A retrospective pharmacokinetic analysis was performed for 165 antibiotic dosage regimens used in treating 15 microorganisms for which the antibiotics are considered to be agents of first choice or primary alternatives. The pharmacokinetic indices assessed were the three components of the steady-state temporal blood concentration profile: (1) the magnitude of the peak blood level at steady state compared with the minimum inhibitory concentration (Cmaxss/MIC); (2) the duration of the blood level above the MIC during each 72-hour period (number of hours per 72-hour period above MIC); and (3) the product of 1 and 2 (the intensity index). Considering the pharmacokinetic indices and antibiotics studied, ampicillin, cefadroxil (p.o.), cefazolin (i.v.), clindamycin, gentamicin, and tetracycline demonstrated the best pharmacokinetic performances for the penicillin, cephalosporin, macrolide-like, aminoglycoside, and tetracycline groups, respectively. The data suggest that some antibiotics may be effective at lower doses than commonly used, while others may need to be used more aggressively. Antibiotics with 80% or greater protein binding show no substantially reduced performance in the pharmacokinetic indices evaluated as compared with antibiotics bound less than 80%. Substantial differences are demonstrated in pharmacokinetic indices for dosage regimens used in treating specific microorganisms for which the antibiotics are considered the agents of choice or primary alternatives.


Introduction:
 Blood pressure (BP) reduction in acute ischemic stroke patients can potentially decrease cerebral blood flow (CBF) in ischemic tissue due to disrupted autoregulation, particularly in the ischemic core. We tested this hypothesis using a 3 group non-randomized controlled study of serial CBF measurements in ischemic stroke patients.

 Methods:
 Patients with acute ischemic stroke ≤72h of symptom onset were recruited. Groups were assigned according to baseline mean arterial blood pressure (MAP): patients with MAP >120mmHg were treated with intravenous labetalol and sublingual (SL) nitroglycerin and those with MAP 100-120 mmHg were treated with SL nitroglycerin. The BP reduction target was 10% of the baseline MAP. Patients with MAP<100 mmHg formed the control group. Patients underwent MR perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) before and after BP reduction. Blinded planimetric assessment was done to determine PWI deficits and DWI lesion volumes in the ischemic core region.

 Results:
 A total of 48 patients with mean±SD age of 65.4±13.2 years were enrolled at 23.4±15.3h after symptom onset. The mean time difference between perfusion scans was 25.6±9.5 min.Median(IQR) DWI volume was 11.1 (96.8) ml. Mean MAP was 126±7.5 mmHg in the MAP>120 group(n=13), 109.9±4.9 mmHg in the MAP 100-120 group (n=16), and 89.9±6.2 mmHg in the controls (n=19). Mean BP reduction in the treated patients was 11.9±6.7 mmHg (95% CI 15.6-3; p=0.04). Baseline mean relative CBF (rCBF) in ischemic core tissue was 1.1±0.47 in the MAP >120 group, 0.87±0.35 in the MAP 100-120 group and 0.78±0.32 in controls. The mean change in rCBF following BP reduction did not differ between the MAP >120 group (0.03±0.17), MAP 100-120 group (0.06±0.17) and controls (0.08±0.25) (p=0.28). Similarly, there was no difference in the mean relative cerebral blood volume (p=0.3) and relative mean transit time (p=0.58) before and after BP reduction. In patients treated with SL nitroglycerin (n=17), there was no improvement in mean lesional rCBF (0.04±0.17 vs.-0.02±0.18, p=0.25).

 Conclusion:
 Modest BP reduction does not lead to an immediate decrease in CBF, within the ischemic core. Acute antihypertensive therapy may be less directly harmful than has been postulated.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the learning performance of National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) participants, based on their gender and group. Evaluation of learning involved nine aspects: organizational leadership and management, curriculum management, co-curricular management, student affairs management, financial management, office administration management, environmental management and physical facilities, human resource management and development, and external relationship management. Achievement test scores were used as the instrument. The data were analyzed using mean and MANOVA. A total of 271 respondents participated in this study using stratified random sampling technique. Findings indicated the difference in learning performance in curriculum management for male and female participants. Findings also indicated differences in learning performance with regards to organizational leadership and management, student affairs management, environmental management and physical facilities, human resource management and development, and external relationship management, for graduate and non-graduate participants. The implications of these findings suggest that the NPQH training program should be continued. However, efforts to improve the learning performance need to be enhanced in order to meet the needs of the aspiring school managers in Malaysia.


Large-scale, highly-interconnected networks pervade both our society and the natural world around us. Uncertainty, on the other hand, is inherent in the underlying data due to a variety of reasons, such as noisy measurements, lack of precise information needs, inference and prediction models, or explicit manipulation, e.g., for privacy purposes. Therefore, uncertain, or probabilistic, graphs are increasingly used to represent noisy linked data in many emerging application scenarios, and they have recently become a hot topic in the database research community. While many classical graph algorithms such as reachability and shortest path queries become #P-complete, and hence, more expensive in uncertain graphs; various complex queries are also emerging over uncertain networks, such as pattern matching, information diffusion, and influence maximization queries. In this tutorial, we discuss the sources of uncertain graphs and their applications, uncertainty modeling, as well as the complexities and algorithmic advances on uncertain graphs processing in the context of both classical and emerging graph queries. We emphasize the current challenges and highlight some future research directions.


A24 Alterations of endothelium are associated with increased risk in cardiovascular diseases; they are also involved in tumor angiogenesis, one of the main "rate limiting step" in tumor progression and spreading. For this reason in the last years several agents have been patented for the cancer therapy thanks to their ability to inhibit tumor angiogenesis and now angiogenesis is considered also a target prevention. Since senescence is considered an "anti-cancer" phenomenon we are evaluating the molecular changes that occur during aging in endothelial cells. We conducted this study on endothelial cells derived from Human Umbilical Vein (HUVECs) of ealry and late passages, fromboth masculin and feminin origin and we have analyzed the expression profile at different stages of in culture aging. Several genes are regulated during this process; among these there is a significant reduction of the expression of genes such as E-selectin and CCL2 from cells of both male or female origin. This reduction could correlate with a decrease of the ability of endothelial cells to recruit inflammatory cells, and may have implications for metastatic spread of cancer. Angiopoietin 2 (ANG2) also seem to decrease during the endothelial cell senescence; this could be related to a potential impairment of the capacity to undergo remodeling in "aged" vessels. Interestingly, all three genes show a 2-fold higher expression in females as compared to males and the rate of decrease is different although the trend is the same. These data could suggest that there may be important gender-specific differences in gene expression of endothelial cells, and that these may have an effect on the senescence process. Finally we have evidence that TGFβI, a molecule related to TGFβinduction, is increased with passages in culture and is very high in aged endothelial cells. Probably it could clarify the pro-apoptotic and antiangiogenic activity of TGFβ. Taken together, these data confirm that physiological endothelial cell senescence could be associated with a reduction in anti-angiogenic potential; this property suggests that some tumors could be less angiogenic in the elderly. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):A24.


IMPORTANCE
Cancer is caused by a diverse array of somatic and germline genomic aberrations. Advances in genomic sequencing technologies have improved the ability to detect these molecular aberrations with greater sensitivity. However, integrating them into clinical management in an individualized manner has proven challenging.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the use of integrative clinical sequencing and genetic counseling in the assessment and treatment of children and young adults with cancer.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Single-site, observational, consecutive case series (May 2012-October 2014) involving 102 children and young adults (mean age, 10.6 years; median age, 11.5 years, range, 0-22 years) with relapsed, refractory, or rare cancer.

EXPOSURES
Participants underwent integrative clinical exome (tumor and germline DNA) and transcriptome (tumor RNA) sequencing and genetic counseling. Results were discussed by a precision medicine tumor board, which made recommendations to families and their physicians.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Proportion of patients with potentially actionable findings, results of clinical actions based on integrative clinical sequencing, and estimated proportion of patients or their families at risk of future cancer.

RESULTS
Of the 104 screened patients, 102 enrolled with 91 (89%) having adequate tumor tissue to complete sequencing. Only the 91 patients were included in all calculations, including 28 (31%) with hematological malignancies and 63 (69%) with solid tumors. Forty-two patients (46%) had actionable findings that changed their cancer management: 15 of 28 (54%) with hematological malignancies and 27 of 63 (43%) with solid tumors. Individualized actions were taken in 23 of the 91 (25%) based on actionable integrative clinical sequencing findings, including change in treatment for 14 patients (15%) and genetic counseling for future risk for 9 patients (10%). Nine of 91 (10%) of the personalized clinical interventions resulted in ongoing partial clinical remission of 8 to 16 months or helped sustain complete clinical remission of 6 to 21 months. All 9 patients and families with actionable incidental genetic findings agreed to genetic counseling and screening.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
In this single-center case series involving young patients with relapsed or refractory cancer, incorporation of integrative clinical sequencing data into clinical management was feasible, revealed potentially actionable findings in 46% of patients, and was associated with change in treatment and family genetic counseling for a small proportion of patients. The lack of a control group limited assessing whether better clinical outcomes resulted from this approach than outcomes that would have occurred with standard care.


An attempt has been made to establish an integral concerning the product of two H-function of several complex variables (Srivastava and Panda [8] with extended Jacobi polynomial [5]). Mainly we are using the series representation of H-function given by Olkha and Chaurasia [6,7]. By assigning suitable values to the parameters, the results can be reduced to many new, known and unknown results.


The advent of supercontinuum laser sources has enabled the implementation of compact and tunable stimulated emission depletion fluorescence microscopes for imaging far below the diffraction barrier. Here we report on an enhanced version of this approach displaying an all‐physics based resolution down to (19 ± 3) nm in the focal plane. Alternatively, this single objective lens system can be configured for 3D imaging with resolution down to 45 × 45 × 108 nm in a cell. The obtained results can be further improved by mathematical restoration algorithms. The far‐field optical nanoscale resolution is attained in a variety of biological samples featuring strong variations in the local density of features.


Based on light detection and ranging (LiDAR) digital elevation model (DEM) data at 1 m spatial resolution, Lake Agassiz strandlines were mapped and their elevations determined in northeastern North Dakota and southern Manitoba. Two different techniques for determining strandline elevations from LiDAR imagery are compared: one based on measuring the crests of constructional beaches, and the other using the elevation of slope breaks along the shorelines defined by shadows on the LiDAR hillshade map. Our measurements on Lake Agassiz strandlines show that previous correlations of younger strandlines around the Pembina delta, accepted for more than a century, are incorrect; the Gladstone, Ojata, and Emerado strandlines south of the delta are offset by 10 m from their namesakes to the north and so are equivalent to the Ojata, Emerado, and Hillsboro strandlines, respectively. Furthermore, anomalously low gradients for the Ojata and Emerado strandlines around the Pembina delta are interpreted as resulting from postdepositional compaction of underlying fine sediment. Elevations on the isostatically rebounded strandlines confirm that older (higher) ones have steeper northward-rising elevations, and that gradients on those strandlines can be used as proxies for relative age.


H O L LY WO O D, F L A . — A better body image perception following pelvic organ prolapse treatment correlated with improved sexual function in a multicenter, prospective cohort study of 239 women. Sexual function improved 4-6 months after treatment compared with baseline, regardless of whether patients had surgery or pessary placement. Sexual function improvements also correlated with decreased bother from pelvic organ prolapse. "Sexual dysfunction is highly prevalent in women attending urogynecology services," Dr. Lior Lowenstein said at the annual meeting of the American Urogynecologic Society. He estimated this condition affects as many as 60% of sexually active patients. Other researchers previously demonstrated that women seeking treatment for advanced pelvic organ prolapse report a worse perception of body image and decreased quality of life, compared with controls who did not have pelvic organ prolapse (Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2006;194:1455-61). The current study was designed to see if treatment improves body image and/or sexual function, and if there is any relationship between these two factors and prolapse symptoms. Dr. Lowenstein and his colleagues enrolled 384 consecutive women presenting for urogynecologic care at one of eight U.S. academic medical centers. At baseline, the mean prolapse stage was III, and the mean age was 62 years. At 4-6 months' follow-up, 145 women were lost to follow-up, but there were no significant demographic differences between that group and the 239 women who remained, said Dr. Lowenstein, who was a urogynecology fellow at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago at the time of the study. He is now an instructor at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. The majority of patients (86%) chose surgery—most commonly sacrocolpopexy. The remainder opted for more conservative treatment with a pessary. A total of 126 women (61%) in the surgery cohort and 22 (67%) in the pessary group said they were sexually active—a not significant difference. A meeting attendee asked if women treated with pessaries needed to remove them prior to sexual intercourse. "That was not part of the questionnaire we gave them, but it is an important issue that needs to be explored," Dr. Lowenstein said. The Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire–12 (PISQ-12) was used to assess sexual function. Poorer sexual function, defined by lower scores on the PSIQ-12, significantly correlated with worse body image perception. Worse body image perception was reflected by higher scores on the Modified Body Image Perception Scale (MBIS). Lower PISQ-12 numbers also correlated with significantly more bothersome prolapse—defined by higher scores on the prolapse subscale of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI). Interestingly, Dr. Lowenstein said, the anatomic site of prolapse did not make a significant difference. The PISQ-12 scores were not significantly related to prolapse stage or affected compartment (anterior, apical, or posterior). In addition to the three validated questionnaires, the investigators took a patient history, conducted a routine pelvic examination, and determined prolapse stage using the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) exam at baseline and follow-up. Dr. Lowenstein presented these results on behalf of the Fellows' Pelvic Research Network. The complete study findings have been published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine (2009;6:2286-91). "Body image perception has an important role in sexual function in women with pelvic organ prolapse," Dr. Lowenstein said. He added that the results suggest sexual function may be related more to a woman's perception of her body image than to actual topographic changes from pelvic organ prolapse. ■


An electronically steerable parasitic array radiator antenna is presented. The antenna has only a single element connected to a receiver or a transmitter. This active element is surrounded by parasitic elements loaded with variable reactors (varactors). The loaded reactance and the length of the parasitic radiators are designed so that each of the parasitic elements plays its role of director or reflector depending on its bias voltage on the loaded reactance. This design guarantees that the radiation pattern can be controlled by changing the bias voltages on the varactors. For omnipattern forming, a voltage vector is obtained such that the received power is maximised under the assumption that each component of the voltage vector is equal. An experiment yields an omnipattern with an average −0.83 dBi gain over the angles [0°, 360°). For sector pattern forming, a single-source power maximisation technique is proposed to optimise the voltage vector such that the received signal power is as large as possible in the direction of the source. Experiments yield twelve sector patterns at every 30°. The average gain is 5.5 dBi in the patterns' beam directions. The average 3 dB beamwidth is 72.4° for the sector patterns in the directions 0°, 60°, 120°, 180°, 240°, and 300°, while the average value is 90.1° for the remaining patterns.


In this study, we i) assessed the metabolic profile of the normal adrenal cortex and medulla of adult human subjects by means of (1)H-high-resolution magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (HRMAS NMR) spectroscopy; ii) compared the biochemical profile of adenoma (Ad), adrenal cortical carcinoma (ACC), and pheochromocytoma (PCC) samples with that of healthy adrenal tissue samples; and iii) investigated the metabolic differences between ACCs and Ads as well as between ACCs and PCCs. Sixty-six tissue samples (13 adrenal cortical tissue, eight medullary tissue, 13 Ad, 12 ACC, and 20 PCC samples) were analyzed. Adrenaline and noradrenaline were undetectable in cortical samples representing the metabolic signature of the tissue derived from neural crest. Similarity between the metabolic profile of Ads and that of the normal adrenal cortex was shown. Inversely, ACC samples clearly made up a detached group exhibiting the typical stigmata of neoplastic tissue such as choline-containing compounds, biochemical markers of anaerobic processes, and increased glycolysis. Significantly higher levels of lactate, acetate, and total choline-containing compounds played a major role in the differentiation of ACCs from Ads. Moreover, the high fatty acid content of ACCs contributed to the cluster identification of ACCs. Of the 14 sporadic PCC samples, 12 exhibited predominant or exclusive noradrenaline secretion. The noradrenaline:adrenaline ratio was inverted in the normal medullary tissue samples. Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2- and NF1-related PCC samples exhibited both adrenaline and noradrenaline secretion. In the von Hippel-Lindau disease-related PCC samples, only noradrenaline secretion was detected by HRMAS NMR spectroscopy. This study is one of the first applications of metabolomics to adrenal pathophysiology and it is the largest study to report HRMAS NMR data related to the adrenal cortex and adrenal cortical tumors.


Background: Cancer treatment–induced bone loss has important long-term effects in prostate cancer survivors (PCSs) receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), but little is known about preventive interventions. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a 6-month home-based exercise intervention in PCSs. Methods: In this pilot, randomized controlled trial, 51 men (mean age, 70.8 years) were randomized to a 6-month home-based exercise intervention for preventing osteoporosis group (n = 26) or an exercise placebo intervention of stretching exercise group (n = 25). Primary outcomes were bone mineral density and bone turnover markers. Secondary outcomes were physical performance (level of physical activity, muscle strength, and balance) and health-related quality of life. Results: The patient retention rate for 6 months was 80.4%. The mean adherence rate was 84.7% for weight-bearing exercise and 64.8% for resistance exercise. No adverse events during the study period were reported. Although primary outcomes did not differ significantly between the 2 groups, the home-based exercise intervention for preventing osteoporosis group demonstrated significantly greater increased muscle strength than the stretching exercise group. Conclusions: A home-based exercise program is relatively feasible and safe and may improve muscle strength but not bone outcomes. Implications for Practice: Given the importance of preventing cancer treatment–induced bone loss among PCSs receiving ADT, a home-based exercise intervention can be considered, but further trials with a larger sample are required to determine its effect for bone outcomes.


The identification of reaction kinetics represents the main challenge in building models for reaction systems. The identification task can be performed via either simultaneous model identification (SMI) or incremental model identification (IMI), the latter using either the differential (rate-based) or the integral (extent-based) method of parameter estimation. This contribution presents an extension of extent-based IMI that guarantees convergence to globally optimal parameters. In SMI, a rate law must be postulated for each reaction, and the model concentrations are obtained by integration of the balance equations. The procedure must be repeated for all combinations of rate candidates. This approach is computationally costly when there are several candidates for each reaction, and convergence problems may arise due to the large number of parameters. In IMI, the identification task is decomposed into several sub-problems, one for each reaction [1]. Since IMI deals with one reaction at a time, only the rate candidates for that reaction need to be compared. In addition, convergence is facilitated by the fact that only the parameters of a single reaction rate are estimated. In rate-based IMI, the parameters are estimated by fitting the simulated rates to the experimental rates obtained by differentiation of measured concentrations. In extent-based IMI, the simulated rates are integrated to yield extents, and the parameters are estimated by fitting the simulated extents to experimental extents obtained by transformation of measured concentrations [2]. The simulated rates are functions of concentrations. Hence, since each reaction is simulated individually, the simulated rates must be computed from measured concentrations. Most parameter estimation methods converge to local optimality, which may result in an incorrect model. It turns out that extent-based IMI is particularly suited to global optimization since each estimation sub-problem (i) involves only a small set of parameters, and (ii) can be rearranged as an algebraic problem, where the objective function is polynomial in the parameters with coefficients computed only once prior to optimization using a Taylor expansion. These features facilitate the task of finding a global optimum for each reaction. Instead of the classical branch-and-bound approach, this technique relies on reformulating the estimation problem as a convex optimization problem, taking advantage of the equivalence of nonnegative polynomials and conical combination of sum-of-squares polynomials on a compact set to solve the problem as a semidefinite program [3]. A simulated example of an identification problem with several local optima shows that extent-based IMI can be used to converge quickly to globally optimal parameters. References: [1] Bhatt et al., Chem. Eng. Sci., 2012, 83, p. 24 [2] Rodrigues et al., Comput. Chem. Eng., 2015, 73, p. 23 [3] Lasserre, SIAM J. Optim., 2001, 11(3), p. 796


Importance Surgical removal of adenoids and tonsils to treat obstructed breathing or recurrent middle-ear infections remain common pediatric procedures; however, little is known about their long-term health consequences despite the fact that these lymphatic organs play important roles in the development and function of the immune system. Objective To estimate long-term disease risks associated with adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, and adenotonsillectomy in childhood. Design, Setting, and Participants A population-based cohort study of up to 1 189 061 children born in Denmark between 1979 and 1999 and evaluated in linked national registers up to 2009, covering at least the first 10 and up to 30 years of their life, was carried out. Participants in the case and control groups were selected such that their health did not differ significantly prior to surgery. Exposures Participants were classified as exposed if adenoids or tonsils were removed within the first 9 years of life. Main Outcomes and Measures The incidence of disease (defined by International Classification of Diseases, Eighth Revision [ICD-8] and Tenth Revision [ICD-10] diagnoses) up to age 30 years was examined using stratified Cox proportional hazard regressions that adjusted for 18 covariates, including parental disease history, pregnancy complications, birth weight, Apgar score, sex, socioeconomic markers, and region of Denmark born. Results A total of up to 1 189 061 children were included in this study (48% female); 17 460 underwent adenoidectomy, 11 830 tonsillectomy, and 31 377 adenotonsillectomy; 1 157 684 were in the control group. Adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy were associated with a 2- to 3-fold increase in diseases of the upper respiratory tract (relative risk [RR], 1.99; 95% CI, 1.51-2.63 and RR, 2.72; 95% CI, 1.54-4.80; respectively). Smaller increases in risks for infectious and allergic diseases were also found: adenotonsillectomy was associated with a 17% increased risk of infectious diseases (RR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.10-1.25) corresponding to an absolute risk increase of 2.14% because these diseases are relatively common (12%) in the population. In contrast, the long-term risks for conditions that these surgeries aim to treat often did not differ significantly and were sometimes lower or higher. Conclusions and Relevance In this study of almost 1.2 million children, of whom 17 460 had adenoidectomy, 11 830 tonsillectomy, and 31 377 adenotonsillectomy, surgeries were associated with increased long-term risks of respiratory, infectious, and allergic diseases. Although rigorous controls for confounding were used where such data were available, it is possible these effects could not be fully accounted for. Our results suggest it is important to consider long-term risks when making decisions to perform tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy.


The composite nature of a shallow bound state is studied by using the weak-binding relation, which connects the compositeness of the bound state with observables. We first show that the previous weak-binding relation cannot be applied to the system with a large effective range. To overcome this difficulty, we introduce the finite-range correction by redefining the typical length scale in the weak-binding relation. A method to estimate the uncertainty of the compositeness is proposed. It is numerically demonstrated that the range correction enlarges the applicable region of the weak-binding relation. Finally, we apply the improved weak-binding relation to the actual hadrons, nuclei, and atomic systems [deuteron, $X(3872)$, $D^{*}_{s0}(2317)$, $D_{s1}(2460)$, $N\Omega$ dibaryon, $\Omega\Omega$ dibaryon, ${}^{3}_{\Lambda}{\rm H}$, and ${}^{4}{\rm He}$ dimer] to discuss their internal structure from the compositeness. We present a reasonable estimation of the compositeness of the deuteron by properly taking into account the uncertainty. The results of $X(3872)$ and the $N\Omega$ dibaryon show that the range correction is important to estimate the compositeness of physical states.


Abstract Peer influence is a strong predictor of drinking behaviors, yet not all young adults respond to its influence in the same way. This study aimed to identify young adults who are more vulnerable to peer influence by prospectively examining whether sensation seeking and aggression traits moderate the associations between peer influence and alcohol use and related consequences among young male drinkers. Participants (N = 4,624 participants) were young Swiss men from the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors. Measures of peer influence (i.e. descriptive norms and peer pressure to engage in misconduct), sensation seeking, aggression and alcohol use and related consequences were used from the baseline and 15-month follow-up assessments. Findings indicated that neither sensation seeking nor aggression significantly moderated the associations between peer influence and alcohol-related consequences. However, they revealed that sensation seeking and aggression had a moderating effect on the association between peer influence and total drinks per year, such that this association was overall stronger among participants scoring lower on personality traits. These findings suggest that young male drinkers with low scores on sensation seeking and aggression may benefit from stand-alone selective interventions targeting peer influence, whereas those scoring higher on these personality traits may rather benefit from programs that include interventions targeting both peer influence and personality risk factors of drinking behaviors.


Reducing power consumption through high-level synthesis has attracted a growing interest from researchers due to its large potential for power reduction. In this work we study functional unit binding (or module assignment) given a scheduled data flow graph under a dual-V/sub dd/ framework. We assume that each functional unit can be driven by a low V/sub dd/ or a high V/sub dd/ dynamically during run time to save dynamic power. We develop a polynomial-time optimal algorithm for assigning low V/sub dd/ to as many operations as possible under the resource and time constraint, and in the same time minimizing total switching activity through functional unit binding. Our algorithm shows consistent improvement over a design flow that separates voltage assignment from functional unit binding. We also change the initial scheduling to examine power-latency tradeoff scenarios. Experimental results show that we can achieve a 21% power reduction when latency bound is tight. When latency is relaxed by 10 to 100%, the power reduction is 31 to 73% compared to the synthesis results for the case of single high V/sub dd/ without latency relaxation. We also show comparison data of energy consumption under the same experimental setting.


Objective To compare changes in BMI and waist circumference in the past 30 years among English children aged 11–16 years. Design Cross-sectional health examination surveys. Setting The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a survey of a random sample of the general population living in private households in England. Participants A new, nationally representative sample is selected each year. 1988 children aged 11–16 years had a nurse visit in the three HSE years 2005–2007, of whom 1770 had valid waist circumference measurements. HSE data were compared with age-specific centile charts for waist circumference for British children aged 5.0–16.9 years derived from baseline surveys of 3585 boys in 1977 and 4770 girls in 1987. Main outcome measures BMI and waist circumference z-scores derived from the baseline data, as BMI and waist circumference vary by age and sex. Results The mean z-scores for waist circumference for children aged 11–16 years in 2005–2007 was substantially higher than the mean z-score for BMI, for both sexes: WC 1.0 (95% CI 0.93 to 1.1), BMI 0.54 (0.44 to 0.63) for boys; WC 1.3 (1.2 to 1.4), BMI 0.48 (0.40 to 0.56) for girls (both p<0.001). There were no significant differences by sex in mean z-score for BMI, weight or height but the mean waist z-score for girls was significantly higher than that for boys (p<0.001). There were no significant differences by age in waist circumference or BMI. All children except for those in the lowest decile of waist circumference for girls had an increase in waist circumference of at least +1 SD since the 1977/87 baseline. BMI z-score increased across the top nine deciles of the BMI distribution by 0.4SD (2nd to 4th deciles) to 0.9SD (top decile). There were no significant differences by sex in the change over time except for the 10% of girls with the largest waist circumference for their age (1.6SD in girls vs 1.4SD in boys, p<0.01). Conclusion Waist circumference in adolescents has increased more than BMI, which may result in greater obesity-related adverse health impacts in the future. The increase in waist circumference has been greater for girls than for boys. Increases in the mean z-score across the majority of the population suggests that the whole population is becoming more obese, although this effect is more pronounced at the upper end of the distribution.


For a graph $G$, let $cp(G)$ denote the minimum number of cliques of $G$ needed to cover the edges of $G$ exactly once. Similarly, let $bp_k(G)$ denote the minimum number of bicliques (i.e. complete bipartite subgraphs of $G$) needed to cover each edge of $G$ exactly $k$ times. We consider two conjectures – one regarding the maximum possible value of $cp(G) + cp(\overline{G})$ (due to de Caen, Erdős, Pullman and Wormald) and the other regarding $bp_k(K_n)$ (due to de Caen, Gregory and Pritikin). We disprove the first, obtaining improved lower and upper bounds on $\max_G cp(G) + cp(\overline{G})$, and we prove an asymptotic version of the second, showing that $bp_k(K_n) = (1+o(1))n$.


Introduction Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights contains many allusions to God and the religious influences that surrounded much of Bronte's life. The major religious influences from her upbringing and surroundings are reflected in the themes evident in her writing as well as in the actions of her characters. These include the importance of God in an individual's life, blessings from God, punishment from God, birth, life, death, and the afterlife. The focus of this paper is the lesser spoken of religious themes behind Bronte's use of the number three in Wuthering Heights. This paper offers a brief look at some of the meanings, spiritual and otherwise, upon which Emily Bronte may have reflected as she wrote and how these are apparent in her abundant use of three. This is followed by an analysis of how these meanings may have applied to the three most prominent examples of the number three in Bronte's novel. The remaining examples are displayed in a Table, listing where the specific uses of the number three can be found in Wuthering Heights, which character(s) are involved, and a brief description of the event(s) or circumstance(s) involved. Bronte's Background Nineteenth-century British author Emily Bronte lived in a small town in the rural Yorkshire area of England during the early to mid-1800s. The fifth of six children, Bronte was no stranger to hardship and grief. At only one year and nine months old, Emily moved with her family to the rural town of Haworth. The Bronte family lived in Haworth for less than a year when Emily's mother fell seriously ill. Within a year, she was dead. Emily Bronte was three years old. Her youngest sister, Anne, was not yet a year old. Only a few years later would come the deaths of Emily' s two oldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth. Significant or not, this would now make Emily Bronte the third child of the family. Religious Influences upon Emily Bronte After the death of her mother when Emily was little more than a toddler, Emily, her one brother, and four sisters were raised by their father, Pastor Patrick Bronte. As the town's minister, his beliefs were made known to his children through his teachings, by their attending Sunday school, and by their listening to his sermons. Patrick Bronte wrote his own sermons, many of which were published. One such sermon emphasizes the need for "personal commitment to Christ," and the need for each individual "to live, as well as preach, his word" (qtd. in Alexander & Smith, 2006, 123). Emily was taught that the only source for true happiness was religion and that sinners had to be punished. Yet Patrick Bronte followed a more middle-of-the-road outlook than some members of the Church of England, emphasizing repentance and conversion that would lead to sinners being granted eternal life, rather than dwelling upon some form of eternal punishment, a prevalent belief by many during Bronte's time. Emily Bronte was also under the influence of her Aunt Elizabeth Branwell, who had been helping to raise the Bronte children since the death of their mother, Aunt Branwell's sister. Elizabeth Branwell's religious beliefs differed from those of Emily's father, as she was a Wesleyan Methodist. According to the religious teachings of Emily's father, if a sinner was to be saved, he must first reflect upon his life and his actions, then take the steps needed for self-improvement. This would guarantee God's acceptance and a person's entrance into heaven in the afterlife. One recurring theme in Emily Bronte's upbringing (and later in her writing) is the influence of death and the afterlife. This seems reasonable as more than forty percent of the people born in Haworth during the time when the Bronte family resided there died before they were six years old. The average age at death was twenty-five (Whitehead, 2007). Emily's father himself tells the world that from 1820 on, he presided over more than 111 deaths annually. …


This randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study compared the efficacy of inhaled nitrous oxide (N2O) with enteral midazolam for sedation of children with cerebral palsy (CP) undergoing botulinum toxin A (BoNT‐A) injections. Fifty children (29 males, 21 females; mean age 8y 2mo [SD 4y 5mo]; range 1–16y) were randomized to sedation with N2O (n=25) or midazolam (n=25). Groups were similar in type of CP (diplegia, 11; triplegia, three; quadriplegia, 16; hemiplegia, 16; other, three) and Gross Motor Function Classification System level (Level I, 4; II, 24; III, 4; IV, 13; V, 5). Both groups were equally sedated at time of injection (p=0.661), but those in the midazolam group were more sedated at time of discharge (p<0.001). N2O was more effective in reducing pain compared with midazolam as measured using the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) scale (p=0.010), parental estimate of pain (p=0.009), and nursing estimate of pain (p=0.007). Parents in the N2O group rated it better than prior sedation with midazolam for BoNT‐A injections (p=0.031). Physicians and nurses reported no difference in ease of procedure between the groups. One child in the midazolam group and eight in the N2O group had adverse effects, all of which resolved promptly. N2O appears to be an effective means of sedation for children undergoing outpatient BoNT‐A injections.


In order to classify fine particles in slurry continuously, a horizontal type water elutriator with electro potential is newly developed. The experimental classification performance was compared with the numerical calculation. Test particles used were pure silica particles with the mass median diameters of 3.5 and 2.5μm.The effects of inlet flow rate, slurry concentration, applied electro-potential and the shape of inlet on the classification performance were also studied. The classification accuracy increased by applying the electro-potential and the cut size decreased with an increase in the electro-potential. The classification performance with a three-layer inlet was higher than that with a two-layer inlet.The experimental data agreed well with the numerical calculation. It is further shown that the 50% cut size was about 1μm for a relatively short time, and the newly developed water elutriator is, therefore, effective for the classification of fine particles in slurries.


Indonesia's fiscal position is generally sound and policy making prudent. However, the country still faces important challenges in terms of economic and social development. Infrastructure, education, health and social security are all spending areas that the government is trying to improve further, because the nation has yet to converge to the superior outcomes achieved by other countries at a similar level of development. The government's size is small, and raising more revenues will take time, which forces the authorities to get the most out of existing resources and prioritise enhancing the efficiency of public spending. To achieve such an improvement a whole-of-government approach is required, including in the budgeting process and in the establishment of medium-term goals. A key element of Indonesia's recent history lies in the tremendous efforts as from the late 1990s to go from a very centralised system of governance towards one with several nested levels of government. According to some metrics it was a success. Nonetheless, despite the considerable resources already devoted to decentralisation, there is still ample room for improvement in terms of coordination, transparency, accountability and service provision. More broadly, moving away from spending objectives and adopting performance-based incentives would lift outcomes. At the national level, Indonesia would also benefit from scrapping a certain number of inefficient expenditures, such as energy and fertiliser subsidies, and from concentrating on those policies with the highest payoffs, like filling infrastructure gaps and expanding conditional cash transfer schemes. While public employment, especially by some subnational governments, could be streamlined, improving its capacity should be the focus, including for teachers. The fight against corruption should continue by all available means, in particular with a more generalised use of electronic public procurement.


The camera has been actively involved in the framing of African people. Popular images of the African continent seldom deviate from the normalized visual rhetoric, primarily depicting exoticized images or the extremities of civil unrest, famine and disease.

Digitizing Ibadan is a photographic exploration of the city of Ibadan, Nigeria. Residents of lbadan were invited to visually (re)present their perceptions of the city. Over a period of four weeks, hundreds of digital images were recorded and stored on www.picturingnigeria.com- a website designed for the project.

The website was designed to display everyday life and everyday sights, allowing for the interpretation of these ordinary acts (of recording and displaying images) as democratic and meaningful. The idea is that a website hosting digital images (in photoblog format) could be established as a site of resistance. This website represents an
endeavour by the everyday citizen to recontextualize photography as a social discourse.


Forest dynamics in arid and semiarid regions are sensitive to water availability, which is becoming increasingly scarce as global climate changes. The timing and magnitude of precipitation in the semiarid southwestern U.S. ("Southwest") has changed since the 21st century began. The region is projected to become hotter and drier as the century proceeds, with implications for carbon storage, pest outbreaks, and wildfire resilience. Our goal was to quantify the importance of summer monsoon precipitation for forested ecosystems across this region. We developed an isotope mixing model in a Bayesian framework to characterize summer (monsoon) precipitation soil water recharge and water use by three foundation tree species (Populus tremuloides [aspen], Pinus edulis [piñon], and Juniperus osteosperma [Utah juniper]). In 2016, soil depths recharged by monsoon precipitation and tree reliance on monsoon moisture varied across the Southwest with clear differences between species. Monsoon precipitation recharged soil at piñon-juniper (PJ) and aspen sites to depths of at least 60 cm. All trees in the study relied primarily on intermediate to deep (10-60 cm) moisture both before and after the onset of the monsoon. Though trees continued to primarily rely on intermediate to deep moisture after the monsoon, all species increased reliance on shallow soil moisture to varying degrees. Aspens increased reliance on shallow soil moisture by 13% to 20%. Utah junipers and co-dominant ñons increased their reliance on shallow soil moisture by about 6% to 12%. Nonetheless, approximately half of the post-monsoon moisture in sampled piñon (38-58%) and juniper (47-53%) stems could be attributed to the monsoon. The monsoon contributed lower amounts to aspen stem water (24-45%) across the study area with the largest impacts at sites with recent precipitation. Therefore, monsoon precipitation is a key driver of growing season moisture that semiarid forests rely on across the Southwest. This monsoon reliance is of critical importance now more than ever as higher global temperatures lead to an increasingly unpredictable and weaker North American Monsoon.


Spatially controlled wrinkle formation on an elastomeric substrate is achieved through flowcoating of a nanometer thick, high modulus thiol–ene film laminated on a millimeter-thick thiol–ene elastomer. The elastomer substrate is formed via photopolymerization of thiol and ene monomers with a slight stoichiometric excess of thiol to yield a 2.3 MPa elastomer. Separately, thiol and ene monomers, with a higher degree of functionality, are flow coated onto a glass slide and photopolymerized under ambient conditions to yield a 1.9 GPa film tens of nanometers thick. The photocrosslinked thin film is transferred onto the strained elastomer to spontaneously produce wrinkles upon strain release. Careful selection of thiol and ene monomers facilitate tuning of the film and elastomer mechanical properties, while stoichiometry control (i.e., excess thiols in the elastomer and excess enes in the film) allows covalent attachment of the film to the elastomer to prevent delamination upon elastomer destrain. Photopatterning of a flowcoated thin film is demonstrated, which, when wrinkled, generates a very distinct pattern of aligned wrinkle structures with clearly defined boundaries. Finally, by coating and photopatterning in sequence, spatial wrinkle wavelength control is readily attained by defining the film thickness at any given point.


Being the largest protected area and an old tropical rainforest in the southern Peninsular Malaysia, Taman Negara Johor Endau Rompin (TNJER) is home for diverse flora and fauna. The present biodiversity and ecology of forest ecosystem need to be understood to facilitate park management and conservation effort. Butterfly is useful for ecological evaluation of terrestrial landscapes and management of natural areas due to their sensitivity in responding toward environmental variations. The samplings were conducted manually using aerial net and trapping using fruit baits along two of 1 km transects in the eastern part of TNJER (Nature Education and Research Centre and Kuala Jasin) from April 2014 to July 2015. A total of 131 species comprising 491 individuals from five families were recorded. This study had also successfully added 27 new records for TNJER. The most dominant species are Graphium sarpedon, Bassarona teuta and Zizeeria karsandra. The value of Shannon diversity and species evenness indices were 4.123 and 0.471 respectively. This indicated the high diversity of butterfly in the park. The curve of species accumulation graph was still increasing by the end of this study. Using Inventory Completeness Index, this sampling effort had covered only 51.15%. Using non-parametric estimator namely Chao1 suggested an estimated additional 87 species are expected to be found if the sampling continued. The chances of finding additional species are considered high due to high number of singletons (48.9%) and doubletons (16.8%) species recorded in this study. More comprehensive diversity and ecological studies are crucial to facilitate in comparing species from newer tropical forest of Borneo and other parts of Southeast Asia and to gauge in term of biogeography and conservation aspects. This study had produced a comprehensive checklist of butterfly in TNJER, comprising of 349 species, and it could be a reference point to understand the overall diversity of butterfly in Johor.


This article examines how police officers understand and perceive the impact of bystander video on their work. Drawing from primarily qualitative data collected within two police departments in the Pacific Northwest, I describe how officers' concerns about objectivity, documentation, and transparency all manifest as parts of a broader politics of information within policing that has been amplified in recent years by the affordances of new media platforms and increasingly affordable surveillance-enabling technologies. Officers' primary concerns stem from their perceived inability to control the context of what is recorded, edited, and disseminated to broad audiences online through popular platforms such as YouTube.com, as well as the unwanted visibility (and accountability) that such online dissemination generates. I argue that understanding the effects of this `new visibility' on policing, and the role played by new media in this process, has become vitally important to our tasks of organizing, understanding, and overseeing the police.


Aluminum and steel represent the two most dominant metals in light‐duty vehicles, yet the flows of these materials into the American automotive industry have not been well characterized. This study proposes and implements a method for analyzing the flow of these metals into the automotive industry. We create a framework for performing regionally linked, sector‐specific material flow analyses and use this framework to trace flows of aluminum and steel entering the American automotive industry, focusing on flows downstream from raw material production. We show that automotive aluminum sheet and extrusions are sourced primarily from the NPCC (23%), SERC (20%), MRO (18%), and RFC (13%) North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) regions, and a spatially unresolved local region within the United States and Canada (18%). We determine that primary aluminum is largely from Canada (70%), nearly all from Quebec (69%). Further upstream, alumina and bauxite originate mostly from Brazil, Australia, and Jamaica. We also show that finished automotive steel is sourced primarily from the RFC (63%) and SERC (20%) regions. The crude steel supply similarly originates mainly from the RFC (69%) and SERC (7%) regions. Upstream raw materials including coke, coking coal, iron ore, lime, and steel scrap are primarily sourced from the United States with only direct reduced iron and pig iron used in electric arc furnace steel production coming mostly from outside the United States. The framework developed here allows for increased spatial resolution of material flows, which can be used to develop more specific life cycle impact factors for life cycle assessments.


Derived operator plays an important role in describing algebraic properties of many mathematical structures such as topology, matroid, convergence and convex space. In this paper, we present the notions of L-concave derived internal relation space and L-convex derived enclosed relation space by which we characterize L-concave space and L-convex space. Based on this, we further introduce some other structures such as L-concave derived hull space and L-convex derived hull space. We find that these spaces are isomorphic to L-concave space and L-convex space.


Adjuvants are compounds added to an agrochemical spray formulation to improve or modify the action of an active ingredient (AI) or the physico-chemical characteristics of the spray liquid. Adjuvants can have more than only one distinct mode of action (MoA) during the foliar spray application process and they are generally known to be the best tools to improve agrochemical formulations. The main objective for this work was to elucidate the basic MoA of adjuvants by uncoupling different aspects of the spray application. Laboratory experiments, beginning from retention and spreading characteristics, followed by humectant effects concerning the spray deposit on the leaf surface and ultimately the cuticular penetration of an AI, were figured out to evaluate overall in vivo effects of adjuvants which were also obtained in a greenhouse spray test. For this comprehensive study, the surfactant classes of non-ionic sorbitan esters (Span), polysorbates (Tween) and oleyl alcohol polyglycol ether (Genapol O) were generally considered because of their common promoting potential in agrochemical formulations and their structural diversity.

The reduction of interfacial tension is one of the most crucial physico-chemical properties of surfactants. The dynamic surface tension (DST) was monitored to characterise the surface tension lowering behaviour which is known to influence the droplet formation and retention characteristics. The DST is a function of time and the critical time frame of droplet impact might be at about 100 ms. None of the selected surfactants were found to lower the surface tension sufficiently during this short timeframe (chapter I). At ca. 100 ms, Tween 20 resulted in the lowest DST value. When surfactant monomers are fully saturated at the droplet-air-interface, an equilibrium surface tension (STeq) value can be determined which may be used to predict spreading or run-off effects. The majority of selected surfactants resulted in a narrow distribution of STeq values, ranging between 30 and 45 mN m- 1. Nevertheless, all surfactants were able to decrease the surface tension considerably compared to pure water (72 mN m- 1). The influence of different surfactants on the wetting process was evaluated by studying time-dependent static contact angles on different surfaces and the droplet spread area on Triticum aestivum leaves after water evaporation. The spreading potential was observed to be better for Spans than for Tweens. Especially Span 20 showed maximum spreading results. To transfer laboratory findings to spray application, related to field conditions, retention and leaf coverage was measured quantitatively on wheat leaves by using a variable track sprayer. Since the retention process involves short time dynamics, it is well-known that the spray retention on a plant surface is not correlated to STeq but to DST values. The relationship between DST at ca. 100 ms and results from the track sprayer showed increasing retention results with decreasing DST, whereas at DST values below ca. 60 mN m- 1 no further retention improvement could be observed.
Under field conditions, water evaporates from the droplet within a few seconds to minutes after droplet deposition on the leaf surface. Since precipitation of the AI must essentially being avoided by holding the AI in solution, so-called humectants are used as tank-mix adjuvants. The ability of pure surfactants to absorb water from the surrounding atmosphere was investigated comprehensively by analysing water sorption isotherms (chapter II). These isotherms showed an exponential shape with a steep water sorption increase starting at 60% to 70% RH. Water sorption was low for Spans and much more distinct for the polyethoxylated surfactants (Tweens and Genapol O series). The relationship between the water sorption behaviour and the molecular structure of surfactants was considered as the so-called humectant activity. With an increasing ethylene oxide (EO) content, the humectant activity increased concerning the particular class of Genapol O. However, it could be shown that the moisture absorption across all classes of selected surfactants correlates rather better with their hydrophilic-lipophilic balance values with the EO content.
All aboveground organs of plants are covered by the cuticular membrane which is therefore the first rate limiting barrier for AI uptake. In vitro penetration experiments through an astomatous model cuticle were performed to study the effects of adjuvants on the penetration of the lipophilic herbicide Pinoxaden (PXD) (chapter III). In order to understand the influence of different adjuvant MoA like humectancy, experiments were performed under three different humidity levels. No explicit relationship could be found between humidity levels and the PXD penetration which might be explained by the fact that humidity effects would rather affect hydrophilic AIs than lipophilic ones. Especially for Tween 20, it became obvious that a complex balance between multiple MoA like spreading, humectancy and plasticising effects have to be considered.
Greenhouse trials, focussing the adjuvant impact on in vivo action of PXD, were evaluated on five different grass-weed species (chapter III). Since agrochemical spray application and its following action on living plants also includes translocation processes in planta and species dependent physiological effects, this investigation may help to simulate the situation on the field. Even though the absolute weed damage was different, depending both on plant species and also on PXD rates, adjuvant effects in greenhouse experiments displayed the same ranking as in cuticular penetration studies: Tween 20 > Tween 80 > Span 20 ≥ Span 80.

Thus, the present work shows for the first time that findings obtained in laboratory experiments can be successfully transferred to spray application studies on living plants concerning adjuvant MoA. A comparative analysis, using radar charts, could demonstrate systematic derivations from structural similarities of adjuvants to their MoA (summarising discussion and outlook). Exemplarily, Tween 20 and Tween 80 cover a wide range of selected variables by having no outstanding MoA improving one distinct process during foliar application, compared to non-ethoxylated Span 20 and Span 80 which primarily revealed a surface active action. Most adjuvants used in this study represent polydisperse mixtures bearing a complex distribution of EO and aliphatic chains. From this study it seems alike that adjuvants having a wide EO distribution offer broader potential than adjuvants with a small EO distribution. It might be a speculation that due to this broad distribution of single molecules, all bearing their individual specific physico-chemical nature, a wide range of properties concerning their MoA is covered.


Armored skin resulting from the presence of bony dermal structures, osteoderms, is an exceptional phenotype in gekkotans (geckos and flap‐footed lizards) only known to occur in three genera: Geckolepis, Gekko, and Tarentola. The Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko LINNAEUS 1758) is among the best‐studied geckos due to its large size and wide range of occurrence, and although cranial dermal bone development has previously been investigated, details of osteoderm development along a size gradient remain less well‐known. Likewise, a comparative survey of additional species within the broader Gekko clade to determine the uniqueness of this trait has not yet been completed. Here, we studied a large sample of gekkotans (38 spp.), including 18 specimens of G. gecko, using X‐rays and high‐resolution computed tomography for visualizing and quantifying the dermal armor in situ. Results from this survey confirm the presence of osteoderms in a second species within this genus, Gekko reevesii GRAY 1831, which exhibits discordance in timing and pattern of osteoderm development when compared with its sister taxon, G. gecko. We discuss the developmental sequence of osteoderms in these two species and explore in detail the formation and functionality of these enigmatic dermal ossifications. Finally, we conducted a comparative analysis of endolymphatic sacs in a wide array of gekkotans to explore previous ideas regarding the role of osteoderms as calcium reservoirs. We found that G. gecko and other gecko species with osteoderms have highly enlarged endolymphatic sacs relative to their body size, when compared to species without osteoderms, which implies that these membranous structures might fulfill a major role of calcium storage even in species with osteoderms.


Beyond the Green Hills of Africa...Immerse yourself in the safari experience without leaving the confines of your home! This splendidly illustrated book features photographs of safari animals as well as romantic terraces with views, airy interiors decorated with natural materials and artifacts, and more - the very best of Africa's most beautiful lodges, homes, and guest houses.


We have been developing robotic exoskeletons to assist motion of physically weak persons such as elderly, disabled, and injured persons. The robotic exoskeleton is controlled basically based on the electromyogram (EMG) signals, since the EMG signals of human muscles are important signals to understand how the user intends to move. Even though the EMG signals contain very important information, however, it is not very easy to predict the user's upper-limb motion (elbow and shoulder motion) based on the EMG signals in real-time because of the difficulty in using the EMG signals as the controller input signals. In this paper, we propose a robotic exoskeleton for human upper-limb motion assist, a hierarchical neuro-fuzzy controller for the robotic exoskeleton, and its adaptation method.


There is a need for effective cooperation between the teacher and the library staff, if the students are to be given quality and meaningful university education. By training, attitude, orientation, function, and commitment, the librarian is a teacher in any academic setting. Librarians' responsibilities extend far beyond organizing and maintaining library collections. Their major responsibility is to carry out the educational function of the parent institution. This article explores the role of librarians and suggests ways to strengthen cooperation between librarians and teachers.


Femora of the holotype and only previously known specimen of the early sauropodomorph Pampadromaeus barberenai are incomplete and fractured. Here, we describe a new complete femur assigned to Pampadromaeus barberenai, quarried from the same outcrop of original type specimen: 'Janner' site, (Carnian of the Paraná Basin). It shares with the holotype of Pampadromaeus barberenai a unique combination of features: anteromedial tuber slightly posteromedially displaced; lesser trochanter proximodistally oriented with the proximal tip gently connected to the femoral shaft; fourth trochanter located on the medial margin along the mediolateral axis of the femur and with an assymetrical outline. In addition, we propose a femoral autapomorphy for Pampadromaeus barberenai: lateral condyle of the distal end of the femur extremely reduced lateromedially. Two distinct phylogenetic analyses place the new specimen as the sister-group of the Pampadromaeus barberenai type-specimen and, in one of them, they are nested within Sauropodomorpha, corroborating the original description and taxonomic assignation.


Social support is widely seen as an integral component for coping with the stresses of everyday life. While there are various sources and types of support potentially available to young people, it is perhaps less obvious the extent to which young people differentially experience these sources and types. Anecdotal evidence suggests that context, culture and other factors unique to local life shape the many dimensions of social support for youth. In this paper, we seek to examine this research need in more detail by focusing on a broad range of factors shaping youth social support and youth well-being. Drawing on mixed methods research, we examine social support evidence for adolescents in Florida, USA, and Offaly, Ireland. Through this research, we investigate how the connection between social support and well-being bears out in these two different socio-cultural contexts; second, we seek to understand whether types and sources of social support differ among youth in both countries; and what relationship exists between well-being and types and sources of support. Comparing similar measures of social support across two distinct societal contexts allows us to determine similarities and differences, while also providing suggestions for application that can shape future programmes and policy.


By definition, outliers are rarely observed in reality, making them difficult to detect or analyze. Artificial outliers approximate such genuine outliers and can, for instance, help with the detection of genuine outliers or with benchmarking outlier-detection algorithms. The literature features different approaches to generate artificial outliers. However, systematic comparison of these approaches remains absent. This surveys and compares these approaches. We start by clarifying the terminology in the field, which varies from publication to publication, and we propose a general problem formulation. Our description of the connection of generating outliers to other research fields like experimental design or generative models frames the field of artificial outliers. Along with offering a concise description, we group the approaches by their general concepts and how they make use of genuine instances. An extensive experimental study reveals the differences between the generation approaches when ultimately being used for outlier detection. This survey shows that the existing approaches already cover a wide range of concepts underlying the generation, but also that the field still has potential for further development. Our experimental study does confirm the expectation that the quality of the generation approaches varies widely, for example, in terms of the dataset they are used on. Ultimately, to guide the choice of the generation approach in a specific context, we propose an appropriate general-decision process. In summary, this survey comprises, describes, and connects all relevant work regarding the generation of artificial outliers and may serve as a basis to guide further research in the field.


Recent research has shown that relaxing the assumptions of complete information and common knowledge in exchange rate models can shed light on a wide range of important exchange rate puzzles. In this chapter, we review a number of models we have developed in previous work that relax the strong assumptions on information. We also review some related literature.


How to better utilize market mechanisms to ensure the stability of Chinese financial system and prevent financial risks under the new development pattern of Chinese expanding financial opening to the outside world has become an extremely important research topic at the national governance level. In the context of the mixed ownership reform, non-state shareholders can better participate in the governance of state-owned enterprises and alleviate the principal-agent problem, thereby reducing the risk of state-owned enterprise stock price crash risk and maintaining the financial stability of state-owned capital.On this foundation, our paper uses the data of state-owned listed companies from 2008 to 2015 as a sample, and manually sorts out the data on the nature of the top ten shareholders, shareholding ratios, and directors appointed by shareholders in the annual report, so as to study the impact of the governance of non-state shareholders on stock price crash risk among state-owned enterprises from the dimensions of equity balance and high-level governance. It finds that it is difficult for non-state shareholders to play a governance role only by holding equity. And only when non-state shareholders appoint directors to participate in the high-level governance of state-owned enterprises, can they effectively alleviate agency problems and improve information transparency, thereby reducing the stock price crash risk of state-owned enterprises. Further research shows that the aforementioned effect is more prominent in state-owned enterprises with low internal management power and competitive industries.Our paper mainly has the following two policy recommendations. On the one hand, it supports the policy spillover effect of state-owned enterprise mixed ownership reform in maintaining the security and stability of Chinese financial market. That is, non-state shareholders appointing directors to state-owned enterprises can reduce the stock price crash risk of state-owned enterprises and maintain the stability of their market value without losing the controlling rights of state-owned shareholders or causing the loss of state-owned assets. Thus, the national leader can pay more attention to the supporting guarantee system for non-state shareholders to appoint directors to state-owned enterprises in the future mixed ownership reform.On the other hand, this paper finds a path for how to effectively prevent and resolve financial risks. Under the realistic environment where the stock market is an important part of Chinese financial system and state-owned listed companies are the mainstay of Chinese stock market, it is possible to effectively ensure that non-state shareholders who are more concerned about the stock price of state-owned enterprises nominate and appoint directors to state-owned listed companies. This will not only help to alleviate the stock price crash risk of state-owned enterprises and maintain the stability of the market value of state-owned listed companies, but also help to maintain the stability and security of Chinese stock market and even the entire financial system.


The present paper examines aggregate player movement in Major League Baseball over the majority of the 20th century. Major League Baseball has been subject to numerous exogenous shocks across the period. For example, it has been subject to competition during the mid-1910s with the introduction of the Federal League. It has also changed its own rules such as racial integration, free agency, and revenue sharing. In order to examine the impact that these shocks have on player movement we examine movement over three dimensions: total players, total at-bats, and total innings. In the end we find that free agency, racial integration, and revenue sharing increased player movement.


This paper presents the development of a novel method to combine measurement of local heat transfer coefficient and flow visualization in frame-and-plate heat exchanger (FPHE). A special plate was instrumented using two original chevron plates and clay as thermal infills. Thermocouples were deployed on the inner surfaces of the two plates. With the known thickness and thermal conductivity of the clay, the instrumented plate functions as a heat flux sensor. After calibration, this plate was installed to measure fluid heat transfer from one side, while leaving visual access from the other. Preliminary results of water-water single-phase heat transfer and R245fa-water flow boiling were presented. Combined with visualization, the method provides a viable solution to relate local heat transfer with flow regime within a plate channel, while preserving the real geometry and operating condition.


Crit Care Med 2016 • Volume 44 • Number 12 (Suppl.) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia. Vancomycin was monitored by pharmacy and levels were obtained at steady state. Hypothermia occurred frequently during her ICU stay. After each hypothermic episode, the vancomycin level was supratherapeutic and the elimination rate constant (ke) was significantly decreased. During one episode, her temperature was less than 34.3°C for 23 hours. A vancomycin level obtained prior to the hypothermic episode was 19.2mcg/ml which was extrapolated to an estimated true trough of 14mcg/mL with a ke 0.114. The vancomycin level obtained following the hypothermic episode was 34.8mcg/mL with a ke 0.063. Burn debridement only occurred once during this time, prior to the first level being obtained. The patient did not require vasopressor support, her serum creatinine did not significantly change, and her urine output remained adequate during this time. The only observed difference was the patient being moderately hypothermic the day before and the day of the second level. The same trend occurred with vancomycin levels and elimination during other hypothermia episodes. Results: Based on this case, burn patients should be monitored closely for hypothermia. Vancomycin levels should be obtained frequently during periods of hypothermia, even if renal function appears stable, in order to avoid supratherapeutic vancomycin levels and associated adverse reactions.


Social needs play an important role in the purchase of conspicuous goods. In this article, the authors extend traditional economic models to accommodate social needs, such as desire for uniqueness and conformism, and examine their implications for pricing conspicuous goods. First, in the context of a duopoly, the authors identify the conditions under which the desire for uniqueness can increase demand among some consumers as the price of a product increases. Second, the authors show that though the desire for uniqueness leads to higher prices and firm profits, a desire for conformity leads to lower prices and profits. Third, the authors find that consumers purchase high-quality products not because of their desire for uniqueness but despite it. Finally, marketers of conspicuous goods may find it beneficial not to emphasize the functional differences among their products when the need for uniqueness is high. In a laboratory test, the authors find support for the claim that demand for a product among consumers who desire uniqueness may increase as its price increases.


The effect of different welding sequences between a 4.5 mm thick AA 6156 T6 base plate and a 2 mm thick AA 6013 T6 clip – resembling a skin-clip joint of an airframe – using a 3.3 kW Nd:YAG laser is investigated. Under cyclic loading the breakdown of such T-joints happens at one end of the clip, which is due to local residual stress concentrations. Recent measurements indicated that tensile stresses could be lower at the run-in than at the run-out locations. For a deeper investigation of this effect sheets with different welding sequences were produced. One welding sequence was made with two starting points in the centre, and a second with starting points at the clip ends. Temperature measurements were made using thermocouples to verify the heat conditions for a finite element simulation of the welding process, which is used for predictions of the residual stress distribution. Actual values of the residual stress fields were determined by neutron diffraction. The influences of the welding sequence on the measured temperatures and the residual stresses are discussed.


Simple Summary All fields of healthcare were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we sought to understand the effects of COVID-19 on hospitalizations for intracranial meningioma resection using a large database. We compared hospitalization rates as well as hospital outcomes such as Clavien–Dindo grade IV complications, in-hospital mortality, and prolonged length of stay for intracranial meningioma resection during 2019 and 2020. Our findings showed that though hospitalization rates decreased slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital outcomes were not adversely affected. The findings of our study show that with adequate planning and preparations, better hospital outcomes could be sustained even during healthcare emergencies such as COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings assure that neurosurgery practice in the US ensured the best quality of care to their patients even during COVID-19 pandemic. Abstract Purpose: To assess the effects of COVID-19 on hospitalizations for intracranial meningioma resection using a large database. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of the California State Inpatient Database (SID) 2019 and 2020. All adult (18 years or older) hospitalizations were included for the analysis. The primary outcomes were trends in hospitalization for intracranial meningioma resection between 2019 and 2020. Secondary outcomes were Clavien–Dindo grade IV complications, in-hospital mortality, and prolonged length of stay, which was defined as length of stay ≥75 percentile. Results: There were 3,173,333 and 2,866,161 hospitalizations in 2019 and 2020, respectively (relative decrease, 9.7%), of which 921 and 788 underwent intracranial meningioma resection (relative decrease, 14.4%). In 2020, there were 94,114 admissions for COVID-19 treatment. Logistic regression analysis showed that year in which intracranial meningioma resection was performed did not show significant association with Clavien–Dindo grade IV complications and in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.23, 95% CI: 0.78–1.94) and prolonged length of stay (OR, 1.05, 95% CI: 0.84–1.32). Conclusion: Our findings show that neurosurgery practice in the US successfully adapted to the unforeseen challenges posed by COVD-19 and ensured the best quality of care to the patients.


Difficulty in quantifying the population at risk for a work-related injury or disease limits the usefulness of workers' compensation data for surveillance. This article presents a method of obtaining estimates of the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (OWSIB)- covered workforce using the Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS). The method involves extracting that class of worker most likely to be insured by the OWSIB and using actual hours worked to estimate full-time equivalents at risk. Compared to population at risk estimates readily available from published tables, the refined crude estimate was 26% lower and ranged from 15 to 79% lower depending on the age group. The percentage decrease from published estimates was generally greater for women compared to men, particularly in the 25 to 39 year age categories. Consequently, the method of deriving population at risk estimates should be considered when comparing rates across sexes, ages, industries or occupations.


As a commentary to Juhani Iivari's insightful essay, I briefly analyze design science research as an embodiment of three closely related cycles of activities. The Relevance Cycle inputs requirements from the contextual envi- ronment into the research and introduces the research artifacts into environ- mental field testing. The Rigor Cycle provides grounding theories and methods along with domain experience and expertise from the foundations knowledge base into the research and adds the new knowledge generated by the research to the growing knowledge base. The central Design Cycle sup- ports a tighter loop of research activity for the construction and evaluation of design artifacts and processes. The recognition of these three cycles in a research project clearly positions and differentiates design science from other research paradigms. The commentary concludes with a claim to the pragmatic nature of design science.


Abstract: We analyze the effect that competition between HMOs has on the cost and quality of medical services. Our key result is that increasing competition enhances consumer utility while also moderating the impact of managed care on quality and costs. Indeed, we find that heightened competition between HMOs can cause an overall increase in care quality and costs. This result derives from an important, but overlooked, feature of the managed care market place. Plans differentiate themselves by the size and depth of their provider network. The resulting competition to attract physicians exerts a moderating effect on the incentive contracts HMOs write with providers.


This paper reports an experimental investigation of the electron impact detachment of C−4. We observe structure in the electron impact cross section for detaching a single electron from a C−4 cluster anion, which we attribute to the formation and decay of the C2−4 dianion. The system is energetically unstable and very rapidly decays via double autodetachment. The energy and width of the resonance were determined to be 8.8(5) eV and 1.4(5) eV, respectively, and the resonance lies 1.5(5) eV above the ground state of the neutral system. The experiment was conducted by merging monoenergetic electron and ion beams in the heavy ion storage ring CRYRING. The detachment channel was monitored by detecting neutral C4 fragments.


Municipal solid waste management is a problem that is experienced by all counties in the world. Because of its nature, it has remained one of the major environmental problems man continues to face. Municipal solid waste management is considered as one of the most serious environmental and social problems challenging municipal authorities in developing countries. One of these impacts is raised from location of dumping site in unsuitable areas. This paper deals with selection of suitable site for the disposal of municipal solid waste generated from Jigjiga Municipality using GIS techniques. The existing open dumping systems in the town are not environmentally sound and socially acceptable as wastes have been dumped in inappropriate sites. The present study had integrated environmental and socio-economic criteria like proximity to road networks, distances from residences and important built up areas; surface water (river), boreholes and reservoirs to select the most suitable landfill site in the study area. The result reveals that out of five candidate landfill sites, a site with reasonable size (24 ha), at optimum distance from residences (4.8 km) and accessible to the major roads (1 km) was nominated as the most suitable site.


Myeloid dendritic cells (mDC) are depleted from the circulation and their loss inversely correlates with plasma viral load in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection indicating a possible role of this phenomenon in disease pathogenesis. However, the exact mechanism of mDC loss has not been identified. To address this question we studied mDC dynamics in acute simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of rhesus macaques. Blood mDC from animals that progressed to AIDS were significantly depleted by 12 weeks of infection whereas mDC from monkeys that controlled infection were not. mDC isolated from lymph nodes at 14 days post infection were not significantly infected but did have significant levels of apoptosis. mDC from infected lymph nodes had a 4-fold increase in caspase-3 expression compared to pre-infected lymph nodes. In addition, inhibition of caspase-8, a hierarchical enzyme in the caspase cascade involving the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis, decreased caspase-3 expression by mDC. Expression of BCL-2 proteins did not differ significantly between mDC from uninfected and infected animals, whereas CD95 (Fas) was upregulated in mDC from infected monkeys, indicating a potential role for Fas/FasL in apoptosis. Our studies show that caspase-mediated apoptosis likely plays a role in the loss of mDC in pathogenic SIV infection. Further studies are underway to investigate the initiators of this apoptosis.


Diabetes mellitus, which is associated with oxidative damage, has a significant impact on health, quality of life, and life expectancy. An ethanol extract of Gymnema sylvestre leaf was examined in vitro and in vivo to investigate the role of antioxidants in diabetic rats. The extract exhibited strong antioxidant activity in the assays, including TBA (56%), SOD-like (92%), and ABTS (54%). Blood glucose levels in the diabetic rats fed G. sylvestre extract decreased to normal levels. The presence of the antihyperglycemic compounds gymnemagenin and gymnemic acids in G. sylvestre extract was detected by LC/MS analysis. Lipid peroxidation levels were decreased by 31.7% in serum, 9.9% in liver, and 9.1% in kidney in the diabetic rats fed the extract. Feeding G. sylvestre extract to the diabetic rats decreased the activity of glutathione peroxidase in cytosolic liver and glutamate pyruvate transaminase in serum to normal levels.


College students (N = 298, 54% female) described a time when they acted courageously, then rated their courageous action on each of 24 Values in Action (VIA) strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), and on general and personal courage (Pury, Kowalski, & Spearman, 2007). Three of the four strengths of courage (persistence, integrity, and bravery) had mean ranks placing them in the top five strengths, along with hope, a strength of transcendence, and kindness, a strength of humanity. Multiple strengths were associated with higher general courage (actions that would be courageous for anyone), lower personal courage (actions that are courageous only in the context of the specific actor's life), or both. Thus, the presence of strengths seems to be more strongly associated with general courage compared to personal courage.


This is the first revision of Artema Walckenaer, 1837, a genus consisting of large and phylogenetically interesting species. Even though Artema is not species-rich (now eight nominal species), it has suffered from poor descriptions and synonymies. Our main goal was to gather all available material and to clarify species limits. Four species are easily distinguished from other congeners: Artema atlanta Walckenaer, 1837, the type species; A. kochi Kulczynski, 1901 (revalidated); A. bunkpurugu Huber & Kwapong, 2013; and A. nephilit sp. nov. All other species are problematic for varying reasons: species limits are unclear between A. doriae Thorell, 1881 and A. transcaspica Spassky, 1934; A. magna Roewer, 1960 and A. ziaretana (Roewer, 1960) are problematic because they are based on female and juvenile types respectively and little new material is available. The material available to us suggests the existence of a few further species; however, they are not formally described, either because of small sample sizes ( Artema sp. a and A . sp. b are represented by only one specimen each) or because of unclear species limits (between Artema sp. c, A. transcaspica and A. doriae ).This study is the first serious step towards understanding the genus. Intensive collecting effort is needed in order to fully clarify species limits.


Positioning and tracking wildlife is already being an effective way to collect biological information for research and species of wildlife protection. The common technologies of tracking wildlife are divided into several categories, such as radio tracking technology, GPS tracking system, radio frequency identification technology (RFID), and SIM card based technology. Some positive results achieved from these technologies, but there are some problems in location accuracy, price of the system. Taking the case of the protection of the Tibetan antelope, this paper introduces a wildlife monitoring system based on Tianditu and Beidou navigation satellite system. The system consists of two parts: real-time location system and 3D display system. The practical application demonstrates that the system is stable, and data transmission is reliable with lower construction cost, which can improve the capability of national rare wildlife monitoring and protection effectively.


Competition and predation can play different roles in mediating the influence of external pressures, such as fishing or environmental variations, on marine communities. Pressure effects propagate through food webs along predation links. These predator-prey interactions may result in trophic cascades, but they can be buffered by competitive interactions. We investigated these mechanisms by taking a functional-group approach. Are functional groups affected by external pressures in a predictable way? Within functional groups, do all species respond in the same way, or does competitive release allow for compensation among species? We constructed a simple community model, with functional groups connected by predation links. Loop analysis was used to make qualitative predictions of the changes in functional groups that might result through either direct or indirect effects from changes in pressures. Actual changes in biomass and average weight in functional groups were then tracked from fish trawl-survey data; compensation within groups was examined with dynamic factor analysis. This approach was applied to the Georges Bank, Bay of Biscay, and North Sea fish communities, which have been subject to different fishing regimes and have undergone environmental changes over the last decades. All three communities changed substantially. Compensation did not prevent impacts from propagating through the three food webs; rather, antagonistic pressures did. Community responses to perturbation were mostly determined by community structure and by fisheries selectivity with respect to both functional groups and species.


We analyse TFP growth in the US business sector using a basic unobserved component model where trend growth follows a random walk and the noise is a first order autoregression. This is fitted using a Kalman-filter methodology. We find that trend TFP growth has declined steadily from 1.5 to 1.0 per cent per year over the past 50 years. Nevertheless, recent trends are not a good guide to actual medium-term TFP growth. This exhibits substantial variations and is quite unpredictable. Techno-optimists should not give best to productivity pessimists simply because recent TFP growth has been weak.


The molecular and genetic networks underlying the determination of floral organ identity are well studied, but much less is known about how the flower is partitioned into four developmentally distinct whorls. The SUPERMAN gene is required for proper specification of the boundary between stamens in whorl 3 and carpels in whorl 4, as superman mutants exhibit supernumerary stamens but usually lack carpels. However, it has remained unclear whether extra stamens in superman mutants originate from an organ identity change in whorl 4 or the overproliferation of whorl 3. Using live confocal imaging, we show that the extra stamens in superman mutants arise from cells in whorl 4, which change their fate from female to male, while floral stem cells proliferate longer, allowing for the production of additional stamens.


Food does not always 'taste' the same. During hunger, for example, food may be tastier compared to during satiety. Many other internal and external factors affect the way we experience our food and make it a dynamic process. Our brain is responsible for weighing and integrating these factors and forms the final consumption experience. Mapping the impact of all factors that influence the consumption experience is of fundamental importance for understanding why we eat the way we eat. Important drivers for food consumption are its rewarding capacity, healthiness and caloric content. Furthermore, in the current supermarket environment, advertisements and food claims are omnipresent, and may exert influence on our consumption experience by triggering all kinds of cognitive processes. Therefore, in this thesis we aimed to assess the effect of food content (caloric content and sugar type), character (personality trait reward sensitivity and attitude health-interest) and cognitive effects (labeling/claim effects and selective attention to food properties) on brain activation during tasting. Such taste-related brain responses were obtained with the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging while administering small sips of liquid to young, normal weight female participants in a MRI scanner. To begin with, we focussed on the effect of caloric content on taste responses ( Chapter 2 ). An important function of eating is ingesting energy, and the ability to sense energy in the oral cavity would therefore be biologically relevant. However, in this thesis we showed that oral exposure to caloric (maltodextrin and maltodextrin + sucralose) and non-caloric (sucralose) stimuli does not elicit discriminable responses in the brain when averaged over hunger and satiety. Nevertheless, energy content did interact with hunger state in several brain regions involved in inhibition (approach-avoidance behaviors) and gustation: the middle cingulate cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior insula and thalamus. Thus, brain activation in response to oral calories, irrespective of sweetness, seems to be dependent on hunger state. In addition to the detection of oral calories in general, we examined whether different sugar types, glucose and fructose, can be sensed in the oral cavity ( Chapter 3 ). Tasting glucose compared to fructose evoked greater food reward (anterior cingulate cortex, ACC) activation during hunger and greater food motivation (precentral gyrus) activation during hunger and satiety. Responses to oral fructose relative to glucose were greater only during satiety in an area associated with inhibitory control (superior frontal gyrus). It appears that oral glucose and fructose evoke differential brain responses, independent of sweetness. Secondly, we investigated in how far reward sensitivity, a personality trait, affected brain responses to calories in the oral cavity ( Chapter 4 ). This because a food's reward value is highly dependent on its caloric content. Sensitivity to rewards was measured with the Behavioral Activation System Drive scale and was correlated with oral calorie activation from a simple maltodextrin solution and a sucrose sweetened soft drink. Oral calorie activation was obtained by subtracting activation by a non-caloric solution (sucralose solution/non-caloric soft drink) from that by a caloric solution (maltodextrin + sucralose/sucrose sweetened soft drink). We found that neural responses to oral calories from a maltodextrin solution are modulated by reward sensitivity in reward-related areas such as the caudate, amygdala, and ACC. For soft drinks, we found no correlations with reward sensitivity in any reward related area. This discrepancy may be due to the direct detection of maltodextrin, but not sucrose in the oral cavity. However, the absence of this effect in a familiar soft drink warrants further research into its relevance for real life ingestive behavior. In the last part of this thesis we explored how cognitions modulate the consumption experience. Perceived, rather than actual caloric content, inflicted by calorie food labels, induces cognitive processes that may influence the consumption experience on their own. We tested this in an experiment and found that receipt of a beverage perceived as low- compared to high-caloric induced more activation in the dorsal striatum, a region involved in coding food reward ( Chapter 5 ). As low-calorie labels may appeal especially to the health-minded consumers, we correlated brain responses to the receipt of a beverage perceived as low- compared to high-caloric with health interest (measured with the General health interest subscale of the Health and Taste Attitude Scales). Indeed, health interest scores correlated positively with activation in the dorsal striatum. Rather than focussing participants' attention on differences within one food aspect, in Chapter 6 we focussed on selective attention to different food aspects, i.e. pleasantness versus taste intensity versus calories. In the supermarket, food labels and claims often do the same. In the first place, paying attention to hedonics, caloric content or taste intensity predominantly resulted in common brain activation in regions involved in the neural processing of food stimuli, e.g. the insula and thalamus. This likely resulted from 'bottom-up' sensory effects, which are more prominent than 'top-down' attentional effects. However, small differences were also observed; taste activation was higher during selective attention to intensity compared to calories in the right middle orbitofrontal cortex and during selective attention to pleasantness compared to intensity in the right putamen, right ACC and bilateral middle insula. Overall, these results indicate that statements regarding food properties can alter the consumption experience through attention-driven effects on the activation of gustatory and reward regions. Finally, the general discussion ( Chapter 7 ) describes main finding and conclusions of this thesis. In sum, we showed that food energy content, sugar type, trait reward sensitivity, health interest, food labels and selective attention all modulate taste-related brain activation. In conclusion, these findings indicate that the formation of the final consumption experience is a very multifaceted process that dependents on numerous factors integrated by the brain, of which we are just beginning to grasp its complexity.