Pollen-loaded insects are not obligatorily captured rapidly by odoriferous inflorescences after their escape from a 'pollen-donor' inflorescence, but may be caught two or three days later. In such a situation, can these insects be considered as pollinators (i.e.. pollen vectors) or just visitors? Our results confirm that pollen grains in both species Arum italicum and A. maculatum quickly lose their viability. In natural conditions, pollen must then be dispersed quickly between male phase and female phase inflorescences in order for the pollination to be efficient. In fact, it should happen during the first hours after female Psychoda are liberated by male phase inflorescences. This is because pollinators captured on subsequent days would most probably carry non-viable pollen and thus would not pollinate the inflorescence they visit. In natural conditions, pollen grains were viable for two days. By contrast, refrigerated pollen was viable for a longer time (4-5 days). Thus refrigeration at 8 or 15oC appears to be a good method to store pollen and prolong its viability.


Structural features and life habits of described species of the extinct †Alienoptera are evaluated based on previously published studies on the group. Head structures and feedings habits are addressed, as are the locomotor organs, especially the wings and adhesive devices. Suggested pollen feeding habits and the possible role as pollinators are discussed, as well as hypothesized ant and wasp mimicry and myrmecophily. Species of †Alienoptera were likely predators, in the case of †Caputoraptor elegans Bai, Beutel et Wipfler, 2018 with a unique cephalo-prothoracic prey grasping mechanism. They were likely strong fliers with anatomical dipterism with functional hind wings. Wing joints protected by scale-like sclerotized fore wings probably allowed them to move very efficiently in dense foliage of trees or shrubs and to prey upon smaller insects. Ant mimicry, myrmecophily and "weevil mimicry" are rejected. †Meilia Vršanský et Wang, 2018 is a possible case of wasp mimicry but more evidence is required. Other suggested cases of mimicking wasps are unfounded.


Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) and its associated peptides have been implicated in a number of physiologic processes including modulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and cardiovascular regulation. Recently, we reported that in isolated cerebral arterioles, CART peptide (CARTp) acts directly to produce endothelium-dependent constriction via the endothelin signaling pathway. We used the rat closed cranial window model to determine the in vivo effects of CARTp on pial arteriolar diameter. Intravenous administration of 30 μg/kg CARTp produced a significant pressor effect and constriction of pial arterioles. The pressor response to systemic CARTp was blocked by the β-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol (2 mg/kg IV). Direct application of 0.1 nM-1μM CARTp to pial arterioles produced a dose-dependent and long-lasting constriction to approximately 88% of baseline diameter. The constriction response to topically applied 100 nM CARTp was blocked by both the endothelin A (ETA) receptor antagonist BQ-123 (10 μM) and the inhibitor of endothelin-converting enzyme, phosphoramidon (100 nM). These results demonstrate for the first time that CARTp constricts cerebral vessels in vivo, an action mediated by its effects on the endothelin system, specifically via activation of ETA receptors. This supports the notion that CARTp plays a physiologic role in cerebrovascular regulation, particularly during times of HPA axis activation.


Purpose The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and comorbidities (eg diabetes and obesity) among Native American (NA) population are higher than among the general US population. However, studies of COPD in NAs are scarce. Oklahoma has the largest NA population affiliated with federally recognized tribes in the country and is an ideal location for such research. A pilot study was designed to investigate the characteristics of NA patients with COPD exacerbations in a tertiary academic medical center. Patients and Methods We conducted a retrospective exploratory study of NA adults with COPD exacerbation hospitalizations and/or emergency department visits at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center between July 2001 and June 2020. Medical records were reviewed to confirm COPD exacerbation and outcomes, including death, mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, home oxygen, and 30-day readmission. Additional collected data included socio-demographics, body mass index, diabetes, other COPD comorbidities and clinical variables. Results Of 630 encounters reviewed, 159 met the inclusion criteria, representing 91 patients. Most patients were female (64%), obese or overweight (68%), and had diabetes (42%) or hypertension (71%). Mean age was 60 years old, but women were 5 years younger than men. Among the 76 patients with COPD hospitalizations, 31 patients (41%) had an intensive care unit (ICU) stay and 19 (25%) were intubated in their last hospitalization. Among 9 patients (10%) with 30-day readmissions, 8 were female. Medicare, Indian Health Service, Tribal health service, or Medicaid were the most frequently used payment sources. Sex, diabetes, and obesity were not associated with hospital length of stay, 30-day readmission or supplemental O2 use. Conclusion Hospitalized NA COPD patients at this tertiary care center had multiple comorbidities. Many required ICU care and intubation. Larger studies of the risk and mitigating factors for COPD health outcomes in NA patients are needed.


This work covers an investigation of the use of customised laser beam profiles to improve the characteristics of wire-based laser deposition, by using the modified beam to control the thermal cycle of the deposition process.
Inherent disadvantages of wire fed deposition vs. powder have been previously identified; namely that it is highly sensitive to changes in processing parameters, a tendency to low surface quality and a high incidence of porosity and cracking. Two potential avenues are identified and explored for the purpose of improving these disadvantages: Laser beam shaping and wire cross-sectional modification.
The investigation is presented in both theoretical modelling and physical experiments. Surface reflectivity calculations are predicted that relate the incidence angle profile across the wire width with it absorption profile. Further heat transfer simulations were used to compare the heat conduction within the wire for the various wire cross-sections and experimental beam profiles. From this, melting simulations are presented with a variety of wire shapes and beam profiles.
A series of experimental studies are presented comparing the use of different beam profiles on a single wire geometry, and then a single type of beam profile on different wire geometries. These are analysed principally with optical microscopy, with selected samples also studied via EBSD analysis. These corroborated the simulation results, where the use of altered beam profiles was found to give improved results in regard to the ability to form a melt pool, reduced power requirements and improved dilution characteristics. Combining a shaped beam with shaped wire gave further improvements.
Subsequent to this, experimental clad tracks are presented that show the ability to create multiple layers in different directions, as well as the ability to use shaped wire with a wire feeder.
This work shows that through the ability to modify the laser beam and wire cross-sectional profiles together with each other, the deposition properties can be improved; with a reduction in required power, an improvement in clad track quality and a reduction in process sensitivity.


Objectives: To attempt early diagnosis of patients with Bell's palsy by detection of herpesviral DNA in body fluids, and to investigate whether tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), a cytokine associated with demyelination, is involved in the inflammatory response in this disease. Study Design: Eleven patients with acute facial palsy admitted within 1 week after onset of the disease were followed in a consecutive prospective study. Methods: Antibodies reactive to herpesviruses were determined by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay in serum samples from acute and convalescent (> 2‐week interval) cases. Intrathecal antibody response was investigated by immunoblotting. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of herpesviral DNA was attempted from samples of serum, cerebrospinal fluid, tear fluid, and saliva. TNF‐α and its soluble receptors (types I and II) were assessed in serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples. Results: Ten of the 11 patients demonstrated serologic evidence of herpesviral primary infection or reactivation, supporting the evidence that herpesviruses are the most prevalent etiologic agents in Bell's palsy. Despite this, DNA amplifications by polymerase chain reaction were negative for herpesviruses in the body fluids tested. TNF‐α concentrations were significantly elevated in serum, as compared with controls. Only one patient had a remaining facial nerve dysfunction at follow‐up after 3 months. Conclusion: The absence of herpes DNA in body fluids in the acute stage of serologically confirmed Bell's palsy suggests that viral replication is transient in cases with an early restoration of the facial nerve function. The elevated serum levels of TNF‐α indicate that this cytokine might be a pathogenetic factor related to the demyelination in this disease.


A series of cone penetrometer tests was performed on subgrade materials at 18 sites along Arizona highways. At each site, water content and cone penetration data were obtained at two locations, 10 m apart, along the right-wheel path of the right lane and at a third location along the adjacent shoulder. The cone penetration and water-content data indicate pronounced variations in subgrade properties over distances of only a few meters horizontally. Variations in subgrade properties were also significant over small vertical distances. Soil profiles at the 18 test sites contained a wide range of soil types ; however, most upper subgrade materials were classified as silts or sands with silty fines. Relationships among soil water content, soil suction, and shear strength are explored, and the effect of highly variable subgrade properties on pavement design is discussed.


One crucial transition effecting athletes is the transition into the elite level of their sport. The purpose of the present study was to explore the changing social support associated with the transition into elite sport through six athletes' own lived experiences. Due to previous research focusing on single sporting disciplines, there is a gap in research looking at participants from different sport backgrounds, consequently ignoring the potential effect different access to social resources have on an athlete's elite transition. Using Wylleman and Lavallee's (2004) developmental model, the research focused on the third (psychosocial) and the fourth (vocational/academic) layers in order to explore the importance of social support during the transition. Using a phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews explored the athletes' experiences of entering into elite sport. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to develop three master themes from the athletes responses: (1) athlete-coach intersubjectivity, (2) shared experience with teammates and (3) simultaneous transitions. The research supports the Morris et al., (2016) finding that the coach becomes the main support for the athlete. The unique finding is the effect that changing coaches has on athletes: it is a necessity to have the previous coach available to rely on for emotional and tangible support whilst the athlete is trying to form a relationship with their new coaches. It is important for both the athlete and coaches to know and understand these findings in order to make the transition easier for the athlete.


A significant challenge designers of tidal stream turbines face is ensuring that the device can survive the harsh operating environment. Understanding the effect of the onset flow structure on the loading spectrum of the blades will lead to improved blade designs. The results of a preliminary parametric analysis suggest that the mean flow speed, longitudinal turbulence intensity, wave state and depth of hub relative to the channel depth are dominant drivers of the blade loads for horizontal-axis tidal turbines. They should therefore be accurately modeled in both fatigue and extreme load analyses.


Over the past decade the demand for punnet packaged grapes has been steadily increasing in first world countries. As this mode of packaging is inherently more labour intensive than carton packaging, productivity is a significant challenge for producers. The emphasis on productivity has broadened to include minimisation of "give-away", or overweight punnets as well as minimisation of waste caused by the packaging method. Hence, in this study the focus is on punnet packaging effectiveness. The table grape market in Europe is well organised and enforces stringent quality control measures, including strict control of conformance of individual punnet mass to the specification. The South African table grape industry makes use of developing world seasonal labour, making accurate weighing of punnets a management challenge. This study was undertaken at one of the largest grape packaging facilities in the southern hemisphere where new methods for punnet packaging were compared with conventional methods measuring labour productivity, "give away" as well as waste. Three packaging methods, namely manual packaging with a generic electronic scale, microcontroller assisted combination packaging and a new custom microcontroller supported scale, were investigated. Especially the new method employing a departure from assembly line concepts yielded encouraging results.


3D object detection is a fundamental and challenging task for 3D scene understanding, and the monocular-based methods can serve as an economical alternative to the stereo-based or LiDAR-based methods. However, accurately detecting objects in the 3D space from a single image is extremely difficult due to the lack of spatial cues. To mitigate this issue, we propose a simple and effective scheme to introduce the spatial information from LiDAR signals to the monocular 3D detectors, without introducing any extra cost in the inference phase. In particular, we first project the LiDAR signals into the image plane and align them with the RGB images. After that, we use the resulting data to train a 3D detector (LiDAR Net) with the same architecture as the baseline model. Finally, this LiDAR Net can serve as the teacher to transfer the learned knowledge to the baseline model. Experimental results show that the proposed method can significantly boost the performance of the baseline model and ranks the $1^{st}$ place among all monocular-based methods on the KITTI benchmark. Besides, extensive ablation studies are conducted, which further prove the effectiveness of each part of our designs and illustrate what the baseline model has learned from the LiDAR Net. Our code will be released at \url{https://github.com/monster-ghost/MonoDistill}.


Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of dentin pretreatment with NaOCl on shear bond strength of four one-step self-etch adhesives with different pH values. Material and Methods Bovine permanent incisors were used. Four one-step self-etch adhesives were tested: Adper™ Easy Bond, Futurabond NR, G-aenial Bond, Clearfil S3 Bond. One two-step self-etch adhesive (Clearfil SE Bond) was used as control. Group 1- no pretreatment; group 2- pretratment with 5,25 % NaOCl; group 3- pretreatment with 37 % H3PO4 etching and 5,25 % NaOCl. A hybrid composite resin was inserted into the dentin surface. The specimens were tested in a universal testing machine. The examiners evaluated the fractured surfaces in optical microscope to determine failure modes, quantified with adhesive remnant index (ARI). Results Dentin pretreatment variably influenced bond strength values of the different adhesive systems. When no dentin pretreatment was applied, no significant differences were found (P >.05) among four adhesives tested. No significant differences were recorded when comparing NaOCl pretreatment with H3PO4 + NaOCl pretreatment for all adhesive tested (P >.05) except Clearfil S3 Bond that showed higher shear bond strength values when H3PO4 was applied. Frequencies of ARI scores were calculated. Conclusions The influence of dentin pretreatment with NaOCl depends on the composition of each adhesive system used. There was no difference in bond strength values among self-etch adhesives with different pH values. Key words:Dentin, pretreatment, self-etch adhesives.


The neural network based approach for 3D human pose estimation from monocular images has attracted growing interest. However, annotating 3D poses is a labor-intensive and expensive process. In this paper, we propose a novel self-supervised approach to avoid the need of manual annotations. Different from existing weakly/self-supervised methods that require extra unpaired 3D ground-truth data to alleviate the depth ambiguity problem, our method trains the network only relying on geometric knowledge without any additional 3D pose annotations. The proposed method follows the two-stage pipeline: 2D pose estimation and 2D-to-3D pose lifting. We design the transform re-projection loss that is an effective way to explore multi-view consistency for training the 2D-to-3D lifting network. Besides, we adopt the confidences of 2D joints to integrate losses from different views to alleviate the influence of noises caused by the self-occlusion problem. Finally, we design a two-branch training architecture, which helps to preserve the scale information of re-projected 2D poses during training, resulting in accurate 3D pose predictions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on two popular 3D human pose datasets, Human3.6M and MPI-INF-3DHP. The results show that our method significantly outperforms recent weakly/self-supervised approaches.


The development of red-kernel rice is prompted by its low glycemic index around 50 which is beneficial for the diabetics. Since 2010 we have been selecting and propagating seeds of red-kernel deviation from five lowland white-kernel rice populations of Lampung local genetic source. The five deviated lines were single-crossed and the seeds were propagated in self to Self-4 generation. The research was to investigate the performances of three prospecting Self-4 inbred lines in an organic upland environment. The research was accomplished in the State Polytechnics of Lampung Research Station from March – July 2016 in a Randomized Complete-Block Design with three replicates. Three red-kernel rice inbred lines were tested Megou 1, Megou 2, and Megou 3, namely, and Ciherang variety was used as control. All plots were applied with half-decomposed cow dung of 50 t ha-1. Variables analyzed included plant height, tiller number hill-1, spike number hill-1, grain number spike-1, grain number hill-1, grain dry-weight hill-1, 100-grain weight, and productivity. The results indicated that the adaptation of the three Megou lines in the organic upland environment was better than that of Ciherang as measured on all variables except tiller number hill-1 and 100-grain weight. The genetic variances and broad-sense heritability values among Megou lines for plant height, spike number hill-1, grain number spike-1, grain dry-weight hill-1, 100-grain weight, and productivity were greater than 1 x standard error with the values of broad-sense heritability was greater than 60 %. The milled-dry grain productivity of Megou 1, 2, and 3 lines achieved 289, 422, and 587 g m-2, respectively, as compared with that of Ciherang 312 g m-2.

Keywords: broad-sense heritability, local genetic source, Megou lines, genetic variation, rice breeding, red-kernel rice, upland rice.


Abstract. Ice velocity variations near the terminus of Jakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland, were observed with a terrestrial radar interferometer (TRI) during three summer campaigns in 2012, 2015, and 2016. We estimate a  ∼  1 km wide floating zone near the calving front in early summer of 2015 and 2016, where ice moves in phase with ocean tides. Digital elevation models (DEMs) generated by the TRI show that the glacier front here was much thinner (within 1 km of the glacier front, average ice surface is  ∼  100 and  ∼  110 m above local sea level in 2015 and 2016, respectively) than ice upstream (average ice surface is  >  150 m above local sea level at 2–3 km to the glacier front in 2015 and 2016). However, in late summer 2012, there is no evidence of a floating ice tongue in the TRI observations. Average ice surface elevation near the glacier front was also higher,  ∼  125 m above local sea level within 1 km of the glacier front. We hypothesize that during Jakobshavn Isbrae's recent calving seasons the ice front advances  ∼  3 km from winter to spring, forming a  >  1 km long floating ice tongue. During the subsequent calving season in mid- and late summer, the glacier retreats by losing its floating portion through a sequence of calving events. By late summer, the entire glacier is likely grounded. In addition to ice velocity variation driven by tides, we also observed a velocity variation in the melange and floating ice front that is non-parallel to long-term ice flow motion. This cross-flow-line signal is in phase with the first time derivative of tidal height and is likely associated with tidal currents or bed topography.


association rules are mostly mining intra- transaction associations i.e., associations among items within the same transaction where the idea behind the transaction could be the items bought by the same customer on the same day. The goal of inter-transaction association rules is to represent the associations between various events found in different transactions. In this study, we break the barrier of transactions and extend the scope of mining association rules from traditional single-dimensional, intratransaction associations to N-Dimensional, inter-transaction associations. With the introduction of dimensional attributes, we lose the luxury of simple representational form of the classical association rules. Mining inter-transaction associations pose more challenges on efficient processing than mining intra-transaction associations because the number of potential association rules becomes extremely large after the boundary of transactions is broken. we also introduce the notion of N-Dimensional inter-transaction association rule, define its measurements: support and confidence, and develop an efficient algorithm called Modified Apriori. Various tests also conducted using the data set collected from different Stock Exchange (SE).Various experimental results are reported by comparing with real life and synthetic datasets, and we show the effectiveness of our work in generating rules and in finding acceptable set of rules under varying conditions.


Advances in experimental techniques of molecular biology motivate attempts to mathematically model complex biochemical reaction networks occurring in the cell. Usually, the models are so complex that they cannot be solved analytically and so computer simulations must be employed. Biochemical reaction networks may be expressed as a system of differential equations, thus allowing standard algorithms and software packages to be used in the simulation. Frequently, the lack of precise model parameters prevents quantitative studies of the system dynamics. In such cases, qualitative simulations using logical formalism or the study of flux distribution of the stationary state may be performed. The methods mentioned above are deterministic and do not take into account stochastic fluctuations resulting from the fact that biochemical processes occur in very small volumes. Various Monte Carlo approaches are used to account for the stochastic effects in the dynamics of biochemical reaction networks. Recent advances in these methods allow simulations of systems composed of reactions varying by many orders of magnitude in their rates and the number of molecules involved. Simulations explicitly incorporating positional information on the spatial clustering of membrane receptors have also been performed.

Keywords:

biochemical reaction networks;
chemical kinetics;
stochastic chemical kinetics;
exact stochastic simulation;
computer simulation;
qualitative simulation


Algorithms produce a growing portion of decisions and recommendations both in policy and business. Such algorithmic decisions are natural experiments (conditionally quasi-randomly assigned instruments) since the algorithms make decisions based only on observable input variables. We use this observation to develop a treatment-effect estimator for a class of stochastic and deterministic decision-making algorithms. Our estimator is shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal for well-defined causal effects. A key special case of our estimator is a multidimensional regression discontinuity design. We apply our estimator to evaluate the effect of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, where hundreds of billions of dollars worth of relief funding is allocated to hospitals via an algorithmic rule. Our estimates suggest that the relief funding has little effect on COVID-19-related hospital activity levels. Naive OLS and IV estimates exhibit substantial selection bias.


ABSTRACT The US military has a long tradition of using physician assistants (PAs). The Army began using PAs in 1971 in an effort to supplement the physicians and surgeons in the medical corps. As their numbers grew, PAs gradually replaced general medical officers assigned to battalions. Later, specialty positions developed in aviation medicine, orthopedics, and emergency medicine. The need for a PA serving as an adviser in the major commands slowly developed at all levels of leadership. In 2015, the Army removed limitations on female PAs assigned to combat units. PAs lead in tactical and clinical settings, filling command roles, senior clinical positions, and administrative leadership roles.


The secretive 2011 Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – known in short by the catchy acronym ACTA – is a controversial trade pact designed to provide for stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights. The preamble to the treaty reads like pulp fiction – it raises moral panics about piracy, counterfeiting, organised crime, and border security. The agreement contains provisions on civil remedies and criminal offences; copyright law and trademark law; the regulation of the digital environment; and border measures. Memorably, Susan Sell called the international treaty a TRIPS Double-Plus Agreement, because its obligations far exceed those of the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Agreement 1994, and TRIPS-Plus Agreements, such as the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement 2004. ACTA lacks the language of other international intellectual property agreements, which emphasise the need to balance the protection of intellectual property owners with the wider public interest in access to medicines, human development, and transfer of knowledge and technology.

In Australia, there was much controversy both about the form and the substance of ACTA. While the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was a partisan supporter of the agreement, a wide range of stakeholders were openly critical.

After holding hearings and taking note of the position of the European Parliament and the controversy in the United States, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties in the Australian Parliament recommended the deferral of ratification of ACTA. This was striking as representatives of all the main parties agreed on the recommendation. The committee was concerned about the lack of transparency, due process, public participation, and substantive analysis of the treaty. There were also reservations about the ambiguity of the treaty text, and its potential implications for the digital economy, innovation and competition, plain packaging of tobacco products, and access to essential medicines. The treaty has provoked much soul-searching as to whether the Trick or Treaty reforms on the international treaty-making process in Australia have been compromised or undermined.

Although ACTA stalled in the Australian Parliament, the debate over it is yet to conclude. There have been concerns in Australia and elsewhere that ACTA will be revived as a 'zombie agreement'. Indeed, in March 2013, the Canadian government introduced a bill to ensure compliance with ACTA. Will it be also resurrected in Australia? Has it already been revived? There are three possibilities. First, the Australian government passed enhanced remedies with respect to piracy, counterfeiting and border measures in a separate piece of legislation – the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 (Cth). Second, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade remains supportive of ACTA. It is possible, after further analysis, that the next Australian Parliament – to be elected in September 2013 – will ratify the treaty. Third, Australia is involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. The government has argued that ACTA should be a template for the Intellectual Property Chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The United States Trade Representative would prefer a regime even stronger than ACTA.

This chapter provides a portrait of the Australian debate over ACTA. It is the account of an interested participant in the policy proceedings. This chapter will first consider the deliberations and recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties on ACTA. Second, there was a concern that ACTA had failed to provide appropriate safeguards with respect to civil liberties, human rights, consumer protection and privacy laws. Third, there was a concern about the lack of balance in the treaty's copyright measures; the definition of piracy is overbroad; the suite of civil remedies, criminal offences and border measures is excessive; and there is a lack of suitable protection for copyright exceptions, limitations and remedies. Fourth, there was a worry that the provisions on trademark law, intermediary liability and counterfeiting could have an adverse impact upon consumer interests, competition policy and innovation in the digital economy. Fifth, there was significant debate about the impact of ACTA on pharmaceutical drugs, access to essential medicines and health-care. Sixth, there was concern over the lobbying by tobacco industries for ACTA – particularly given Australia's leadership on tobacco control and the plain packaging of tobacco products. Seventh, there were concerns about the operation of border measures in ACTA. Eighth, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was concerned about the jurisdiction of the ACTA Committee, and the treaty's protean nature. Finally, the chapter raises fundamental issues about the relationship between the executive and the Australian Parliament with respect to treaty-making. There is a need to reconsider the efficacy of the Trick or Treaty reforms passed by the Australian Parliament in the 1990s.


Alopecurus myosuroides Huds. (black-grass) grows in patches within fields. This presents
an opportunity for site-specific management by patch spraying. Despite the economic
and environmental benefits of this type of management, it is not being readily taken
up by farmers, largely due to the risk of missing weeds that fall outside of established
patches. I focus on the environmental determinants of patch location in A. myosuroides
and the scale-dependence of relationships between A. myosuroides and environmental
properties. Understanding these relationships allowed me to determine which abiotic
factors can be used to identify A. myosuroides vulnerable zones within fields and if
these relationships occur at scales appropriate for management. This presents a more
conservative approach than patch spraying according to observations of previous years'
infestations, as a greater area of the field is sprayed, yet the overall use of pesticide is
still reduced.
By combining field work, pot experiments, and modelling, I discovered that soil
organic matter, water, and pH, amongst other environmental properties, show strong
scale-dependent relationships with the within-field distribution of A. myosuroides. These
relationships between A. myosuroides and soil properties were often strongest at coarse
scales making them particularly useful for the implementation of management practices,
which are often limited to coarse-scale implementation by the available machinery.
The effects of these soil properties on A. myosuroides are both direct (affecting the
plant's life-cycle) and indirect (altering herbicide efficacy). The incremental changes I
observed to different aspects of the life-cycle due to soil properties may seem too small
to be of consequence when studied independently, yet when combined in a modelling
approach their additive nature revealed them as important determinants of the withinfield
distribution of this species and the coarse-scale relationships observed in the field
are an emergent property of the model.


BACKGROUND
Studies of endovascular renal denervation (RDN) have demonstrated significant blood pressure reduction in eligible patients with resistant hypertension. These trials have used stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria in patient enrollment, potentially selecting for a small subset of patients with resistant hypertension. In this study, we examined the changes in estimated prevalence of resistant hypertension when using increasingly stringent definitions of resistant hypertension in a fixed population and assessed the generalizability of RDN when applying study criteria to a community-based hypertensive population.

METHODS
A retrospective chart review was done of hypertensive outpatients. Four increasingly stringent interpretations of the American Heart Association definition of resistant hypertension were used to calculate prevalence estimates. Patients eligible for RDN were identified using criteria from SYMPLICITY HTN-3. Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared.

RESULTS
We identified 1,756 hypertensive outpatients; 55.0% were male, 53.9% were white, and subjects had a mean age of 66.6 ± 12.5 years and a body mass index (BMI) of 30.1 ± 10.7 kg/m(2). Only 14 (0.8%) were eligible for RDN. Among these patients, 10 (71.4%) were female and all were black, with a mean age of 69.9 ± 8.8 and BMI of 35.7 ± 6.6. Congestive heart failure was more common in patients eligible for RDN.

CONCLUSIONS
Patients eligible for RDN based on published studies represent an exceedingly small proportion of the total hypertensive population. Further studies are necessary to determine if the benefits of RDN can be generalized to a broader range of hypertensive patients than those included in previous trials.


The obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 brought the world to a stand still. This unimaginable shock confirmed to the world that the race to develop a working atomic weapon during World War II had been won by the American-led international effort. Horrific and controversial even today, these first uses of the atomic bomb had intense ramifications not only on the continued development of the bomb, but also on politics and popular culture. As well as the technological development, historian James Delgado also examines how the US Army Air Force had to develop the capacity to deliver the weapons, and examines the sites where development and testing took place, in order to give a comprehensive history of the dawning of the nuclear age.


The nature and concentration of cationic species in the electrolyte exert a profound influence on the efficiency of nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A series of DSSCs based on gel electrolytes containing five alkali iodide salts (LiI, NaI, KI, RbI and CsI) and polyacrylonitrile with plasticizers were fabricated and studied, in order to investigate the dependence of solar cell performance on the cation size. The ionic conductivity of electrolytes with relatively large cations, K(+), Rb(+) and Cs(+), was higher and essentially constant, while for the electrolytes containing the two smaller cations, Na(+) and Li(+), the conductivity values were lower. The temperature dependence of conductivity in this series appears to follow the Vogel-Tamman-Fulcher equation. The sample containing the smallest cation shows the lowest conductivity and the highest activation energy of ∼36.5 meV, while K(+), Rb(+) and Cs(+) containing samples show an activation energy of ∼30.5 meV. DSSCs based on the gel electrolyte and a TiO2 double layer with the N719 dye exhibited an enhancement in the open circuit voltage with increasing cation size. This can be attributed to the decrease in the recombination rate of electrons and to the conduction band shift resulting from cation adsorption by TiO2. The maximum efficiency value, 3.48%, was obtained for the CsI containing cell. The efficiencies shown in this study are lower compared to values reported in the literature, and this can be attributed to the use of a single salt and the absence of other additives, since the focus of the present study was to analyze the cation effect. The highest short circuit current density of 9.43 mA cm(-2) was shown by the RbI containing cell. The enhancement of the solar cell performance with increasing size of the cation is discussed in terms of the effect of the cations on the TiO2 anode and ion transport in the electrolyte. In liquid electrolyte based DSSCs, the short circuit current density has been reported to decrease with the increasing size of the cation. However, in this work, it follows an opposite trend highlighting a major difference between liquid and quasi-solid electrolytes on the solar cell performance.


Emotional disclosure refers to the process of writing or talking about personally stressful or traumatic events and has been associated with improvements in mood and immune parameters in clinical and non-clinical groups. This article presents evidence from a qualitative study embedded in a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) of emotional disclosure in people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The study aimed to explore participants' views about the emotional disclosure and control conditions. Fifteen participants (N = 9 in intervention and N = 6 in the control group) were interviewed about their experiences of taking part in the RCT. A thematic analysis was undertaken. The process of writing within the study was seen as being different to discussing difficulties verbally. Participants noted notions of resolution, catharsis and a realisation that effective coping had been achieved, as important aspects of the disclosure process. Surprisingly, the participants in the control sample, who had been asked to take part in a supposedly 'neutral' task, indicated that they had found the task emotional. These themes provide some exploratory evidence for the experiential and linguistic models of emotional disclosure. The finding that the standard control condition was not neutral has implications for its use in future emotional disclosure studies. *The Department of Social Medicine of the University of Bristol is the lead centre for the MRC Health Services Research Collabration.


Rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence have shifted the focus from traditional human-directed robots to fully autonomous ones that do not require explicit human control. These are commonly referred to as Human-on-the-Loop (HotL) systems. Transparency of HotL systems necessitates clear explanations of autonomous behavior so that humans are aware of what is happening in the environment and can understand why robots behave in a certain way. However, in complex multi-robot environments, especially those in which the robots are autonomous and mobile, humans may struggle to maintain situational awareness. Presenting humans with rich explanations of autonomous behavior tends to overload them with lots of information and negatively affect their understanding of the situation. Therefore, explaining the autonomous behavior of multiple robots creates a design tension that demands careful investigation.
This paper examines the User Interface (UI) design trade-offs associated with providing timely and detailed explanations of autonomous behavior for swarms of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) or drones. We analyze the impact of UI design choices on human awareness of the situation. We conducted multiple user studies with both inexperienced and expert sUAS operators to present our design solution and initial guidelines for designing the HotL multi-sUAS interface.


Family support has been demonstrated to be essential for successful long-term outcomes of low-income, African American adolescent mothers and their children [Apfel, N., & Seitz, V. (1996). Urban girls: Resisting stereotypes, creating identities. NY: New York University Press]. Family support may also be essential for the continued paternal involvement of unmarried, low-income, African American adolescent fathers. Twenty mothers of unmarried, low-income, African American adolescent parents were individually interviewed for this qualitative study to describe the experiences of paternal grandmothers (mothers of adolescent fathers) and maternal grandmothers (mothers of adolescent mothers) during transition to fatherhood for unmarried, low-income, African American adolescent fathers. Findings are presented according to the six factors of transition conditions from the nursing model of transitions [Schumacher, K., & Meleis, A. I. (1994). Image, 26, 119-127]: meanings, expectations, level of knowledge and skill, the environment, level of planning, and emotional and physical well-being. Findings indicate that transition to parenthood and grandparenthood is often abrupt and complicated for unmarried, low-income, African American adolescent parents and their families. Paternal and maternal grandmothers continue to act as primary parents for their adolescents while compensating for the lack of skills and attributes for the adolescents' children. Findings from this study can be used to design developmentally and culturally appropriate health care interventions that can support these families during this complex process.


Spectral unmixing (SU) is a useful tool for hyperspectral remote sensing image analysis. However, due to the interference of spectral variance and non-linearity caused by photon multiple-scattering, the result might be an inaccuracy. In addition, the unmixing performance of typically relies on the prior knowledge of endmembers. Although many classical endmember extraction algorithms have been presented, it is hard to obtain accurate endmembers in practical applications. This study presents a bilinear normal mixing model named as BNMM to tackle these issues. In fact, BNMM employs the polynomial post-non-linear mixing model to alleviate the effect of non-linearity and uses a normal distribution model to reduce the influence of endmembers variability. Based on the BNMM, the authors develop a Hamiltonian Monte Carlo algorithm for SU. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms other classical unmixing algorithms in the case of simulated and benchmark datasets.


This article used both retrospective and prospective perspectives to rethink and reflect upon the opportunities and challenges of nursing professional development in Taiwan. The authors conducted a literature review on the 2011-2015 Strategic Directions for Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery Services (SDNM) initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and on analyses of nursing related polices and programs from done by Taiwan health administrative offices. It is important to record the contribution of nursing to Taiwan's healthcare delivery system. Such is especially in light of the Taiwan's centenary celebrations in 2011 and of the Department of Health's consolidation into the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2012 due to central government reforms.


Abstract The greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), is known to respond to UV light (UV). Field studies were conducted to improve our understanding of the behavioral effects and practical implications of using UV-blocking plastic films for the control of whitefly. Adult whiteflies were released in outdoor-located choice-chamber experiments with compartments clad with a range of films that transmitted incident UV to different extents. In release-recapture experiments, a very small proportion of the whiteflies recovered had dispersed into compartments where the entire UV spectrum was blocked, whereas the major proportion preferred compartments with UV. Compartments clad with films that blocked UV below 375 nm attracted significantly more whiteflies than films that blocked UV below 385 nm, whereas the absorption of UV wavelengths above 385 nm did not show any further effect on whitefly numbers. A reduction in the side cladding of the compartments by >20% significantly reduced the advantage of using UV-blocking films. Adult whitefly did not discriminate between direct- and diffused-light environments, as long as the UV-absorbing properties of the films were equivalent. Whitefly dispersal was influenced by the time of the day when adult whitefly were released, with a higher proportion of whitefly avoiding compartments clad with UV-blocking films, at times of the day when light intensities were higher. The future use of UV-blocking films as a potentially highly effective component of integrated pest management systems for the control of whitefly is discussed.


Abstract Debates about the new welfare, and the new social policies that go (or should go) with it, share an emphasis on risk-prevention strategies and pluralistic risk management. Focusing specifically on the risk of unemployment, this article discusses the case for so-called preventive worker-directed active labour market policies as part of the new welfare architecture. These policies are aimed at preventing unemployment and promoting labour-market transitions and employability. They involve responsibilities on the part of the state, social partners and employers. First, the case for these policies is elaborated by analysing the social investment, flexicurity and transitional labour-market literature. In this context, several issues related to the feasibility of the pluralistic management of preventing unemployment, as well as the possible impact of pluralistic risk management on dualisation, are discussed. Secondly, recent policy initiatives in the Netherlands are presented as an illustration of the incremental emergence of preventive worker-directed active labour-market policies. It is argued that although these policy initiatives were initially introduced as responses to the crisis, they may eventually turn out to reflect a more fundamental reorientation in managing and dealing with the risks of unemployment. The conclusion critically reflects and argues that pluralistic risk management may exacerbate, rather than mitigate, the insecurities of flexible and non-standard workers.


Introduction: The food safety is becoming a serious threat to public health, particularly in developing countries. In common street foods, vendors are using normal water without any treatment. The consumption of street foods is very popular in India and all over the world. Materials and Methods: In food samples, the microbiological analysis was done to determine the bacteria, including pathogenic bacteria. Results: Different bacterial cultures were isolated from 20 samples of panipuri collected from different locations of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The dominant contaminant bacteria reported in the study were from Enterobacteriaceae family including Proteus vulgaris and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The antibacterial efficacy of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was tested against isolated bacteria. Antibacterial activity showed that AgNPs synthesized had a good antibacterial activity to kill foodborne pathogens. Although it is a preliminary data, it will increase our understanding of the presence of bacteria in street food as well as the use of AgNPs as antibacterial agents. Conclusion: The risks associated with street foods may be controlled by clean water and maintaining proper hygienic conditions.


The thermal reaction of diatomic tantalum nitride cation [TaN](+) with methane has been explored using FT-ICR mass spectrometry complemented by high-level quantum chemical calculation; based on this combined experimental/computational approach, mechanistic aspects of this novel, highly efficient C-N coupling process have been uncovered. In distinct contrast to [TaN](+) , its lighter congeners [VN](+) and [NbN](+) are inert towards methane under ambient conditions, and the origins of the remarkably variable efficiencies of the three metal nitrides are uncovered by CCSD(T) calculations.


Background Little is known about the natural history of Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) infection in women. We retrospectively tested archived vaginal fluid samples to assess MG prevalence, incidence, persistence, recurrence and antimicrobial resistance markers among women participating in the Preventing Vaginal Infections trial, a randomized trial of monthly presumptive treatment to reduce vaginal infections. Methods High-risk, nonpregnant, HIV-negative women aged 18 to 45 years from Kenya and the United States were randomized to receive metronidazole 750 mg + miconazole 200 mg intravaginal suppositories or placebo for 5 consecutive nights each month for 12 months. Clinician-collected swabs containing cervicovaginal fluid were tested for MG using Hologic nucleic acid amplification testing at enrollment and every other month thereafter. Specimens that were MG+ underwent additional testing for macrolide resistance–mediating mutations by DNA sequencing. Results Of 234 women enrolled, 221 had available specimens and 25 (11.3%) had MG at enrollment. Among 196 women without MG at enrollment, there were 52 incident MG infections (incidence, 33.4 per 100 person-years). Smoking was independently associated with incident MG infection (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.32–6.93), and age less than 25 years trended toward an association (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.95–3.06). Median time to clearance of incident MG infections was 1.5 months (interquartile range, 1.4–3.0 months). Of the 120 MG+ specimens, 16 specimens from 15 different women were macrolide resistance–mediating mutation positive (13.3%), with no difference by country. Conclusions M. genitalium infection is common among sexually active women in Kenya and the Southern United States. Given associations between MG and adverse reproductive health outcomes, this high burden of MG in reproductive-aged women could contribute to substantial morbidity.


Objective: This study assessed traditional farmers' preferences for indigenous pigs and their awareness levels toward reproductive biotechnology. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study employed a mixed-methods concurrent triangulation design with a pragmatic approach. For quantitative data collection, a randomly selected sample size of 622 respondents was interviewed using a structured questionnaire. A semi-structured interview guide was used in seven focus group discussions (FGDs) for qualitative data. For quantitative data, descriptive statistics were used to find out how often something happened, and chi-square tests were used to look for relationships. For qualitative data, thematic analysis was used. Results: The majority (66.9%) of respondents were female, and they had largely (64.8%) attended a primary level of education. A slight majority (43.1%) of the respondents were 30–45 years old. Most respondents (65.1%) were low-income earners (below K500). Incidentally, the majority (74.1%) of respondents had low awareness of reproductive biotechnologies. Respondents' awareness levels were associated with gender (p < 0.001), education (p < 0.001), income (p < 0.01), and not age (p > 0.05). With regard to trait preference, a total of seven indigenous pig traits were reportedly preferred, of which disease resistance (25.9%) and litter size (23.8%) were the most preferred. From FGDs, participants valued indigenous pigs, citing many preferred traits, of which disease resistance and litter size were the most emphasized traits. Some participants were aware of many reproductive biotechnologies and their perceived advantages. However, they were more familiar with artificial insemination, heat detection methods, and synchronization. Conclusions: The majority of respondents had low awareness of reproductive biotechnologies. Respondents' awareness was associated with sociodemographic characteristics. The identified indigenous pig traits preferred by traditional farmers included adaptive and productive traits.


The possibility that guanosine 3'5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) may be an intracellular mediator of cholinergic stimulation [methacholine chloride (MCh)] was explored by comparing the relationship between the time course of cGMP accumulation and sweat secretion by use of isolated monkey palm eccrine sweat glands. Isolated sweat glands were incubated with MCh or other agents, and tissue levels of cGMP were determined by radioimmunoassay. In parallel experiments, sweat secretion was induced from cannulated single sweat glands in vitro. Stimulation with MCh produced a Ca-dependent transient elevation of cGMP level from 10 to 80 fmol/gland, peaking at 1-2 min but returning to the basal level by 5 min. The MCh-induced cGMP level was dose dependent and was inhibited by atropine. Ionophore A23187 (2 X 10(-4) M), however, caused persistent elevation of cGMP level for at least 20 min. Neither 10(-4) M MNNG, which elevated the cGMP level comparably with MCh stimulation, nor 8-bromo-cGMP (2 mM) induced sweat secretion. Thus although a parallelism between the cGMP level and sweating rate appears to hold for the initial stage of MCh-induced sweating, it does not hold for the steady state of sweat secretion. Data could not be interpreted to favor the notion that cGMP may be the intracellular mediator of cholinergic sweat secretion.


The capability of the computer screen photo-assisted technique (CSPT) for the spectral fingerprinting of a photoactive polythiophene derivative (POWT), used as a pH reporter, is demonstrated. POWT is part of a family of industrial scalable materials, well established for organic electronics and biomedical applications, which is used here to demonstrate the capability of CSPT for tracing key spectral features. The ability of CSPT for substance classification, corroborated by principal component analysis (PCA), successfully compares to standard spectroscopy, especially considering the involved equipment: CSPT is only a computer set and a Web camera.


Determining metastability characteristics is challenging. Devising reliable and repeatable experiments and procedures requires time, patience, care and knowledge. This discussion presents practical measurement techniques to accurately determine the Resolving Time Constant (/spl tau/) and Metastability Window (W). Also included is a method for observing the metastability failure rate at a designated time following the clock. By converting this failure rate to observed MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), a comparison is made to a predicted MTBF.


Chemokine-like factor 1 (CKLF1) is a newly cloned human cytokine from PHA-stimulated U937 cells in our laboratory, which belongs to a novel gene family and has at least three alternative RNA splicing forms: CKLF2, CKLF3, and CKLF4. Former studies demonstrated that CKLF1 has a chemotaxis effect on different leukocytes both in vitro and in vivo. It can also stimulate the proliferation of mouse skeletal muscle cells and bone marrow cells. This study was designed to generate CKLF1-specific monoclonal antibody (MAb) for further exploration of its structure and function. Mice were immunized intramuscularly with naked plasmid DNA encoding CKLF1 gene with in vivo electroporation. Hybridomas were generated by the fusion of the spleenocytes to Sp2/0 myeloma cells. One hybridoma cell line designated as M4, which is stable in secreting anti- CKLF1 MAb, was generated. It belongs to the IgG1 isotype and is specific for the unique C-terminal domain of CKLFs protein. The specificity of this antibody has been assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot. Our results demonstrated that intramuscular injection of naked DNA encoding CKLF1 gene combined with in vivo electroporation is an effective and simple method to raise MAbs that can be used for basic and clinical research of CKLF1 protein.


The ZnSe epilayers were grown on the GaAs substrate by hot wall epitaxy. After the ZnSe epilayers treated in the vacuum-, Zn-, and Se-atmosphere, respectively. The defects of the epilayer were investigated by means of the low-temperature photoluminescence measurement. The dominant peaks at 2.7988 eV and 2.7937 eV obtained from the PL spectrum of the as-grown ZnSe epilayer were found to be consistent with the upper and the lower polariton peak of the exciton, I2 (Do, X), bounded to the neutral donor associated with the Se-vacancy. This donorimpurity binding energy was calculated to be 25.3 meV. The exciton peak, I1 d, at 2.7812 eV was confirmed to be bound to the neutral acceptor corresponded with the Zn-vacancy.


Two datasets of smartphone readings of battery temperature, pressure and light intensity in the Amsterdam metropolitan area, the Netherlands, from June 2017. Included is a readme.txt file with details on the dataset. The datasets also include metadata, e.g. regarding the accuracy of the readings or the status of the phone. They also contain humidity and temperature observations, but these have not been investigated yet. The data are meant to provide city-average estimates. Hence, location information is not needed and has been removed in order to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation


Poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) wastes were depolymerised using excess ethylene glycol (EG) in the presence of zinc acetate as transesterificaion catalyst. Influences of particle size, reaction temperature, weight ratio of ethylene glycol (EG) to PET and weight ratio of catalyst to PET on the yield of bis(hydroxyethyl terephthalate)(BHET) were investigated. The kinetics of glycolysis of PET in EG could be interpreted by the shrinking-core model of chemical reaction control, the activation energy of the glycolysis was 133 KJ/mol. The glycolysis product was analyzed and identified by FTIR and Element analysis.


OBJECTIVE
The use of conventional uniportal spinal endoscopic decompression surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis can be limited by technical difficulties and a restricted field of vision. The purpose of this study is to describe the technique for percutaneous biportal endoscopic decompression (PBED) for lumbar spinal stenosis and analysis of clinical postoperative results.

METHODS
The authors performed a unilateral laminotomy with bilateral foraminal decompression using a unilateral biportal endoscopic system in patients with single-level lumbar stenosis. The authors enrolled only patients who underwent follow-up for longer than 12 months after PBED. Fifty-eight patients were enrolled in this study. This approach was based on 2 portals: one portal was used for continuous irrigation and endoscopic viewing and the other portal was used to manipulate the instruments used in the decompression procedures. Clinical parameters such as the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Macnab criteria, and postoperative complications were analyzed.

RESULTS
Neural decompression was effectively performed in all enrolled patients. The mean ODI was significantly lower after PBED. Of 58 patients, 47 (81.0%) had a good or excellent result according to the Macnab criteria. Postoperative ODI and visual analog scale scores were significantly improved compared with preoperative values.

CONCLUSIONS
From a surgical point of view, percutaneous biportal endoscopy is very similar to microscopic spinal surgery, permitting good visualization of the contralateral sublaminar and medial foraminal areas. The authors suggest that the PBED, which is a minimally invasive procedure, is an alternative treatment option for degenerative lumbar stenosis.


Mycoplasma infection is on the rise in recent times. It usually infects any system, including liver. This study aims to show the significance of elevated liver enzymes in mycoplasma pneumonia and to have a look at future prospects. This is a single-center retrospective study involving 105 children serologically positive for mycoplasma IgM and IgG antibodies and 50 with community-acquired pneumonia caused by organisms other than mycoplasma and Epstein-Barr virus from June 2015 to June 2016 and all without prior liver disease. The patients were followed after 10 days (7-14 days). The liver enzymes were significantly elevated in Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. The mean levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase were 39.3 and 32.5 IU/L, respectively. There was a seasonal variation during the months of September and February. Liver involvement in mycoplasma pneumonia is mostly a benign condition and asymptomatic. It is insisted that children with continued elevation should be followed conservatively to avoid unnecessary diagnostic procedures in the future.


Sample sub-populations, each of six plants, were chosen for high, mid and low tolerance of copper from each of two naturally-occurring copper tolerant populations and from tolerant individuals selected from a cultivar of Agrostis capillaris L. The naturally-occurring ecotypes came from a closed sward community at Drws y Coed, and from an open community at Parys Mountain, both copper mines in North Wales. Clonal replicates of all plants were introduced into swards of perennial ryegrass cvs. S23 or S24, growing on normal soil at the University of Liverpool Botanic Gardens. S23 plots were cut eight times between June 1977 and July 1978, whilst S24 plots were cut 3 times during the same period. Half the experimental plots received N, P, K, fertilizer; the rest received none. Plants selected from the cultivar (selected) produced most dry matter, and with infrequent defoliation flowered freely in competition with ryegrass. Those taken from Parys Mountain mine spoil produced least dry matter and no inflorescences. Drws y Coed plants were intermediate in dry matter and inflorescence production. These results may reflect differences in population density in the habitats from which the populations were sampled. Sub-populations chosen for high, mid or low copper tolerance within the selected and Drws y Coed populations did not differ significantly in dry matter yield. By contrast under certain circumstances Parys Mountain plants with low tolerance outyielded other more tolerant plants. These results are considered with respect to growth strategies adopted by plants growing on and off copper mine sites.


ABSTRACT What effect do economic sanctions have on the IMF lending decisions? Though countries under economic sanctions often face significant economic and financial difficulties, no comprehensive research to date has explored whether the IMF as a de facto lender of last resort intervenes in those countries in need. We posit that economic coercion is likely to hinder the target's access to IMF credits as sanctioning (sender) countries are likely to use their political influence in the IMF to deny funds to the destabilized target economies. To assess the empirical merits of the hypothesis, we combine data on the IMF lending with the economic sanctions data for 120 emerging market economies from 1975 to 2005. Results indicate that target countries are less likely to receive IMF funds, especially when under sanctions by the United States and international institutions. Our findings contradict the conventional wisdom that the IMF is tasked with providing lifelines to member governments in need of help to ease their short-term balance of payment problems. Further, as much as IMF loans can be used as positive inducements to acquire a country's strategic cooperation, we show that they might also be used by sender countries as a punishment tool against target countries to amplify the impact of sanctions regimes.


Situations arise in life testing where early failures go unreported, e.g. a technician believes an early failure is "his fault" or "premature" and must not be recorded. Consequently, the reported data come from a truncated distribution and the number of unreported early failures is unknown. Inferences are developed for a Weibull accelerated life-testing model in which transformed scale and shape parameters are expressed as linear combinations of functions of the environment (stress). Coefficients of these combinations are estimated by maximum likelihood methods which allow point, interval, and confidence bound estimates to be computed for such quantities of interest for a given stress level as the shape parameter, the scale parameter, a selected quantile, the reliability at a particular time, and the number of unreported early failures. The methodology allows lifetimes to be reported as exact, right censored, or interval-valued, and to be subject optionally to testing protocols which establish thresholds below which lifetimes go unreported. A broad spectrum of applicability is anticipated by virtue of the substantial generality accommodated in both stress modeling and data type. >


We present an in-depth analysis of the bright subgiant HR 7322 (KIC 10005473) using Kepler short-cadence photometry, optical interferometry from CHARA, high-resolution spectra from SONG, and stellar modelling using garstec grids, and the Bayesian grid-fitting algorithm basta. HR 7322 is only the second subgiant with high-quality Kepler asteroseismology for which we also have interferometric data. We find a limb-darkened angular diameter of 0.443 ± 0.007 mas, which, combined with a distance derived using the parallax from Gaia DR2 and a bolometric flux, yields a linear radius of 2.00 ± 0.03 R⊙ and an effective temperature of 6350 ± 90 K. HR 7322 exhibits solar-like oscillations, and using the asteroseismic scaling relations and revisions thereof, we find good agreement between asteroseismic and interferometric stellar radius. The level of precision reached by the careful modelling is to a great extent due to the presence of an avoided crossing in the dipole oscillation mode pattern of HR 7322. We find that the standard models predict a stellar radius systematically smaller than the observed interferometric one and that a sub-solar mixing length parameter is needed to achieve a good fit to individual oscillation frequencies, interferometric temperature, and spectroscopic metallicity.


Three gibberellin (GA) receptor genes (AtGID1a, AtGID1b and AtGID1c), each an ortholog of the rice GA receptor gene (OsGID1), were cloned from Arabidopsis, and the characteristics of their recombinant proteins were examined. The GA-binding activities of the three recombinant proteins were confirmed by an in vitro assay. Biochemical analyses revealed similar ligand selectivity among the recombinants, and all recombinants showed higher affinity to GA(4) than to other GAs. AtGID1b was unique in its binding affinity to GA(4) and in its pH dependence when compared with the other two, by only showing binding in a narrow pH range (pH 6.4-7.5) with 10-fold higher affinity (apparent K(d) for GA(4) = 3 x 10(-8) m) than AtGID1a and AtGID1c. A two-hybrid yeast system only showed in vivo interaction in the presence of GA(4) between each AtGID1 and the Arabidopsis DELLA proteins (AtDELLAs), negative regulators of GA signaling. For this interaction with AtDELLAs, AtGID1b required only one-tenth of the amount of GA(4) that was necessary for interaction between the other AtGID1s and AtDELLAs, reflecting its lower K(d) value. AtDELLA boosted the GA-binding activity of AtGID1 in vitro, which suggests the formation of a complex between AtDELLA and AtGID1-GA that binds AtGID1 to GA more tightly. The expression of each AtGID1 clone in the rice gid1-1 mutant rescued the GA-insensitive dwarf phenotype. These results demonstrate that all three AtGID1s functioned as GA receptors in Arabidopsis.


Background and Aims

Global warming is inducing a general earliness in the onset of grapevine phenological stages including ripening, a phenomenon that occurs often in the hottest seasons and which leads to unbalanced wines. Our aim was to assess the physiological basis of late leaf removal applied above the bunch area as a tool for delaying ripening.

Methods and Results

Potted cv. Sangiovese grapevines were subjected to leaf removal treatments applied preveraison (DEF-I) and postveraison (DEF-II) by pulling out six to seven primary leaves and laterals, if any, above the bunch zone; untouched vines served as the control. Whole-canopy net CO2 gas exchange was monitored seasonally from 9 days before DEF-I to 35 days after DEF-II. Concurrently, single-leaf gas exchange was assessed, and at harvest yield components, grape composition and the leaf-to-fruit ratio were determined. The seasonal carbon/yield ratio did not differ between treatments because of the high capacity for photosynthetic compensation shown by the DEF treatments and quantified as about a 35% higher net CO2 gas exchange per unit of leaf area per day. While ripening was temporarily retarded in both DEF treatments, with sugar content being lower and titratable acidity higher, a week later both treatments had fully or partially recovered; phenolic ripening was unaffected at either harvest date.

Conclusions

Defoliation above the bunch zone applied at lag-phase and postveraison (average 12°Brix) was effective in temporarily delaying technological ripeness without affecting colour and phenolics. This result depended upon the high compensation capacity for photosynthesis shown by vines in both treatments.

Significance of the Study

The data provide a preliminary yet robust physiological background for targeting better field application of the technique.


Existing cache organization suffers from the inability to distinguish different types of localities, and non-selectively cache all data rather than making any attempt to take special advantage of the locality type. This causes unnecessary movement of data among the levels of the memory hierarchy and increases in miss ratio. In this dissertation I propose a split data cache architecture that will group memory accesses as scalar or array references according to their inherent locality and will subsequently map each group to a dedicated cache partition. In this system, because scalar and array references will no longer negatively affect each other, cache-interference is diminished, delivering better performance. Further improvement is achieved by the introduction of victim cache, prefetching, data flattening and reconfigurability to tune the array and scalar caches for specific application.
The most significant contribution of my work is the introduction of novel cache architecture for embedded microprocessor platforms. My proposed cache architecture uses reconfigurability coupled with split data caches to reduce area and power consumed by cache memories while retaining performance gains. My results show excellent reductions in both memory size and memory access times, translating into reduced power consumption. Since there was a huge reduction in miss rates at L-1 caches, further power reduction is achieved by partially or completely shutting down L-2 data or L-2 instruction caches. The saving in cache sizes resulting from these designs can be used for other processor activities including instruction and data prefetching, branch-prediction buffers. The potential benefits of such techniques for embedded applications have been evaluated in my work.
I also explore how my cache organization performs for non-numeric data structures. I propose a novel idea called "Data flattening" which is a profile based memory allocation technique to compress sparsely scattered pointer data into regular contiguous memory locations and explore the potentials of my proposed Spit cache organization for data treated with data flattening method.


Abstract Intracranial gliomas and lymphomas may share similar radiological manifestations, while the treatment strategies for them are different. The aim of the study was to investigate the diagnostic value of fluorine-18-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) positron emission computed tomography (PET) for differentiation of multicentric gliomas and intracranial multiple diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) as a study of diagnostic accuracy. A total of 32 patients with multiple intracranial tumors visualized on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were retrospectively evaluated. Histopathological findings confirmed multicentric gliomas and multiple DLBCLs in 17 and 15 patients, respectively. All patients underwent 18F-FDG PET with or without 11C-methionine PET. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) and tumor-to-normal tissue (T/N) ratios were compared between the 2 tumors. The diagnostic value of 18F-FDG PET for differentiating multicentric gliomas from multiple DLBCLs was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The SUVmax of multiple DLBCLs was significantly higher than that of multicentric gliomas (P = .009). However, the percentage of maximum difference-value of SUVmax (or T/N ratio) of multiple DLBCLs was significant lower than that of multicentric gliomas (P < .001). The ROC curve demonstrated that the percentage of maximum difference-value of SUVmax (or T/N ratio) on 18F-FDG PET images could effectively differentiate multicentric gliomas from multiple DLBCLs, with a cut-off value of 44.4%, sensitivity of 64.7%, and specificity of 100% (P < .001). Percentage of maximum difference-value of SUVmax (or T/N ratio) on 18F-FDG PET images might be a potential indicator for distinguishing multicentric gliomas from intracranial multiple DLBCLs, which might help determine the treatment strategy.


Disturbance observer (DOB) is one of the most popular robust control tools due to its simplicity and efficiency. The robustness of a DOB based control system changes significantly by the dynamic characteristics of the DOB's low-pass-filter (LPF) and nominal plant. The bandwidth of the LPF of a DOB is desired to set as high as possible to estimate/suppress disturbances in a wide frequency range; however, the practical and robustness constraints limit the bandwidth of the LPF of a DOB. This paper clarifies the robustness constraints of the DOB's bandwidth by using two different robustness analysis methods, i.e., real parametric uncertainty and unstructured uncertainty based analysis methods. It is shown that the bandwidth of a DOB has a lower bound to obtain robust stability, and the stability margin improves as the bandwidth of the DOB is increased when the plant includes real parametric uncertainties and the order of the DOB is one. The robustness analysis is extended into non-minimum phase plants by using unstructured uncertainty based analysis methods. It is shown that the bandwidth of a DOB has upper and lower bounds to obtain a good robustness if the plant has non-minimum phase zero(s) and pole(s), respectively. Besides that the order of a DOB has a design trade-off between the robustness and performance: if a higher order DOB (HODOB) is used, then the bandwidth constraints of a DOB become more severe, yet the performance is improved. As a result, new analysis and design methods are proposed for the DOB based robust control systems. The validity of the proposals are verified by simulation results.


Heavy metal pollutants in soils can usually enter the human body and pose heath risks through a soil-crop-human body pathway (indirect exposure) or soil-human body pathway (direct exposure). Previous studies often neglected the direct exposure in human health risk assessment, especially for children. We collected surface soil samples from urban and suburb areas in Changsha City, China, to analyze the content ofAs, Cd, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn. A combination of principal component analysis, geostatistics, and triangulated irregular network (TIN) model was successfully used to discriminate the sources of heavy metals. The direct exposure method, sequential indicator simulation, and geographical information system (GIS) technologies were used to perform a health risk assessment of heavy metal exposure to children living in the study area. Results show that heavy metal contamination in Changsha may originate from coal usage and industrial activities. One thousand equiprobable realizations suggest that not all sites within the study area may be suitable for housing or allotments without remediation. Most high hazard indexes are located in the suburb and mining areas. Moreover, arsenic presents a high health risk in comparison with other elements. Compared with inhalation and dermal contact in direct soil exposure, soil ingestion is the largest contribution to potential health risks for children. This study indicates that we should attach great importance to the direct soil exposure for children's health.


[1] The pressure-induced electronic spin transition of iron in ferropericlase was investigated as a function of iron content in ferropericlase by in situ electrical conductivity measurement. The electrical conductivity of ferropericlase, (Mg1-x,Fex)O (x = 0.07, 0.10, 0.13, 0.17, 0.24), was measured up to 53 GPa and 600 K using the Kawai-type multianvil apparatus equipped with sintered diamond anvils. At pressures up to 25 GPa, the electrical conductivity of ferropericlase generally increases with increasing pressure, and both the activation energy and activation volume of ferropericlase decrease with increasing iron content. For the samples with x = 0.07 and 0.10, the electrical conductivity shows a slight initial decrease and becomes constant between 25 and 40 GPa, upon which it increases slightly as the pressure increases. For the samples with higher iron content, the electrical conductivity constantly increases with pressure over the investigated pressure range. If these changes in the electrical conductivity are due to the isosymmetric high- to low-spin transition of iron in ferropericlase, this conductivity change suggests that the spin transition pressure significantly decreases with decreasing iron content in ferropericlase. Because the amount of iron in ferropericlase that coexists with the Al-bearing perovskite seems to be less than that in the Al-free perovskite, the influence of the iron partitioning between perovskite and ferropericlase by the spin transition appears in a pressure range of about 30–40 GPa in the lower mantle of the Earth.


Dwight D. Eisenhower had two careers: before he was one of America's most popular presidents, he was its greatest military commander. His military career lasted much longer, and (according to John) it was far more important to him personally. Nobody is in a better position to tell the story of General Ike than John, who was by his side for much of it, and who rose to the rank of Brigadier General before retiring to write seminal and bestselling works of military history. GENERAL IKE is a definitive, revealing, and brilliantly crafted study of the right stuff of leadership. Great leaders bring out the best in the people around them, and Ike was no exception. Drawing on scenes witnessed by few others, and comments given him in private by his father, John Eisenhower shows how his father's keen mind, great sense of the strengths of others, and perseverance in the face of all duties combined to bring America to victory.


Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins play key roles in plant drought tolerance. In this study, 157, 85 and 89 candidate LEA2 proteins were identified in G. hirsutum, G. arboreum and G. raimondii respectively. LEA2 genes were classified into 6 groups, designated as group 1 to 6. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed orthologous gene pairs within the cotton genome. The cotton specific LEA2 motifs identified were E, R and D in addition to Y, K and S motifs. The genes were distributed on all chromosomes. LEA2s were found to be highly enriched in non-polar, aliphatic amino acid residues, with leucine being the highest, 9.1% in proportion. The miRNA, ghr-miR827a/b/c/d and ghr-miR164 targeted many genes are known to be drought stress responsive. Various stress-responsive regulatory elements, ABA-responsive element (ABRE), Drought-responsive Element (DRE/CRT), MYBS and low-temperature-responsive element (LTRE) were detected. Most genes were highly expressed in leaves and roots, being the primary organs greatly affected by water deficit. The expression levels were much higher in G. tomentosum as opposed to G. hirsutum. The tolerant genotype had higher capacity to induce more of LEA2 genes. Over expression of the transformed gene Cot_AD24498 showed that the LEA2 genes are involved in promoting root growth and in turn confers drought stress tolerance. We therefore infer that Cot_AD24498, CotAD_20020, CotAD_21924 and CotAD_59405 could be the candidate genes with profound functions under drought stress in upland cotton among the LEA2 genes. The transformed Arabidopsis plants showed higher tolerance levels to drought stress compared to the wild types. There was significant increase in antioxidants, catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) accumulation, increased root length and significant reduction in oxidants, Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations in the leaves of transformed lines under drought stress condition. This study provides comprehensive analysis of LEA2 proteins in cotton thus forms primary foundation for breeders to utilize these genes in developing drought tolerant genotypes.


While semantic segmentation has seen tremendous improvements in the past, there are still significant labeling efforts necessary and the problem of limited generalization to classes that have not been present during training. To address this problem, zero-shot semantic segmentation makes use of large self-supervised vision-language models, allowing zero-shot transfer to unseen classes. In this work, we build a benchmark for Multi-domain Evaluation of Semantic Segmentation (MESS), which allows a holistic analysis of performance across a wide range of domain-specific datasets such as medicine, engineering, earth monitoring, biology, and agriculture. To do this, we reviewed 120 datasets, developed a taxonomy, and classified the datasets according to the developed taxonomy. We select a representative subset consisting of 22 datasets and propose it as the MESS benchmark. We evaluate eight recently published models on the proposed MESS benchmark and analyze characteristics for the performance of zero-shot transfer models. The toolkit is available at https://github.com/blumenstiel/MESS.


In Law No. 15/2001 on brand, the caharacteristics of the criminal act of brand counterfeiting belong to the statement that all criminal act of brand counterfeiting is a violation that it is more to private than public law in nature, the characteristic of criminal law is increasingly less raised, the ordinary offense is changed into a crime on complaint, and the imprisonmentis reduced from 7 years to a maximum of 5 years. The law enforcement resulted in the uncertainty of law and justice. Different court decisions based on different criminal charge and even different imposed articles are given to the matters of the same cases. Therefore, the crime on complaint shall be changed into ordinary offense and the criminal act of brand counterfeiting shall also be considered as a criminal act not as a violation only.


Context. Mindfulness is a meditation technique whose main goal is keeping the mind calm and educating attention by focusing only on one thing at a time, usually breathing. The reported benefits of its continued practice can be of interest for Software Engineering students and practitioners, especially in tasks like conceptual modeling, in which concentration and clearness of mind are crucial. Goal. In order to evaluate whether Software Engineering students enhance their conceptual modeling performance after several weeks of mindfulness practice, a series of three controlled experiments were carried out at the University of Seville during three consecutive academic years (2013–2016) involving 130 students. Method. In all the experiments, the subjects were divided into two groups. While the experimental group practiced mindfulness, the control group was trained in public speaking as a placebo treatment. All the subjects developed two conceptual models based on a transcript of an interview, one before and another one after the treatment. The results were compared in terms of conceptual modeling quality (measured as effectiveness, i.e., the percentage of model elements correctly identified) and productivity (measured as efficiency, i.e., the number of model elements correctly identified per unit of time). Results. The statistically significant results of the series of experiments revealed that the subjects who practiced mindfulness developed slightly better conceptual models (their quality was 8.16 percent higher) and they did it faster (they were 46.67 percent more productive) than the control group, even if they did not have a previous interest in meditation. Conclusions. The practice of mindfulness improves the performance of Software Engineering students in conceptual modeling, especially their productivity. Nevertheless, more experimentation is needed in order to confirm the outcomes in other Software Engineering tasks and populations.


This paper describes a handbook of scripts—Scriptapedia—for developing structured group model building sessions. Andersen and Richardson (1997) have identified the importance of standardized protocols or "scripts" in group model building (GMB). GMB scripts have historically existed as undocumented structured small group exercises. Scriptapedia represents an effort to improve the practice of GMB as well the research into GMB effectiveness. We describe elements of scripts, case applications of Scriptapedia, and discuss uses, misuses, and misunderstandings of scripts. The handbook is included as an appendix to the paper.


Lesions of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) were produced in pregnant and nonpregnant female rats through chronically implanted electrodes to investigate the effect of LH damage on placentophagia. Other variables investigated were prior parturitional experience and stimulus properties of the placenta. Lesions were produced under ether anesthesia 24 hr. prior to parturition in pregnant females and 24 hr. prior to placenta presentation in nonpregnant females.
The LH lesions produced aphagia to a liquid diet. Pregnancy was not a significant variable in the initiation of placentophagia, but prior parturitional experience was a critical variable. Virgin and primiparous females did not exhibit placentophagia following LH damage, but multiparous females would eat placenta whenever the opportunity arose, independently of LH damage and pregnancy.


Governments are major employers, and many provide defined benefit pension plans with full inflation indexing and generous early retirement provisions. Hence, changes in thinking about, and accounting for, the costs of defined benefit pension plans have major implications for government finances. Both past tallies on government balance sheets and current accruals on government income statements may understate the true cost of public-sector employment, and gradual recognition of changes in the financial status of government plans may understate the risks they create. Fair-value approaches are exposing higher costs, risks and funding deficits in defined benefit plans, raising concerns about the security of their promises for participants and the exposure they create for taxpayers. This article examines these issues in the context of the Canadian federal government's major defined benefit pensions, principally the Public Service, the Canadian Forces, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police plans.


Plastic injection moulds suffer wear due to the relative movements of the mould parts and the polymeric material flow which is often reinforced by hard abrasive fibres or whiskers. Several studies were performed on the wear behaviour of diverse nitrided surfaces; however, comparative studies are needed. The present study aims to compare the dry sliding wear behaviour of nitrocarburised, gas-nitrided, fluidised-bed nitrided, and plasma-nitrided Impax Supreme (equivalent to AISI P20) pre-hardened plastic mould steel. The wear tests were performed against AISI 4140 pins under 100 N normal loads, with the total stroke length of 10 mm, the frequency of 1.5 Hz, and the total sliding distance of 400 m. After tests, worn surfaces and wear debris were microstructurally and chemically characterised and the wear rates were calculated. Results suggested that all samples presented mainly combination of adhesive and abrasive wear during the run-in period of sliding (severe wear), and mainly oxidative wear during the steady-state of (mild wear). Although no significant difference was observed between the treated samples, plasma-nitrided samples presented the lowest wear rate as mean values.


Welding is one of the most important joining techniques used in the metalworking industries. In order to exploit efficiency potentials to a maximum possible extent, robot systems are adopted to automate the welding process whenever possible. This has become standard for high volume manufacturers like the automotive industry where thousands or millions of products are manufactured in the same or a very similar way. There is, however, a large obstacle for using automated welding robots in industries with highly individualized products: The programming effort for robot systems very often exceeds the manual welding times due to small lot sizes.Therefore this paper proposes an approach to automatically derive welding programs. The building blocks of this technique are an automatic identification of feasible candidate weld joints from a CAD model, a knowledge base and a weld program compiler. After verification of these joints by a design engineer the machine instructions for the robot system have to be derived. Therefore the proposed approach defines the necessary structures of a Welding Expert Knowledge Base (WKB) where the relevant knowledge of a welding engineer designer is modeled in terms of rules of fuzzy rule sets. On top of the WKB we propose a weld program compiler which automatically identifies the sequence of weld joints and the necessary number of welding passes, generates optimized tool paths and finally derives appropriate parameter settings.© 2012 ASME


In this contribution a novel method to compute dense point-to-point correspondences between 3D faces is presented. The correspondences can be employed for various face processing applications, for example for building up a 3D Morphable Model (3DMM). Paths connecting landmarks are traced on the 3D facial surface and the resulting patches are mapped into a uv-space. Triangle quadrisection is used to build up remeshes with high point density for each 3D facial surface. Each vertex of a remesh has one corresponding vertex in another remesh and all remeshes have the same connectivity. The quality of the point-to-point correspondences is demonstrated on the bases of two applications, namely morphing and constructing a 3DMM.


Recorded copies of deeds of trust used as mortgages or liens on real estate or improvements to real estate from July 1884 to May 1890. Shows date and place of execution; name of mortgagor; name of mortgagee; description of property involved; amount and terms of contract; signature of mortgagor; certificate of acknowledgment; and recording certificate, showing date filed, date recorded, and signature of county clerk or deputy. Also includes agreement that third party (named trustee) may in case of default advertise and sell the land encumbered to the highest bidder and apply proceeds to liquidation of lien. Arranged chronologically by date recorded.


This study addresses the awareness and attitudes of Uruguayans towards global environmental phenomena, with particular emphasis on climate change. The environmental and climatic changes most clearly sensed by people, the main sources of information for the public on these subjects and the perception of the effectiveness of individual action in facing the adverse effects of these phenomena are assessed. This analysis is intended to contribute to the design of communication and public awareness strategies, either for the dissemination of specific subjects or for the communication of more general policies. Thus, assessing the possibility of improving communication capabilities and public outreach is deemed more relevant than evaluating whether public knowledge is or is not correct. The communication of appropriate information in order to correct wrong perceptions could be included, eventually, as part of the the effort to improve public outreach. The results of the study demonstrate the great weight of radio and television as sources of information on environmental changes. They also point out the increasing role of educational institutions in the dissemination of knowledge about this issue, confirm that the confidence in the effectiveness of individual action is strongly related to the access to information, and suggest that the local milieu may be especially irnportant for stimulating people's awareness and action on these subjects.


Purpose: Diagnosis and classification of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) requires confirmation of specific speech and language symptoms, highlighting the important role of speech-language pathologists in the evaluation process. The purpose of this case report is to inform speech-language pathologists regarding current practices for diagnostic assessment in PPA, describing standard approaches as well as complementary, state-of-the-art procedures that may improve diagnostic precision.Method: We describe the diagnostic evaluation of a 49-year-old woman with complaints of progressive word-finding difficulty. She completed standard neurological, neuropsychological, and speech-language evaluations, as well as magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography imaging of her brain. In addition, a history of developmental speech, language, and learning abilities was obtained, as well as genetic testing and assessment of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. We discuss the evaluation results in the context of the most current research related to PPA diagnosis.Conclusion: Detailed behavioral assessment, thorough intake of symptom history and neurodevelopmental differences, multimodal neuroimaging, and comprehensive examination of genes and biomarkers are of paramount importance for detecting and characterizing PPA, with ramifications for early behavioral and/or pharmacological intervention.Supplemental Material S1. Supplemental methods. Europa, E., Iaccarino, L., Perry, D. C., Weis, E., Welch, A. E., Rabinovici, G. D., Miller, B. L., Gorno-Tempini, M. L., & Henry, M. L. (2020). Diagnostic assessment in primary progressive aphasia: An illustrative case example. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-20-00007


In magnetic data storage the noise and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the read heads is becoming more and more of a limiting factor given the smaller readout devices needed to follow the ever higher areal densities. For higher data rates this problem is aggravated by the needed wider signal bandwidths. This study presents the magnetic simulation of noise, SNR, and bandwidth for the most common types of head: tunneling magnetoresistive heads, CIP-GMR heads, and CPP-GMR heads. Such simulations allow the comparison of these different types of head. The sensitivity factors of the SNR for the most important head parameters are determined as well. The SNR of the total read path is also determined, including the head-amplifier interconnect and the electronics.


Heartworm disease is caused by Dirofilaria immitis in dogs and cats. Dirofilariasis is clinically considered very important, because of its severe and life threatening disease in case of even light infection. Cats are infected much less commonly, even in areas which present heavily infected dogs. After clinical examination blood samples were collected from 120 companion and stray adult cats in Ahvaz city. Dirofilaria microfilaria was detected by modified Knott method and its antigen detected by immunochromatography. One (2.5 years old), out of 120 (0.83%) of the studied cats was infected with Dirofilaria immitis microfilaria. Companion male cat of domestic short hair (DSH) breed. This survey is the first report on isolation of Dirofilaria immitis in cats of Ahvaz city. It seems that carrier mosquitoes and their reservoirs present in this distinct: Therefore continuous challenge for eradication of stray cats and dogs, prophylactic treatment and accurate training to people should be done.


We solve shape optimization problems involving partial differential equations. The latter are discretized and solved using isogeometric analysis. B-splines and non uniform rational B-splines are introduced, along with both theory and implementation aspects of the numerical method. We solve a chemical reaction problem that is governed by a system of non-linearly coupled Laplace equations, which is only one of numerous possible application areas of isogeometric analysis based shape optimization.