The chlorofluoromethanes (CFMs: CCl2F2 and CCl3F), methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3), and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) have been measured in deep waters of the Arctic Ocean. Oceanic and atmospheric inventories of these compounds result from known anthropogenic releases; because the CFMs and CCl4 are also chemically nonreactive, they can be used as transient tracers of ocean circulation. The input history of CCl4 is longer than that of any other transient tracer identified to date(∼70 years). This long input history, together with an e-folding time scale of increase(τ) of ∼28 years, makes CCl4 potentially the most useful tracer for calibrating models of the oceanic uptake of the fossil-fuel CO2 transient(τ ≈ 25 years). The bottom water of the Nansen Basin, Arctic Ocean, has detectable CCl4 but undetectable CFMs and CH3CCl3, which suggests either that the bottom water is ∼50 years old, or that there is a small, nonanthropogenic component of atmospheric CCl4(<6 parts per trillion by volume).


Diverse animals, including insects, harbor microbial symbionts within their gut, body cavity, or cells. The subsocial parastrachiid stinkbug Parastrachia japonensis is well-known for its peculiar ecological and behavioral traits, including its prolonged non-feeding diapause period and maternal care of eggs/nymphs in an underground nest. P. japonensis harbors a specific bacterial symbiont within the gut cavity extracellularly, which is vertically inherited through maternal excretion of symbiont-containing white mucus. Thus far, biological roles of the symbiont in the host lifecycle has been little understood. Here we sequenced the genome of the uncultivable gut symbiont "Candidatus Benitsuchiphilus tojoi." The symbiont has an 804 kb circular chromosome encoding 606 proteins and a 14.5 kb plasmid encoding 13 proteins. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the bacterium is closely related to other obligate insect symbionts belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria, including Buchnera of aphids and Blochmannia of ants, and the most closely related to Ishikawaella, an extracellular gut symbiont of plataspid stinkbugs. These data suggested that the symbiont genome has evolved like highly reduced gamma-proteobacterial symbiont genomes reported from a variety of insects. The presence of genes involved in biosynthesis pathways for amino acids, vitamins, and cofactors in the genome implicated the symbiont as a nutritional mutualist, supplementing essential nutrients to the host. Interestingly, the symbiont's plasmid encoded genes for thiamine and carotenoid synthesis pathways, suggesting the possibility of additional functions of the symbiont for protecting the host against oxidative stress and DNA damage. Finally, possible involvement of the symbiont in uric acid metabolism during diapause is discussed.


Abstract In this paper, based on the fusion of Lidar and Radar measurement data, a real-time road-Object Detection and Tracking (LR_ODT) method for autonomous driving is proposed. The lidar and radar devices are installed on the ego car, and a customized Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is used for their data fusion. Lidars are accurate in determining objects' positions but significantly less accurate on measuring their velocities. However, Radars are more accurate on measuring objects velocities but less accurate on determining their positions as they have a lower spatial resolution. Therefore, the merits of both sensors are combined using the proposed fusion approach to provide both pose and velocity data for objects moving in roads precisely. The Grid-Based Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (GB-DBSCAN) clustering algorithm is used to detect objects and estimate their centroids from the lidar and radar raw data. Then, the estimation of the object's velocity as well as determining its corresponding geometrical shape is performed by the RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm. The proposed technique is implemented using the high-performance language C++ and utilizes highly optimized math and optimization libraries for best real-time performance. The performance of the UKF fusion is compared to that of the Extended Kalman Filter fusion (EKF) showing its superiority. Simulation studies have been carried out to evaluate the performance of the LR ODT for tracking bicycles, cars, and pedestrians.


The pilling behavior of polyester/viscose, polyester/viscose/Lycra®, and %100 cotton fabrics, is investigated in both normal and wet conditions. The experimental results show that the pilling tendency of fabrics in the wet state is directly related to the constituent fiber tenacity in the wet state. We also test three different pilling testers, the Martindale wear & pilling, the ICI pilling box, and the pilling drum, using both gray and finished fabric samples to investigate the sensitivity of different testers to various fabric parameters. In the gray state, the pilling box is sensitive to changes in the fiber blend ratio, weave type, and fabric stretch direction (mono or bi-stretch). The pilling drum exhibits a similar tendency, except that it is not sensitive to weave type. However, Martindale test results indicate that this apparatus is sensitive only to the yarn count and stretch direction of fabrics with spandex filaments. In the finished state, the picture changes dramatically, because the pilling box is sensitive to the yarn count, yarn twist, and stretch direction of fabrics with Lycra. The pilling drum again exhibits a similar tendency, except for weave type. The martindale, on the other hand, is sensitive to the yarn count, yam twist, and stretch direction of fabrics with Lycra. Generally, the Martindale gives worse pilling grades than the pilling box and pilling drum. Since the test results show that each tester has a different sensitivity for different factors, we recommend using at least two different testers to obtain reliable results, one of these being the Martindale while the other might be either the pilling box or drum.


Our recent data showed that TNNI3K, a MAP kinase specifically expressed in cardiac muscles and interacted with cardiac troponin I, TNNI3K high-expression enhanced cardiac performance, attenuated ischemia-induced ventricular remodeling in mice with myocardial infarction, and protected the myocardium from ischemic injury.
 In the present study, availability of circulating TNNI3K level was investigated using anti-TNNI3K polyclonal antibodies with ELISA, in patients diagnosed as AMI, chronic heart failure and acute renal failure; and in healthy volunteers groups. Data shown that circulating TNNI3K levels were significantly higher in AMI when compared with other two groups (p<0.001), indicating that measurement of circulating TNNI3K is a novel and useful diagnosing tool for AMI. Then, we made an anti-TNNI3K monoclonal antibody to investigate whether circulating TNNI3K levels play the same role for diagnosis of ischemic myocardial diseases, the availability of serum TNNI3K level was investigated with anti-TNNI3K monoclonal-antibodies in AMI, chronic heart failure and acute renal failure patients, and in healthy volunteers respectively. Data shown that circulating TNNI3K levels were significantly higher in AMI (p<0.001) and sensitivity and specificity are higher, ROC curve is more best than that of polyclonal antibodies, indicating that measurement of circulating TNNI3K level using the monoclonal-antibodies may be a novel and useful tool to diagnose AMI. Furthermore, both ELISA and gold colloid methods are used to observe their sensitivity and specificity. Results showed that the sensitivity and specificity of anti-TNNI3K monoclonal antibody were higher than other biomarkers anti-TNNI3K monoclonal antibody and the measurment time in the gold colloid method is significantly shortened when compared with using ELISA method. In conclusion, using TNNI3K as a molecular target is a new potential approach for developing therapeutic or diagnostic agents for ischemic cardiac diseases by means of molecular biological techniques.


Background: Synchronous course allows building a dental learning atmosphere that is closer to traditional classroom environments and allows dental students to communicate comprehensively with lecturers through video conferencing. Purpose: In this study we explored dental students' opinions of online lecture using video conferencing as the facility used in synchronous lecture e-learning. Methods: Data was collected using a questionnaire and the results showed that most respondents thought that video conferencing could be useful as the main facility to support distance dental education and flexible learning. Results: All respondents suggested that lecturers must prepare online lectures well before video conferencing and assisted by technicians to prepare various technical aspects to make online lectures run smoothly. From filling out the questionnaire, some advantages and disadvantages of using video conferencing as an educational facility have been revealed. The advantage of this facility is the improvement of students' self-confidence, achievement of the independence of lecture space and time, high accessibility to educational contents, and intensive interaction between lecturers and students. The quiz scores showed insignificant difference between the online lecture and classical "face to face" class. Conclusions: students perceive that online lectures using video conferencing are very useful in synchronous disseminating knowledge in dental education with several notes for quality improvement.


BACKGROUND
Levocarnitine deficiency in hemodialysis patients is common. Although the effect of intravenous levocarnitine therapy was studied in small trials, the effect on global outcomes in larger populations is unclear.

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective observational study.

SETTING & PARTICIPANTS
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data; prevalent hemodialysis patients, 1998 to 2003.

PREDICTOR
Intravenous levocarnitine use, clinical characteristics, comorbid conditions.

OUTCOMES & MEASUREMENTS
Effect of 1 g or greater per dialysis session of levocarnitine for 10 or more sessions during a month on subsequent hospitalization days. Repeated-measures and marginal structural models were fit, the latter to account for time-dependent confounding.

RESULTS
Of the study population, 3% to 7% received levocarnitine for 1 month per year or more. Treated patients were older with more severe comorbidity and larger erythropoietin doses than untreated patients. In repeated-measures model analysis adjusted for demographic characteristics and disease severity, 1 g or greater per dialysis session of levocarnitine for 10 or more sessions during a month was associated with a 10.8% (95% confidence interval, 9.7 to 11.9; P < 0.01) subsequent-month decrease in hospitalization days. In marginal structural model analysis, levocarnitine therapy was associated with a 21.7% (95% confidence interval, 18.4 to 24.9; P < 0.01) decrease in hospitalization days.

LIMITATIONS
Algorithm for identifying comorbid conditions from claims validated only for diabetes; biochemical marker levels unavailable in Medicare claims; levocarnitine therapy quantified only while patients were not hospitalized.

CONCLUSION
Because hemodialysis patients are hospitalized about 15 days yearly, the association of monthly levocarnitine regimen with lower hospitalization rate is clinically significant. The causality of this association must be confirmed by randomized clinical trials.


The Track Your Tinnitus (TYT ) platform has been developed in a joint project by the universities of Ulm and Regensburg in Germany for several years. The framework was created to assist tinnitus patients in measuring and keeping track of their symptoms over extended periods of time. For this purpose, TYT provides a central, WWW-based platform to manage and distribute questionnaires to users, who fill in these questionnaires using their mobile devices multiple times per day when prompted by the application. In comparison to other non-computerized methods, this approach offers a more precise and reliable measurement of psychological phenomena and symptoms like tinnitus, which are generally difficult to estimate otherwise. However, the general principles behind TYT can also be applied to other use cases. After a new German law was passed, which aims to improve public health through a variety of measures in all areas of life, the stakeholders of the TYT project decided to initialize a project to apply TYT to measurement of stress at the workplace. Another purpose of this project was to completely redesign and rebuild the framework from scratch due to flaws in its design and the now outdated software it was built on. This new iteration of the TYT concept was named Assess Your Stress (AYS). The main goals were to apply the TYT concept to stress tracking, while also generalizing the platform to make it more open for extensions and different fields of application in the future. The project's main contributions are a detailed concept of the platform overhaul, a stable core system, upon which future extensions can be built, and a basic web-based client developed as a single-page application in AngularJS. While the system's application to stress tracking is prototypical in this release, it serves as a preliminary indication that the principles behind TYT are useful in the context of stress tracking.


In this study, the composition of dominant microorganisms, such as fungi and actinomycetes, in river wetland soil on typical steppe were measured through Spread-Plate-Technique; the divergent characteristics of these two floras at river wetland and typical steppe were analyzed; and several indicators of soil filamentous microorganisms, for example, diversity, richness, evenness, and dominance, were calculated. The results demonstrated that there is obvious divergence characteristics of terrestrial distribution for predominant flora, i.e. soil filamentous microorganisms, at river wetland on typical steppe. For fungi, there is significant difference between river center (HX), riverside (HB), low floodplain (DQ) & high floodplain (EQ), and typical steppe (DT) for diversity and richness; and there is significant difference between HX and DQ & EQ for evenness. For actinomycetes, there is significant difference between HX & HB, and EQ & DT for diversity and evenness; and there is significant difference between HX, HB, DQ & EQ, and DT for richness. There are certain differences between predominant floras at river wetland and typical steppe. At HX, the most dominant flora is Mucor to account for 100%. At DQ, the dominant floras are Mucor, accounting for 50%, and Cephalosporium, accounting for 50%. At EQ, Mucor accounts for 62.2% and Cephalosporium accounts for 21.1%. At DT, Penicillium has become the dominant flora to account for 69.2%. For actinomycetes, balding group accounts for 100% at HB and 66.7%. At DQ, two dominant floras are balding group and Griseofuscus to account for 38.5% and 41.3%, correspondingly. At DT, the dominant flora is Griseofuscus to account for 61.7%. For filamentous microorganisms at river wetland, two indicators, numbers and diversity, have shown the divergent characteristics that it evolves from humidogene to humidogene﹢terrestrial, then to terrestrial, where soil environment at DQ, EQ and DT are more suitable for the growth of filamentous microorganisms, and the decomposing processes from filamentous microorganisms have facilitated the development and succession process of river wetland. The results have demonstrated a better understanding toward the development and succession mechanisms of river wetland to provide the basis for protection and rational utilizations of river wetland.


We use the 2016 FinAccess Household survey data of 2015 from 8665 households to analyse how the socio-economic characteristics and financial literacy of un(der) banked consumers can shape their dynamics towards credit usage. A qualitative analysis is presented on the influence of financial technology on consumer credit usage. The access to financial services is influenced by the socio-economic characteristics and financial literacy of the consumers. Gender, financial literacy, age, income, marital status, education level and geographical cluster are statistically significant in influencing credit usage, both current and past usage relative to never had credit. As financial technology continues to expand and offer credit, there is need to understand the user experience to match their social and economic status as a means to increase credit usage in Kenya.


Even where the level of public transport (PT) services is of sufficient quality, mobility behaviour is often characterized by intensive car use. The most frequently stated subjective reasons not to use PT can be summarized in two main aspects: a paucity of information concerning PT services, and subjective constraints to its use. Various soft transport policy measures of which dialogue marketing might be the most popular one address these problems. Although the general concept of dialogue marketing is sound and thoroughly tested, need for additional research exists in different terms. Among others, shortcomings of dialogue marketing campaigns (DMC) are: (i) they are always focused on one topic like mobility behaviour or waste prevention; (ii) most application areas have a high population density and thus a good PT accessibility, and (iii) impact stability over time is rarely analyzed. A DMC considering these aspects was conducted within a research project. It can be shown, that (i) an interdisciplinary marketing campaign covering energy use and mobility behaviour achieves sufficient results; (ii) the marketing approach works better in areas with a good PT accessibility, and that (iii) behavioural changes can be identified one year after the dialog marketing campaign was conducted.


High operating power evaluations for cooling towers have led to new counterflow designs and changes in typical operating parameters. Experience has taught that such changes require detailed analysis. Extensive modelling and full-scale studies have defined limits for several parameters beyond which predictability of performance can suffer seriously. Precisely the economically optimum operating areas are affected. Evaluated price difference can be quite large between appropriately limited selections and optimum selections without regard to limits. Such differences have been demonstrated for both natural and mechanical draft. The largest potential impact occurs when difficult design conditions aggravate trends toward limits for natural draft.


A novel ninhydrin-positive compound, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid, was identified in the muscle extracts of the blood shell, Scapharca broughtonii. This compound is already known to have potent neuroexcitatory activity, inducing hypermotility and strong releasing action of serum luteinizing hormone in mammals. This may be, however, the first finding of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid in natural products.


CONTEXT
Trends in contraceptive use have implications for shifts in pregnancy rates and birthrates and can inform clinical practice of changes in needs for contraceptive methods and services.

METHODS
Information on current contraceptive use was collected from a representative sample of women of reproductive age in the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). This information is compared with similar data from 1982 and 1988 to examine trends in use, both overall and in social and demographic subgroups.

RESULTS
The proportion of U.S. women using a contraceptive method rose from 56% in 1982 to 60% in 1988 and 64% in 1995. As in 1982 and 1988, female sterilization, the pill and the male condom were the most widely used methods in 1995. Between 1988 and 1995, the proportion of users relying on the pill decreased from 31% to 27%, while condom use rose from 15% to 20%. The largest decreases in pill use and the largest increases in condom use occurred among never-married women and among black women younger than 25. Reliance on the IUD dropped sharply among Hispanic women, while use of the diaphragm fell among college-educated white women.

CONCLUSIONS
The decline in pill and diaphragm use and the increase in reliance on condoms suggest that concerns about HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases are changing patterns of method use among unmarried women.


Aluminum foams having extremely low densities offer a large potential for lightweight structural materials. New manufacturing process without expensive aluminum alloy powder has been developed using conventional bulk aluminum alloy sheets. Preform plate containing blowing agent particles is first manufactured through accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) process. By heating the preform plate, closed-cell aluminum foams having various porosity and cell morphology are produced. It was revealed that ARB processing condition is significantly important to produce suitable aluminum foam with high porosity and uniform pore distribution. Present manufacturing process also possesses a potential to apply to many other metal and alloy foams.


Congestion control in signaling system 7 (SS7) is a necessity for fulfilling the requirements of a telecommunication network that provides customer satisfaction. Heavy network load is a source of customer dissatisfaction as congested networks result in unsuccessful calls. With the introduction of network profit as a metric, it is possible to study the efficiency of an annihilation congestion control algorithm (ACCM) from the operator's point of view. Several strategies for applying the ACCM are investigated. A model describing the income and cost for a call is also introduced


Asaccharolytic, anaerobic vibrios which require formate and fumarate for growth in broth culture have been isolated from humans. Some of these strains resemble Wolinella succinogenes phenotypically, but show no deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-DNA homology with either W. succinogenes or Wolinella recta. In this investigation, six unidentified strains were compared with reference and type strains of W. recta and W. succinogenes by using cluster analysis of phenotypic characteristics, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and cell wall ultrastructure. One unidentified strain, a sewage isolate, was W. succinogenes. The remaining unidentified strains showed no DNA-DNA homology with either W. succinogenes or W. recta. Wolinella curva sp. nov. is proposed for four isolates which were distinct, as determined by serological and DNA-DNA homology experiments, from the previously described species. W. curva strains could also be differentiated from W. recta by morphology and by the growth of W. curva in the presence of Janus green (0.1 g/liter), basic fuchsin (0.032 g/liter), sodium deoxycholate (1.0 g/liter), indulin scarlet (0.5 g/liter), oxgall (10 g/liter), safranine (0.5 g/liter), azure II (0.025 g/liter), penicillin (16 μg/ml), and polymixin B (4 (μg/ml). W. curva and W. succinogenes are similar in cell ultrastructure and in other phenotypic features.


We describe and characterize a method for insertional mutagenesis of the yeast pathogen Candida glabrata using the bacterial transposon Tn7. Tn7 was used to mutagenize a C. glabrata genomic fosmid library. Pools of random Tn7 insertions in individual fosmids were recovered by transformation into Escherichia coli. Subsequently, these were introduced by recombination into the C. glabrata genome. We found that C. glabrata genomic fragments carrying a Tn7 insertion could integrate into the genome by nonhomologous recombination, by single crossover (generating a duplication of the insertionally mutagenized locus), and by double crossover, yielding an allele replacement. We were able to generate a highly representative set of approximately 10(4) allele replacements in C. glabrata, and an initial characterization of these shows that a wide diversity of genes were targeted in the mutagenesis. Because the identity of disrupted genes for any mutant of interest can be rapidly identified, this method should be of general utility in functional genomic characterization of this important yeast pathogen. In addition, the method might be broadly applicable to mutational analysis of other organisms.


Statistical literacy is critical for the modern researcher in Physics and Astronomy. This book empowers researchers in these disciplines by providing the tools they will need to analyze their own data. Chapters in this book provide a statistical base from which to approach new problems, including numerical advice and a profusion of examples. The examples are engaging analyses of real-world problems taken from modern astronomical research. The examples are intended to be starting points for readers as they learn to approach their own data and research questions. Acknowledging that scientific progress now hinges on the availability of data and the possibility to improve previous analyses, data and code are distributed throughout the book. The JAGS symbolic language used throughout the book makes it easy to perform Bayesian analysis and is particularly valuable as readers may use it in a myriad of scenarios through slight modifications. This book is comprehensive, well written, and will surely be regarded as a standard text in both astrostatistics and physical statistics. Joseph M. Hilbe, President, International Astrostatistics Association, Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii, and Adjunct Professor of Statistics, Arizona State University


From 2012, the idea of open educational platforms is gaining popularity around the world. In the near future to make e-learning more socialized by focusing on the development relationship and collaboration among learners of the same subjects, MOOC shall spectacular succeed. The groups of learners engaging with MOOC platforms make it a meaningful discussion difficult, because individuals may not get a response to their post, so they miss the social and pedagogical benefits of learning with others. The teacher may have a discussion moderator functions, or functions lecturer. The selection is made learner, organizing themselves in their own internal teams. Lectures teacher must be available on-line. The platform should enable self-learning progress through quizzes or other tests, and the possibility of conducting the exam on the scheduled date, when verifying the authenticity of the candidate's examination system.
The European Commission launched Open Education Europa in September 2013 as part of the Opening up Education initiative to provide a single gateway to European Open Educational Resources (OER). The initiative is funded through the Commission's Erasmus+ programme. The main goal of the Open Education Europa portal is to offer access to all existing European Open Educational Resources in different languages in order to be able to present them to learners, teachers and researchers.
Moodle Cloud, offers a cloud-hosting solution for teachers, trainers or anyone to effortlessly deploy Moodle as a learning environment, with zero installation or hosting charges. This solution allows anyone to get a free Moodle site in seconds. Ideal for individual classrooms and other small learning environments, Moodle Cloud offers all the advantages of the latest version of Moodle's award-winning education technology software, Moodle 3.0., complete with integrated web-conferencing delivered on a custom cloud system utilizing Amazon Web Services.
In this paper is presented a solution for developing courses for textile engineering students based on this new service: Moodle cloud.


The development in wireless technology, mobile smart devices and Internet of Things has gave birth to a booming era for the wireless indoor geolocation. This technology have been increasingly used within our daily life and help people to build up the tracking system which could be used by fulfillment centers and grocery stores. To achieve higher localization accuracy with wireless geolocation, we need a higher density of deployment which involves high deployment and maintenance cost. To balance the accuracy and the cost, people have begun using wireless localization employing inertial navigation system (INS) which provide speed and direction of movement. When we combine Radio Frequency (RF) localization with INS, we have a hybrid INS/RF localization system which can achieve high localization accuracy with low cost. In this thesis, we use accelerometers and magnetometers in an Android smart phone to build a hybrid INS/RF system and use two different technologies for RF localization: Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) and Wi-Fi. Using this system, we conducted measurements of the hybrid localization system and evaluate its performance. The specific contributions of the thesis are: (1)Empirical performance evaluation of the INS/RFID localization system. It relates the localization error to the number and position of RFID tags. (2)Model the effect of metallic objects on accuracy of magnetometer. The model shows the relation between direction error and distance to metallic component. (3)Model shadow fading in close proximity of RF transmitter. It builds a distance dependent shadow fading model. (4)Model based performance evaluation of hybrid localization. The test bench uses our models to simulate the hybrid localization data.


A scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy (SNDM) with an additional electrically conducting atomic force microscope cantilever as a probe needle is adopted to simultaneously observe the surface topographic and domain images of nanocrystalline BaTiO3 ceramics with super-high resolution. The sample exhibits a uniform grain size distribution and the average grain sizes are calculated to be about 30 nm. Some regions are brighter than the others in SNDM image, indicating the existence of ferroelectric domains structure. In addition, P-E hysteresis and piezoresponse loops are found in nanocrystalline BaTiO3 ceramics. The experimental results demonstrate that the SNDM with the function of atomic force microscopy is very useful for understanding domain structures of nanocrystalline ferroelectric materials.


Myocardial ischemic injury is characterized by an extensive loss of myocytes due to apoptosis/necrosis followed by an immune/inflammatory response and reestablishment of tissue integrity by a fibrotic scar. Prevention of rupture due to scar formation however, compromises contractility and reduces cardiac function. As bone marrow derived stem/precursor cells (BMSCs) have the ability to trans-differentiate and aid in the regeneration of injured myocardium, we studied BMSCs and their response to inflammation. BM cell mobilization, egress from the BM and recruitment to the site of injury can be regulated by signals through G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). β-arrestins are known for their GPCR signaling termination and scaffolding functions. Here, we explored the potential role for β-arrestins expressed in total BM in mediation of the initiation and progression of inflammation. We investigated the role β-arrestin1 (βArr1) and β-arrestin2 (βArr2) with respect to modulation of regenerative competence of BMSCs and inflammatory cells and their contribution to cardiac repair following ischemic injury. We carried out BM transplants to determine whether βArrs may be involved in cardiac repair. WT mice were irradiated and received BM transplants from WT, βArr1 or βArr2 KO donor mice. Subsequent to BM reconstitution, mice underwent MI and their recovery and progress were followed. Interestingly, βArr1 and βArr2 KO chimeras had inferior outcomes than mice receiving WT BM. This included significantly decreased post-MI survival with βArr2 KO BM and both βArr chimeras had significantly lower cardiac function post-MI compared to WT BM recipients. Histology shows that both chimeras had larger infarcts, accelerated rate of hypertrophy, quicker induction of fibrosis, exacerbated cell infiltration and increased number of apoptotic cells. At 3d post-MI immune cell intrusion of βArr2KO chimeric hearts was highest and the blood plasma content of TNFα and IL-6 was increased. We conclude that βArrs play a novel role downstream of GPCR desensitization in cardiac progenitor/inflammatory cells in the BM and are critical in the heart's response to ischemic injury via cardiac repair and regeneration.


Purpose:Radiotherapytreatment of lungcancer patients is complicated by changes in tumor position due to breathing and changes in size due to regression. Accurate quantification of these changes during the course of treatment would likely improve tumor response and reduce toxicity risks. We are investigating robust methods for tracking and estimating tumor volume changes between treatment fractions. Method and Materials: We have developed a registration—assisted segmentation approach based on the level‐set deformable model, in which pre‐treatment contours are propagated and adapted to fractions times at selected respiratory phases. At any time‐point during treatment, a reference respiratory phase is selected and corresponding 3D‐CT volumes are reconstructed from 4D‐CT acquisition data. Images are then globally aligned using an efficient registration algorithm. Pre‐treatment planning contours are copied to selected time‐points. In our tumor regression analysis, the GTV contour was used to initialize the level set algorithm in‐place and the PTV contour was used to narrowband the region, thus improving the algorithm's convergence. The feasibility of the proposed approach was investigated on a set of patients with repeated 4D scans acquired at three time‐intervals. Results: Our preliminary analysis indicates that the proposed approach can properly capture the boundary of the shrinking tumor region or split regions due to its topological adaptation ability. On an initial cohort of four NSCLC patients, the estimated tumor volume reductions ranged between 3–46% with a median of 8% by mid‐treatment and between 26–51% with a median of 34% by the end of treatment.Conclusion: We have demonstrated a new approach for tracking tumor regression during the course of radiotherapytreatment of NSCLC patients based on a novel level‐set segmentation algorithm. This approach provides us with a semi‐automated tool for quantifying tumor shrinkage and allows accurate estimates of 'true' accumulated dose to the tumor. Supported by CA85181 grant.


BACKGROUND
This study examined associations between physical activity (recreational, nonrecreational) and sleep duration among a nationally representative diverse sample of U.S. adults.

METHODS
We used cross-sectional data from 9,205 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007 to 2012 participants aged 20 to 65 years who identified as White, Black, or Hispanic. Activity (ie, recreation, occupation, and transportation activity) was categorized into quartiles. Sleep duration was categorized as short (≤6 hours/night) or normal (>6 to ≤9 hours/night). Logistic regression was used to estimate associations of activity with sleep duration.

RESULTS
Recommended levels of recreation activity and moderate levels of transportation activity were associated with normal sleep duration [Odds Ratio (OR): = 1.33, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.08, 1.65; OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.62, respectively]. High occupation physical activity was associated with shorter sleep duration (OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.49, 0.71). Differences were observed by race/ethnicity in associations of recreation and occupation activity with sleep duration.

CONCLUSIONS
White individuals who engaged in some recreation activity, relative to being inactive, had more favorable sleep duration; whereas, high levels of occupation activity were associated with worse sleep duration among White and Black individuals. Physical activity was not associated with sleep duration among Hispanics.


drotaverine hydrochloride is a novel antispasmodic agent. A simple, selective and precise RPHPLC method was developed for quantification of Drotaver ine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical formulations. The sample was analyzed on reverse phase C18 column (250 mm length, 4. 6 mm internal diameter and 5 8m particle size) by using a fixed composition of mobile phase consisting of 25 millimolar sodium acetate buffer (pH was adjusted to 4.50 with acetic acid after addition of 2 mL of triethyl amine) and acetonitrile in the ratio of 55 : 45 v/v. The mobile phase was passed through the system at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and the analyte was monitored with UV detector at 354 nm. The proposed method is having a run time of 12 min with analyte retention time around 7.42 min. The developed method shows linearity in the concentration range of 4-12 8g/mL. The method was validated for use in routine quality control of drotaverine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical formulations.


Abstract According to previous research, consumers with low self-esteem are likely to evaluate clothing items lowly when they try them on and find that they are inferior to the attractive advertising endorser wearing the same items. However, advertisements with attractive endorsers are generally used with an expectation to have a positive product evaluation from customers. Assuming that there are two types of self-esteem, body esteem and status esteem, we hypothesized that consumers who are low in status esteem evaluate a status-related product more positively than consumers who are high in status esteem when their consumption aligns (vs. when it does not align) with an attractive endorser even though they are low in body esteem. To test the hypothesis, we conducted a laboratory experiment. The result of multiple regression analyses showed that our hypothesis was supported. The findings have important implications for marketers in terms of product evaluation.


This study has assessed the role of existing policies in determining the state of debt sustainability for the Pakistan economy (1980- June 2019) through fiscal reaction function. This study adds to the literature in two aspects. First, a policy index has been constructed to formulate a debt-policy interactive term that implies whether or not existing macroeconomic policies contribute in making external debt sustainable in Pakistan. Second, this study has gauged the potential sustainable external debt through in-sample forecast method. The estimated results obtained by the ARDL method show that Pakistan has just entered into a phase of unsustainable debt burden in the long run as fiscal reaction analysis exhibits the weak significant negative relationship between primary balance and external debt to GDP ratio. Moreover, existing macroeconomic policies also show a negative association with the primary balance that implies the ineffectiveness of policies in making external debt sustainable for Pakistan. This study suggests that an increase in foreign inflows through remittances or export earnings may improve the debt sustainability state in Pakistan.


In the view of cognitive linguistics, abstract concepts are often understood through more concrete domains of experience, and the resulting conceptual metaphors deeply influence the way people think of and reason about them. Over the past few decades, several interesting studies have been published about this feature in the realm of politics, where the power of speech is greatly felt. One of the most basic concepts of this realm is that of the state, sometimes equated with the country people live in. This paper discusses similarities and differences in the conceptualization of the state in Chinese political discourse on one hand, and Hungarian political discourse on the other, as they are reflected in the source domains used as vehicles of understanding. The discussion is based on corpus research findings, but the analysis relies both on individual intuition of the authors, members of these two cultures (yielding quality analysis), and on frequency counts in the texts of the corpora (quantity analysis). The functions of culture in shaping metaphors and choosing a specific source domain are also taken into consideration in this contrastive study of the two languages.


Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa with a population of more than 110 million. With over 10 percent growth rate, the Ethiopian economy has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the last one and half decades. By any measure agriculture is the dominant economic sector in the country accounting for a sizeable portion of the GDP growth, generating most of the export earnings and employing most of the labour force. The country has diverse agro-ecological conditions which are suitable for growing both temperate and tropical food and industrial crops. This study has tried to review the trends in environment conditions such as energy use, land cover and land use changes as well as the impact of climate change and the policy responses of the Government of Ethiopia. The review clearly shows that Ethiopia is still a poor country with more than one fifth of the population living below the national poverty line. Food insecurity continues to be a big challenge for millions of Ethiopians. Despite being the dominant economic sector, agricultural production is characterized as a low-input-low productivity sector. Land degradation is a very serious problem in Ethiopia due to the fact that many parts of the Ethiopian highlands are mountainous and rugged. Even though Ethiopia has huge potential for generating renewable energy, the majority of the Ethiopian population still relies on biomass energy sources such as wood, animal dung and crop residues. These environmental challenges are also exacerbated due to the effect of climate change. To mitigate the impact of land degradation, deforestation, and climate change, the Government of Ethiopia has formulated and implemented several policies. The Agricultural Growth Program (AGP), the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), the Sustainable Land Management Program (SLM) and the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy are the major programs being implemented to address these environmental challenges. Indeed, these interventions have made noticeable contributions to curb the challenges.


A concise method suitable for direct use in the design office is presented dealing with deflection control of reinforced concrete members using span/effective depth rules. The rules will be useful for the design engineer when estimating member depth at the start of design calculations as well as for a quantitative assessment of the deflection of final design solutions. A formula and a graph approach are described. A considerable number of advantages, compared with other methods, has been attributed to the new technique. (TRRL)


Covid pandemic is hitting global tourism, Indonesia is no exception. However, there is hope that tourism will improve in the future. Ecotourism is one product that is considered to be capable of being the solution. Burung Indonesia is the main ecotourism operator in Flores, its activities are located in the Mbeliling area about 50 km from Labuanbajo. Is the ecotourism management carried out well and in accordance with global sustainable tourism standards? This study aims to evaluate the management of ecotourism in Mbeliling, Flores by referring to the overall criteria and indicators required by GSTC v2.0 The method used in applied social research formative evaluation is descriptive qualitative. Data collection was carried out directly through comprehensive observation and in-depth interviews for five days in the field. Secondary data obtained through documentation, historical comparison, and supported by quantitative non-reactive data. In the next stage, the analysis of research is more emphasized on the analysis of literature conducted descriptively. The results of the study revealed unsatisfactory results for managers. The results of this evaluation should be used as a reference for future improvements, so that they become superior ecotourism operators and in accordance with sustainable tourism practices.
Keyword: Ecotourism; Formative Evaluation Research; GSTC v2.0; Mbeliling; Sustainable Tourism


A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the
Award of Degree of Master of Science in Accounting and Finance (MSC A&F)
of Mzumbe University


I n this issue of Critical Care Medicine, the study by Dr. Render and colleagues (1) is a well thought out, comprehensive validation of a previously reported Veterans Administration (VA) mortality model (2, 3). For the patient population, this validation study examined two cohorts that collectively spanned 1999 through 2004; the model was originally developed on intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in 1996 and 1997. In addition, the authors expanded their original model to include substantially more diagnoses and tested this new model on one of the cohorts. Applying a previously constructed model to external and more contemporary data is the true test of any predictive model. Although it is clear that the VA model has retained excellent discrimination and yielded standardized mortality ratios near 1.00, this message is obscured somewhat by superfluous analyses. The comparison of the present model with that from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (4) is not a cogent one, as the two models predict outcomes at different time points. The sections on face and content validity merely affirm what has been established earlier. Of more interest is the model's performance across diagnostic subgroups. There is substantial variation in standardized mortality ratios across diagnoses, with consistent overprediction of mortality for neurologic diagnoses (probably because the Glasgow Coma Scale score is not measured). However, among the 84 diagnostic groups in the updated model, 65 (77%) had a C statistic for discrimination of 0.80, which is commendable. Taken together with the excellent overall results, the VA model can be used to accurately benchmark ICU performance in VA hospitals. As with most good studies, the results presented here raise as many questions as they answer. How complex do critical care models of mortality need to be? In which populations can be the model be utilized? How often should predictive models be evaluated? There is a substantial range of complexity among contemporary critical care mortality models. The most basic is the Mortality Probability Model (MPM0-III, (5)), which includes yes/no responses to 17 questions and the patient's age. All other major mortality models utilize patients' physiology, usually via a weighted sum of physiologic scores (6 – 8). The number of diagnostic groups included in a model also contributes to its complexity. MPM0-III does not include any coefficients for diagnosis, the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) III incorporates the contribution of 34 diagnoses to its score, the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) model uses 101 diagnostic categories, and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) IV model contains 116 diagnostic groups. By comparison, the new VA model has 84 diagnostic categories. Except for MPM0-III, contemporary models have increased the number of diagnostic categories. The reason for this is straightforward: physiology and diagnosis consistently account for the majority of a model's predictive power (6, 8). Although Dr. Render and colleagues (1) suggest that increasing the number of diagnostic subgroups had minimal effect overall, there is a major benefit in that units with an unusual case-mix will now be able to obtain more precise predictions. So, the general verdict seems to be that complex models are preferred over simplistic models, if (and it's a big if) an ICU has the electronic capability to collect large amounts of data. Studies have consistently shown that models calibrate poorly when applied to external populations, although discrimination is not affected (9, 10). In the article by Dr. Render and colleagues (1), the new VA population can be considered external because of the different admission time and the expanded number of ICUs and hospitals. The discrimination of the VA model was 0.88, equivalent to the value obtained during model development. Calibration drifted, but not egregiously. Applying this model to populations other than VA ICUs may cause further erosion of calibration because case-mix at VA hospitals is substantially different from non-VA hospitals. Further, the VA electronic medical record does not capture vital signs, urine output, or the Glasgow Coma Scale score. On the positive side, the large pool of available patient data at VA hospitals, coupled with standardized electronic data capture and post–hospital discharge information on mortality, make this a rich source of data for outcomes research. Nevertheless to extend this model to other populations, the VA model should be evaluated in non-VA hospitals using sample sizes close to that in this study. The performance of predictive models erodes over time (11). Therefore they must be revalidated and, if necessary, remodeled at regular intervals. It is clear that 10 yrs is too long an interval (6–8), but what is not clear is what constitutes an acceptably short interval. Dr. Render and colleagues (1) revalidated their model using data collected up to 7 yrs after the original development data set. Their results indicate that their earlier model might still accurately benchmark performance in VA ICUs. Although the Hosmer-Lemeshow statistic was highly significant, it may not mean that the model is inaccurate. The current VA database was considerably larger than that used to initially develop the model (5). This alone could *See also p. 1031.


Introduction: Hemangiomas and vascular malformations are common vascular lesions. Although various methods have been described in the treatment of vascular lesions, the place of lasers is very important. Today, dye laser and Nd: YAG lasers are most commonly used in the laser treatment of vascular lesions. Materials and Methods: A total of 137 patients treated with 585–600 nm flashlamp pulsed dye laser and 1064-nm long-pulsed Nd: YAG laser in three laser units were searched, and laser setups and the number of sessions used were evaluated. Evaluations were made by three plastic surgeons over photographs. According to the discoloration and decrease in height of the lesion, it was classified as 0%–25% (poor), 25–50 (average), 50–75 (good), and 75–100 (excellent). The age of the patients ranged from 2 months to 55 years. 53 port-wine stain, 18 telangiectasia, 8 cherry angioma, 12 spider angioma, 18 hemangioma, 8 venous lake, 11 intraoral hemangioma, and 9 other vascular lesions constituted the distribution of diagnoses between patients. Laser power used in dye laser treatments ranged between 7 and 19 J/cm2, the mean sequence was 6.4, and duration ranged between 1.5 and 20 msec. Nd:YAG l laser power ranged between 120 and 240 J/cm2, the mean sequence was 2.8, and duration ranged between 10 and 50 msec. Results: Seventy patients (51.1%) achieved excellent results, 32 patients (23.36%) achieved good results, 14 patients (10.21%) achieved average clearance, and 21 patients (15.33%) showed low or no removal of their lesion. High success was achieved with minimal complications. Conclusion: Today, dye laser and Nd: YAG lasers provide a satisfactory aesthetic result, low morbidity, and effective treatment for many vascular lesions in terms of patient comfort. In order to optimize results and reduce negative effects, it is necessary to master the properties of the laser and have sufficient knowledge of the interactions of the laser with tissue.


In telecommunication, the series of mobile network exceptions is a processwhich exhibits surges and bursts. The bursty part is usually caused by systemmalfunction. Additionally, the mobile network exceptions are often timedependent. A model that successfully captures these aspects will make troubleshootingmuch easier for system engineers. The Hidden Markov Model(HMM) is a good candidate as it provides a mechanism to capture both thetime dependency and the random occurrence of bursts. This thesis focuses onan application of the HMM to mobile network exceptions, with a case study ofEricsson's Dropped Call data. For estimation purposes, two methods of maximumlikelihood estimation for HMM, namely, EM algorithm and stochasticEM algorithm, are used.


Roling and others argue that research and extension should not be seen as separate processes involving distinct institutions which must somehow be linked. Rather, scientists, specialists, extension workers, consultants and producers should be seen as participants in a single agricultural knowledge and information system (AKIS). This perspective on research, extension and adoption as activities that occur within a network offers new insights into the way in which technology transfer occurs, and new ideas as to how to increase the rate of adoption of new ideas and techniques in farming. In this study, we use network management theory and applied network analysis to operationalise the concept of an AKIS and to test the relationships between system characteristics and the effectiveness of technology transfer. The paper is based on the analysis of two networks associated with a large multi-site regional research and extension project in the temperate high rainfall zone of south-eastern Australia. The results indicate that network structure and the performance of individual network members have a significant impact on the ability of an AKIS to facilitate technology transfer.


The spatio-temporal dynamics of broad-area semiconductor lasers is studied theoretically by numerically solving space-dependent coupled partial differential equations for the (complex) optical fields, the interband polarization and the density of charge carriers. The formation and longitudinal propagation of unstable transverse optical filamentary structures is analyzed in a model configuration for typical double-heterostructure broad-area lasers. Spectral and spatial holeburning in the carrier distributions is observed as a consequence of selective density depletion by the transverse laser modes. The transverse holeburning leads to complex spatio-temporal patterns. >


Previous hemodynamic evaluations demonstrated that pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) is higher in broilers that are susceptible to pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS, ascites) than in broilers that are resistant to PHS. We compared key pulmonary hemodynamic parameters in broilers from PHS-susceptible and PHS-resistant lines (selected for 12 generations under hypobaric hypoxia) and in broilers from a relaxed (control) line. In experiment 1 the PAP was measured in male broilers in which a flow probe positioned on one pulmonary artery permitted the determination of cardiac output and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). The PAP and relative PVR were higher in susceptible broilers than in relaxed and resistant broilers, whereas absolute and relative cardiac output did not differ between lines. In experiment 2 male and female broilers from the 3 lines were catheterized to measure pressures in the wing vein, right atrium, right ventricle, pulmonary artery, and pulmonary veins (WP, wedge pressure). The transpulmonary pressure gradient (TPG) was calculated as (PAP-WP), with PAP quantifying precapillary pressure and WP approximating postcapillary pulmonary venous pressure. When compared with resistant and relaxed broilers, PAP values in susceptible broilers were > or =10 mmHg higher, TPG values were > or =8 mmHg higher, and WP values were < or =2 mmHg higher, regardless of sex. The combined hemodynamic criteria (elevated PAP and PVR combined with a proportionally elevated TPG) demonstrate that susceptibility to PHS can be attributed primarily to pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with increased precapillary (arteriole) resistance rather than to pulmonary venous hypertension caused by elevated postcapillary (venous and left atrial) resistance.


The Unani drug 'Afsanteen' of botanical name Artemisia absinthium, Linn. is a perennial plant found in Kashmir, Nepal and mountainous district of India. Dried sample of drug consists of broken stem, twigs, leaves and flower head. Powder form of drug is brownish yellow in colour. Traditionally, 'afsanteen' has been used by Unani (Greek) physicians in diverse diseases like jaundice, fever, anorexia, hepatitis, cirrhosis, hepatobiliary obstruction, epilepsy, gout and rheumatism, ascites, haemorrhoids, anal fissures, weak memory, helminthic infestation, Scorpio bite, chronic conjunctivitis, dark circles, eye diseases, otorrhoea, tinea capitis, dyspepsia, indigestion, amenorrhoea, sexual debility and as mosquito and insect repellent etc. This plant contains substance called sesquiterpene lactones; these are strongly insecticidal and give drug bitter taste. The dry leaves and stems contain essential oil, absinthin, anabsin, anabsinthin, artabsin and matricin which have anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal, antiseptic, strong hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, antidepressant, antiaging and antioxidant activity. This article provide review of common names, temperament, description of plant, pharmacological actions, therapeutic uses, experimental studies, adverse effects, contraindication, dose, corrective, alternative and important compound formulation of Artemisia absinthium through illustrations. Many actions and therapeutic uses of 'afsanteen' previously not reported in other articles have also been mentioned in the present paper.


Angiotensin II receptor antagonists (ARA) established their position recently duet to new indications above arterial hypertension (HT). These are chronic heart failure, history of myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation and metabolic syndrome. Analysis of evidence basis, including recently published biggest international clinical studies, was performed in the article. Data demonstrate that ARA can be effectively and safely used in wide clinical practice for improvement of life quality and life prolongation in patients with HT.


Over the last decade, online learning has experienced year-over-year, double-digit growth, with one third of US based registrations currently being online. However, educational technology has not kept pace with technology in general. Current learning platforms do not have the robust media capabilities, mobile access options, or background analytics that are prevalent in the commercial sector. With over 120,000 online students, American Public University System (APUS) believed that enhancing the learning platform, in such a manner that it was commensurate with commercial offerings, should be paramount.
In response to this challenge APUS integrated a commercial, Apache Sling based platform with the institutional ERP and data exchange components of Sakai ? the current LMS. They then constructed highly ordered taxonomies that leverage rich meta and para data to provide for object reusability. Finally, Omniture web analytics (Site Catalyst and Test and Target 1:1) were integrated into the system to provide granular views into student interactions and provide personalized learning experiences.
This presentation will review the architecture of the system developed, with a focus on integrations with existing systems and modern functionality. In addition, mobile capabilities, offline functionality, and data derived from web analytics will be covered. The intent is to provide insight into what APUS believes will be a model for next generation platform technologies. Practical applications for how advanced learning technologies can allow for an increase in student to instructor ratios through personalized content provisioning. This in turn will allow for lower cost delivery of educational experiences to previously underserved students.


The "secondary effects" legal doctrine allows municipalities to zone, or otherwise regulate, sexually oriented businesses. Negative "secondary effects" (economic externalities) justify limiting First Amendment protection of speech conducted inside strip clubs. One example of a secondary effect, cited in no fewer than four United States Supreme Court rulings, is the negative effect of strip clubs on the quality of the surrounding neighborhood. Little empirical evidence that strip clubs do, in fact, have a negative effect on the surrounding neighborhood exists. To the extent that changes in neighborhood quality are reflected by changes in property prices, property prices should decrease when a strip club opens up nearby. We estimate an augmented repeat sales regression model of housing prices to estimate the effect of strip clubs on nearby residential property prices. Using real estate transactions from King County, Washington, we test the hypothesis that strip clubs have a negative effect on surrounding residential property prices. We exploit the unique and unexpected termination of a 17 year moratorium on new strip club openings in order to generate exogenous variation in the operation of strip clubs. We find no statistical evidence that strip clubs have "secondary effects" on nearby residential property prices.


Epistemological beliefs affect student motivation and learning. They have been found to play a significant role in the acquisition of the capacity to control and direct one's cognitive processing (Lindner, 1993). In particular, science epistemological belief is considered an important factor in science achievement and positive science attitudes among students (Cobern, 1991). Based on the premise above, the purpose of this study was (1) to examine the science epistemological beliefs of Form Four students in Malaysia, and (2) to find out if there was a significant difference in the science achievement of students with high science epistemological beliefs and those with low belief when learning science using different Web-based modules. The sample comprised 169 students from ten schools in the state of Perak. The instrument used in this study was the "Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale" developed by Rubba (1977). Six factors of the science epistemological beliefs, that is amoral, creative, developmental, parsimonious, testable and unified, were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that the highest ranked factor was testable, followed by unified, creative, developmental and amoral. The lowest ranked factor was parsimonious. Analysis of t-tests for independent means showed that the science achievement of students with high science epistemological beliefs who followed the constructivist approach was significantly higher than those who followed the direct instruction approach. However, there was no significant difference between the science achievement of students with low science epistemological beliefs who followed the constructivist approach and those who followed the direct instruction approach. 2-way ANOVA analysis showed that the interaction effect between type of approach for web-based learning and science epistemological beliefs was significant, suggesting that the effect of the type of web-based learning approach is dependent on the science epistemological beliefs held by the students.


A sound and complete algorithm for nominal unification of higher-order expressions with a recursive let is described, and shown to run in nondeterministic polynomial time. We also explore specializations like nominal letrec-matching for expressions, for DAGs, and for garbage-free expressions and determine their complexity. We also provide a nominal unification algorithm for higher-order expressions with recursive let and atom-variables, where we show that it also runs in nondeterministic polynomial time. In addition we prove that there is a guessing strategy for nominal unification with letrec and atom-variable that is a trade-off between exponential growth and non-determinism. Nominal matching with variables representing partial letrec-environments is also shown to be in NP.


The present study aimed to examine the contribution of gait impairment, postural stability and muscle weakness to the level of fear of falling in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Fifty-seven community-dwelling individuals with PD completed the study. Fear of falling was assessed by the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale. Postural stability and gait difficulty were determined by the posture and gait subscores of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS-PG). A Cybex dynamometer was used to measure isokinetic knee muscle strength. Individuals with PD achieved a mean ABC score of 73.6 ± 19.3. In the multiple regression analysis, after accounting for basic demographics, fall history and disease severity, the UPDRS-PG score remained independently associated with the ABC score, accounting for 13.4% of the variance (P < 0.001). The addition of knee muscle strength significantly improved the prediction model and accounted for an additional 7.3% of the variance in the ABC score (P < 0.05). This is the first study to demonstrate that the UPDRS-PG score and knee muscle strength are important and independent determinants of the level of fear of falling in individuals with PD. Improving balance, gait stability and knee muscle strength could be crucial in promoting balance confidence in the appropriately targeted PD population.


Purpose of reviewThis review examines the issues surrounding the chronic use of opioids, both for treatment of opioid addiction and for pain management, in liver transplant patients. It examines the rationale for methadone maintenance treatment of opioid addiction and covers the growing evidence base supporting transplant in methadone-treated transplant candidates. It also raises pertinent concerns for consideration during the transplant assessment of patients on chronic opioid analgesia, including non-addicted, opioid addicted, and alcoholic transplant candidates. Recent findingsTwo retrospective studies and one prospective study examine liver transplant outcomes in patients with opioid dependence on methadone maintenance therapy. Although limited in scope, they uniformly recommend consideration of patients in this group for liver transplantation. Methadone maintenance patients with hepatitis C virus are identified as an underrepresented group in liver transplantation programs with relatively recent exclusion from candidacy in some programs. Opioid analgesia for chronic pain in liver transplant patients is associated with several potential problems, especially in those with substance-abuse histories. SummaryThis review highlights the rationale for methadone treatment of opioid dependence and the emerging research supporting liver transplantation in this patient population. It suggests cautious use of chronic opioid analgesia in transplant candidates, especially those with a history of addiction.


3D City Models have evolved to be important tools for urban decision processes and information systems, especially in planning, simulation, analysis, documentation and heritage management. On the other hand existing and in use numerical cartography is often not suitable to be used in GIS because not geometrically and topologically correctly structured. The research aim is to 3D structure and organize a numeric cartography for GIS and turn it into CityGML standardized features. The work is framed around a first phase of methodological analysis aimed to underline which existing standard (like ISO and OGC rules) can be used to improve the quality requirement of a cartographic structure. Subsequently, from this technical specifics, it has been investigated the translation in formal contents, using an owner interchange software (SketchUp), to support some guide lines implementations to generate a GIS3D structured in GML3. It has been therefore predisposed a test three-dimensional numerical cartography (scale 1:500, generated from range data captured by 3D laser scanner), tested on its quality according to the previous standard and edited when and where necessary. Cad files and shapefiles are converted into a final 3D model (Google SketchUp model) and then exported into a 3D city model (CityGML LoD1/LoD2). The GIS3D structure has been managed in a GIS environment to run further spatial analysis and energy performance estimate, not achievable in a 2D environment. In particular geometrical building parameters (footprint, volume etc.) are computed and building envelop thermal characteristics are derived from. Lastly, a simulation is carried out to deal with asbestos and home renovating charges and show how the built 3D city model can support municipal managers with risk diagnosis of the present situation and development of strategies for a sustainable redevelop.


While recent studies of the things of literature call attention to the narrative and psychological slippage between people and their possessions, this essay argues that rather than representing a loss for human agency, humans and things intermingle to the disadvantage of objects. I show how trade cards and object narratives engage with the same nexus of commercial culture, objects, and humans, and share a mutual resistance to "autonomous garments"—petticoats, shoes, gowns, and other garments depicted independently of the human form. Object narratives, read in tandem with trade cards, suggest that the growth of distance between persons and things, as opposed to their collapse into each other, constitutes a central narrative in the period's commodity culture and fiction. Object narratives, even as they transform coats, waistcoats, petticoats, slippers, and shoes into first-person narrators, actively work against the entanglement of human and material spheres. Together these genres place sartorial commodities under human control, emphasizing the human subject's agency over those items worn closest to the self.


Consideration of multiple viewpoints on a contentious issue is critical for avoiding bias and assisting in the formulation of rational decisions. We observe that the current model imposes a constraint on diversity. This is because the conventional attention mechanism is biased toward a single semantic aspect of the claim, whereas the claim may contain multiple semantic aspects. Additionally, disregarding common-sense knowledge may result in generating perspectives that violate known facts about the world. The proposed approach is divided into two stages: the first stage considers multiple semantic aspects, which results in more diverse generated perspectives; the second stage improves the quality of generated perspectives by incorporating common-sense knowledge. We train the model on each stage using reinforcement learning and automated metric scores. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed model in generating a broader range of perspectives on a contentious subject.


Knowledge about disease modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) mechanism(s) of action, kinetics and toxicities can be used to help develop rational DMARD combinations. While limited by the present lack of knowledge in these areas, the present DMARD characteristics will be used to develop rational DMARD combinations. Combinations of methotrexate (MTX) plus azathioprine, and MTX plus gold might be expected to be poor DMARD combinations, a prediction borne out by experimental studies. MTX plus cyclosporine, on the other hand, should be an effective combination, again demonstrated by a recently published clinical study. Also, hydroxychloroquine plus MTX should be a good combination, and an observational study seems to support this. However, not all predictions are accurate (probably due to inadequate data about mechanisms, kinetics, and toxicities). For example, hydroxychloroquine plus D-penicillamine had a negative interaction when tested, a result not predicted by the suggested approach. In addition, predictions are inevitably oversimplified so that what appears to be a negative interaction between MTX and sulfasalazine is not actually one when the details of the potential negative interaction between these 2 drugs are examined. Ultimately, use of a construct such as the one suggested should improve the chances of success and decrease the costs of testing DMARD drug concentrations.


We previously demonstrated the rhythmic pattern of L‐arginine/nitric oxide (NO)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) cascade in nociceptive processes. The coupled production of excess NO and superoxide leads to the formation of an unstable intermediate peroxynitrite, which is primarily responsible for NO‐mediated toxicity. In the present study, we evaluated the biological time‐dependent effects of exogenously administered peroxynitrite on nociceptive processes and peroxynitrite‐induced changes in the analgesic effect of morphine using the mouse hot‐plate pain model. Experiments were performed at four different times of day (1, 7, 13, and 19 hours after lights on, i.e., HALO) in mice of both sexes synchronized to a 12 h:12 h light‐dark cycle. Animals were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with saline or 10 mg/kg morphine 30 min before and 0.001 mg/kg peroxynitrite 30 sec before hot‐plate testing, respectively. The analgesic effect of morphine exhibited significant biological time‐dependent differences in the thermally‐induced algesia; whereas, administration of peroxynitrite alone exhibited either significant algesic or analgesic effect, depending on the circadian time of its injection. Concomitant administration of peroxynitrite and morphine reduced morphine‐induced analgesia at three of the four different study time points. In conclusion, peroxynitrite displayed nociceptive and antinociceptive when administered alone according to the circadian time of treatment, while it diminished analgesic activity when administered in combination with morphine at certain biological times.


The City of Iqaluit, Nunavut, is an expanding urban centre with important infrastructure located in the coastal zone. This study investigates the exposure of this infrastructure to coastal hazards (rising mean sea level, extreme water levels, wave run-up, and sea ice). Using a coastal digital elevation model, we evaluate the inundation and flooding that may result from projected sea level rise. Some public and private infrastructure is already subject to flooding during extreme high water events. Using a near upper-limit scenario of 0.7 m for relative sea level rise from 2010 to 2100, we estimate that critical infrastructure will have a remaining freeboard of 0.3–0.8 m above high spring tide, and some subsistence infrastructure will be inundated. The large tidal range, limited over-water fetch, and wide intertidal flats reduce the risk of wave impacts. When present, the shorefast ice foot provides protection for coastal infrastructure. The ice-free season has expanded by 1.0–1.5 days per year since 1979, increasing the opportunity for storm-wave generation and thus exposure to wave run-up. Overtopping of critical infrastructure and displacement by flooding of subsistence infrastructure are potential issues requiring better projections of relative sea level change and extreme high water levels. These results can inform decisions on adaptation, providing measurable limits for safe development.


In this paper, we consider the analysis of grinding collagen and mathematical function from the cell toxic experiments using interpolation method in new synthetic organic compounds. The extracted collagens and functional cosmetics such as mask, whitening, and serum from collagen are measured with a SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and a light-microscope. Also, interpolation method is used for analysis of cell toxic experiments in new synthetic compounds from collagens. The obtained mathematical function can help to provide analytic approach on various toxic substances at different densities. The results can be used as basic data on development for synthesis of new marine functional materials and their derivatives.


We review 15 forest watershed protection programs in the United States in which a local government agency or water provider collects payments from downstream service beneficiaries, such as water consumers, and pays upstream forest landowners for provision of watershed services. We describe the features of these Payments for Watershed Services (PWS) programs, focusing on funding sources, how the payment mechanisms work, and outcomes achieved. We also assess the extent to which the programs adhere to the economic principles that are associated with efficient or cost effective PWS schemes. In general, we find that payments in the programs do not closely reflect the marginal value of the service provided. Payments received by landowners mainly reflect the landowners' opportunity costs. Fees paid by water consumers are set to yield revenue targets and/or reflect the avoided cost of additional water filtration and treatment. The programs appear to yield societal benefits, primarily through cost savings, but data from program outcomes is limited and more rigorous analysis of both the benefits and costs would be worthwhile.


Drilling process is one of the main operations in the extraction of hydrocarbons from petroleum reservoirs. It comes right after the exploration processes. Drilling fluids are necessary for controlling the wells and performing different functions during the drilling operation. They perform many roles in lifting the cuttings from the bottom of the well to the surface and cooling/lubricating the drill pipes and bit. Furthermore, they provide the desired hydrostatic pressure to overbalance pore pressure in addition to produce a thin/impermeable filter cake that can prevent or reduce the possible damage to the formations. It is mandatory to keep monitoring, enhancing, and optimizing the properties of the drilling fluids.
 Recently, different additives, among which nanoparticles (NPs), have been investigated to improve, and maximize the benefits of the drilling fluids accordingly to meet the new challenges. The rheological behavior of such complex fluids has shown different enhancements up on the utilization of those additives. The rheological properties of the drilling fluids are accurately measured on the surface; however, the behavior of those properties may change with time and under harsh drilling conditions, such as high pressure/high temperature environments. For that, different models are introduced and used to predict and optimize the rheological characteristics of such fluids.
 Bingham, Herschel-Bulkley, Power Law, Casson and others are commonly used as rheological models to predict the drilling fluid behavior. In the last decade, a new trend of developing new models and correlations using the artificial neural networks (ANN) have been introduced to the petroleum field. Mathematical formulas can be developed using ANN, which then can be used to predict the behavior of certain parameter(s) by knowing other ones. Using ANN have shown to be more reliable and accurate in predicting the rheological properties of the drilling fluids, such as apparent viscosity (AV), plastic viscosity (PV), yield point (YP), maximum shear stress, and change in the mud density at various conditions.
 This work aims at using ANN technique to develop suitable models that can predict the rheological behavior of nano-based drilling fluids. The effect of NPs-type, -size, -concentration, and drilling fluid formulations will be considered, which may pave the road for new applications and efficient utilizations.


Marketing plays a vital role in enabling churches to fulfilltheir social responsibility among their congregants. The mission and objective of any organisationshould be feasible, motivating, and distinctive. While outlining responsibilities and social roles, this study recognisesthat the unconventionalapplication of marketing principles in different contexts has been extensively recognised. These include beliefs, values, standards, mission, vision, or rules of behaviourthat guide the decisions, procedures, and systems of a church in a way that contributes to the welfare of its key stakeholders, and that respects the rights of all constituents affected by its operations. This study examines the role of marketing by churches as non-profitorganisationsin fulfilling their social responsibility. A qualitative methodology was used to gather data from eight churches in the Durbanarea of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with the use of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with participants from the Pentecostal denominationsof Christianity who practice their faith. Arising from this the study identifies an additional 'P', viz., "Philosophy" to add on to the existing 7Ps of services marketing in terms of perceived function or performance. This study presents a marketing paradigm centredon the 8 th P for church marketers, pastors/preachers, non-profit marketers and social marketers involved with the marketingof social responsibility to consider.


Antigen-specific CD8+ T cells can play an important role in the development of cancers through the process of immunoediting (1). Many cancer immunotherapy trials are based upon this rationale. Few clinical trials to date have achieved the ultimate goal of eliminating all cancer cells and cure of the disease. As a result, surrogate measurements are often used for monitoring trial outcomes. In order for an immunotherapy trial to be interpretable it is important that immunological monitoring be well characterized and validated. Although peptide-based trials are relatively easy to conduct and monitor, overall their efficacy has been disappointing. Full-length tumor antigen based strategies are attracting more attention due to the integration of T cell help, which is essential for both cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) priming and recall phase expansion. Full length protein also provides the opportunity for the host antigen presenting cells to process relevant immunodominant epitopes. However, monitoring of vaccinated T-cell responses remains challenging, particularly if the key epitopes have not been defined, or if there are responses to multiple determinants. NY-ESO-1 is an immunogenic but relatively small (180 amino acids) "cancer-testis" antigen. We have evaluated cellular immune responses in two patient populations; (i) a series of melanoma patients whose tumors expressed the NY-ESO-1 antigen and in whom spontaneous immune responses developed during the course of their disease, (ii) patients who were vaccinated with recombinant full-length NY-ESO-1 protein produced in a bacterial expression system and formulated with ISCOMATRIX™ adjuvant (NY-ESO-1/IMX) (LUD99-008) in collaboration with CSL Limited (2, 3, 4). Only limited HLA serotyping data were available for the trial participants. Without knowledge of the potential CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell epitopes for each individual patient, we developed a robust method for in vitro T-cell expansion and systematically monitored T-cell responses from both vaccinated patients and patients who had shown naturally induced anti-NY-ESO-1 antibody responses. Utilizing multiple sets of synthetic overlapping peptides as well as various sources of full-length NY-ESO-1 protein, very broad T-cell responses to NY-ESO-1 epitopes have been identified, including previously known and unknown ones. We were also able to demonstrate that the majority of the detected CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses were induced by vaccination with NY-ESO-1/IMX, because the same responses were not detected from pre-vaccination samples of the same patients. Some NY-ESO-1-specific T cells were primed after the first vaccination and boosted subsequently. We also detected polyclonal CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses against multiple epitopes from naturally induced NY-ESO-1-specific responses from some patients with serum antibody to NY-ESO-1. The NY-ESO-1 sequence 79-110 contains an epitope-rich area for vaccinated patients despite only limited sharing of HLA alleles. Analysis of T-cell responses specific to this region of the NY-ESO-1 antigen might serve as a quick screening strategy for both naturally induced and vaccinated immunity. Under similar monitoring conditions, no NY-ESO-1-specific response was detected for samples collected from normal individuals. This kind of detailed T-cell analysis will not only help us to further understand the scope, efficacy and the immunodominance hierarchy of both natural and vaccinated anti-tumor cellular immune responses, but also help us to identify the most immunodominant T helper and cytotoxic T-cell epitopes. This in turn may be very important for future vaccine development and more efficient trial monitoring. This abstract was published in Cancer Immunity, a Cancer Research Institute journal that ceased publication in 2013 and is now provided online in association with Cancer Immunology Research.


Considers the prediction of induced electric fields for nerve stimulation. Although functional electric stimulators have been in existence for many years, functional (site specific) magnetic stimulation is virgin territory. The problem of predicting localized electric fields from potential magnetic stimulators falls into a special class of eddy current problems. In this class, the currents do not themselves effect the primary magnetic field responsible for the induced current; the medium conductivity is far too small for this secondary coupling. A two stage static magnetic analysis is used to compute the induced electric fields accurately for a number of problems falling within this category. The computations accurately reflect the influence of conductivity jumps at interfaces, induced charges, and voltages between points, but use conventional magnetic scalar potential boundary element solvers. The problems are solved as if they were magneto-quasistatic using duality. Comparisons to experiment validate the accuracy of this technique. The analysis is addressed to the induced bioelectric fields during magnetic simulation, but the theory applies equally well to any problem where the induced eddy current has little bearing on the field because of its small amplitude. >


Seeing the myriad of existing emotion models, with the categorical versus dimensional opposition the most important dividing line, building an emotion-annotated corpus requires some well thought-out strategies concerning framework choice. In our work on automatic emotion detection in Dutch texts, we investigate this problem by means of two case studies. We find that the labels joy, love, anger, sadness and fear are well-suited to annotate texts coming from various domains and topics, but that the connotation of the labels strongly depends on the origin of the texts. Moreover, it seems that information is lost when an emotional state is forcedly classified in a limited set of categories, indicating that a bi-representational format is desirable when creating an emotion corpus.


A recent active vibration absorption scheme, the delayed resonator (DR), is considered. This method uses a very simple delayed partial state feedback control law. This simple but unconventional control invites some challenging practical problems, among which is the highlight of this paper: automatic tuning of the absorber despite parametric uncertainties in the absorber model. A frequency domain technique to achieve this objective is presented. It is based on gradient analysis of a frequency transfer function. It is shown that the routine can be implemented in real-time due to its simplicity and recurrent nature. The theoretical findings are also experimentally verified on an oscillating beam. Excellent vibration suppression is obtained not only under excitations with fixed frequency but also for those of sweep frequency type.


The mechanisms of ischemia-reperfusion injury in skeletal muscle remain controversial. Some investigators have demonstrated that heparin can ameliorate ischemic injury to heart, brain, and renal tissue. We investigated the ability of heparin sodium to decrease ischemia-reperfusion injury in an isolated gracilis muscle model in ten anesthetized mongrel dogs. One gracilis muscle was perfused normally while the contralateral muscle was subjected to six hours of ischemia followed by one hour of reperfusion. Five dogs were given a preischemic bolus of heparin sodium (200 U/kg, intravenously followed by a continuous infusion (15 U/kg/h, intravenously), and five control dogs received no heparin. Quantitation of skeletal muscle ischemia-reperfusion injury was determined by histochemical staining with triphenyl tetrazolium-chloride and computerized planimetry of the infarct size. Results from the ischemic muscle demonstrate a significant beneficial effect of heparinization. The nonheparinized dogs had a 72% +/- 5% infarct size, which was significantly reduced to 24% +/- 8% in the heparinized dogs. The mechanism of this protective effect may be due to heparin's anticoagulant, antiplatelet, or anti-inflammatory action.


The EdgeTech (4-24 kHz -Fish) is used in the range of 4 to 16 kHz to map the most recent, usually contaminated, top layer in the harbour and estuaries of the low tidal harbours of Bergen, Norway and Gothenburg, Sweden. The principal objective is to relate distribution patterns of the sediments with natural and man-induced processes such as sediment supply, currents, waves. storms, and vessel movements. In February and March surveys were carried out which covered the harbour areas of Bergen and Gothenburg. Both surveys succeeded in not only mapping the top sediments but also in obtaining profiles at Bergen in water depths exceeding 300 m despite the signal return period exceeding the transmission periods. In the Gothenburg estuary reflectors were obtained from 40 m below seabed despite the high frequency range of the Chirp signal showing profiles infilled channels (see Figure 2). The initial results for the H-SENSE study (Harbours: Silting and Environmental Sedimentology European) are presented for two harbour basins in Bergen and Gothenburg respectively. The study is being carried out jointly between universities and institutes in Sweden. Norway, the UK. Netherlands and Latvia within the EC-Directorate General 6 (Transport) research programme.


The paper presents preliminary empirical evidence on the production of scientific knowledge in Italy, in theoretical sciences (physics), applied sciences (chemistry) and technical sciences (engineer ing and petrology). It elaborates on an original dataset of publications and citations for 2,673 Italian researchers, distributed across 61 universities, covering the years between 1990 and 2004. According to a well-established tradition of studies in the economics of science, the results show that individual distribution is quite asymmetric, with very few researchers accounting for a great amount of scientific output. More interestingly, the paper also shows that there are important differences in terms of asymmetric distribution when the different disciplines, universities and academic positions of the researchers are compared. These differences open the way to interpretation in terms of two main factors. Firstly, the various disciplines can be characterised by specific knowledge bases, learning practices, organisation of scientific labour, and communication norms. Secondly, specific weaknesses in the hiring, incentive and monitoring schemes at discipline and university level can explain different degrees of asymmetry. Both these factors have important implications for a research agenda on the governance of science. Finally, the paper shows that, at the aggregate level, scientific productivity benefit from a concentration of R&D expenditures only to a minor extent, and subj ect to decreasing returns. The effect of externalities stemming from R&D investments is limited. The scope of the concentration of R&D resources can therefore be questioned.


"Small earthquake, not many dead" best sums up the British general election of 1997. Although it swept the Conservatives from power and installed a Labour government with an unassailable majority, the political landscape remains remarkably stable.

The outcome has been accepted with equanimity all round. The electorate is quietly pleased. The civil service is revitalised. And the Conservatives have taken their defeat, the worst for 165 years, with stoicism. As Virginia Bottomley, a former health secretary, put it, they are like survivors from the Titanic.

The Labour party, out of office for 18 years, is still dazed by the scale of its achievement. The new government's majority alone, at 179, is larger than the total …


Summary Diphtheria toxin was titrated in primary cells, cell-lines and known tumour cell-cultures from nine animal species. The effects of toxin were assayed by the conventional cytotoxic test and by a dye-uptake method. Both tests placed the various cell-cultures in the same order of sensitivity to toxin, reflecting the sensitivity of the donor animals. The dye-uptake technique was found to be as reproducible as the cytotoxic test, and more precise, for calculating the sensitivity of cell cultures to diphtheria toxin. Comparison of primary cells and cell-lines from the same animal species showed no constant pattern of sensitivity to toxin. For example, primary mouse cells were more sensitive than a mouse cell-line, and vice versa with rabbit cells. There was also variability in relative sensitivity of normal and tumour cells from the same species.


Vitamin D has the pleiotropic effects in multiple organ systems, and vitamin D deficiency was suggested to be associated with high blood pressure according to previous reports. Several interventional studies have examined the effect of vitamin D supplementation on high blood pressure patients, but the results have been inconsistent. In this article, we examined the literature that have proposed a mechanism involving vitamin D in the regulation of blood pressure and review previous observational and interventional studies that have shown the relationship between vitamin D and hypertension among various populations.


Ni/PtHY with different Ni loadings was prepared by impregnating HY with hexachloroplatinic acid solution and Ni2+/N,N-dimethylformamide solution. An increase in the Ni loading decreased the crystallinity, specific surface area and meso-micropores of the catalysts. Ni interacted with hydroxyl groups to produce IR absorption bands at 3740-3500 cm-1. Increasing Ni loadings resulted in a decrease in the intensities of the broad bands at 3730-3500 cm-1 and the sharp band at 3740 cm-1 with simultaneous development of new absorbance band at 3700 cm-1 that was attributed to (–OH)Ni. The acidity of the samples did not significantly change with Ni loadings up to 1.0 wt%, which indicated that Ni mostly interacts with non-acidic silanol groups (terminal- and structural-defect OH groups). The presence of Ni decreased the activity of PtHY toward the isomerization of n-pentane because of a decrease in the number of active protonic-acid sites that formed from molecular hydrogen. IR and ESR studies confirmed that Pt facilitated the formation of protonic-acid sites from molecular hydrogen, whereas Ni, even when combined with Pt, didn't exhibit such ability. The absence of protonic-acid sites from molecular hydrogen significantly decreased the yield of iso-pentane and markedly increased the cracking products.


This paper studies implant communication in the Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) and presents a novel analytical electromagnetic model for galvanically coupled Intra-body Communication (IBC) for implants. The model is versatile to be applied to any part of the human body as it is based on multilayered ellipsoidal geometry. Experimental validation and Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) analysis show that the model is highly accurate for implant-to-implant and implant-to-surface communication. With high degree of miniaturizability, path loss at the surface of the skin is found to around 35 dB; that shows Galvanically coupled IBC implants are a good alternative compared to existing wireless implants.


This article examines the intersections between public art, curation and Web 2.0 technology. Building on the case study of Autopoiesis, a digital art project focusing on the curation and online exhibition of artworks received from members of the public in the United Arab Emirates, the article explores the ways and extent to which a Web platform can enable participatory culture and novel forms of audience engagement. While major cultural institutions in the region tend to promote brand-like activities and prestige cultural projects, Autopoiesis seeks to offer a more inclusive platform to facilitate autonomous creative self-expressions and enable greater public participation in culture. By providing a critical reflection on the "material" contexts of this digital project, the article also demonstrates the related tensions between the virtual and the physical, and the wider "local" realities enframing this


The Australasian New Car Assessment and the Used Car Safety Rating Programs are aimed at both promoting improvements in the level of vehicle safety in the Australian vehicle fleet and at providing information to consumers to enable them to select safer vehicles. However, the role of safety features in consumers' purchase decisions is not well understood, nor is the relative importance of different sources of vehicle safety information. This paper reports the preliminary findings of a survey involving around 175 participants that investigated a range of issues related to the purchase of a used vehicle, including the role of safety features in the purchasing decision and the relative use of sources of vehicle safety information. In particular, it discusses three assumptions: 1. The safety aspects of a vehicle are important to consumers - safety being ranked the joint fifth most important attribute in a prospective future used vehicle purchase. 2. Information from sources like ANCAP and UCSR will influence consumer perceptions of the safety aspects of particular vehicles – nearly 90% of respondents were aware of independent crash testing of vehicles with awareness levels of the ANCAP and UCSR programs of over 46% and 20% respectively. 3. Consumers will seek out information on the safety aspects of vehicles - over half the respondents considered the advice from motoring clubs and magazine road tests on vehicle safety to be very useful while nearly 80% considered the seller of their last purchased vehicle did not inform them very well about its safety features. While these findings show there are encouraging signs of awareness of safety in vehicles, mixed results in other aspects show there are both significant challenges and opportunities ahead to communicate these benefits and encourage the purchase of safer vehicles.