Verbal fluency tasks are commonly used in the assessment of patients with known or suspected dementia. Whereas total word production is often analyzed, less attention has been paid to qualitative aspects of verbal fluency performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the diagnostic utility of a qualitative scoring technique for semantic and phonemic fluency tasks in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) with and without dementia, and in a group of older normal controls (ONC). In addition to total words produced, the groups were compared on their use of clustering (i.e., ratio of words generated within subcategories) and switching (i.e., frequency of shifts between clusters) strategies as originally defined by Troyer et al. (1997a). In terms of total number of words produced, controls were superior to the AD and demented PD subjects, who performed similarly. A similar trend was found in relation to switching and clustering scores. PD patients without dementia performed similar to the ONC group on semantic fluency, but were impaired relative to controls on all phonemic fluency variables (i.e., total words produced, clustering, switching). Discriminant function analyses using the three fluency variables revealed that total words was equal to or surpassed the other variables in distinguishing the groups, suggesting that these qualitative verbal fluency features may not provide significant additional information in terms of diagnostic utility.


Considering that the use of tranquillizers could optimize the performance of the echocardiogram, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of protocols with acepromazine and fentanyl on the echocardiographic parameters of healthy dogs, besides their effect in systolic blood pressure (SBP), respiratory rate (RR), heart rate (HR), time spent for examination and sedation scale. Ten adult dogs were submitted to different tranquilizing protocols 20 minutes before the echocardiographic examination, totalling five treatments for each pair, performed at seven-day intervals between evaluations. The treatments were CT (control treatment), IAT (intramuscular acepromazine), OAT (oral acepromazine), FT (fentanyl) and AFT (acepromazine associated with fentanyl). In addition to the echocardiographic evaluation, SBP, degree of reassurance, duration of the exam, HR and RR in the different protocols were evaluated. There was a significant decrease of SBP in OAT. There was a significant reduction in left ventricular diameter during systole and diastole and mitral annular movement in IAT, OAT and AFT, compared with CT. There was a decrease in tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion and increase in mitral E/mitral A ratio in IAT and OAT when compared with CT. All the tranquillizer protocols studied were found to significantly reduce HR, that facilitated the echocardiographic examination.


To ensure no malfunctions and although there were no apparent problems, a main fuel control was returned to the factory for examination after service on a test aircraft engine that had experienced high vibrations. When the fuel control was disassembled, a lever, cast from AMS 5350 (AISI type 410) stainless steel that was through-hardened to 26 to 32 HRC and passivated, was shown to be cracked. The crack initiated at the sharp corner of the elongated milled slot and propagated across to the outer wall. The sections around the crack were spread about 30 deg apart, showing the fracture surface under investigation had beach marks initiating at the sharp corner along the milled slot. Changes in frequency or amplitude of vibration caused different rates of propagation, resulting in a change in pattern. This evidence supported the conclusion that the lever failed in fatigue as a result of excessive vibration of the fuel control on the test engine. Recommendations included redesign of the lever with a large radius in the corner where cracking originated. This would reduce the stress-concentration factor significantly, thus minimizing the susceptibility of the lever to fatigue.


The three Newcastle Science Comic anthologies – Science FACT-ion, Asteroid Belter, and Spineless – contain 63 pages of original comics by 84 contributors, as collaborations between science researchers and comics creators. They form a total of 30,000 printed copies and three digital editions, all free to read. This article in comics form (1) tells the story of the Newcastle Science Comic project with insights into the process of making these collaborative comics, which included not only institutional support from Newcastle University 2012–2016 but also individual and collective interest in research-comics collaborations; (2) explores what it means to meaningfully evaluate a science comic, and presents qualitative and quantitative evidence for the success of these anthologies with a focus on readers' responses to the comics; (3) uses the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) framework (Research Centre for Museums and Galleries 2003) to provide a shared language for comics readers, comics creators, and research/heritage institutions to evaluate the success of this applied comics project. Findings are presented in two stages: first an ad-hoc evaluation of Asteroid Belter as a practice-led project, then main findings from a qualitative questionnaire (n = 77) using GLOs to ask readers what they remembered, liked about, and learned from Spineless. Responses show readers' interest in the science content and/or the comics form, and in the combination of content and form as science comics. Although other frameworks and other data collection methods might gather richer data, this use of GLOs supported an initial exploration of readers' feedback on science comics using shared and accessible language. This is in keeping with our editorial team's progression from making science comics to see if we could, to a more systematic approach to planning, delivering, and meaningfully evaluating large-scale comics projects for public engagement with science research and in museum contexts.


Abstract Objective Many research fields, including psychology and basic medical sciences, struggle with poor reproducibility of reported studies. Biomedical and health informatics is unlikely to be immune to these challenges. This paper explores replication in informatics and the unique challenges the discipline faces. Methods Narrative review of recent literature on research replication challenges. Results While there is growing interest in re-analysis of existing data, experimental replication studies appear uncommon in informatics. Context effects are a particular challenge as they make ensuring replication fidelity difficult, and the same intervention will never quite reproduce the same result in different settings. Replication studies take many forms, trading-off testing validity of past findings against testing generalizability. Exact and partial replication designs emphasize testing validity while quasi and conceptual studies test generalizability of an underlying model or hypothesis with different methods or in a different setting. Conclusions The cost of poor replication is a weakening in the quality of published research and the evidence-based foundation of health informatics. The benefits of replication include increased rigor in research, and the development of evaluation methods that distinguish the impact of context and the nonreproducibility of research. Taking replication seriously is essential if biomedical and health informatics is to be an evidence-based discipline.


This book is aimed at practitioners and students; perhaps there is the hope that instructors of diagnostic methods will use the book and suggest that their students purchase it. Major thrusts include a plea for standardization and competence in the necropsy laboratory and a plea for necropsists to become accomplished laboratorians in the areas of simple bacteriology, parasitology, toxicology, and clinical pathology. Simple methods in these areas are outlined. In addition, there is instruction in gross evaluation of tissues, description, and specimen collection and submission. Brief chapters on autolysis, evaluation of ingesta of cattle, and abortion problems, plus two chapters on avian necropsy and diseases, were included. The volume concludes with chapters on disposal of dead things and malpractice in veterinary medicine, with some sections on various aspects of the whole legal scene. In the chapter on malpractice the author emphasizes that whatever the practitioner does must be done skillfully and diligently, and that, "negligence of malpractice consists of the practitioner doing something he should not do." Would this book help veterinarians become skillful and diligent necropsists and laboratorians? Well, it's a start. The author encourages necropsists to record measurements by the metric system; appendices on normal weights and measures would have been welcomed because this kind of information is scarce. Throughout the text there are tables which are used to condense and simplify; several appendices outline how to perform various laboratory procedures. There are a few imperfections such as misspellings, errors in grammar, and misnumberings, but these will not be distracting to most readers. Some statements are vague or oversimplified, but serious students will supplement by consulting the references. For those wanting a refresher course on necropsy and some of the associated challenges and for those wanting to become laboratorians skillful in other areas, this book may be of interest.


The ability of modern web services such as news aggregators and search engines to tailor their results to the tastes of individuals, together with people's preference for reading opinions which reinforce their own viewpoints, have raised concerns that people are nowadays exposed to a narrow range of view-points, a phenomenon referred to as the "filter bubble". In this paper we focus on increasing exposure to varied political opinions with a goal of improving civil discourse. We develop a method to algorithmically encourage people to read diverse political opinions and test it when people actively seek information. First, analyzing data from a popular search engine we show that people are indeed more likely to read opinions consistent with their own. Interestingly, they are more likely to read news from opposing sites when the language model of a particular news item is close to the language model of their own political leaning. Based on this finding, we describe a method for assisting people to read divergent opinions by choosing documents of opposing viewpoints that have a language model closer to their own language model. We test our method on a number of web searchers and show that pages of the opposing side which were more similar than the average persons' own language model tended to be clicked 38% more than those below. We also describe the long-term effects of our method, showing that people who were shown more diverse results continued reading more diverse results and overall became more interested in news.


Three decades ago, philosophy as an object of investigation was still unlawful religiously among the santris and even among some Muslim university students in Indonesia. That is no longer the case now. Following the coming of some open-minded religious discourses in the country especially that which was brought about by a well-known scholar named Harun Nasution, the study of philosophy became lawful and even promising. This paper speaks about this phenomenon by looking at the evolution of the study of philosophy ?especially the philosophy of science- in the academic study in Indonesia. Within the framework of evolution theory, the paper also tries to discuss how the study of this science evolves from a sheer Western-based study to include the Qur?anic perspective of it. This paper itself is a study of the Qur?anic perspective concerning the philosophy of science. And by doing that, it tries to show that this kind of study has become a trend in academic circle in Indonesia.


Metabolic responses to food influence diabetes risk, but data suitable for determining personalized nutritional advice are lacking. PREDICT 1 (n=1102 twins and unrelated healthy UK/U.S. adults) examined genetic, metabolic, microbiome, and meal composition/context contributions to postprandial metabolic responses in clinic and at home. This 2-week interventional trial included the administration of standardized meals/beverages and monitored of ad libitum food intake. Objective assessments of sleep and physical activity were made. Blood glucose was continuously assessed and triglycerides and C-peptide were measured repeatedly. Large and consistent differences between individuals in blood triglyceride, glucose, and insulin responses to identical meals were observed. Person-specific factors, including variation in the gut microbiome, had a greater influence than meal macronutrients; genetic variants had a modest impact on predictions. Modifiable factors such as meal timing had large effects, highlighting avenues to improve postprandial responses. As predictors of CVD risk, postprandial triglyceride and glucose improved on traditional fasting markers. Machine learning was utilized to derive personalized predictions for both triglyceride (r=0.47) and glycemic (r=0.77) responses. Disclosure P.W. Franks: Advisory Panel; Self; Zoe Global Ltd. Consultant; Self; Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk A/S. Research Support; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Lilly Diabetes, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi, Servier. S. Berry: Consultant; Self; Zoe Global. A.M. Valdes: None. D.A. Drew: None. R.J. Davies: Employee; Self; Zoe Global Ltd. J. Merino: None. A.T. Chan: Consultant; Self; Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pfizer Inc. N. Segata: Consultant; Self; Zoe Global Ltd. T.D. Spector: Stock/Shareholder; Self; Zoe Global Ltd. Funding Zoe Global Ltd.; UK Wellcome Trust (212904/Z/18/Z); Medical Research Council/British Heart Foundation Ancestry and Biological Informative Markers for Stratification of Hypertension (M016560/1); European Research Council (CoG‐2015_681742_NASCENT to P.W.F.); UK Wellcome Trust; Medical Research Council; European Union; Chronic Disease Research Foundation; Zoe Global Ltd.; National Institute for Health Research-funded BioResource, Clinical Research Facility and Biomedical 511 Research Centre based at Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London


In many online communities, users reveal innovative and potentially valuable intellectual property IP under conditions that entail the risk of theft and imitation. When there is rivalry and formal IP law is not effective, this could lead to underinvestment or withholding of IP, unless user-organized norms compensate for these shortcomings. This study is the first to explore the characteristics and functioning of such a norms-based IP system in the setting of anonymous, large-scale, and loose-knit online communities. To do so, we use data on the Threadless crowdsourcing community obtained through netnography, a survey, and a field experiment. On this basis, we identify an integrated system of well-established norms that regulate the use of IP within this community. We analyze the system's characteristics and functioning, and we find that the "legal certainty" it provides is conducive to cooperation, cumulative effects, and innovation. We generalize our findings from the case by developing propositions aimed to spark further research. These propositions focus on similarities and differences between norms-based IP systems in online and off-line settings, and the conditions that determine the existence of norms-based IP systems as well as their form and effectiveness in online communities. In this way, we contribute to the literatures on norms-based IP systems and online communities and offer advice for the management of crowdsourcing communities.


Background: Desmoid tumor and leiomyoma are abdominal wall tumors with similar clinical, radiographic, and histological features. However, differentiation between these two diseases is important because each may be linked to different systemic diseases, and their managements are entirely different. We proposed that misdiagnosis is possible in some cases. Patients and Methods: Between 1983 and 2010, patients with a history of uterine surgeries and diagnosed with either abdominal wall desmoid tumors or leiomyomas were studied. All the images reviewed by an independent radiologist and surgical specimen were reexamined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) techniques as a standard method to confirm the diagnoses. Results: Fifteen female patients (desmoid tumors, n = 10; leiomyomas, n = 5) were included. The diagnosis of IHC revealed that two cases initially thought to be leiomyomas were desmoid tumors, whereas the remaining 13 cases maintained their initial diagnoses. The accuracy of hematoxylin and eosin staining was 86.7%. All tumors excised without complications, except for one desmoid tumor that recurred and underwent another excision. Conclusion: Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be considered to differentiate the two diseases, as well as the elimination of other associated systemic diseases should be performed routinely. If MRI is inaccessible or unavailable, preoperative fine-needle biopsy is recommended. Optional IHC staining is required if the primary histological assessment is equivocal or inconclusive.


Points of View (POV) addresses issues faced within life science education. Cell Biology Education has launched the POV feature to present two or more opinions published in tandem on a common topic. We consider POVs to be "Op-Ed" pieces designed to stimulate thought and dialog on significant educational issues. Each author has the opportunity to revise a POV after reading drafts of the other POVs. In this issue, we ask the question, "Is PowerPoint the best instructional medium to use in your class?" Everyone seems to have an opinion on Microsoft, but the intellectual merits of using PowerPoint (or similar software) is a growing question as states and institutions put more and more money into information technology and distance learning. Four POVs are presented: 1) David Keefe and James Willett provide their case why PowerPoint is an ideal teaching software. Keefe is an educational researcher at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. Willett is a professor at George Mason University in the Departments of Microbial and Molecular Bioscience; as well as Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. 2) Kim McDonald highlights the causes of PowerPointlessness, a term which indicates the frequent use of PowerPoint as a crutch rather than a tool. She is a Bioscience Educator at the Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. 3) Diana Voss asks readers if PowerPoint is really necessary to present the material effectively or not. Voss is a Instructional Computing Support Specialist at SUNY Stony Brook. 4) Cynthia Lanius takes a light-hearted approach to ask whether PowerPoint is a technological improvement or just a change of pace for teacher and student presentations. Lanius is a Technology Integration Specialist in the Sinton (Texas) Independent School District. The authors span the range of teaching experiences and settings from which they bring different points of view to the debate. Readers are encouraged to participate in the online discussion forum hosted by CBE at www.cellbioed.org/discussion/public/main.cfm and/or contact the authors directly.


The ability to discriminate cell adhesion molecule expression between healthy and inflamed endothelium is critical for therapeutic intervention in many diseases. This study explores the effect of laminar flow on TNFα-induced E-selectin surface expression levels in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) relative to IL-1β-induced expression via flow chamber assays. HUVECs grown in static culture were either directly (naïve) activated with cytokine in the presence of laminar shear or pre-exposed to 12 h of laminar shear (shear-conditioned) prior to simultaneous shear and cytokine activation. Naïve cells activated with cytokine in static served as control. Depending on the cell shear history, fluid shear is found to differently affect TNFα-induced relative to IL-1β-induced HUVEC expression of E-selectin. Specifically, E-selectin surface expression by naïve HUVECs is enhanced in the 8-12 h activation time range with simultaneous exposure to shear and TNFα (shear-TNFα) relative to TNFα static control whereas enhanced E-selectin expression is observed in the 4-24 h range for shear-IL-1β treatment relative to IL-1β static control. While exposure of HUVECs to shear preconditioning mutes shear-TNFα-induced E-selectin expression, it enhances or down-regulates shear-IL-1β-induced expression dependent on the activation period. Under dual-cytokine-shear conditions, IL-1β signaling dominates. Overall, a better understanding of E-selectin expression pattern by human ECs relative to the combined interaction of cytokines, shear profile and history can help elucidate many disease pathologies.


A commercial silicon nitride powder with oxide sintering additives was ground with high-energy ball mill to obtain nano-sized powder. Metallic aluminium powder was added as a grinding additive. Effect of high-energy ball milling was evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis. After milling, height of background increased and peak height of silicon nitride decreased in XRD chart, which suggested that vitrification and/or decrease in grain size of silicon nitride occurred. The milled powders were sintered by spark plasma sintering system. Aluminium nitride was formed during sintering by reaction of aluminium and atmospheric nitrogen. Dense nano-ceramics, which were composed of silicon nitride and sialon, were obtained by sintering at 1550 oC.


In the experiment, we use pulsed laser to conduct discrete scratching on Ni-containing stainless steel protective coatings to test residual stress situation after the matrix is scratched; then to analyze the the impact of the impact stress wave on coating - substrate bonding strength according to the test results, finally to infer the laser power density range within which it occurs coating failure. The study shows that: after laser discrete scratching, the residual stress of the center of the laser-loaded point on matrix surface gradually reduces when the pulsed laser power density increases. The matrix produces a corresponding residual compressive stress under the laser power density reaches a certain value. The actual failure threshold values are 12.006 GW/cm2, 11.829GW/cm2 and 12.193GW/cm2 measured by the three-dimensional topography instrument testing the discrete scratch point of three groups of samples and verified by using a microscope


Abstract Detrital fission-track (FT) dating can be successfully used in provenance studies of siliciclastic sediments to define the characteristic cooling ages of the source regions during erosion and sedimentation. In order to obtain more specific information about potential source regions we have developed the pebble population dating (PPD) method in which pebbles of specific lithotype are merged and dated. Dating of both zircon and apatite crystals from such pebble populations yields age distributions, which reflect the cooling ages of the given lithotype in the source area at the time of sedimentation. By this technique it is possible to define 'FT litho-terrains' in the source regions and thus outline palaeogeological maps. Two examples are presented from the Eastern Alps. (i) Comparison of FT ages from a sandstone sample and a gneiss PPD sample from an Oligocene conglomerate of the Molasse Basin shows that the youngest age cluster is present only in the sand fraction and derived from the Oligocene volcanic activity along the Periadriatic zone. The lack of the youngest ages in the gneiss pebble assemblage excludes the Oligocene exhumation of the crystalline basement from mid-crustal level. (ii) Pebble assemblages of red Bunter sandstone, gneiss and quartzite were collected from an Upper Miocene conglomerate of the Molasse Foreland Basin and merged as PPD samples. Apatite and zircon FT grain age distributions of these PPD samples, representing the largest ancient East Alpine catchment, allow generating a new combination of palaeogeological and palaeo-FT-age maps of the Eastern Alps for the Late Miocene.


This paper describes the deliberative part of a navigation architecture designed for safe vehicle navigation in dynamic urban environments. It comprises two key modules working together in a hierarchical fashion: (a) the Route Plan- ner whose purpose is to compute a valid itinerary towards the a given goal. An itinerary comprises a geometric path augmented with additional information based on the structure of the environment considered and traffic regulations, and (b) the Partial Motion Planner whose purpose is to ensure the proper following of the itinerary while dealing with the moving objects present in the environment (eg other vehicles, pedestrians). In the architecture proposed, a special attention is paid to the motion safety issue, ie the ability to avoid collisions. Different safety levels are explored and their operational conditions are explicitly spelled out (something which is usually not done).


The authors describe a numerical procedure for solving problems involving minimization over the rotation group of quadratic forms which arise in connection with problems of computer vision. The algorithm presented is a sequential quadratic programming method which takes advantage of the special structure of the problem constraints. It is demonstrate that the method is globally convergent. >


The reliability and accuracy of the ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) are of prime interest while evaluating seismic hazard for any region. The regular updates and minimization of the uncertainties associated with the coefficients of the GMPEs are important for improving ground-motion predictions and consequent performance of seismic hazard maps. Thus, in the present study, we propose an update of the GMPEs estimated by Sharma et al. (2013) in The Geysers geothermal area. The update is done using the huge dataset available and by extending the magnitude range as well as distance range. The previous dataset used by Sharma et al. (2013) was composed of 212 earthquakes recorded at 29 stations with the magnitude range between 1:3 ≤ Mw ≤ 3:3 and distance range between 0:6 ≤ Rhypo ≤ 20 km. The new dataset encloses 10,974 induced earthquakes recorded at 29 stations with the magnitude range between 0:7 ≤ Mw ≤ 3:3 and distance range between 0:1 ≤ Rhypo ≤ 73 km. We compute updated GMPEs for peak ground velocity (PGV), peak ground acceleration (PGA), and 5% damped spectral acceleration (SA) (T) at T 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 s. The mean ground-motion predictions of the updated model proposed in the present study and the associated uncertainties are compared with the previous model proposed by Sharma et al. (2013) and with other models specifically developed for small-magnitude earthquakes. The GMPEs are derived using a nonlinear mixed-effect regression technique that accounts for both interevent and intraevent dependencies in the data. We also demonstrate the dependency of aleatory (random) uncertainties and epistemic (informative) uncertainties on source, medium, and site properties. We also concluded that the medium is behaving homogeneously in terms of peak groundmotion attenuation by analyzing uncertainties associated with different groundmotion periods. Electronic Supplement: Table showing the site correction parameter and/or site term obtained and figures showing distributions of residuals for peak ground velocity (PGV), peak ground acceleration (PGA), and spectral accelerations (SAs).


A series of measures of calf welfare was developed through a process of expert consultation. A welfare assessment of group-housed calves was carried out on 53 UK dairy farms during the winter of 2000/01. The assessment used animal-based measures including direct observation of the calves and examination of their health history through a review of farm records. The findings from this were compiled into a profile of calf welfare which outlined the range of results for each measure used. The results fell into the three categories of respiratory health, nutrition and general appearance. A broad range of results was found across the farms visited for the measures in each of these categories. Some farms performed well for all measures taken, and no farms performed consistently badly across all aspects of calf welfare. The majority of farms combined aspects of both good and poor welfare performance.


- Surface alloys were produced by laser melting of different predeposits into the outer part of a mild steel substrate. Three types of coatings were used : electroless nickel (containing phosphorous), electroless nickel in which chromium carbide particles were introduced during deposition and duplex coatings made of, first, a nickel layer (electroless or electrodeposited) and then, a chromium layer. The surface alloying treatments were performed using a cw high power CCE laser and the multiple track melting technique with 60 % overlap between each track. A single laser scan was used. The obtained surface alloys show excellent adherence without porosity or cracking. A detailed microstructural investigation revealed a fine dendritic microstructure. Phosphorous, when present, is segregated in the interdendritic areas. The corrosion resistance of the surface alloys was tested by electrochemical techniques in various neutral or acidified saline media deaerated or naturally aerated. With the first type of predeposit, surface alloys exhibit a corrosion resistance similar to that of electroless nickel but with a much higher adherence of the coating to the substrate. With the second type of predeposit, the increase in corrosion resistance is limited due to the low chromium concentration obtained in solid solution. On the contrary with the third type of predeposits (duplex layers), surface alloys exhibit a high corrosion resistance especially when electrolytic nickel coating was used.


We analyse the migration of academic and policy discourses that contributed to (de)legitimise the formation of planning policies in Argentina since the 1950s. We focus on the communicative/collaborative rationality discourses emanating from Anglo-American academic circles that played a role in the revival of the Argentine planning system between 2004 and 2015. We adopt an evolutionary approach to policy travel and policy learning, deploying the concepts of discursive migration and discursive configuration to better understand how ideas, people and goods/resources reinvent themselves when transnationally circulating policy knowledge takes root locally. The migration process in Argentina led to the reinforcement of prevalent coordination mechanisms, redirecting concerns and conflicts into governance structures already existing, involving players already present and forms of expertise already dominant. The migrating collaborative discourse (self) transformed in relation to the receiving governance environment, becoming an effective compliance-gaining technique, while national actors found ways to engage and discipline provinces they depended on more than before.


A probe data service has been defined as a means for vehicular on-board units (OBUs) to transmit the data collected by their in-vehicle sensors in real time via wireless communication links to road-site units (RSUs). Sensor data fusion algorithms are developed in this work to aggregate data collected through this probe data service for computing single-RSU and multi-RSU average per-division speeds and average route travel times, where a division is defined to be a small segment of a road. These algorithms are evaluated using an integrated simulation testbed that consists of a vehicular simulator and a wireless communication link simulator, which are interconnected via a TCP/IP connection. Our key findings are that the probe data service offers an excellent means for computing average per-division speeds and average route travel times when the market penetration level of OBUs is relatively high. Privacy constraints negatively impact the accuracy of route travel time estimates as routes often span roads under the wireless coverage area of many road-side units requiring frequent vehicle identity changes. The impact of wireless communication losses is quite significant, requiring the use of accurate models in any simulation-based studies.


Social, economic, legislative and technological developments ongoing since the 1970s
have culminated in profound change in the structure and form of work and of family
life today. This changing socio-economic structure has implications for ways in which
gender roles and relationships are understood and enacted; and this study is concerned
with the impact of such change on men's, particularly marginalised men's,
understandings of masculinity. While men's studies as an academic discipline has
been developing in the international arena since the 1970s, there is a dearth of
scholarship in Ireland on the topic of masculinity; indeed it has only recently emerged
as a topic in public discourse. The 1990s witnessed a new social phenomenon in Irish
society - the emergence of men's groups in local communities, some o f which receive
funding within the community education sector. Across three research sites, two
men's groups and one practitioners' network, this qualitative study explores emergent
models of practice as well as understandings of masculinity and gender relations at
play in these sites. This study is therefore located at the interface of two nascent fields
of inquiry in Irish research; the question of male identity and the role of men's groups
in combating male isolation, social exclusion and educational disadvantage.
The study opens with an overview of the historical development of men's movements,
men's groups and masculinity politics in the international arena from the 1970s
onward; and discusses the more recent emergence of men's groups in Irish society. It
draws on theoretical perspectives from the inter-disciplinary field of men's studies in
tracing the historical development of gender identity in Ireland, and in analysing
dominant themes in contemporary public discourse on masculinity and gender
relations. Findings from the men's groups are presented in case study format wherein
idiographic analyses and interpretations are placed in dialogue with theoretical
perspectives drawn from relevant academic discourses.
Based on its understanding of the study participants' experiences and perspectives and
the project's overall observations, learnings and findings placed in dialogue with a
critical analysis of the literature, this thesis proposes a conceptual framework to
underpin the development of men's community education through the medium of
men's groups in Ireland.


Women's political representation in Indonesia has been rather limited and has fluctuated since independence in 1945. In a hope to improve this situation, a legislated gender quota of 30 percent for candidates in Indonesia was first implemented in the 2004 elections. In this paper, we strive to answer the question of what is the role of international NGOs in helping the process of the provision of candidate gender quotas in Indonesia. By analysing literature on the importance of gender quotas from theoretical perspectives, examples on the implementation of quotas of other countries, role of NGO in democracy as well as in women political representation, and interviews with six participants from two Indonesian NGOs and two International NGOs, who were directly involved in the process of endorsing gender quotas, we found that the influence of international NGOs has been significant and yet indirect as the pursuit of affirmative action policy is only part of the bigger project in promoting gender equality.


The AES (advanced encryption standard) is a new block cipher standard published by the US government in November 2001. As a consequence, there is a growing interest in efficient implementations of the AES. For many applications, these implementations need to be resistant against side channel attacks, that is, it should not be too easy to extract secret information from physical measurements on the device. We present the first results on the feasibility of power analysis attack against an AES hardware implementation. Our attack is targeted against an ASIC implementation of the AES developed by the ETH Zurich. We show how to build a reliable measurement setup and how to improve the correlation coefficients, i.e., the signal to noise ratio for our measurements. Our approach is also the first step to link a behavior HDL simulator generated simulated power measurements to real power measurements.


We consider the inflaton as a scalar field described by a non-minimal derivative coupling model with a power law potential. We study the slow roll inflation, the rapid oscillation phase, the radiation dominated and the recombination eras respectively, and estimate e-folds numbers during these epochs. Using these results and recent astrophysical data we determine the reheating temperature in terms of the spectral index and the amplitude of the power spectrum of scalar perturbations.


Benevolent racism, racism that is expressed through seemingly positive beliefs and emotional responses, is shown to play an insidious role in upholding negative racial stereotypes and inequality. Although a considerable amount of research has been done on racism in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ), very little has focused specifically on the prevalence and impacts of benevolent racism. This research comprises two studies to explore the role of benevolent racism in ANZ, focusing specifically on benevolent racism towards Māori men through expressions of their superior athletic and practical/manual skills. Study 1 (N = 312) was an experimental study which used multilevel modelling to predict the effects of benevolent racism on guidance given to a Māori male student. The results showed that as Pākehā endorsement of benevolent racism increased, Pākehā rated practical/manual activities to be increasingly important and school to be decreasingly important for a hypothetical Māori male student. In study 2 (N = 10), interviews explored the experiences of Māori men in ANZ and whether benevolent racism manifested in these experiences. A thematic analysis derived four main themes: Identity and Culture, Challenges, Whānau and Positive Experiences and the results highlighted that participants' encounters of racism were predominantly of the hostile, rather than benevolent, sort. These findings shed light on the continued role of racism in ANZ and how it is linked to other aspects of Māori men's experiences. These studies also highlight the need for a bottom-up exploration of the profile and functions of benevolent racism in ANZ.


Conventional mobile robots have difficulties adapting to unpredictable environments or performing adequately after undergoing physical damages in realtime operation, unlike animals. We address this issue by focusing on brittle stars, an echinoderm related to starfish. Most brittle stars have five flexible arms, and they can coordinate among the arms (i.e., inter-arm coordination) as well as the many bodily degrees of freedom within each arm (i.e., intra-arm coordination). They can move in unpredictable environments while promptly adapting to those, and to their own physical damages (e.g., arm amputation). Our previous work focused on the inter-arm coordination by studying trimmed-arm brittle stars. Herein, we extend our previous work and propose a decentralized control mechanism that enables coupling between the inter-arm and intra-arm coordination. We demonstrate via simulations and real-world experiments with a brittle star-like robot that the behavior of brittle stars when they are intact and undergoing shortening or amputation of arms can be replicated.


. We consider a broad class of inflationary models of two unconstrained chiral superfields, the stabilizer S and the inflaton Φ, which can describe inflationary models with nearly arbitrary potentials. These models include, in particular, the recently introduced theories of cosmological attractors, which provide an excellent fit to the latest Planck data. We show that by adding to the superpotential of the fields S and Φ a small term depending on a nilpotent chiral superfield P one can break SUSY and introduce a small cosmological constant without affecting main predictions of the original inflationary scenario.


In very general terms, this report deals with the prospect of Russia becoming more closely integrated into Europe and into the world economy more generally. In a more restricted sense, it tries to illustrate some of the central issues of this theme by briefly reviewing three sectors of economic activity in Russia, namely international road transport, ports, and forestry. The report focuses in particular on Russian strategies, policies and decision-making in these fields, having Northwest Russia (and its borders with the EU Member States Finland and the Baltic States) as a particular point of territorial reference. In the conclusions, the focus is placed squarely on the implications of this analysis for the whole European Union (EU), Member States and EU-based companies. It is argued here that while Russia's declared goal is to enhance integration, at the same time its policies are clearly characterized by state-regulated protectionism. In order to understand or explain Russia's rather ambiguous behaviour along this integration vs. protectionism axis, two basic approaches are presented: geopolitics and geoeconomics.


Backgrounds: The term linitis plastic was used by Brinton to designate a special disease of the stomach, benign in nature, characterized, pathologically, by a diffuse or circumscribed increase in the connective tissue involving chiefly the submucosa, and to a lesser degree the other layers, giving rise to a marked thickening of the stomach walls with a corresponding diminution in its lumen; clinically, by its insidious onset, its slow progressive gastric symptoms, its cachexia, and fatal termination. Clinical case: Male of 49 years-old presenting dyspepsia, weight loss (15 kg) of 6 months of evolution treated with alternative medicine (herbal) without improvement. Request panendoscopy by observing: marked thickening of the gastric mucosal folds, which were difficult to distend and gastric wall rigidity. Some gastric folds were enlarged and some parts of the mucosa had a mosaic pattern and a "snake skin" aspect. Biopsies are taken and the histopathological study revealed an undifferentiated adenocarcinoma with signet ring cell. The patient is sent to a third level of cancer care for their comprehensive treatment. Discussion: The cumulative lifetime risk of clinically detected gastric cancer is 63%-83% for women and 40%-67% for men. The average age at diagnosis is 40 years. The treatment for linitis plastic is a controversial issue. Some authors have proposed using more radical multimodality treatments such as systemic and/or intraperitoneal chemotherapy in addition to radical surgery, whereas others suggest that these patients should be treated with primary chemotherapy even in the absence of unfavorable parameters, as the overall survival rate has been reported to be low in patients undergoing curative surgery.


Abstract Objective The aim of this study is to determine the association between mild acidemia (umbilical artery [UA] pH: 7.11–7.19) and neonatal morbidity in neonates at term. Study Design This is a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of women admitted for labor at ≥37 weeks of gestation within a single institution from 2010 to 2015. Universal umbilical cord blood gas assessment was performed and validated. A composite neonatal morbidity index was created including respiratory distress, mechanical ventilation, meconium aspiration syndrome, suspected or confirmed sepsis, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, need for therapeutic hypothermia, seizures and death. The cohort was stratified by UA pH into normal (≥7.20), mild acidemia (7.11–7.19), acidemia (7.00–7.10), and severe acidemia (≤7.00). A subanalysis was also performed where neonates with UA pH between 7.11 and 7.19 were further stratified into two groups (7.11–7.14 and 7.15–7.19) to determine if mildly acidotic infants at the lower end of the pH range were at increased risk of morbidity. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between UA pH and neonatal morbidity. Results Among 6,341 participants, 614 (9.7%) had mild acidemia. These infants were more likely to experience morbidity compared with those with normal UA pH (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.14; [1.68–2.73]). Among neonates with mild acidemia, UA pH 7.11 to 7.14 was associated with increased risk of composite neonatal morbidity (aOR: 3.02; [1.89–4.82]), as well as respiratory distress and suspected or confirmed sepsis when compared with UA pH 7.15 to 7.19. Conclusion These data demonstrate that term neonates with mild acidemia at birth are at higher odds for short-term morbidity compared with neonates with normal UA pH. Furthermore, among neonates with mild acidemia, those with lower UA pH had worse neonatal outcomes than those with higher UA pH. This suggests that closer evaluation of neonates with UA pH higher than traditionally used could allow for earlier detection of morbidity and possible intervention. Key Points Neonates with mild acidemia (umbilical artery [UA] pH: 7.11–7.19) demonstrated an increased risk of composite morbidity compared with those with normal UA pH (≥7.20). Among neonates with mild acidemia, those with lower UA pH (7.11–7.14) had a greater risk of morbidity compared with those with higher UA pH (7.15–7.19), suggesting a progression of risk of morbidity as UA pH decreases. The majority of prior research has focused on severe acidemia (UA pH ≤ 7.00) using outcomes of severe neurologic morbidity and mortality. These data suggest that an increased risk of morbidity exists at higher pH values when more proximal and less severe outcomes are included, such as respiratory distress and neonatal sepsis.


Fire is a natural disturbance that exerts an important influence on global ecosystems, affecting vegetation distribution and structure, the carbon cycle and climate. However, human-induced changes to fire regimes may affect at-risk species groups such as small mammals. We examine the effect of fire on small mammals and evaluate the relative sensitivity to fire among different groups using a systematic review methodology that included critiquing the literature with respect to survey design and statistical analysis. Overall, small mammal abundance is slightly higher, and demographic parameters more favourable, in unburnt sites compared to burnt sites. This was more pronounced in species with body size range of 101–1000g and with habitat requirements that are sensitive to fire (e.g. dense ground cover): in 66.6 and 69.7% of pairwise comparisons, abundance or a demographic parameter were higher in unburnt than burnt sites. This systematic review demonstrates that there remains a continued focus on simple shifts in abundance with regards to effect of fire and small mammals, which limits understanding of mechanisms responsible for change. Body size and habitat preference were most important in explaining variation in small mammal species' responses to fire.


SUMMARY This paper presents evidence for the involvement of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) as vectors in the recent outbreaks of Salmonella montevideo in sheep and cattle in Scotland and suggests that the transfer can take place over considerable distances. The breeding area in Scotland of herring gulls which overwinter in N.E. England is remarkably similar to the geographical distribution of the outbreaks. This pattern, together with the feeding behaviour of herring gulls on farmland, the presence of S. montevideo in herring gulls just before their departure from the wintering area and the timing of the return just before the peak of outbreaks are all circumstantial evidence implicating this gull in the outbreaks. The rapid return of these gulls to their breeding areas means that S. montevideo can be transported long distances in one day and raises the possibility that the original source of S. montevideo could have been in N. E. England rather than in Scotland.


This paper validates experimentally a novel approach to robot audition, sound-based control, which consists in introducing auditory features directly as inputs of a closed-loop control scheme, that is, without any explicit localization process. The applications we present rely on the implicit bearings of the sound sources computed from the time difference of arrival (TDOA) between two microphones. By linking the motion of the robot to the aural perception of the environment, this approach has the benefit of being more robust to reverberation and noise. Therefore neither complex tracking method such as Kalman filtering nor TDOA enhancement with denoising or dereverberation methods are needed to track the correct TDOA measurements. The experiments conducted on a mobile robot instrumented with a pair of microphones show the validity of our approach. In a reverberating and noisy room, this approach is able to orient the robot to a mobile sound source in real time. A positioning task with respect to two sound sources is also performed while the robot perception is disturbed by altered and spurious TDOA measurements.


Understanding the basic cell biology of neural stem and progenitor cells is fundamental, on the one hand, to know how the large and complex brain of humans has evolved and in the other hand, for their successful application in regenerative medicine. While many central features are shared between different types of neural progenitors from diverse sources, there may be possibly an equal number of differences, and therefore it is of paramount importance to compare them. Towards that end, our laboratory identifies and investigates novel genes and molecular mechanisms regulating homeostasis and fate commitment of neural progenitors common to the developing and the adult brain, in mouse and recently, in humans. This line of experimentation has led to the discovery of new factors and biological phenomena essential for both embryonic and adult neurogenesis, and has been critical in pioneering and further developing direct neuronal reprogramming i.e. forced neurogenesis. My PhD work is the functional characterization of one such common candidate genes called Akna, and the investigation of its molecular regulation. I have discovered that this gene, erroneously annotated as an AT-hook transcription factor, is in fact an integral component of interphase centrosomes in the differentiating subtype of neural stem cells - radial glia - and in basal progenitors of the developing forebrain and in neuronal precursors of the adult brain. It localizes predominantly at subdistal appendages of mother centrioles where it regulates the organization and polymerization of microtubules. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments in the murine developing cerebral cortex show that Akna is necessary and sufficient for the delamination of differentiating neural stem cells in the (apical) ventricular zone towards the adjacent (basal) subventricular zone, where it is highest expressed. There, it is required for the retention of basal progenitors. Its subsequent downregulation allows repolarization and migration of young neurons to the cortical plate, where Akna is not detectable. Notably, cells that express Akna have mostly centrosome-based microtubule nucleation, while those without Akna, i.e. neurons, largely nucleate microtubules from noncentrosomal sources. This is indeed also the case for other cell types including adult brain neural precursors (neuroblasts) and immune cells; both of which have high levels of Akna. Furthermore, Akna's enrichment in the outer subventricular zone of the folded ferret and macaque brains together with manipulation in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cerebral organoids suggest a conserved role in brain ontogeny and phylogeny.

The delamination process of epithelial-like neural stem cells is reminiscent of the mesenchymal transition that can occur in true epithelial cells. In fact, many factors and molecular pathways are common to both processes, and so is Akna. We have found that it is upregulated early in mammary gland epithelial cells undergoing epithelial to mesenchymal transition. In its absence, disassembly of cell-cell junctions is impaired because degradation of epithelial adhesion molecules is delayed and hence, the resulting mesenchymal cell scattering is impaired. This, together with the above-mentioned results, supports a mechanistic model in which Akna's role as microtubule organizer at centrosomes facilitates disassembly of cell-cell contacts and cell polarization in epithelial cells in general.

Altogether, the results of my work uncover previously unconsidered, and therefore not observed, roles of centrosomal microtubule nucleation and highlights the key relevance of centrosome composition.


Databases are a crucial part of today's Internet based web applications. To date, almost all web applications have used server side databases. With the adaption of HTML5, which is currently in the process of being standardized by W3C, new client side databases are being introduced that will be embedded in the web browser. Client side databases have the advantage of reducing load on the web server, but the disadvantage that database performance will vary depending on the user's web browser and in particular how the browser's designers have chosen to implement the IndexedDB API.

In this paper we describe appropriate database benchmarks and apply these to three current web browsers, Google Chrome 24, Firefox 17. We also compare these results with the popular server side database MySQL. The benchmarking is based on writing, reading and deleting database data. The comparison of benchmarks shows the suitability of client side versus server side databases.

Our findings are that there are significant performance differences between the indexedDB implementations. The main differences are discussed in relation to the benchmark results. Irrespective of browser differences, the results show that client side databases perform well in comparison to server side databases whilst reducing network latency concerns.


A numerical and experimental investigation has been conducted to analyze the fluid dynamic aspects of the porous wetted wall protection scheme for inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactor first walls. A level contour reconstruction method has been used to track the three-dimensional evolution of the liquid film surface on porous downward-facing walls with different initial film thickness, liquid injection velocity through the porous wall, surface disturbance amplitude, configuration and mode number, liquid properties, and surface inclination angle. Generalized charts for the computed droplet detachment time, detached droplet equivalent diameter, and minimum film thickness during the transient for various design parameters and coolant properties are presented. In order to validate the numerical results over a wide range of parameters, an experimental test facility has been designed and constructed to simulate the hydrodynamics of downward-facing porous wetted walls. Nondimensionalization of the model shows that water can be adequately used as a simulant to validate the numerical results. Preliminary experimental results show good agreement with model predictions. The results of this investigation should allow designers of conceptual IFE reactors to identify appropriate "windows" for successful operation of the porous wetted wall protection concept for different coolants.


This chapter discusses the ongoing transformations of the French defence support. Considering the importance of economic activities related to defence support, this contribution aims at discussing the evolution of defence support and its costs for the State. The literature in defence economics presents very little analysis of defence support in its different forms. Neither space nor base locations have been deeply analysed in such a literature. We try to bridge this gap in an original research framework. We focus on the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of defence platforms. More particularly, we focus on the array of measures that surround French defence support in MRO since the end of the 1990s. Considering both economic and spatial leverages, how can the organisation of MRO be optimised? With concepts from spatial economics, we propose a new look on the defence support system. We examine new economic interconnections (e.g. Public Private Partnerships and outsourcing) between military and civilian activities. More broadly speaking, this path of research could help us to better understand the new type of economic interrelations between defence organisation and 'territory' as a social fabric.


Climate change is predicted to negatively impact wheat yields across northern India, primarily as a result of increased heat stress during grain filling at the end of the growing season. One way that farmers may adapt is by sowing their wheat earlier to avoid this terminal heat stress. However, many farmers in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) sow their wheat later than is optimal, likely leading to yield reductions. There is limited documentation of why farmers sow their wheat late and the potential constraints to early sowing. Our study uses data from 256 farmers in Arrah, Bihar, a region in the eastern IGP with late wheat sowing, to identify the socioeconomic, biophysical, perceptional, and management factors influencing wheat-sowing-date decisions. Despite widespread awareness of climate change, we found that farmers did not adopt strategies to adapt to warming temperatures and that wheat-sowing dates were not influenced by perceptions of climate change. Instead, we found that the most important factors influencing wheat-sowing-date decisions were irrigation type and cropping decisions during the monsoon season prior to the winter wheat growing season. Specifically, we found that using canal irrigation instead of groundwater irrigation, planting rice in the monsoon season, transplanting rice, and transplanting rice later during the monsoon season were all associated with delayed wheat sowing. These results suggest that there are system constraints to sowing wheat on time, and these factors must be addressed if farmers are to adapt wheat-sowing-date decisions in the face of warming temperatures.


This Article examines the different meanings of Ehrlich's idea of living law in relation to current debates about legal pluralism. It distinguishes three aspects of Ehrlich's concept as these have been elaborated in the later literature: "law beyond the law," "law without the state," and "order without law." This retrospective shows that Ehrlich was not principally concerned with defending the rights of ethnic or autonomous communities as such. In taking his work further, it is important to recognize to what extent official and unofficial law are even more interdependent today than in his day. But we may still find his work of relevance to thinking about the normative challenges of plural legalities.


Gastroduodenal ulcers in renal transplant recipients are usually originated from excessive acid secretion or infection of Helicobacter pyroli. Herein, we report a case of cytomegalovirus (CMV)--induced gastric ulcer following cadaveric renal transplantation. The patient was a 48-year-old man with chronic renal failure and received cadaveric renal transplantation. A month later, he had epigastralgia without CMV-positive antigenemia and received gastrointestinal fiberscopy. Endoscopically, gastric ulcer was identified. Histological findings revealed conspicious nuclear enlargement of the non-epithelial cells in the ulcer bed, which indicated CMV infection. The patient was treated with ganciclovir for 2 weeks and the symptom was relieved. He discharged with a good renal function on day 75 posttransplant. CMV infection plays an important role in gastric ulcer after renal transplantation. Antigenemia assay dose not seem feasible for the detection of CMV-induced gastric ulcer.


The Web has become a tremendously huge data source hidden under linked documents. A significant number of Web documents include HTML tables generated dynamically from relational databases. Often, there is no direct public access to the databases themselves. On the other hand, RDF (Resource Description Framework) gives an efficient mechanism to represent directly data on the Web based on a Web-scalable architecture for identification and interpretation of terms. This leads to the concept of Linked Data on the Web. To allow direct access to data on the Web as Linked Data, we propose in this paper an approach to transform HTML tables into RDF triples. It consists of three main phases: refining, pretreatment and mapping. The whole process is assisted by a domain ontology and the WordNet lexical database. A tool called Htab2RDF has been implemented. Experiments have been carried out to evaluate and show efficiency of the proposed approach.


About 20% of the organic carbon produced in the sunlit surface ocean is transported into the ocean's interior as dissolved, suspended and sinking particles to be mineralized and sequestered as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), sedimentary particulate organic carbon (POC) or "refractory" dissolved organic carbon (rDOC). Recently, the physical and biological mechanisms associated with the particle pumps have been revisited, suggesting that accepted fluxes might be severely underestimated (Boyd et al., 2019; Buesseler et al., 2020). Perhaps even more poorly understood are the mechanisms driving rDOC production and its potential accumulation in the ocean. On the basis of recent conflicting evidence about the relevance of DOC degradation in the deep ocean, we revisit the concept of rDOC in terms of its "refractory" nature in order to understand its role in the global carbon cycle. Here, we address the problem of various definitions and approaches used to characterize rDOC (such as turnover time in relation to the ocean transit time, molecule abundance, chemical composition and structure). We propose that rDOC should be operationally defined. However, we recognize there are multiple ways to operationally define rDOC; thus the main focus for unifying future studies should be to explicitly state how rDOC is being defined and the analytical window used for measuring rDOC, rather than adhering to a single operational definition. We also conclude, based on recent evidence, that the persistence of rDOC is fundamentally dependent on both intrinsic (chemical composition and structure, e.g., molecular properties), and extrinsic properties (amount or external factors, e.g., molecular concentrations, ecosystem properties). Finally, we suggest specific research questions aimed at stimulating research on the nature, dynamics, and role of rDOC in Carbon sequestration now and in future scenarios of climate change.


Chondroma is a benign encapsulated tumor, firm at palpation and multilobulated. Histologically it develops from connective tissue. It is composed of chondrocytes producing an amorphous basophilic matrix. It tends to replace surrounding tissues, with medium severity local aggression. Neck chondromas are extremely rare, their origin being in a typical case the long bones periosteum (over 60% of cases). The authors present a rare case of anterior cervical chondroma, in a 1.8-year-old child.


This paper describes how to exploit some particular rules about generic programming implementation with C++, to be able to verify at compile-time the existence of symbols such as classes, functions or methods, and the validity of expressions involving those symbols. This validation is done in such a way that the program will always compile and run, even if some expected class or function interface is missing, automatically skipping pieces of code when its compilation is not guaranteed to be successful. This techniques can be easily extended and applied to design and implement programming exercises that will precisely diagnose students errors when are executed, displaying custom run-time messages, and avoiding most compile time errors. This approach produces a selfcontained C++11 code representing a programming assignment, that requires only a standard compliant compiler to be used by the student. No other tool or instrumentation is needed.


Community-associated meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is emerging as an organism of important clinical significance, particularly as a cause of skin lesions in young healthy adults, with none of the usual risk factors for the acquisition of MRSA. The first report of infection in the UK with this organism was in the British sporting community in 1996, when the infection was observed in five members of a British rugby team.1 Since then, however, reports of such infections have not been frequent within the UK, although in the USA, CA-MRSA infections are continuing to emerge within various sporting disciplines, particularly those involved in contact ball sports. CA-MRSA has now emerged as an important public health issue in the USA since 2000. Affected individuals are often young adults suffering from severe soft tissue infections. Furthermore, in the USA, a particular PFGE clonal type, namely CA-MRSA USA 300, has emerged a significant public health problem, with many outbreaks due to this clone.2 Many community outbreaks have been reported in the USA, but so far, there are few reports of cases in the UK.

Unlike most hospital strains of MRSA, CA-MRSA …


Abstract. The rapid development of 3D scanning technology is a welcome progress in the field of tangible cultural heritage documentation. While active sensors such as handheld Time-of-Flight (ToF) cameras and lidar have recently generated much hype, developments in low-cost imaging sensors have also seen long strides in recent decades. This paper aims to see the potential of videogrammetry for the purposes of heritage documentation. This technique has existed for decades, but we argue that when combined with modern smartphone sensors and proper photogrammetric processing workflow it may present an interesting low-cost solution for 3D scanning. Furthermore, the paper wishes to address the requirement for a certain geometric quality in heritage documentation and how the proposed method may fulfil them. For this reason, comparisons between the videogrammetric result and traditional DSLR close range photogrammetry will be described to determine its suitability for heritage documentation. Results show that using modern low-cost smartphone imaging sensors, a good compromise between geometric quality and overall cost in the context of cultural heritage recording is possible to achieve.


We present an application of the red Y2O3:Eu3+ dopant phosphor compound for reaching the color rendering index as high as 86. The Multi-Chip White LED lamps (MCW-LEDs) with high Correlated Color Temperatures (CCTs) including 7000 K and 8500 K are employed in this study. Besides, the impacts of the Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor on the attenuation of light through phosphor layers of the various packages is also demonstrated based on the Beer-Lambert law. Simulation results provide important conclusion for selecting and developing the phosphor materials in MCW-LEDs manufacturing.


Many companies constantly struggle to find cost-effective solutions to satisfy the diverse demands of their customers. In this paper, we report on two recent industry-focused conferences that emphasized platform design, development, and deployment as a means to increase variety, shorten lead-times, and reduce development and production costs. The first conference, Platform Management for Continued Growth, was held November-December 2004 in Atlanta, Georgia, and the second, 2005 Innovations in Product Development Conference - Product Families and Platforms: From Strategic Innovation to Implementation, was held in November 2005 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The two conferences featured presentations from academia and more than 20 companies who shared their successes and frustrations with platform design and deployment, platform-based product development, and product family planning. Our intent is to provide a summary of the common themes that we observed in these two conferences. Based on this discussion, we extrapolate upon industry's needs in platform design, development, and deployment to stimulate and catalyze future work in this important area of research.


Several classes of medications are available for the treatment of asthma, and often they must be taken concurrently to achieve asthma control. Based on the understanding of asthma as an inflammatory disease, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute guidelines provide a stepwise approach to pharmacologic therapy. Corticosteroid therapy, principally inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy, is considered the most effective anti-inflammatory treatment. In cases of moderate-to-severe persistent asthma, the addition of a second long-term control medication to ICS therapy is one recommended treatment option. A combination-product inhaler (Advair, Seretide) was developed to treat both the inflammatory and bronchoconstrictive components of asthma by delivering a dose of the ICS, fluticasone propionate, and a dose of the long-acting beta2-adrenergic (LABA) bronchodilator, salmeterol. The Advair Diskus is available in 3 strengths of fluticasone propionate (100, 250, and 500 microg) and a fixed dose (50 microg) of salmeterol. Combination treatment with both ICS and LABA provides greater asthma control than increasing the ICS dose alone, while at the same time reducing the frequency and perhaps the severity of exacerbations. Furthermore, salmeterol added to ICS therapy provides superior asthma control compared with the addition of leukotriene modifiers or theophylline. The superior control is likely a consequence of the complementary actions of the drugs when taken together, including the activation of the glucocorticoid receptor by salmeterol. By combining anti-inflammatory treatment with a long-acting beta2-agonist in a single inhaler (1 inhalation twice daily), physicians can provide coverage for both the inflammatory and bronchoconstrictive aspects of asthma without introducing any new or unexpected adverse consequences. The most common drug-related adverse events were those known to be attributable to the constituent medications (ICS therapy and/or LABA therapy). Although the benefits of combined ICS plus LABA therapy can be achieved with separate inhalers, the convenience of the combination product may improve patient adherence and may therefore reduce the morbidity of asthma.


Background Coronary revascularization procedures often cause lowered exercise capacity and declining physical activity levels. These outcomes are paramount in predicting morbidity and mortality after these procedures. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) focuses on incrementing cardiovascular endurance, exercise capacity, muscle strength, levels of physical activity, and quality of life through health education and lifestyle modification in post-coronary revascularization patients. Objective To review the impact of cardiac rehabilitation on functional capacity, levels of physical activity, and health related quality of life in patients following coronary revascularization. Methods A structured literature search in PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and ProQuest for studies focused on CR and its effects on functional capacity, physical activity, and quality of life after coronary revascularization. Results A total of 2,010 studies were retrieved. Deduplication and eligibility screening included 190 studies after the application of filters. A sum of 21 studies were considered for this review. Most studies reported that exercise and physical activity programs were centre-based and home-based and via telerehabilitation. Treadmill and cycle ergometry training with callisthenics and flexibility exercises in phase 2 CR exhibited significant improvement in functional capacity and physical activity levels in patients after coronary revascularization procedures. Conclusion Although centre-based supervised CR programs do improve functional capacity after coronary revascularization, home-based or telerehabilitation-based CR programs are feasible, improve patient compliance in improving physical activity, and thereby increase functional capacity. Patient education improves levels of physical activity, health related quality of life, and adherence to home- and centre-based CR programs.


Mohammed Bendahmane, Research Director at INRA, has been working on the rose for 20 years. In 2018, he and his team deciphered the rose genome with considerable accuracy; indeed, this is one of the best three plant genome assemblies. On 26 November 2019 he will be receiving a Grand Prix from the French Academy of Sciences to reward the quality of his achievements throughout his career. He tells us about his research which has thrown new light on both the rose and on human genetics.


We present Van Allen Probes observations of modulations in the flux of very energetic electrons up to a few MeV and protons between 1200 and 1400 UT on 19 February 2014. During this event the spacecraft were in the dayside magnetosphere at L⋆≈5.5. The modulations extended across a wide range of particle energies, from 79.80 keV to 2.85 MeV for electrons and from 82.85 keV to 636.18 keV for protons. The fluxes of π/2 pitch angle particles were observed to attain maximum values simultaneously with the ULF compressional magnetic field component reaching a minimum. We use peak‐to‐valley ratios to quantify the strength of the modulation effect, finding that the modulation is larger at higher energies than at lower energies. It is shown that the compressional wave modulation of the particle distribution is due to the mirror effect, which can trap relativistic electrons efficiently for energies up to 2.85 MeV and trap protons up to ≈600 keV. Larger peak‐to‐valley ratios at higher energies also attributed to the mirror effect. Finally, we suggest that protons with energies higher than 636.18 keV cannot be trapped by the compressional ULF wave efficiently due to the finite Larmor radius effect.


OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of exendin-4(Ex-4) on the differentiation of neural stem cells(NSCs) in adult mouse subventricular zone(SVZ)and its mechanism .

METHODS
NSCs in the SVZ were derived from 5-week C57BL/6J mice and the expression of nestin was detected by immunofluorescence. The cell morphology was observed after the cells treatmed with 100 nmol/L Ex-4 for 14 days.The expressions of nestin and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) were detected by immunofluorescence. GLP-1R was knocked down by using shRNA and the study was divided into four groups: control group, Ex-4 group, GLP-1R knockdown group, GLP-1R knockdown + Ex-4 group. After treatment with 100 nmol/L Ex-4 for 14 d, β-tublin III and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were labeled by immunofluorescence and then the proportion of β-tublin III positive cells were counted. Western blot was used to detect the activation of cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) in NSCs. In order to further study the effects of Ex-4 on mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol 3-hydroxy kinase (PI3K) pathways, the cells were pretreated with MAPK inhibitor U0126 at a concentration of 0.07 μmol/L for 30 min or PI3K inhibitor LY294002 at 50 μmol for 2 h, respectively. The study was divided into six groups: control group, Ex-4 group, U0126 group, U0126 + Ex-4 group, LY294002 group, LY294002 + Ex-4 group. The activation of CREB in each group was detected by Western blot. The experiment was repeated three times independently.

RESULTS
NSCs were successfully extracted from SVZ of C57BL/6J mice. Immunofluorescence showed that nestin and GLP-1R were positive in NSCs. Compared with the control group, the proportion of neurons differentiated from Ex-4 group was higher. The percentage of neurons in GLP-1R knockdown + Ex-4 group was basically the same as that in control group (P<0.01). The positive cells of beta-tublin III showed positive activation of GLP-1R and CREB. Western blot showed that CREB was significantly activated in the Ex-4 group, and knockdown of GLP-1R abolished its activation (P<0.01). U0126 did not affect Ex-4-mediated CERB activation, and LY294002 significantly reduced Ex-4-mediated CREB activation (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION
Ex-4 promotes the differentiation of NSCs into neurons in SVZ of adult mice through GLP-1R receptor, which may be achieved through PI3K/CREB pathway.


In 2015, CMS will embark on a new era of collecting LHC collisions at unprecedented rates and complexity. This will put a tremendous stress on our computing systems. Prompt Processing of the raw data by the Tier-0 infrastructure will no longer be constrained to CERN alone due to the significantly increased resource requirements. In LHC Run 2, we will need to operate it as a distributed system utilizing both the CERN Cloud-based Agile Infrastructure and a significant fraction of the CMS Tier-1 Grid resources. In another big change for LHC Run 2, we will process all data using the multi-threaded framework to deal with the increased event complexity and to ensure efficient use of the resources. This contribution will cover the evolution of the Tier-0 infrastructure and present scale testing results and experiences from the first data taking in 2015.


A Wireless sensor network of globally distributed autonomous sensors to monitor physical or environmental conditions such as temperature, noise, pressure etc. and to cooperatively pass their data through the network to a main location. CASER protocol is used to increase the lifetime of the network. Energy consumption and security are the two conflicting issues in WSN. To overcome this problem some parameters are used Energy balance control using PSO (Particle swarm optimization) and lifetime optimization TORA(Temporally ordered Routing Algorithm). For security Probabilistic random walking. The proposed protocol can achieve a high message delivery ratio while prevent routing from polluting attacks.


The use of default options to influence retirement saving behavior is often portrayed as a Pareto improvement because it guides behavior without constraining individual choice. When defaults are irreversible, however, the welfare implications of defaults depend critically on why individuals default. We examine the active versus passive behavior of participants in a large public retirement plan when faced with a choice between defined benefit and defined contribution plans. We document substantial heterogeneity in the self-reported reasons for default, with substantial fractions of the population citing each of the major hypothesized reasons for defaults, including information problems, complexity, procrastination, endorsement effects, and deliberate defaults (i.e., those who consciously chose to default because the default plan was their preferred option). We show that participants who default are substantially more likely than active choosers to regret their plan selection, even relative to those who actively chose the same plan. We find that the extent of this regret varies significantly with the underlying reason for defaulting, with regret being significantly higher among those who defaulted due to information or procrastination, and significantly lower for those who defaulted deliberately.


BACKGROUND
Despite a wealth of data detailing increased metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 expression and activity in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), no studies examine the relationship between aortic size and MMP-9 expression. Because elastolysis occurs early in AAA formation, we hypothesized that MMP-9 expression would vary with aortic diameter. The purpose of this study was to measure MMP-9 mRNA levels in AAAs of various diameters and define the relationship between AAA size and MMP-9 expression.

METHODS AND RESULTS
MMP-9 mRNA levels were measured by competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using gene-specific external standards with cDNA from AAAs (n= 19) and normal aortas (n=4). Levels were normalized to GAPDH mRNA, determined separately via competitive PCR, to control for efficiency of reverse transcription. AAA size was measured on CT scans obtained within 6 weeks of surgery. MMP-9/GAPDH mRNA transcript levels in AAAs were expressed as mean+/-SEM and analyzed by ANOVA with a Tukey adjustment. There was a fourfold elevation in MMP-9/GAPDH mRNA transcript levels in 5.0- to 6.9-cm AAAs (98.06+/-15.19) compared with small (3.0- to 4.9-cm) AAAs (20.87+/-5.15, P<.03), large (>7-cm) AAAs (27.16+/-14.56, P<.01), or normal aortas (3.57+/-1.13, P<.003). The results did not change when they were normalized to patient height, nor were there significant differences in risk factors, age, or sex in each AAA group.

CONCLUSIONS
MMP-9 mRNA expression is significantly higher in moderate-diameter (5- to 6.9-cm) AAAs than either small (<4.0-cm) or large (>7.0-cm) AAAs. Increased MMP-9 expression may account for the propensity of AAAs >5 cm to continue to expand, in contrast to smaller aneurysms. Lower levels in AAAs >7 cm suggest that increases in other enzymes or in diameter-dependent mechanical stress on the aortic wall are responsible for their characteristic rapid expansion and high rupture rates.


Introduction & BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic led to unparalleled pressure on healthcare services, highlighting the need for improved healthcare planning for respiratory disease outbreaks. With rapid virus diversification, and correspondingly rapid shifts in symptom expression, there is often a complete lack of representative clinical testing data available to modellers. This is especially true at the onset in outbreaks, where traditional epidemiological and statistical approaches that utilise case data 'ground truths' are extremely challenging to apply. In this abstract we preview the results of two novel studies that investigate how the use of digital footprint data - in the form of over-the-counter medication sales - might serve as a predictive proxy for underlying and often hidden disease incidence, and the extent to which such data might improve mortality rate forecasting at local area levels.
Objectives & ApproachOver 2 billion transactions logged by a UK high-street health retailer were collated across English local authorities (n=314), generating weekly variables corresponding to a range of health purchase behaviours (e.g cough mixture / pain-relief sales) in each authority. These purchase data were additionally linked to a set of independent variables describing each local authority's 1. weekly environment (e.g. weather, temperature, pollution), 2. socio-demographics (e.g. age distributions, deprivation levels, population densities) and 3. available local test case data. Machine learning regression models were then deployed to investigate the ability of each of these variable sets to underpin predictions of weekly registered deaths in the 314 authorities that were due to: COVID-19 between Apr 2020 - Dec 2021 (Study 1) or general respiratory disease between March 2016 - Mar 2020 (Study 2). All models were rigorously tested out-of-sample via walk forward cross-validation, and across a range of forecast windows.
Relevance to Digital FootprintsEpidemics such as COVID-19 are recognised as being driven as much by behavioural factors as they are by clinical ones. Indicators of infection rates may be revealed in purchasing and self-medication logs, where there exists rich data: in 2022 UK citizens were reported to generate >1 billion prescriptions; consume ~6,300 tonnes of paracetamol; and spend £572m on cough, cold and sore throat treatments. Application of the digital footprint data logs generated by such activities may hold potential to reveal hidden disease incidence and risk to vulnerable communities, without reliance on prohibitively expensive testing infrastructures.
ResultsEvidence was found that models incorporating digital footprint sales data were able to significantly out-perform models that used variables traditionally associated with respiratory disease alone (e.g. sociodemographics, weather, or case data). In Study 1, XGBoost models were able to optimally predict the number of COVID deaths 21 days in advance (R2=0.71***), significantly outperforming models based on official COVID case data alone at local-area levels (R2=0.44**). For the pre-COVID period, where registered deaths express a far greater seasonal pattern, models optimally predicted registered respiratory deaths 17 days in advance (R2=0.78***), with highest accuracy gains over models without digital footprint data (increases in R2 between 0.09 to 0.11) occurring in periods of maximum risk to the general public (winter periods).
Conclusions & ImplicationsOver-the-counter medication purchases related to management of respiratory illness are correlated with registered deaths at a 17-21 day window. Results demonstrate the potential for sales data to support early warning population health mechanisms at local area levels, and the need for ongoing research into their application to support health planning.


Nociception is an unavoidable consequence of many routine management procedures such as castration in cattle. This study investigated electroencephalography (EEG) parameters and cortisol levels in calves receiving intravenous sodium salicylate in response to a castration model. Twelve Holstein calves were randomly assigned to the following groups: (i) castrated, untreated controls, (ii) 50 mg/kg sodium salicylate IV precastration, were blood sampled at 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 240, 360, and 480 min postcastration. The EEG recording included baseline, castration, immediate recovery (0-5 min after castration), middle recovery (5-10 min after castration), and late recovery (10-20 min after castration). Samples were analyzed by competitive chemiluminescent immunoassay and fluorescence polarization immunoassay for cortisol and salicylate, respectively. EEG visual inspection and spectral analysis were performed. Statistical analyses included anova repeated measures and correlations between response variable. No treatment effect was noted between the two groups for cortisol and EEG measurements, namely an attenuation of acute cortisol response and EEG desynchronization in sodium salicylate group. Time effects were noted for EEG measurements, cortisol and salicylates levels. Significant correlations between cortisol and EEG parameters were noted. These findings have implications for designing effective analgesic regimens, and they suggest that EEG can be useful to monitor pain attributable to castration.


Horticultural crops are indispensable agricultural food materials with all essential nutrients. Though, severe threats like pests, diseases, and adverse abiotic factors will affect their productivity and quality. This permits to promote sustainable agriculture by utilizing the recent biotechnological approach to tackle the mentioned issues. In recent year's genome editing technologies has become one of the most executed genetic tools which altered plant molecular biology. Recently, CRISPR-Cas utilizes for its high target specificity, easier design, and higher success rate. This chapter deals with recent advances in CRISPR/Cas9 technology in horticultural crops in response to the enrichment of essential metabolites, which was achieved by introducing the viral genome to the host via CRISPR-mediated targeted mutation. Furthermore, the strategies based on CRISPR/Cas9 targeted modifications of genes in crop species such as rice, wheat, and soy will be discussed. Finally, we discuss the challenges, improvements, and prospective applications of this cutting-edge technology.


In the last few years, the attention of the public has been increasingly drawn to the subject of offshore structures, particularly as a result of the television and press coverage of the platforms recently installed in the North Sea. Although North Sea activity has publicised offshore engineering work, structures remote from land have been built for many purposes for some considerable time; however, offshore structures tend to be related to oil operations, and it is to this technology that most offshore structures in the Middle East relate. In contrast to the severe environment conditions of the North Sea, the conditions of the Middle East are comparatively benign. Fig. 1 illustrates a steel structure being built in conditions typical of the Arabian Gulf. The main area developed to date is the Arabian Gulf, the existing wells and oil related structures generally having been located in relatively shallow waters of less than 60 m depth (cf. 180 m in the North Sea). New concession areas elsewhere extend to the 1000 m contour and working in these depths will no doubt pose their problems. Concession areas exist off most of the coastline of the Red Sea, parts of the Gulf of Aden, and off the coast of Oman. The latter two areas the relatively unexplored and therefore apart from the more severe weather conditions which are known to exist, difficulties as yet unknown may be met. For example the southern Red Sea areas will pose technical difficulties owing to the coral reefs and


Two- dimensional techniques for spectral analysis and Hilbert transformation of aeromagnetic data over Jalingo and environs were carried out in order to estimate the average depth to magnetic sources. The result from spectral analysis conducted indicates two source depths. The deeper magnetic source varies between 437 m to 2617 m. While the shallow magnetic source ranges between 123 m to 436 m. The result of Hilbert transform, which was used to delineate lineaments from analytical signal map are presented in terms of azimuth from Rose diagram, which trend NE-SW, NNE-SSW, ENE-WSW, NW-SE, NNW-SSE, WNW-ESE, N-S and E-W. These lineaments are in line with Pan-African and pre-Pan -African deformational episode on North -eastern basement complex and are potential site for secondary mineralization. This study also involves estimating the Curie point depth and Heat flow. The Curie point depth obtained varies between 24 to 28km and the geothermal gradient varies between 21 and 23 OCkm-1, while the heat flow values range between 53 to 61 mWm-2. These results are consistent with the existing geothermal and geotectonic regime in the area. Spectral analysis of the data in conjunction with heat flow values revealed an almost inverse linear relationship between heat flow and Curie depths. However, the study has shown possibility for moderate geothermal resources to exist in the study area.


In this letter, we propose a recursive channel estimation scheme for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) over amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying channels. Among pilot-symbol aided channel estimation techniques, linear interpolation is considered to be a simple and practical method. However, linear interpolation for the source-relay-destination channel may not work well due to the severe frequency selectivity of the cascaded channels. Specifically, extrapolation for edge subcarriers significantly distorts the channel estimation performance. To mitigate the detrimental effects of extrapolation, we partially null the channel estimates at the edge subcarriers. The proposed method effectively reduces the error propagation due to inaccurate channel estimates. In addition, we design a low complexity recursive linear interpolation scheme in which each update process utilizes both the reliability of feedback information and the characteristics of linear interpolation.


Molecular tools perform at their best when integrated with other data and approaches. The value of integrating approaches is especially high when the underlying genetic signal is relatively weak, as occurs in many marine species. Recently, studies combining genetic, oceanographic, behavioural and modelling approaches have provided new insights into the spatial ecology of marine populations, in particular regarding larval migration, barriers to dispersal and source-sink population dynamics. In this perspectives piece, we explore the advantages of a multidisciplinary approach to marine population genetics by (i) providing a synthesis of what has been learned about connectivity from studies that combine genetic data with other tools, (ii) discussing how incorporation of ecological and oceanographic information into alternative hypotheses can boost inference when genetic power is low, and (iii) summarizing recent innovations in statistical population genetics that enable seamless integration of ecological, environmental and genetic data. These topics are covered in the context of how genetic inferences of connectivity and dispersal can contribute to pressing questions facing marine conservation and management.


This article analyzes the impact of the leadership style of the head of the public health center in Central Java, Indonesia. The focus is on six main leadership styles, namely transformational, transactional, autocratic, charismatic, bureaucratic and democratic. This article has provided in-depth insights into leadership styles; democratic, transformational, bureaucratic and autocratic leadership have a positive impact on the performance of public health center staff in Central Java, Indonesia. Respondents in this study were 200 public health center staff. Distribution of the questionnaire by means of snowball sampling. The analysis uses a quantitative approach, with the help of a survey instrument, based on a questionnaire survey. Secondary research has been carried out through a previous review of the literature that is set to achieve the research objectives. The results of this article suggest that charismatic, bureaucratic and transactional leadership styles have a negative relationship with performance. A transformational, autocratic, and democratic leadership style, on the other hand, has a positive relationship with the performance of the head of the public health center in Central Java, Indonesia.


Since better glucose control reduces microvascular complications in patients with diabetes, reliable evaluation of diabetes control is essential. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values reflect average glucose over approximately 120 days (the average erythrocyte lifespan) and are a better assessment of glucose control than blood glucose measurement, which provides information at only one point of time. Although HbA1c is universally accepted as a means for monitoring diabetes control, its measurement is challenging. Concerns have been expressed about deficiencies of HbA1c analysis—most notably, lack of accuracy and inability to use HbA1c in subsets of individuals (eg, patients with hemolytic anemia or acute blood loss). This Viewpoint addresses some important considerations relevant to laboratory determination of HbA1c.


In the short growing season of the northernmost European growing conditions, farmers are increasingly interested in expanding cultivation of later maturing crops at the expense of early maturing ones with lower yields. In this study we aimed to assess how the switching between spring cereals that differ in earliness was associated with different external factors. This was tested using unique datasets for regional cropping areas and cultivar use for the last 15 years. Early maturing barley was favored at the expense of later maturing wheat when a high number of days to crop maturity was required in the preceding year. In contrast, farmers reduced the barley area when a high number of cumulated degree days was required for a crop to mature in the previous year. A shift was recorded from early to late maturing cultivars. This study indicated that despite limited opportunities for farmers to alter land use, they readily responded to past conditions and used the knowledge gained for decision-making to reduce risk. This is a valuable operative model for studying adaptation to opportunities and constraints induced by climate change.


We herein report an expeditious synthetic strategy to access diverse (spiro)polyheterocycles from easily available starting materials in two operational steps including an Ugi four-component reaction and a cationic gold(I)-catalyzed cascade bicyclization. Divergent synthesis of these structurally complex pyrido[2,1-a]isoindol-4(6H)-ones and spiroisoquinoline-pyrrole-3,5′-diones via a cascade nucleophilic cyclization/intramolecular 1,3-migration/1,5-enyne cycloisomerization process and a tandem hydroamination/Michael addition sequence, respectively, was controlled by substituents, where the electronic effect on the migrating groups and steric effect of the secondary amide moieties play crucial roles.


The recurrence relations are presented for the calculation of basic overlap integrals, by making use of which other overlap integrals are calculated analytically. These recurrence relations are especially useful for the calculation of any overlap integral for large quantum numbers. For the arbitrary values of screening constants of atomic orbitals and internuclear distances an accuracy of the computer results is satisfactory for the values of principal quantum numbers of Slater functions up to 50.


This paper proposes an image sensing system for the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding process of aluminum pipe. In automatic welding process, it is important to recognize the molten pool during the welding process. The use of CCD camera as vision sensor obtains the information of molten pool. The research was conducted for welding of aluminum alloy Al6063S-T5 with controlled welding speed and the AC welding polarity. Firstly, histogram analysis and range of brightness threshold was established. Secondly, by using the differential value of brightness of molten pool, the edge of molten pool can be detected. Finally, to overcome the unsteady detected edge, the ellipse approximation was used to obtain the image parameters, which are width, length and area. From the experiments it is shown that the recognition of molten pool using vision sensor is an effective method.