior to a CRI of lidocaine did not influence isoflurane requirements, cardiopulmonary effects (other than a reduction in heart rate at some time points) or recovery compared to no preloading bolus.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
A loading dose of lidocaine prior to CRI does not confer any advantage in horses undergoing laparotomy for colic.


Transgenerational inheritance of small RNAs is challenging basic concepts of heredity and achieving control over such responses is of great interest. In C. elegans nematodes, small RNAs are transmitted across generations to establish a transgenerational memory trace of ancestral environments and distinguish self from non-self genes. Inheritance of small RNAs is regulated by dedicated machinery and carryover of aberrant heritable small RNA responses was shown to be maladaptive and to induce sterility. Here we show that various types of stress (starvation, high temperatures, and high osmolarity) but not non-stressful changes in cultivation conditions, lead to resetting of small RNA inheritance. We found that stress leads to a genome-wide reduction in heritable small RNA levels and that mutants defective in different stress pathways exhibit irregular RNAi inheritance dynamics. Moreover, we discovered that resetting of heritable RNAi is orchestrated by MAPK pathway factors, the transcription factor SKN-1, and the MET-2 methyltransferase. Termination of small RNA inheritance, and the fact that this process depends on stress, could protect from run-on of environment-irrelevant heritable gene regulation.


This paper presents new experimental evidence and a novel practical approach for mitigation of passive intermodulation (PIM) in microstrip circuits fabricated on commercial printed circuit board laminates. The mechanisms of distributed PIM in microstrip circuits are reviewed and a phenomenology of PIM generation due to locally enhanced electromagnetic fields at the fringed etched edges of microstrip transmission lines is presented. Reducing the magnitude of the local fields is shown to be an effective means for mitigating PIM distortions. The effect is demonstrated experimentally by selectively coating the edges of a microstrip transmission line with a thin layer of high-permittivity dielectric, which resulted in more than 10 dB reduction of the PIM level without compromising the linear characteristics of the circuit, while avoiding the need for additional signal processing. Our approach has proved to be a new practical and effective means for PIM mitigation suitable for a wide range of commercial printed circuits.


The study of the partitioning of PCBs and similar hydrophobic organic chemicals between solid and aqueous phases, such as suspended particles and the water column, has normally been approached from an equilibrium thermodynamic point of view. The kinetics of the uptake process have received some study but this has been limited. This paper presents a rationale for the importance of HOC uptake kinetics. A simple kinetic model is developed and applied to PCB in suspended particles and surface waters. It describes, in practical terms, many of the reported behavioral characteristics of K d , the partition coefficient, observed both in the laboratory and in the field.


Some observers still regard John Maynard Keynes' polemic against the Treaty of Versailles as serious economic analysis. In fact, Keynes continued to play an unacknowledged partisan role in reparation diplomacy during the 1920s. He suggests in a memoir that he never saw the Hamburg banker Carl Melchior alone again after October 1919. Using German sources not exploited by Keynes' principal biographers, this analysis shows that the intimate relationship continued. Melchior drew Keynes into the highest governing circles of the Reich. Keynes supported the 1922–1923 German hyper-inflation on political grounds and helped craft the German reparations note of June 1923.


Web Piston is a successful enterprise that provides its small business and individual clients with automated web design and web hosting services. Owing to the rapidly changing competitive environment, however, the company's founder, Ricardo Lasa, feels that a change in strategy is necessary. The case describes the competitive environment for web hosting and outlines four alternative strategies: 1) becoming a "freemium" player, 2) becoming a custom web site developer, 3) creating a marketplace to match web clients and developers, and 4) focusing on developing portals for deployment on social networking sites. The principal objective of the case is to provide a rationale for making the decision, or to offer an alternative strategy. A teaching note may be obtained from Dr. T. Grandon Gill (email@example.com). The case is almost entirely undisguised and was specifically intended to focus on building judgment/evaluation skills in the presence of considerable uncertainty.


Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and tumor-infiltrating lympho cytes (TIL) of a patient with von Hippel-Lindau disease and renal cell carcinoma were studied for the T-cell receptor ßchain variable region (TCR-Vß) repertoire. The patient was vaccinated with irradiated autologous tumor cells from a renal tumor mass, a vaccine-draining lymph node was removed, and lymphocytes were cultured in the presence of autologous tumor cells and low-dose interleukin 2 (IL2). These lymphocytes were adoptively transferred to the patient together with systemic IL2 (30,000 lU/kg every 8 h). Analysis of TCR-Vßexpression was performed by polymerase chain reaction in PBL before, during, and after therapy, in vaccine-draining lymph node lymphocytes, and in TIL obtained from moderately infiltrated, nonresponding renal tumor mass and from a more intensely infiltrated lung metastasis, which was responding to treatment. Significant differences in the expression of TCR-VßI3.I by T-cells recov ered from these various sites were observed. Also, TIL recovered from the responding lung metastasis and cultured in the presence of IL2 gave rise to autologous tumor-reactive (IM1 T-cells, whereas the nonresponsive renal tumor yielded a mixture of Tand natural killer cells. In PBL obtained prior to treatment and during IL2 therapy, expression of Vßl3.1 was 0.7 and 1.8%, respectively, of the total Vßgene repertoire. Fresh vaccine-draining lymph node lymphocytes contained 5.9% of Vßl3.1expressing T-cells. After IL2 therapy, Vßl3.Igene expression increased to 5.4% in PBL. In the nonresponding tumor mass, the frequency of VßI3.1 gene expression among TIL was 12%, whereas in the responding, highly infiltrated nodule, it was 28%, with a striking loss of expression of other Vßgene families. Sequencing of the amplified product of Vßl3.1 comple mentary DNA from the responding pulmonary metastasis showed restric tions in the complementarity-determining region 3. Thus, in vivo expan sion of Vß/J./-expressing CD4* T-cells, possibly in response to a tumorassociated antigen, occurred in the responding tumor mass following this form of therapy and correlated with tumor course.


This article presents a monitoring system for industrial electrical equipment in a production line, aiming at real-time monitoring of its operational state, allowing machine management and early detection of deviations and failures. The system measures the effective current draw of the monitored equipment using sensors connected to a data concentrator module, which stores the data collected by these sensors and performs preliminary processing before transmission to an Internet of Things platform. Preliminary data processing focuses on analyzing the time series of the electric current values in order to detect the operating state of the monitored machine. This information is then sent over the Internet to an IoT platform for long-term storage, post-processing and real-time visualization of data by end users. When a behavior deviation is detected in current consumption related to some type of potential failure, the system issues alerts and sends additional information to the production line supervisor, for example to proceed with equipment maintenance intervention without impact on production. The availability of full-time data series, as well as the history of all occurrences recorded by the monitoring system, also allow for correlations with data from other sources and their interpretation in contexts other than machine operation or maintenance. The proposed monitoring system provides minimal automation on older machines and opens up the possibility of independent, parallel and non-intrusive monitoring on machines that already have supervisory systems.


INTRODUCTION--Anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN), which may be a precursor of anal carcinoma, has been identified on histology following minor anal surgical procedures, in particular the removal of perianal condylomata, in increasing numbers of homosexual and bisexual men. Anal cytology has recently been proposed as a useful method of identifying AIN lesions. OBJECTIVE--To compare anal cytology with histology as a method of detecting AIN. METHODS--215 homosexual and bisexual men attending a central London sexually transmitted diseases clinic had an anal cytological smear performed under standard conditions. The perianal area and anal canal were then examined using a colposcope, and areas macroscopically suggestive of intraepithelial neoplasia were biopsied. RESULTS--176 of the 215 patients were biopsied of whom 76 had AIN on histology. 154 of the 215 patients had an adequate anal smear of whom 46 and 85 had cytological features of both HPV and AIN, or HPV alone respectively. Including features of HPV alone as an abnormal smear, anal cytology, when compared with anoscopy and histology as the gold standard for diagnosing AIN, resulted in a sensitivity of 87.5%, a specificity of 16.3%, a positive predictive value of 37.4% and a negative predictive value of 69.6%. Restricting abnormal smears to those with features of both HPV and AIN resulted in a sensitivity of 33.9%, a specificity of 72.5%, a positive predictive value of 41.3% and a negative predictive value of 65.7%. CONCLUSION--Anal cytology is a sensitive but nonspecific method of identifying patients with biopsy proven AIN if cytological features of HPV alone are included as abnormal smears. Specificity is improved by restricting abnormal smears to those with features of both HPV and AIN but this markedly lowers the sensitivity of the test. At present, anoscopy and histology are required in addition to anal cytology to differentiate between patients who simply have anal condylomata and those who also have AIN.


The multinational firm (MNF) is introduced as the intersection between trade theory and the theory of the firm. I show that economies of scale associated with various knowledge inputs have made it possible for firms to grow large through internationalization and, once large, staying competitive and large. Internationalization is a technique of both overcoming barriers to trade, and of efficient learning to stay competitive. International firms are increasingly becoming large and highly mobile carriers of industrial knowledge embodied in teams of humans. With barriers to trade and factor movements further reduced in Europe the first reason for globalization will decrease for firms located inside the internal market, but intensified technological competition will make the second factor increasingly important, constantly shifting the intelligence locus of the business organization to the markets where the most advanced industrial knowledge is being exhibited in competition. Europe will become such a locus of competition and competence allocation to the extent "it" lives up to its ambition to deregulate markets, and especially the markets for ownership and control. In general global markets are seen as a vast source of business opportunities and the firm as a local source of competence to exploit the opportunities.


Recent advances in computer technology, especially grid tools makes them good candidate for development of user interfaces to computing programs and resources. Computational grids enable sharing a wide variety of geographically distributed resources and allow selection and aggregation of distributed resources across multiple organizations for solving large scale computational and data intensive problems in science. User point of view is most important principle in the development of the UNICORE software which was used to establish European computational grid - EUROGRID. BioGRID is application oriented grid which adopts EUROGRID infrastructure to the specific area, namely molecular biology and quantum chemistry. UNICORE is uniform interface to the computer resources which allows user to prepare, submit and control application specific jobs and file transfers. Compare to the other tools BioGRID, using UNICORE as main grid tool, has wider functionality, is more flexible and allows for much easier integration of the User interface with external quantum chemistry or biomolecular applications. Within the UNICORE environment user has a comfortable way to use distributed computing resources without having to learn for site or system specifics. Details of the UNICORE can be found elsewhere. The UNICORE architecture is based, as other grid middleware, on the three tier model. It consists of user, server and target system tier. The user tier consists of the graphical user interface - UNICORE client - written as Java application. User can specify target system and resources required for jobs using standard UNICORE client facilities. User can check job status, monitor execution and retrieve output to the local workstation. All these functions can be performed from the UNICORE client with the single login during client startup. User can monitor job status and retrieve output to any computer connected to the network with the UNICORE client installed. We have used UNICORE as framework for development dedicated user interface to the biomolecular applications. Written in Java plugin is loaded to the UNICORE client during start, or on request. Once it is available in the client, in addition to the standard futures such as preparation of the script job, user gets access to the menu which allows for preparation application specific job. Currently plugins are available for most popular quantum mechanical and molecular dynamics codes: Gaussian98 and Amber.


Mandatory vaccination laws require children to be vaccinated against certain communicable diseases to attend school. These laws also provide exemptions to school vaccination requirements. All states exempt children from vaccination requirements for medical reasons, and most states also provide an exemption for religious and/or other personal reasons. Seven states include an educational component in their religious or philosophical exemption process, requiring that parents receive information regarding the benefits of vaccination and the risks of not being vaccinated. Of these seven states, five require that information regarding the social benefits of vaccination will be provided to parents.

This type of legislation is part of an overall trend to tighten the vac- cine exemption process, which is reflected in the vaccination laws of an increasing number of states. Tightening the vaccine exemption process through the addition of administrative requirements has been proven to decrease exemption rates. But this is not the focus of this Article. Instead, the Article focuses on one aspect of the educational component of the legislation—educating parents regarding the social benefits of vaccines. The Article explores the nature of the obligation to be educated regarding the social benefits of vaccines and the potential influence of this legislation on parents' vaccination decision making.

I claim that this legislation should be conceptualized and under- stood through the concept of solidarity. Following this conclusion, I will explore the potential effects of solidarity legislation on parents' vaccination behavior. For this purpose, two aspects of the legislation will be addressed. First, I will discuss the language included in these laws, which explicitly declare that vaccines have social benefits. I will explore the expressive functions of this language and their potential influence on parental attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. I will continue by addressing the educational process that this legislation requires. Addressing this aspect of the legislation, I will examine whether providing parents information regarding the social benefits of vaccines through educational encounters is expected to increase their motivation to vaccinate their child.


Many wireless applications demand a fast mechanism to detect the packet from a node with the highest priority (ldquobest noderdquo) only, while packets from nodes with lower priority are irrelevant. In this paper, we introduce an extremely fast contention-based multiple access algorithm that selects the best node and requires only local information of the priorities of the nodes. The algorithm, which we call variable power multiple access selection (VP-MAS), uses the local channel state information from the accessing nodes to the receiver, and maps the priorities onto the receive power. It is based on a key result that shows that mapping onto a set of discrete receive power levels is optimal, when the power levels are chosen to exploit packet capture that inherently occurs in a wireless physical layer. The VP-MAS algorithm adjusts the expected number of users that contend in each step and their respective transmission powers, depending on whether previous transmission attempts resulted in capture, idle channel, or collision. We also show how reliable information regarding the total received power at the receiver can be used to improve the algorithm by enhancing the feedback mechanism. The algorithm detects the packet from the best node in 1.5 to 2.1 slots, which is considerably lower than the 2.43 slot average achieved by the best algorithm known to date.


Image sensing at a small scale is essentially important in many fields, including microsample observation, defect inspection, material characterization and so on. However, nowadays, multi-directional micro object imaging is still very challenging due to the limited field of view (FOV) of microscopes. This paper reports a novel approach for multi-directional image sensing in microscopes by developing a rotatable robot. First, a robot with endless rotation ability is designed and integrated with the microscope. Then, the micro object is aligned to the rotation axis of the robot automatically based on the proposed forward-backward alignment strategy. After that, multi-directional images of the sample can be obtained by rotating the robot within one revolution under the microscope. To demonstrate the versatility of this approach, we view various types of micro samples from multiple directions in both optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and panoramic images of the samples are processed as well. The proposed method paves a new way for the microscopy image sensing, and we believe it could have significant impact in many fields, especially for sample detection, manipulation and characterization at a small scale.


The French Lieutenant's Woman, United Artists, 1981. Directed by Karel Reisz. Produced by Leon Clore. Screenplay by Harold Pinter, based upon the novel by John Fowles. Cinematography by Freddie Francis. Edited by John Fowles. Cinematography by Freddie Francis. Edited by John Bloom. Production Design by Assheton Gorton. Music by Carl Davis. Cast: Meryl Streep (Sarah and Anna), Jeremy Irons (Charles and Mike), Hilton McRae (Sam), Emily Morgan (Mary), Charlotte Mitchell (Mrs. Tranter), Lynsey Baxter (Ernestina) , Jean Faulds (Cook), Peter Vaughan (Mr. Freeman), Leo McKern (Dr. Grogan), et. al. Karel Reisz's cinematic adaptation of John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman is a remarkable failure, the causes for which are especially instructive for students of film's occasionally derivative relation to literature. The movie possesses enviable strengths- Reisz's assured editing and directing, masterful cinematography by Freddie Francis, set designs which meticulously replicate the age's moral atmosphere (spacious yet stultifying, cluttered with the memorabilia of things possessed), and the acting performances of Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in the principal roles and Lynsey Baxter, Leo McKern and Patience Collier in notable supporting parts, which veraciously embody the novel's characters. And yet the film fails both as adaptation and as entertainment, and the failure can be traced directly to the choices Reisz and screenwriter Harold Pinter made in their transmutation of Fowles's book. They chose to tell the story of a rather desultory affair between Mike and Anna, two actors working together on a period movie of love and betrayal titled The French Lieutenant's Woman. This frame-tale device, though indicative of the filmmaker's respect for the novel, can please no one. Audiences unacquainted with the novel will be initially befuddled and ultimately frustrated by the unaccountable interruptions of the story of Charles Smithson's obsessive passion for Sarah Woodruff, the enigmatic "woman" of the title. Those acquainted with the novel will be disappointed both by the diminution of the novel into a mere love story (Pinter has been quoted as saying that he and Reisz "refined it to what we finally found it to be: a love story"!) as well as by the miscalculated use of the frame-tale as a cinematic substitute for the novel's distinctive narrative point of view. John Fowles's novel is "about" personal liberation. His story relates the protracted and painful extrication of Charles Smithson out of the comfortable bonds of Victorian social morality and his exile into the rigorous freedom of a modern individual consciousness. Charles, a member of the gentry and an amateur paleontologist has at the novel's beginning become engaged to the daughter of a financially successful tradesman. His reason for attaching himself to the coquettish and utterly conventional Ernestina Freeman reveals the appeal that surrender to such convention could possess. Initially it is a growing feeling "that life was passing him by, that he was being, as in so many other things, overfastidious, lazy, selfish. . .and worse."2 Then one morning he awakens with the solution to his problem of leading what, in contrast to the ordinary Victorian's commitment to work, duty, progress (they called it many things), seemed a frivolous existence: Everything had become simple. He loved Ernestina. He thought of the pleasure of waking up on just such a morning, cold, grey, with a powder of snow on the ground, and seeing that demure, sweetly dry little face asleep beside him-and by heavens (this fact struck Charles with a sort of amazement) legitimitely in the eyes of both God and man beside him. (p. 70) Much as a convict might boast that his cell was a bit more commodious than those of his fellows, Charles congratulates himself for having discovered a legal outlet for his "exteme sexual frustration." But his decision is a dodge and his reason a delusion; his real motive stems from that fear "that life was passing him by," that is, that his own individual existence was not interlocked with the progress of the age. …


This study aims to investigate the effects of hybrid micro/nano powders in a micro metal injection molding (μ-MIM) process. A novel type of mixing-injection molding machine was used to produce tiny specimens (<1mm in size) with high trial efficiency using a small amount of feedstock (<0.05cm3 in volume). Small dumbbell specimens were produced using various feedstocks prepared by changing binder content and fraction of nano-scale Cu powder (130nm in particle size). The effects of adding the fraction of nano-scale Cu powder on the melt viscosity of the feedstock, microstructure, density and tensile strength of sintered parts were discussed.


Purpose
To compare the intermodality and interreader agreement for geographic atrophy (GA) lesion size quantification in green-light fundus autofluorescence (GAF; excitation = 518 nm) versus combined blue-light fundus autofluorescence (BAF; excitation = 488 nm) and near-infrared reflectance (NIR; 820 nm) -based grading.

Methods
Confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO) GAF, BAF, and NIR images of 40 eyes from 29 patients (mean age 79.7 years) with GA secondary to AMD were recorded according to a standardized protocol. GA areas were analyzed in GAF, BAF combined with NIR (BAF+NIR), or BAF alone, by four independent readers using semiautomated software (RegionFinder; Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). A mixed-effects model was used to assess the effect of image modality on the measured square-root lesion area. The coefficient of repeatability (CR) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were assessed for the square-root lesion area, lesion perimeter, and circularity.

Results
GAF-based measurements were on average 0.062 mm (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.04-0.08 mm) larger than BAF+NIR-based measurements and 0.077 mm (95% CI 0.06 - 0.10 mm) larger than BAF-based measurements. Interreader agreement was highest for GAF-based analysis ([CR, ICC] 0.196 mm, 0.995) followed by BAF+NIR (0.232 mm, 0.992) and BAF alone (0.263 mm, 0.991). The same was noted for the lesion perimeter and circularity. Post hoc review revealed that interreader differences were associated with media opacification interfering with lesion boundary demarcation to a larger extent in BAF than in GAF.

Conclusions
cSLO-based GAF and combined BAF+NIR imaging with semiautomated lesion delineation allow for an accurate and reproducible quantification of GA. The slightly better interreader agreement using cSLO GAF suggests that its use may be preferable in clinical trials examining the change in lesion size as a clinical endpoint.


We examine the relation between banks' liquidity risk and their willingness to supply capital to borrowers under previously committed credit lines. We show that during the collapse of the asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) market in the last quarter of 2007 and the first half of 2008, banks with higher exposure to ABCP conduits renegotiated significantly tougher conditions on the outstanding credit lines offered to borrowers in violation of a covenant. Specifically, we find that borrowers faced higher spreads over the prime rate and LIBOR as well as higher commitment fees on undrawn amounts. Our paper suggests that an increase in lender liquidity risk can bear financial implications for firms that use credit lines as an instrument of liquidity management.