Purpose: To experimentally investigate a real‐time 3D target position estimation method, using a single kV imager combined with an external respiratory monitor, integrated with a DMLC tracking. Method and Materials: The experimental DMLC tracking system employed a Varian Trilogy with kV imager and Respiratory Position Management (RPM). The internal/external correlation between 3D target position T(t) and RPM signal R(t) was modeled by a state‐augmented linear model: T(t)=a*R(t)+b*R(t‐ τ)+c. The model parameters were determined by solving least‐squares estimation of the error Σ∥p i ‐ P(θi)T(ti)∥2, where p i was the projected marker positions in kV images and P(θi) was the projection operator at the gantry angle θi. During arc and static 5‐field beam delivery, DMLC tracking was performed with ten patient lungtumor motion traces. A 3D motion stage with a gold marker and a separate 1D motion stage with an RPM marker‐block were used to reproduce the tumor motion and external respiratory signals, respectively. The gold‐marker positions were measured by 1‐Hz kV imaging, while the external marker positions were measure by RPM system at 30Hz. To initialize the correlation model rotational kV images over 120° of angular span were acquired. The estimated 3D marker positions were sent to the DMLC to reposition the beam. The tracking accuracies were quantified as "beam‐target" alignment mismatch in cine MV images acquired during the experiments. Results: With tracking, the average errors of the ten lungtumor traces were 0.6–1.4mm and 0.8–1.5mm during the arc and static 5‐field beam delivery, respectively. Without tracking, the average errors were 3.7–6.1mm and 3.0–7.3mm. Conclusion: The DMLC tracking system integrated with a new estimation method shows typical accuracy of 1mm for patient tumor motion traces during arc and static delivery, and thus has the potential for accurate motion management of thoracic and abdominal tumors.Conflict of Interest: Supported by NTH/NCI R0193626.


Background Obtaining accurate clinical information about recent acute care visits is extremely important for outpatient providers. However, documents used to communicate this information are often difficult to use. This puts patients at risk of adverse events. Elderly patients who are seen by more providers and have more care transitions are especially vulnerable. Objective This study aimed to (1) identify the information about elderly patients' recent acute care visits needed to coordinate their care, (2) use this information to assess discharge summaries, and (3) provide recommendations to help improve the quality of electronic health record (EHR)–generated discharge summaries, thereby increasing patient safety. Methods A literature review, clinician interviews, and a survey of outpatient providers were used to identify and categorize data needed to coordinate care for recently discharged elderly patients. Based upon those data, 2 guidelines for creating useful discharge summaries were created. The new guidelines, along with 17 previously developed medical documentation usability heuristics, were applied to assess 4 simulated elderly patient discharge summaries. Results The initial research effort yielded a list of 29 items that should always be included in elderly patient discharge summaries and a list of 7 "helpful, but not always necessary" items. Evaluation of 4 deidentified elderly patient discharge summaries revealed that none of the documents contained all 36 necessary items; between 14 and 18 were missing. The documents each had several other issues, and they differed significantly in organization, layout, and formatting. Conclusions Variations in content and structure of discharge summaries in the United States make them unnecessarily difficult to use. Standardization would benefit both patients, by lowering the risk of care transition–related adverse events, and outpatient providers, by helping reduce frustration that can contribute to burnout. In the short term, acute care providers can help improve the quality of their discharge summaries by working with EHR vendors to follow recommendations based upon this study. Meanwhile, additional human factors work should determine the most effective way to organize and present information in discharge summaries, to facilitate effective standardization.


Abstract:Social media particularly Facebook has become a popular platform amongst medical professionals for both social and professional interactions. However, given the nature of such platforms, their use raises ethical concerns including violation of patient privacy and blurring of classical professional and patient-physician relationship boundaries. In order to investigate the pattern of Facebook usage among medical professionals in Pakistan, a mixed method study was conducted at five medical institutions in three different cities including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. 806 participants, including 87 faculty members, 239 trainees and 350 medical students, responded to the quantitative survey. Results were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). For the qualitative arm, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted among different groups, and analysed to draw out common themes. Results show that 44% of respondents found professional utility for Facebook. 36% of respondents had never changed their privacy settings and 44% indicated lack of confidence in current privacy settings of the medium. Respondents had posted identifiable patient content (7%) and non-identifiable patient content (10%), with students and trainees posting such content more frequently than faculty.


Of the writing of books there is no end, least of all of biblical commenlaries. You would think that the world now has its full quota of such commentaries, but still they keep coming. What has triggered this observation is the latest offering on Ezekiel by Daniel I. Block. His The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1-24 (NICOT, Eerdmans, 1997, £32.99/$48.00, pp. xxii + 887, ISBN 0-8028-25354) is only the first half of the project, but already it looks like the heavyweight of conservative evangelical commentaries on one of the more difficult books of the


UAVs are becoming standard platforms for photogrammetric data capture especially while aiming at large scale aerial mapping for areas of limited extent. Such applications especially benefit from the very reasonable price of a small light UAS including control system and standard consumer grade digital camera, which is some orders of magnitude lower compared to digital photogrammetric systems. Within the paper the capability of UAV-based data collection will be evaluated for two different consumer camera systems and compared to an aerial survey with a state-of-the-art digital airborne camera system. During this evaluation, the quality of 3D point clouds generated by dense multiple image matching will be used as a benchmark. Also due to recent software developments such point clouds can be generated at a resolution similar to the ground sampling distance of the available imagery and are used for an increasing number of applications. Usually, image matching benefits from the good images quality as provided from digital airborne camera systems, which is frequently not available from the low-cost sensor components used for UAV image collection. Within the paper an investigation on UAV-based 3D data capture will be presented. For this purpose dense 3D point clouds are generated for a test area from three different platforms: first a UAV with a light weight compact camera, second a system using a system camera and finally a medium-format airborne digital camera system. Despite the considerable differences in system costs, suitable results can be derived from all data, especially if large redundancy is available such highly overlapping image blocks are not only beneficial during georeferencing, but are especially advantageous while aiming at a dense and accurate image based 3D surface reconstruction.


To derive meaning from speech, we must extract multiple dimensions of concurrent information from incoming speech signals, including phonetic and prosodic cues. Equally important is the detection of acoustic cues that give structure and context to the information we hear, such as sentence boundaries. How the brain organizes this information processing is unknown. Here, using data-driven computational methods on an extensive set of high-density intracranial recordings, we reveal a large-scale partitioning of the entire human speech cortex into two spatially distinct regions that detect important cues for parsing natural speech. These caudal (Zone 1) and rostral (Zone 2) regions work in parallel to detect onsets and prosodic information, respectively, within naturally spoken sentences. In contrast, local processing within each region supports phonetic feature encoding. These findings demonstrate a fundamental organizational property of the human auditory cortex that has been previously unrecognized.


AIM
to determine the fecal excretion of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC) depending on the duration, activity, and severity of the disease.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
The study enrolled 53 patients, including 9 patients with proctosigmoiditis, 18 with left-sided colitis, and 26 with total colonic lesion. The total levels of metabolites, the concentrations of acetic, propionic, and butyric acids in the feces were measured by gas liquid chromatography.

RESULTS
Comparison of the excretion of bacterial metabolites with the clinical activity index (CAI) and the endoscopic activity index (EAI) revealed that the level of bacterial metabolites increased with an EAI of 21-30 scores and a CAI of 9-12 scores and then drastically decreased with excess of these values (a group of patients with total colonic lesion). With an EAI of less than 20 scores, the total level of metabolites was 8.91 +/- 1.027 mg/g. It rose steeply up to 17.12 +/- 1.55 mg/g in the activity range of 21 to 30 scores, but dropped up 5.291 +/- 0.916 mg/g when the EIA was more than 31 scores. The more severity of UC by the CAI resulted in a reduction in the total level of the metabolites from 12.84 +/- 2.039 to 5.114 +/- 1.186 mg/g.

CONCLUSION
SCFA deficiency caused by impaired synthesis occurs only in severe total UC. In patients with UC, fecal SCFA excretion increases with the longer duration of an inflammatory process and with its higher activity.


This article describes concepts such as culture, cross-culture and the effect of culture in the communication process between clients and health professionals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in order to promote holistic health care. The paper outlines a case study that can be used to both support and improve cultural competence. (author abstract)


The 'flipped classroom' has become popular among educators; however, research on the topic has been relatively sparse, especially in terms of qualitative research. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore student perceptions of the flipped classroom. Undergraduate students who enrolled in a flipped public health course were invited to participate in the study. Thirteen students participated in semi-structured interviews to discuss their thoughts and experiences regarding the flipped classroom. Students viewed the flipped classroom according to out-of-class and in-class activities. Students felt that out-of-class activities were convenient, accommodated different learning styles, and were important for being prepared for class time. In terms of in-class activities, students enjoyed interactive activities (e.g., hands-on activities, class discussions), but some viewed the activities as anxiety provoking. Students also viewed in-class activities as useful for building student-instructor rapport. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.


The changes occurred in the management of intestinal atresia in the last 30 years are presented. On the basis of a series of 55 neonates (29 M/26 F; 14 premature; mean body weight 2640 g, range 1340-4100 g; 23 duodenal, 30 small bowel, 2 colon) four aspects of this malformation are discussed; epidemiology, diagnostics, therapy and prognosis. Epidemiology. 40% incidence reduction is detected; unchanged the relative incidence of Down neonates with duodenal atresia. Diagnostics. Prenatal US scan useful in 4 of 8 cases only; emphasized the usefulness of plain X-ray abdomen. Perioperative treatment. Dramatic impact of the artificial nutrition on the management of short bowel syndrome, with 7 cases (residual small bowel from 75 to 9 cm, mean 40 cm) successfully treated. Surgical technique. Confirmed the validity of the one-stage termino-terminal anastomosis. Prognosis. Significant improvement in the last three decades respectively with 50%, 87% and 93% of long-term survivors. In the first decade 6 over 8 deaths were related to the atresia, while in the last 10 years the only death recorded was related to an associated severe cardiac malformation.


Structural changes influenced by ICT are having an impact on production processes and the release of products in the information and communication technology (ICT) sphere and content (on the level of individual enterprises) and are resulting in the pursuit of new approaches to socio-economic development, to increase the competitiveness of the country and to participate in the international division of labour. In order to identify development priorities and prospects in the information industry we therefore need a clear understanding of what the information industry is, what its boundaries are, what forms of economic activity make up this economic segment, and which products form the corresponding market. This working paper summarizes the results of a study to 'measure' the information industry as a segment of the economy producing goods and services linked to ICT and content. Methodological approaches are proposed to establish the 'Information industry' definitions based on the Russian Classification of Economic Activities (OKVED) and the Russian Classification of Products by Economic Activities (OKPD) in line with international standards and recommendations by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Key indicators of the development of the information industry are also tentatively calculated for Russia and compared with countries abroad. The content of this paper is based on research results commissioned by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation and the outcome of evaluations and testing at a round table on the subject 'IT industry: problems of classification and application' round table (2014) and a session of the statistics section of the Central House of Scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences on the subject of 'Developing the "Information industry" and "IT industry" definitions based on the OKVED2 and OKPD2' (http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/rosstat/sec/tez-abdr.doc). The paper was also supported by the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) and the subsidy granted to the HSE by the Government of the Russian Federation for the implementation of the Global Competitiveness Program.


Education is one of the investments among the students to achieve success in life, thus, to achieve it, such learners must accept the responsibility and strive harder. The study explored the profile of the 234 first-year Bataan Peninsula State University-Dinalupihan Campus students in Academic Year 2021-2022, level of grit and resiliency, the difference in grit and resiliency according to the profile of the respondents, and the influence of grit and resiliency on academic as basis for an intervention program towards academic success. This study used a sequential-explanatory design, where the quantitative results were collected from a survey questionnaire and qualitative results composed of open-ended questions to further explain the findings. Frequency count, percentage, arithmetic mean, independent t-test, One-Way Analysis of Variance (One-Way ANOVA), Multiple Linear Regression, and MAXQDA were used as statistical treatment. Findings revealed that most of the respondents are female from Bachelor of Elementary Education with below Php5,000 socioeconomic status, somewhat gritty, and academically resilient. To be gritty and resilient, respondents tend to be hardworking, goal-oriented, optimistic, plan ahead, persistent, and self-motivated. Furthermore, there is a significant difference among the programs in terms of negative affect and emotional response under resiliency, and grit and resiliency are significant predictors of academic success. These findings were used to design an intervention program towards academic success among first-year students. Keywords: Grit, Performance, Programs, Resilience


doi: https://doi.org/10.15447/sfews.2016v14iss4art3 We appraised factors and processes related to human activities and high water, subsidence, and seismicity. Farming and drainage of peat soils caused subsidence, which contributed to levee internal failures. Subsidence rates decreased with time, but still contributed to levee instability. Modeling changes in seepage and static slope instability suggests an increased probability of failure with decreasing peat thickness. Additional data is needed to assess the spatial and temporal effects of subsidence from peat thinning and deformation. Large-scale, state investment in levee upgrades (> $700 million since the mid-1970s) has increased conformance with applicable standards; however, accounts conflict about corresponding reductions in the number of failures. Modeling and history suggest that projected increases in high-flow frequency associated with climate change will increase the rate of levee failures. Quantifying this increased threat requires further research. A reappraisal of seismic threats resulted in updated ground motion estimates for multiple faults and earthquake-occurrence frequencies. Estimated ground motions are large enough to induce failure. The immediate seismic threat, liquefaction, is the sudden loss of strength from an increase in the pressure of the pore fluid and the corresponding loss of inter-particle contact forces. However, levees damaged during an earthquake that do not immediately fail may eventually breach. Key sources of uncertainty include occurrence frequencies and magnitudes, localized ground motions, and data for liquefaction potential. Estimates of the consequences of future levee failure range up to multiple billions of dollars. Analysis of future risks will benefit from improved description of levee upgrades and strength as well as consideration of subsidence, the effects of climate change, and earthquake threats. Levee habitat ecosystem benefits in this highly altered system are few. Better recognition and coordination is needed among the creation of high-value habitat, levee needs, and costs and benefits of levee improvements and breaches.


Opportunistic detection rules (ODRs) are variants of fixed-sample-size detection rules in which the statistician is allowed to make an early decision on the alternative hypothesis opportunistically based on the sequentially observed samples. From a sequential decision perspective, ODRs are also mixtures of one-sided and truncated sequential detection rules. Several results regarding ODRs are established in this paper. In the finite regime, the maximum sample size is modeled either as a fixed finite number, or a geometric random variable with a fixed finite mean. For both cases, the corresponding Bayesian formulations are investigated. The former case is a slight variation of the well-known finite-length sequential hypothesis testing procedure in the literature, whereas the latter case is new, for which the Bayesian optimal ODR is shown to be a sequence of likelihood ratio threshold tests with two different thresholds. A running threshold, which is determined by solving a stationary state equation, is used when future samples are still available, and a terminal threshold (simply the ratio between the priors scaled by costs) is used when the statistician reaches the final sample and, thus, has to make a decision immediately. In the asymptotic regime, the tradeoff among the exponents of the (false alarm and miss) error probabilities and the normalized expected stopping time under the alternative hypothesis is completely characterized and proved to be tight, via an information-theoretic argument. Within the tradeoff region, one noteworthy fact is that the performance of the Stein-Chernoff lemma is attainable by ODRs.


As shown in previous studies, semantic processing of words is mainly affected by frequency, context and concreteness. Recently sensory, motor and emotional components are also examined to explain the concreteness effect within the embodiment framework. Concreteness effect, which adopts the processing advantages of concrete words over abstract ones, is supported by studies, which show better remembering, faster processing and faster recognizing performances for concrete words. In this study, concreteness effect was examined via two experiments on experts and controls in which verbal fluency and lexical decision tasks were employed. Lawyers were considered as an expert group with their intense deal with abstract concepts. A novice lawyer group and age-matched participants other than lawyers were used as control groups. Results showed that concreteness effect disappeared in the expert group as a matter of expert's verbal experience.


The professional judgements made by child and family social workers are crucially important for the welfare and protection of vulnerable children. Social workers make assessments of need and risk in relation to children, often in the context of suspected abuse or neglect. A key part of assessment involves visiting the child and their parents in the family home.
This qualitative study investigated UK child and family social workers' experiences of undertaking initial home visits. Through a psychosocial analysis of narrative interviews (n=18) and focus groups (n=2), this study captures how social workers use their observations and experiences within the family home in order to arrive at a professional judgement.
This research fills a significant gap in the literature in relation to home visiting, which has been identified as an integral, although 'hidden', aspect of social work practice. Specifically, this study identifies the initial visit as involving a delicate balance between three interconnected domains of activity: sense-making (generating hypotheses about need, risk and parenting capacity), self-regulation (managing emotional responses during the visit) and managing the encounter (directing the discussion and use of professional role).
This thesis extends our current understanding of decision-making in social work, advancing a conceptualisation of the role of emotion in professional judgement. The analysis describes how social worker's emotions during the home visit can act as a resource informing assessment, alerting them to salient information. The social worker's emotional responses can also potentially act as a risk for professional judgement, through the creation of bias. The thesis suggests that the extent to which emotions act as a resource or as a risk, depends on individual, situational and organisational factors. Drawing on these findings, this research offers a series of recommendations for practice, including how organisations can facilitate effective professional judgement through the provision of emotionally intelligent support.


In Nepal, a decade-long insurgency, led by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) continued till 2006, claimed more than 13,000 lives, and displaced thousands of people. Arguing that Nepal has moved forward in reintegrating its former combatants, this paper points out that this is a task that many other countries have failed to carry out successfully. It demonstrates that the country's approach to reintegration was unique and unorthodox, but, in some ways, effective. Nevertheless, there were problems and some of them persist, especially to do with social reintegration, in particular, gender and caste relations. The process of reintegration is far from complete, given that the former combatants left their cantonments only in 2012.


AbstractBACKGROUND: There is inconclusive evidence that prostate cancer screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) reduces mortality. Although PSA testing is widespread, it is unknown how many physicians have taken the PSA test themselves.
 OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of PSA testing among physicians.
 DESIGN: Cross-section survey.
 SUBJECTS: A nationwide stratified random sample of urologists (response rate 61%, n=247), Internists (response rate 51%, n=273), and family physicians (response rate 64%, n=249) were surveyed by mail in 2000. After excluding female respondents and men who either reported a positive history of prostate cancer or did not respond to that query, there were 146 urologists, 96 Internists, and 118 family physicians.
 MEASUREMENTS: Whether physicians had undergone prostate cancer screening with PSA.
 RESULTS: Eighty-seven percent (155/178) of male physicians aged, 50 and older and 21% (31/150) of white male physicians under age 50 reported having had a PSA test. More urologists than nonurologists in both age groups reported having had a screening PSA test.
 CONCLUSION: Most physicians aged 50 and older report undergoing PSA testing. This may reflect a belief in its efficacy and contribute to its widespread use.


Defamation law has a long history — being established, as a result of the Fourth Lateran Council, in the first half of the 13th century. Unsurprisingly, given its age, the nature of what was being protected by defamation law has not been consistent over that time. This research maps the focus of the action across the medieval period, the 17th century, and the 19th century. That, at different stages, there have been emphases on ' false facts', 'honour', 'character', 'name' and 'reputation' shows that the law has not been stable. The argument is not that the law should be stable, but that any assumptions around the centrality of reputation over the course of the development of defamation law are ill-founded.


PURPOSE
To compare dentin tubule occlusion by dentifrices containing either nanohydroxyapatite (10%nHAP and 15%nHAP), sodium monofluorophosphate (Na-MFP) or NovaMin (NovaMin).

METHODS
All 80 participants wore four intraoral appliances bearing dentin blocks while using one of the four test dentifrices (n = 20/dentifrice) twice daily for 14 days. The four appliances were removed in pairs after 7 and 14 days. One treated block from each of the test periods (7 and 14 days) and their untreated controls were examined with SEM to determine the level of tubule occlusion. The remaining two treated blocks and their controls were used to determine tubule permeability to dye solution. Effectiveness was compared statistically (ANOVA/Tukey's) based on % area covered by deposited precipitate layer (%DPL), % dye penetration inhibition (%DPI) and percentage of fully-open (%FOT), partially-occluded (%POT) and completely-occluded (%COT) tubules in each block calculated relative to the number of tubules in their control blocks.

RESULTS
SEM showed increased %COT and %DPL overtime. After 7 and 14 days, %COT, %POT, %DPL and %DPI were significantly lower with Na-MFP when compared to 10%nHAP (P < 0.01), NovaMin (P < 0.05) and 15%nHAP (P < 0.001), the three of which were not significantly different from each other in those four variables. A reverse trend was observed with %FOT (P < 0.001). Within the same dentifrice, no difference in %COT, %POT, %FOT, %DPI and %DPL after 7 and 14 days, except with Na-MFP in which %DPL significantly (P< 0.05) increased with usage. In conclusion, nanohydroxyapatite-containing and NovaMin-containing toothpastes showed equal and more effectiveness in occluding dentin tubules than Na-MFP toothpaste.


For twenty years, World Trade Organization (WTO) Members managed to avoid invoking the security exception before WTO panels, leaving unresolved the tension between the self-judging element explicit in its text and the compulsory jurisdiction of WTO panels. Then, in 2017 and 2018, a dozen panels were established after the respondent declared that it deemed the challenged measures necessary to protect its essential security interests. The first panel report to examine the issue, in Russia – Traffic in Transit, was adopted in April 2019 without appeal. Its interpretation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article XXI significantly limits the scope of the self-judging element in the provision and devises a three-step legal test to be met by Members invoking the exception, with the declared objective of safeguarding 'the object and purpose of GATT 1994 and the WTO Agreements more generally'. This article examines and discusses this interpretation and its effects over the role of the WTO in international trade relations, viewing it as the latest episode in the long-standing tension between mechanisms providing for compulsory international adjudication and the view that, where states deem their essential interests to be involved, the submission of disputes to adjudication remains subject to their sovereign determination.


The authors present a scheme for scheduling cell-transmissions in an ATM switch capable of atomic multicasts. In an atomic multicast, partial transmissions to subsets of the requested output ports are not allowed. In any transmission slot, a cell at an input port is either successfully (without output contention) transmitted to all requested destinations or it is not transmitted at all. Scheduling is needed because many cells (due to the uncoordinated nature of their arrivals at the switch input ports) can request transmission to the same switch output port at the same time even though the switch may not have the ability to simultaneously satisfy all these requests. The problem is to devise an implementable scheme for scheduling atomic multicast requests such that all requests present at the beginning of a scheduling interval are satisfied in a minimum number of cell transmission slots. However, finding this minimum transmission schedule is equivalent to finding the minimum vertex coloring of a "contention graph" derived from the input requests. Since finding the minimum vertex coloring is an NP-hard problem, it is not feasible to find the minimum schedule. They present a scheduling scheme which uses a heuristic coloring algorithm with a known upper bound on the number of transmission slots used. This scheme can also schedule a mix of request types (unicasts, atomic and non-atomic multicasts). They describe two methods for photonic implementation of the scheduler and also methods to incorporate fairness and priorities. >


Introduction Human leukocyte antigens (HLA)-matched sibling or unrelated donor are available for around only 50-60% of patients. However, for patients without a suitably matched related donor, Alternative donors such as mismatched unrelated, cord blood and mismatched family donors could be searched. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the results of graft source on outcome of patients after haploidentical related donor (Haplo), and the unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation in the setting of Non myeloabalative conditioning regimen (NMA).

Patients and methods We retrospectively analyzed outcomes in 150 adult patients with high risk hematologic diseases who received Allo-SCT from alternative donors from two centers (Institut Paoli-Calmettes at Marseille France and Humanitas cancer center at Rozzano, Italy): These two centres have been applying common transplant approaches and procedures during the study period. 69 patients received Haplo and 81 patients received UCB. In the UCB group, the NMA regimen consisted of fludarabine (Flu), cyclophosphamide (Cy) and low dose TBI (2 Gy) combination in the two groups. The GVHD prophylaxis consisted of Cyclosporine A (CsA) and MMF in all patients in the two groups. In the Haplo group all patients received also 50 mg/kg Cy at day 3 and 4 post transplant. Of note, supportive care was the same during the whole study period. CMV infection management was also homogeneous. Patient characteristics are shown in [Table 1][1].

View this table:

Table 1
Patient and transplantation characteristics:

Results With a median follow-up of 59 months (8-101) and 18 months (3-51), in the UCB group versus the Haplo group, respectively. Nine patients (11%) in the UCB and 8 patients (12%) in the Haplo group had a spontaneous autologous reconstitution subsequent to primary graft failure. The median times to neutrophil and platelet recovery were 20 d (14–39) and 29 d (14–50) after Haplo and 22 d (6–67) and 41 d (18–80) after cord blood. All supportive care measures included red blood cell, and platelet transfusions were significantly increased in cord blood transplantation group. The cumulative incidence of transplant related mortality (TRM) at one year was 23% in the UCB group versus 17% in the Haplo group (P=0.39). Grade 2-4 acute graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) and extensive chronic GVHD incidences were 52% versus 29% (P=0.05), and 12% versus 6% (P<0.0001), in the UCB group versus the Haplo group, respectively. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of overall survival at 2 years was 45% (95%CI, 34-56%) in the UCB group versus 69% (95%CI, 58-80%) in the Haplo group, (P=0.10). The estimate of progression-free survival at 2 years was 36% (95%CI, 25-47%) in the UCB group versus 65% (95% CI, 53-77%) in the Haplo group (P=0.01). Figure 1

Conclusion In this study, relapse and PFS was lower in Haplo group than in UCB transplants. The main difference between the 2 groups was the significantly higher incidence of acute and chronic GVHD in the UCB group. Surprisingly, this did not translate into a decrease of the cumulative incidence of OS nor increase of the TRM, which may be explained by a slightly shorter follow-up in this group. Our results suggest that haploidentical transplants are a good and promising alternative option for patients with high risk hematological diseases who lack an HLA-matched donor (sibling or unrelated donor). This should be now investigated in prospective comparative studies.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

 [1]: #T1


Increasing climate variability is predicted to pose an even greater risk to species than climate warming. Using a series of common garden experiments, the influence of directional warming and increasing climate variability on marine stickleback phenotypic variation was investigated by simulating changes to the mean and variance of ocean temperatures. The roles of (epi)genetic variation, transgenerational and within-generation plasticity, and bet-hedging in adaptive potential were assessed. Exposure to directional warming (21°C) had detrimental effects on growth compared to ambient (17°C) conditions. Yet, when mothers were acclimated to 21°C, offspring reached larger sizes at 21°C as a result of transgenerational plasticity in response to predictable environmental cues of future environments, with optimised gene expression (transcriptomes) inherited from mothers underlying transgenerational benefits. However, when parents were acclimated to fluctuating environments (predictably variable or stochastic), mothers used bet-hedging strategies to cope with future environment uncertainty. In stochastically variable environments, offspring phenotypes were mostly influenced by within-generation plasticity and not transgenerational effects, and release of cryptic genetic variation for offspring size suggests hidden evolutionary potential to respond to changes in environmental predictability. Taken together, marine sticklebacks employ multiple adaptive strategies both within and across generations to cope with ocean warming and increasing climate variability.


Multilinear silicon drift detectors (MLSDDs) are radiation detectors which combine excellent energy and position resolution with high count-rate capabilities. This is achieved by controlling the diffusion of the signal charges and limiting their lateral spread during the drift. This paper will present a study of the signal electrons' transport in MLSDDs in comparison with the experimental measurements. Three-dimensional simulations were carried out, taking into account diffusion effects and mutual electrostatic interaction between the signal electrons. A representative sample of these simulations will be presented. Signal sharing in a multilinear drift detector and in a "classical" multi-anode drift detector are characterized and discussed. The results are useful to tailor the design of MLSDDs for the detection of different kinds of radiation (e.g., optical photon, X-ray, ionizing particle) and to optimize signal charge sharing and detector performance according to a particular application purpose.


TO THE EDITOR: In prostate-cancer patients investigated with 18F-DCFPyL, a second-generation 18F-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen ligand, Jansen et al. have recently validated the image-based tumor-to-blood ratio (TBR) as an optimal trade-off between a reliable surrogate for the net influx rate of the tracer versus simplicity of its assessment (1). The image-based TBR (blood-mL.tumor-mL21) can be obtained from any standard whole-body acquisition as the mean tumor–activity concentration (CT(t); kBq.mL21) to the time-matched blood–activity concentration (Cp(t); kBq.mL21) within the ascending aorta. A high correlation coefficient was found between TBR and net-influx-rate constant (Ki; mL. min21.mL21) obtained from a reversible 2-tissue-compartment model, whereas the SUV, normalized either to body weight or leanbody mass, showed a poor SUV-Ki correlation (R2 5 0.96 vs. 0.47 and 0.60, respectively; Figure 3 and Table 3 in Jansen et al. (1)). We believe that the comparison between either whole-blood or image-based TBR proposed by Jansen et al. and Patlak's graphical analysis may be fruitful because the former is actually the y-axis of the latter. For t . t* and irreversible trapping, Patlak's basic equation is indeed: TBR(t)5 CT(t)/Cp(t)5 Ki · AUC(t)/Cp(t)1 Vb (2). AUC(t) is the time integral of Cp(t) and Vb the fraction of free 18F-DCFPyL in blood and interstitial volume (mL.mL21). The ratio AUC(t)/Cp(t) is the so-called stretched time (ts; min), and then writing TBR(t) 5 Ki · ts 1 Vb leads to further comment on Figure 3B by Jansen et al. that shows TBR versus Ki (1). The linear slope of Figure 3B (R2 5 0.96) is actually an average value of ts that is specific to Jansen et al.'s study. To support this assertion, blood data can be extracted from Figure 1 (using the WebPlotDigitizer software) to calculate AUC from trapezoidal integration and, hence, to calculate ts. Because image-based TBR was assessed by Jansen et al. at 105–110 min after injection, when t is 107.5 min, ts is then estimated to be 204 min, which is consistent with the 222-min slope for the TBR-Ki correlation reported in Table 3 (1). Thus, such a crucial role of ts in the TBR-Ki correlation and, hence, that of real time t, stresses Jansen et al.'s recommendation for harmonizing injection-acquisition time delay, scanning direction, and whole-body scan duration, to reliably compare TBRs between centers. Furthermore, the authors acknowledged that TBR repeatability should be investigated for treatment-response assessment. We suggest that TBR repeatability should take into account repeatability of both tumorand blood-activity concentration because TBR(t) 5 CT(t)/Cp(t) (5 SUVtumor/SUVblood), as demonstrated with SUV in lung cancer patients investigated with 18F-FDG (3). Despite this increased repeatability percentage, blood normalization involved in the TBR makes it a much better surrogate for Ki than the SUV, because the latter is significantly affected by the difference in the blood–activity concentration between patients, depending on the total tumor burden, as illustrated in Figure 4 in Jansen et al. (1,4). This SUV feature involving TBR may be simply summarized as: SUVtumor(t) 5 TBR(t) · SUVblood(t) } TBR(t) · Cp(t). Finally, let us note that, because of decay correction, the SUVapparently rises during the first 2 h after injection (assuming irreversible trapping), whereas the TBR actually rises with time (Fig. 3A), furthermore justifying Jansen et al.'s recommendation (1). In conclusion, we are convinced that the image-based TBR can reliably assess 18F-DCFPyL uptake in prostate cancer metastases, thus opening up possible tumor characterization and treatmentresponse assessment. We suggest that the TBR may be considered a simplified Patlak's analysis that is adapted to daily clinical practice (i.e., to standard whole-body acquisition without the need for invasive blood sampling). In this connection, we suggest that reporting the correlation between TBR and Patlak's Ki might be of interest.


Video description involves the generation of the natural language description of actions, events, and objects in the video. There are various applications of video description by filling the gap between languages and vision for visually impaired people, generating automatic title suggestion based on content, browsing of the video based on the content and video-guided machine translation [86] this http URL the past decade, several works had been done in this field in terms of approaches/methods for video description, evaluation metrics,and datasets. For analyzing the progress in the video description task, a comprehensive survey is needed that covers all the phases of video description approaches with a special focus on recent deep learning approaches. In this work, we report a comprehensive survey on the phases of video description approaches, the dataset for video description, evaluation metrics, open competitions for motivating the research on the video description, open challenges in this field, and future research directions. In this survey, we cover the state-of-the-art approaches proposed for each and every dataset with their pros and cons. For the growth of this research domain,the availability of numerous benchmark dataset is a basic need. Further, we categorize all the dataset into two classes: open domain dataset and domain-specific dataset. From our survey, we observe that the work in this field is in fast-paced development since the task of video description falls in the intersection of computer vision and natural language processing. But still, the work in the video description is far from saturation stage due to various challenges like the redundancy due to similar frames which affect the quality of visual features, the availability of dataset containing more diverse content and availability of an effective evaluation metric.


This paper describes an approach to design self-developing and self-tuning inferential soft sensors applicable to process industries. The proposal is for a Takagi-Sugeno-fuzzy system framework that has evolving (open structure) architecture, and an on-line (possibly real-time) learning algorithm. The proposed methodology is novel and it addresses the problems of self-development and self-calibration caused by drift in the data patterns due to changes in the operating regimes, catalysts ageing, industrial equipment wearing, contamination etc. The proposed computational technique is data-driven and parameter-free (it only requires a couple of parameters with clear meaning and suggested values). In this paper a case study of four problems of estimation of chemical properties is considered, however, the methodology has a much wider validity. The optimal inputs to the proposed evolving inferential sensor are determined a priori and off-line using a multi-objective genetic-programming-based optimization. Different on-line input selection techniques are under development. The methodology is validated on real data provided by the Dow Chemical Company, USA.


Abstract. Many hydrodynamic models have been presented which give similar views of the interaction of the solar wind plasma bubble with the counterstreaming partially ionized interstellar medium. In the more recent of these models it is taken into account that the solar and interstellar hydrodynamic flows of neutral atoms and protons are coupled by mass-, momentum-, and energy-exchange terms due to charge exchange processes. We shall reinvestigate the theoretical basis of this coupling here by use of a simplified description of the heliospheric interface and describe the main physics of the H-atom penetration through the more or less standing well-known plasma wall ahead of the heliopause. Thereby we can show that the type of charge exchange coupling terms used in up-to-now hydrodynamic treatments unavoidably leads to an O-type critical point at the sonic point of the H-atom flow, thus not allowing for a continuation of the integration of the hydrodynamic set of differential equations. The remedy for this problem is given by a more accurate formulation of the momentum exchange term for quasi-and sub-sonic H-atom flows. With a refined momentum exchange term derived from basic kinetic Boltzmann principles, we instead arrive at a characteristic equation with an X-type critical point, allowing for a continuous solution from supersonic to subsonic flow conditions. This necessitates that the often treated problem of the propagation of inter-stellar H-atoms through the heliosheath has to be solved using these newly derived, differently effective plasma – gas friction forces. Substantially different results are to be expected from this context for the filtration efficiency of the heliospheric interface. Key words. Interplanetary physics (heliopause and solar wind termination; interstellar gas) – Ionosphere (plasma temperature and density)


Many practitioners use stop-loss strategies to limit excessive losses on existing investments. In practice, however, the value of stop-losses can be assessed only when re-entry rules are considered jointly with stop-loss rules. In this article, we analyze the benefits of joint stop-loss and re-entry rules from the perspective of both risk reduction and return enhancement for six different global equity markets, as well as for listed real estate investments, a commodity index, and gold. We find that stop-loss rules significantly reduce volatility and excessive losses. The evidence on return enhancement, however, is mixed, with stop-losses increasing absolute and risk-adjusted returns for most equity markets and listed real estate but not for commodity indexes or gold. We also find significant differences between secular bull and bear markets, with stop-loss and re-entry rules providing higher risk-adjusted returns during secular bear markets but not during bull markets.


This research attempted at knowing the implementation of peer-editing technique in learners' English writing skill and their perceptions to peerediting for teaching and learning writing. The method used in this research is qualitative study. The subjects of this research were 22 learners of the second semester of English Department of University of Pesantren Tinggi Darul Ulum (Unipdu) Jombang of 2015/2016 academic year. The instrument for collecting data was students' descriptive texts and questionnaire. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis. The results of the research showed that, in general, peer-editing technique made the learners' progress on their writing achievement and good perceptions for teaching and learning writing skill of English. This implied that the implementation of peer-editing is significantly improving learners' writing skill.


Design fixation refers to the designers' inability to avoid becoming stuck with preexisting ideas in order to generate new ones. With the recent fast advancements and developments, XR has emerged as a powerful promising technology that can shed new light on this issue. Consequently, this paper aims at: (1) investigating the underlying mechanisms of design fixation as reported in literature; (2) exploring the state-of-art in the use of XR technology in design; and (3) identifying ways to mitigate design fixation by employing XR technology.


RATIONALE
The relationship between organ failure during critical illness and long-term survival is uncertain, especially among intensive care unit (ICU) survivors.

OBJECTIVES
To describe the relationship between individual organ failures, total organ failure burden, and mortality during the 5 years after an episode of critical illness.

METHODS
We studied a cohort of sequential admissions to 10 Scottish ICUs (n = 872). Logistic regression was used to explore independent associations between organ failures and mortality over a 5-year time horizon, adjusting for potential confounders.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Daily Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores described organ dysfunction during ICU stay. The sum of the worst scores at any time point during the ICU stay for each organ system except neurological dysfunction was used to calculate total organ failure burden. Mortality was obtained from the national death register. Five-year mortality was 58.2%; 34.4% of deaths occurred within 28 days. In adjusted analyses, cardiovascular (odds ratio [OR], 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8-3.7), liver (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1-5.0), and respiratory failure (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.3-3.5) were independently associated with 5-year mortality. Organ failure burden was strongly associated with mortality; 81% of patients in the highest tertile died during follow-up (OR, 6.3 relative to lowest tertile; P < 0.001). Patients surviving more than 12 months post-ICU were still more likely to subsequently die if they experienced greater organ failure burden in the ICU (OR, 2.4; P = 0.02, highest vs. lowest tertile).

CONCLUSIONS
Cardiovascular, respiratory, and liver failures during critical illness strongly predict subsequent 5-year survival. Acute organ failure burden is associated with long-term mortality even among patients who survive up to 1 year after ICU admission.


Trefoil factor family peptides (TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3) are key players in protecting, maintaining, and repairing the gastrointestinal tract. Accordingly, they have the therapeutic potential to treat and prevent a variety of gastrointestinal disorders associated with mucosal damage. TFF peptides share a conserved motif, including three disulfide bonds that stabilize a well-defined three-loop-structure reminiscent of a trefoil. Although multiple functions have been described for TFF peptides, their mechanisms at the molecular level remain poorly understood. This review presents the status quo of TFF research relating to gastrointestinal disorders. Putative TFF receptors and protein partners are described and critically evaluated. The therapeutic potential of these peptides in gastrointestinal disorders where altered mucosal biology plays a crucial role in the underlying etiology is discussed. Finally, areas of investigation that require further research are addressed. Thus, this review provides a comprehensive update on TFF literature as well as guidance toward future research to better understand this peptide family and its therapeutic potential for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders.


Purpose: To quantify protonradiotherapydose reduction in the prostate target volume due to the three‐dimensional movement of the prostate based on an analysis of dose‐volume histograms (DVH). Method and Materials: Twelve prostate cancer patients were scanned in a supine position and a target contour was delineated for each using a protontreatment planning system. To simulate target movement, the contour was displaced from 3 mm to 15 mm in 3 mm intervals in the superior to inferior (SI), inferior to superior (IS), anterior to posterior (AP), posterior to anterior (PA), and left to right (LR) directions. Results: For both intra‐ and interfractional movements, the average coverage index and conformity index of the target were reduced in all directions. For interfractional movements, the magnitude of dose reduction was greater in the LR direction than in the AP, PA, SI and IS directions. While the reduction of target dose was proportional to the magnitude of intrafractional movement in all directions, a proportionality between dose reduction and the magnitude of interfractional target movement was clear only in the LR direction. Like the coverage index and conformity index, the equivalent uniform dose (EUD) and homogeneity index showed similar reductions for both types of target movements. Conclusion: Small target movements can significantly reduce target protonradiotherapydose during treatment of prostate cancer patients. Attention should be given to interfractional target movement along the longitudinal direction since image guided radiotherapy may be ineffective if margins are not sufficient.


A blast-induced liquefaction test was conducted in the surroundings of Mirabello (NE Italy), where extensive liquefaction phenomena were observed after the 2012 Emilia earthquake. This experiment is the first blast-induced liquefaction test carried out in Italy. Several geophysical investigations were performed at the site to define initial soil condition and to evaluate the variations of the geophysical parameters over time. Specifically compressional ( VP) and shear ( VS) wave velocities were measured using both invasive (down-hole) and non-invasive (surface wave) tests. Electric Resistivity Tomography (ERT) tests were also carried out. Tests results before and after the blast-induced liquefaction are here presented and discussed with respect to the observed liquefaction effects. The evolution of measured geophysical parameters suggests that the soil modifications due to blasting ( i.e., changes in porosity and soil structure) can be imaged with the adopted approaches.


Over the past several decades a variety of models have been proposed to explain perceived behavioral and cognitive differences between Neanderthals and modern humans. A key element in many of these models and one often used as a proxy for behavioral modernity is the frequency and nature of hunting among Palaeolithic populations. Here new archaeological data from Ortvale Klde, a late Middleearly Upper Palaeolithic rockshelter in the Georgian Republic, are considered, and zooarchaeological methods are applied to the study of faunal acquisition patterns to test whether they changed significantly from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic. The analyses demonstrate that Neanderthals and modern humans practiced largely identical hunting tactics and that the two populations were equally and independently capable of acquiring and exploiting critical biogeographical information pertaining to resource availability and animal behavior. Like lithic technotypological traditions, hunting behaviors are poor proxies for major behavioral differences between Neanderthals and modern humans, a conclusion that has important implications for debates surrounding the MiddleUpper Palaeolithic transition and what features constitute modern behavior. The proposition is advanced that developments in the social realm of Upper Palaeolithic societies allowed the replacement of Neanderthals in the Caucasus with little temporal or spatial overlap and that this process was widespread beyond traditional topographic and biogeographical barriers to Neanderthal mobility.


The formation and implementation of strategy with respect to computer-based information systems (IS) are important issues in many contemporary organizations, including those in the financial services sector. This paper describes and analyzes an in-depth case study of the strategy formation and implementation process in one such organization, a medium-sized UK building society, and relates the process to its organizational and broader contexts; the organization is examined over a period of several years and under the contrasting leadership of two different chief executives. The case study is used to develop some general implications on IS strategy and implementation, which can be taken as themes for debate in any new situation. The paper provides an example of a more detailed perspective on processes in IS strategy and implementation than typically available in the literature. In addition, a new framework for further research in this area is developed, which directs the researcher toward exploring the dynamic interplay of strategic content, multilevel contexts, and cultural and political perspectives on the process of change.


In this paper, we present a system that visualizes the expressive quality of a music performance using a virtual head. We provide a mapping through several parameter spaces: on the input side, we have elaborated a mapping between values of acoustic cues and emotion as well as expressivity parameters; on the output side, we propose a mapping between these parameters and the behaviors of the virtual head. This mapping ensures a coherency between the acoustic source and the animation of the virtual head. After presenting some background information on behavior expressivity of humans, we introduce our model of expressivity. We explain how we have elaborated the mapping between the acoustic and the behavior cues. Then, we describe the implementation of a working system that controls the behavior of a human-like head that varies depending on the emotional and acoustic characteristics of the musical execution. Finally, we present the tests we conducted to validate our mapping between the emotive content of the music performance and the expressivity parameters.


Do state constitutions accord greater protection to religious freedom than does the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment? The answer to that question has taken on greater significance since the United States Supreme Court decided Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), more than twenty years ago. In Smith, the Supreme Court held that "the right of free exercise does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general application on the ground that the law prescribes (or proscribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes)."To many, both at the time and since, Employment Division v. Smith represented a marked retreat from the Court's former free exercise jurisprudence. That, in turn, has given the interpretation and application of religious freedom guarantees under state constitutions a new importance. To what extent do state courts follow federal free exercise analysis, including Employment Division v. Smith, in interpreting their own guarantees of religious freedom? That question acquires a particular urgency given the current debate over a variety of controversial state laws, including laws mandating contraceptive coverage in employee group medical plans, laws prohibiting discrimination on account of marital status and sexual orientation and laws regulating parochial schools and home schools. This article attempts to answer that question by reviewing the principal cases decided under each State's religious freedom guarantee, whether expressed as "free exercise of religion," "freedom of worship," "liberty of conscience," "rights of conscience" or some other formulation.


"Treetops" is the "Oxford Reading Tree" series of fiction with built-in progression for pupils aged seven to 11. Specially written for children who need the support of carefully monitored language levels, this story, entitled "The Personality Potion", seeks to be accessible, motivating and humorous. The series is organized into "Oxford Reading Tree" stages (from stage ten to stage 14), with each stage introducing more complex narrative forms, including: flashbacks and changes in viewpoint; descriptive writing; extended reading vocabulary; and more pages, more text, and fewer illustrations. Each stage is supported by the "Teacher's Guide", which offers guidance on using "Treetops" to assess children's reading ability, and includes a variety of activities, many on photocopiable sheets.


To enable economically efficient future adaptation to water scarcity some countries are revising water management institutions such as water rights or licensing systems to more effectively protect ecosystems and their services. However, allocating more flow to the environment can mean less abstraction for economic production, or the inability to accommodate new entrants (diverters). Modern licensing arrangements should simultaneously enhance environmental flows and protect water abstractors who depend on water. Making new licensing regimes compatible with tradable water rights is an important component of water allocation reform. Regulated water markets can help decrease the societal cost of water scarcity whilst enforcing environmental and/or social protections. In this article we simulate water markets under a regime of fixed volumetric water abstraction licenses with fixed minimum flows or under a scalable water license regime (using water "shares") with dynamic environmental minimum flows. Shares allow adapting allocations to available water and dynamic environmental minimum flows vary as a function of ecological requirements. We investigate how a short-term spot market manifests within each licensing regime. We use a river-basin-scale hydroeconomic agent model that represents individual abstractors and can simulate a spot market under both licensing regimes. We apply this model to the Great Ouse River basin in eastern England with public water supply, agricultural, energy and industrial water-using agents. Results show the proposed shares with dynamic environmental flow licensing system protects river flows more effectively than the current static minimum flow requirements during a dry historical year, but that the total opportunity cost to water abstractors of the environmental gains is a 10–15% loss in economic benefits.


The ordered nanochannel-array of anodic titanium oxide (ATO) is formed on the electro-polished titanium substrate. This reproducible procedure of long-range ordered nanochannel ATO retains 170 nm films in length. The process is deduced by electrochemically and thermodynamically; from high defect structure of porous ATO and small sizing of decomposing TiO2 cluster on the surfaces. In this study, ATO with 68.2% porosity is discomposed at 581 °C under oxygen partial pressure of 4×10-9 atm. The pore of ATO has wall thickness of 25 nm with density of 8×109 per cm2 under 1.2 vol.% hydrofluoric acid (HF) and 10 vol.% sulfuric acid (H2SO4) electrolyte for 90 seconds of 20 V of applied potential. The pore size is 100 nm in diameter and uniformly distributed with 120 nm pore-to pore distance in between.


War is harmful to animals, but few have considered how such harm should affect assessments of the justice of military actions. In this paper, we propose a way in which concern for animals can be included within the just-war framework, with a focus on necessity and proportionality. We argue that counting animals in war will not make just-war theory excessively demanding, but it will make just-war theory more humane. By showing how animals can be included in our proportionality and necessity assessments, we provide a crucial first step towards developing an animal-inclusive account of just-war theory.


A method for the separation and detection of bile acid 3-glucuronides by liquid chromatography (LC)/electrospray ionization (ESI)-mass spectrometry (MS) has been developed. On the ESI mode, glucuronides were characterized by an intense pseudo-molecular ion [M-h]- with a doubly charged ion [M-2H]2-, and the ratio of these negative ions were markedly influenced by an acidic component of salt added to a mobile phase, according to a pKa value of an acidic moiety at C-24. Bile acid 3-glucuronides in human urine were extracted with a SepPak C18 cartridge, followed by purification on lipophylic ion exchange gel, piperidinohydroxypropyl Sephadex LH-20. Subsequent resolution into unconjugated, glycine and taurine conjugated bile acid 3-glucuronides was attained by LC on a Develosil ODS-HG-5 column using 20 mM ammonium acetate (pH 7.0)-methanol (10:12, v/v) as a mobile phase, where 3-glucuronides were monitored with a characteristic negative ion [M-H]-. The newly developed method was applied to the quantitatiation of bile acid 3-glucuronides in human urine with satisfactory sensitivity and reliability.


This paper considers the use of the chemistry laboratory work evaluation process ACELL (Advancing Chemistry by Enhancing Learning in the Laboratory) as a tool for evaluating and improving physics laboratory work. In November 2007 an ACELL-style workshop for physics was run at the University of Technology Sydney as part of the Forging new directions in physics education in Australian universities project, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). One stream of this project is looking at undergraduate laboratory work in physics, and the ACELL process is a means of evaluating laboratory work developed by the chemistry eduction research community, hence it may be of great value in physics also. The purpose of this workshop was to consider the ACELL evaluation process as a model for evaluating undergraduate laboratory exercises in physics. The workshop was attended by more than 50 delegates, from 19 universities, and eight physics experiments were presented for evaluation using ACELL templates. The delegates were surveyed during and after the event on how appropriate they found the ACELL evaluation process for physics experiments, and what modifications would be needed to implement such a process for physics. The results of these surveys are presented with recommendations for modifying the ACELL process for application to physics experiments.


In this paper we analyze whether information bias is affecting consumers' WTP for radical food innovations. We collect data in the Netherlands on consumers' WTP for insect-based products. We used product attributes directly affected by information and EU legislation such as the visualization of insects on the products, the use of logo and health claims, different information treatments on positive environmental and social effects of eating insects as meat-substitutes. Results indicate that visualization negatively influenced consumers' WTP while information treatments do not mitigate this effect. We derive that EU legislators need to move fast in clarifying the status of insect-based foods.


OBJECTIVES
To document a technique for one-lung ventilation (OLV) in cats and evaluate the effect of low-pressure carbon dioxide insufflation and OLV (OLV-CDI) on cardiorespiratory variables in cats.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective randomized study.

ANIMALS
Cats (n = 6).

METHODS
General anesthesia was induced using a standardized anesthetic protocol. A thermodilution catheter was placed into the pulmonary artery using fluoroscopic guidance. Two 6 mm thoracoscopic cannulae were placed at a subxiphoid and intercostal location, respectively, to allow direct observation of all lung lobes. OLV was induced using an endobronchial blocker, which was placed into the right and left main stem bronchi in randomized order using bronchoscopic guidance. Cardiorespiratory variables were measured at 5 and 30 minutes after induction of OLV and subsequently at 5 and 30 minutes after initiation of OLV-CDI at intra-thoracic pressures of 3 mmHg.

RESULTS
Left-sided OLV was successful in 5 cats, right-sided OLV was successful in 2 cats, and neither was successful in 1 cat. No significant effects on hemodynamic variables or oxygen delivery were observed after right or left-sided OLV alone. Hemodynamic variables were also well-preserved after OLV-CDI; however, oxygen delivery was significantly lower after left OLV-CDI compared with right OLV-CDI, and in 2 cats, severe desaturation occurred after L-OLV-CDI before the 30 minute time point.

CONCLUSIONS
OLV can be used in cats for thoracoscopic interventions. Although right OLV-CDI was tolerated better than left OLV-CDI, the technique requires further investigation before it can be recommended for widespread clinical use.


Following the proliferation of Augmented Reality technologies and applications in mobile devices it is becoming clear that AR techniques have matured and are ready to be used for large audiences. This poses several new multimedia interaction and usability problems that need to be identified and studied. AR problems are no longer exclusively about rendering superimposed virtual geometry or finding ways of performing GPS or computer vision registration. It is important to understand how to keep users engaged with AR and in what occasions it is suitable to use it. Additionally how should graphical user interfaces be designed so that the user can interact with AR elements while pointing a mobile device to a specific real world area? Finally what is limiting AR applications from reaching an even broader acceptance and usage level? This position paper identifies several interaction problems in today???s multimedia AR applications, raising several pressing issues and proposes several research directions.


The requirements for driving gallium nitride (GaN) heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) and the design of a resonant drive circuit for GaN power HFET switches are discussed in this paper. The use of wideband III-nitride (such as GaN) devices today is limited to telecom and low-power applications. The current lack of high-frequency high-power drivers prevents their application in power converters. The proposed circuit is based upon resonant switching transition techniques, by means of an LC tag, to recover part of the power back into the voltage source in order to reduce the power loss. This circuit also uses level shifters to generate the zero and negative gate-source voltages required to turn the GaN HFET on and off, and it is highly tolerant to input-signal timing variances. The circuit reduces the overall power consumed in the driver and thus reduces the power loss. This is particularly important for high-frequency driver operation to take full advantage, in terms of efficiency, of the superior switching speed of GaN devices. In this paper, the topology of the low-power-loss high-speed drive circuit is introduced. Some simulation results and preliminary experimental measurements are discussed.


In order to characterize the curing behavior of low molar ratio urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin, the curing time and thermal analysis in curing reaction of the UF resins and the bonding strength and formaldehyde emission of plywood bonded by five kinds of low molar ratio UF resins with six different curing agents were studied. The results indicated that the UF resins with the molar ratio of formaldehyde to urea more than 1.0 could get reasonable curing time. The heat enthalpy of UF resins significantly increased with the enhancing the acidity of curing agent. The plywood manufactured by the UF resins with 1.1 molar ratio showed much higher bonding strength and lower formaldehyde emission.


Queueing networks have been used to model material handling in flexible manufacturing systems. We explore the use of a closed queueing network model to approximate an intrabay automated material handling system (AMHS) in semiconductor manufacturing. A simulation-based approach is proposed to obtain estimates of system performance measures. Current simulation models in the industry are very complex, require significant development time, and take a long time to run. The proposed simulation-based queueing network approximation can be used as an easy and fast alternative or as a precursor to a full-fledged modeling exercise depending on the type of decision being made and the level of granularity required in the output. Using a simple intrabay configuration, we compare estimates from the approximation approach and a more detailed modeling approach to characterize the performance of the approximation. In addition, a simulation information model is used to compare AMHS models based on the amount and types of information needed to model the system, and to obtain desired output. This classification aids modelers in determining the level of detail to incorporate in a model based on the objectives of the simulation study.


This study comprehensively investigates the changing biodistribution of fluorescent-labelled polystyrene latex bead nanoparticles in a mouse model of inflammation. Since inflammation alters systemic circulatory properties, increases vessel permeability and modulates the immune system, we theorised that systemic inflammation would alter nanoparticle distribution within the body. This has implications for prospective nanocarrier-based therapies targeting inflammatory diseases. Low dose lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial endotoxin, was used to induce an inflammatory response, and 20 nm, 100 nm or 500 nm polystyrene nanoparticles were administered after 16 hours. HPLC analysis was used to accurately quantify nanoparticle retention by each vital organ, and tissue sections revealed the precise locations of nanoparticle deposition within key tissues. During inflammation, nanoparticles of all sizes redistributed, particularly to the marginal zones of the spleen. We found that LPS-induced inflammation induces splenic macrophage polarisation and alters leukocyte uptake of nanoparticles, with size-dependent effects. In addition, spleen vasculature becomes significantly more permeable following LPS treatment. We conclude that systemic inflammation affects nanoparticle distribution by multiple mechanisms, in a size dependent manner.


This paper proposes two-step static hedging strategies for European basket options by using only plain-vanilla options on a subset of underlying assets. The basic idea is stimulated from a static super-hedging strategy dependent on the whole basket. However, it would be too complicated to handle when there is a large number of assets in the basket. It becomes even worse when some of the underlying assets are illiquid or not available for trading. Meanwhile, this strategy completely neglects the correlation structure of the basket which has indeed a great effect on the basket option's price. To solve these problems, Principal Components Analysis is used to figure out the subset of dominant assets through a careful study on the modified covariance of the basket. On this basis, the optimal strikes of those significant assets' plain-vanilla options are obtained in the second step via optimization. The optimality criterion depends on the risk attitude of hedgers and is defined by a certain risk measure, e.g., super-replication, minimum expected shortfall given a constraint on the hedging cost. Through analyzing a numerical example, it is concluded that this static hedging portfolio captures a trade-off between reduced hedging costs and overall super-replication. Even without considering transaction costs, hedging by using only a subset of underlying assets performs well: only a reasonable small hedging error arises when investing the capital required by the super-hedging portfolio which is composed of plain-vanilla options on all underlying assets and hence is difficult to implement or even not available in the market.


We consider the carrier transport and plasmonic phenomena in the lateral carbon nanotube (CNT) networks forming the device channel with asymmetric electrodes. One electrode is the Ohmic contact to the CNT network and the other contact is the Schottky contact. These structures can serve as detectors of the terahertz (THz) radiation. We develop the device model for collective response of the lateral CNT networks which comprise a mixture of randomly oriented semiconductor CNTs (s-CNTs) and quasi-metal CNTs (m-CNTs). The proposed model includes the concept of the collective two-dimensional (2D) plasmons in relatively dense networks of randomly oriented CNTs (CNT "felt") and predicts the detector responsivity spectral characteristics exhibiting sharp resonant peaks at the signal frequencies corresponding to the 2D plasmonic resonances. The detection mechanism is the rectification of the ac current due the nonlinearity of the Schottky contact current-voltage characteristics under the conditions of a strong enhancement of the potential drop at this contact associated with the plasmon excitation. The detector responsivity depends on the fractions of the s- and m-CNTs. The burning of the near-contact regions of the m-CNTs or destruction of these CNTs leads to a marked increase in the responsivity in agreement with our experimental data. The resonant THz detectors with sufficiently dense lateral CNT networks can compete and surpass other THz detectors using plasmonic effects at room temperatures.


ABSTRACT Lopes, V., Baptista, P., Pais-Barbosa, J., Taveira-Pinto, F., Veloso-Gomes, F., 2013. DGPS based methods to obtain beach cusp dimensions. Statistical correlations between wave parameters and cusp dimensions other than spacing may provide insight into which processes intervene in beach cusps formation and evolution. However, there is little information about cusp dimensions such as cusp depth, height or elevation. The aim of this work is to evaluate and compare different methods to determine beach cusp dimensions in order to assess which one produces more accurate, extensive and easy-to-achieve results. For this purpose some beach surveys were carried out at Ofir beach, located on the Portuguese west coast. Each one of the methods uses different sampling and processing strategies to obtain beach cusp dimensions. In method 0 cusp dimensions were determined using only two tape measures. The remaining 4 methods use Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS). Methods 3 and 4 provide values for cusp spacing, height, elevation and depth whilst methods 1 and 2 provide values for the first three parameters only. If one is only interested in measuring beach cusp spacing, height and elevation, then method 1 seems to be more adequate, due to its ease in sampling and in dealing with the data processing. Values of spacing, height and elevation obtained via Method 1 are the most accurate ones. On the other hand, if one wishes to perform a more detailed analysis, including parameters other than the above-mentioned and, for instance, to produce Digital Elevation Models (DEM), a combination of Method 1 and Method 3 or 4 is more appropriate.


The book world of sixteenth-century England was heavily focused on London. London's publishers wholly dominated the production of books, and with Oxford and Cambridge the booksellers of the capital also played the largest role in the supplying and distribution of books imported from Continental Europe. Nevertheless, by the end of the sixteenth century a considerable network of booksellers had been established in England's provincial towns. This dissertation uses scattered surviving evidence from book lists and inventories to investigate the development and character of provincial bookselling in the period between 1520 and 1640. It draws on information from most of England's larger cities, including York, Norwich and Exeter, as well as much smaller places, such as Kirkby Lonsdale and Ormskirk. It demonstrates that, despite the competition from the metropolis, local booksellers played an important role in supplying customers with a considerable range and variety of books, and that these bookshops became larger and more ambitious in their services to customers through this period. The result should be a significant contribution to understanding the book world of early modern England. The dissertation is accompanied by an appendix, listing and identifying the books documented in nine separate lists, each of which, where possible, has been matched to surviving editions.


Poor resource planning and low productivities in road construction projects are among the major factors that contribute to cost escalation and projects' overruns. Although a number of tools and methods have been developed to enhance road construction planning and in particular earthworks planning and visualisation, current practices suggest that these tools are not practical and fragmented. The aim of this paper is to develop a practical, lean and transparent knowledge driven model to reduce the complexity of earthwork operations, improve efficiency of planning processes and reduce waste at operational phase. In this context, this research presents an interactive visual lean system that integrates different earthwork modules (including resource productivity, profile visualisation, planning and scheduling activities) to achieve efficient and productive construction plans. The system integrates atomic model configuration for productivity calculation, profile visualisation for "Mass-haul" and "Time-distance" profile, Gantt viewer for activity planning and management. The paper introduces the theoretical aspects of planning and scheduling in linear projects, develops system framework for the proposed model, discusses the prototype and demonstrates the prototype through a real life case study.


The ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas are required to cover high impedance bandwidth such that the return loss (RL) is greater than 10 dB with improved gain and radiation efficiency which are required for the different applications. In this UWB range (3.1-10.6 GHz), there are other applications, using narrow band frequency bands, such as WiMAX (3.3-3.7) GHz, WLAN (5.15-5.825) GHz and others. In this case it is needed to filter out these different applications which interfere with the UWB system. This can be performed by redesigning the printed circuit antenna to have an inherent characteristics with band rejection behavior to eliminate some or all of these interfering signals.


CWI's research has a theme-oriented structure and is grouped into four clusters. Listed below are the names of the clusters and in parentheses their acronyms. ABSTRACT We explore the connection between term rewriting systems (TRS) and aspect-oriented programming (AOP). Term rewriting is a paradigm that is used in fields such as program transformation and theorem proving. AOP is a method for decomposing software, complementary to the usual separation into programs, classes, functions, etc. An aspect represents code that is scattered across the components of an otherwise orderly decomposed system. Using AOP, such code is first separated in aspects and then automatically weaved into a system. Aspect weavers are available for only a handful of languages. Term rewriting can offer a method for the rapid prototyping of weavers for more languages. We explore this claim by presenting a simple weaver implemented as a TRS. We also observe that TRS can benefit from AOP. For example, their flexibility can be enhanced by factoring out hardwired code for tracing and logging rewrite rules. We explore methods for enhancing TRS with aspects and present one application: automatically connecting an interactive debugger to a language specification. Abstract. We explore the connection between term rewriting systems (TRS) and aspect-oriented programming (AOP). Term rewriting is a paradigm that is used in fields such as program transformation and theorem proving. AOP is a method for decomposing software, complementary to the usual separation into programs, classes, functions, etc. An aspect represents code that is scattered across the components of an otherwise orderly decomposed system. Using AOP, such code is first separated in aspects and then automatically weaved into a system. Aspect weavers are available for only a handful of languages. Term rewriting can offer a method for the rapid prototyping of weavers for more languages. We explore this claim by presenting a simple weaver implemented as a TRS. We also observe that TRS can benefit from AOP. For example, their flexibility can be enhanced by factoring out hardwired code for tracing and logging rewrite rules. We explore methods for enhancing TRS with aspects and present one application: automatically connecting an interactive debugger to a language specification .


Audio latency, defined as the time duration when an audio signal travels from the microphone to an app or from an app to the speakers, significantly influences the performance of many mobile sensing applications including acoustic based localization and speech recognition. It is well known within the mobile app development community that audio latencies can be significant (up to hundreds of milliseconds) and vary from smartphone to smartphone and from time to time. Therefore, it is essential to study the causes and effects of the audio latency in smartphones. To the best of our knowledge, there exist mobile apps that can measure audio latency but not the corresponding status of smartphones such as available RAM, CPU loads, battery level, and number of files and folders. In this paper, we are the first to propose a framework that can simultaneously log both the audio latency and the status of smartphones. The proposed framework does not require time synchronization or firmware reprogramming and can run on a standalone device. Since the framework is designed to study the latency causality, the status of smartphones are deliberately and randomly varied as maximum as possible. To evaluate the framework, we present a case study with Android devices. We design and implement a latency app that simultaneously measures the latency and the status of smartphones. The preliminary results show that the latency values have large means (50 – 150 ms) and variances (4–40 ms). The effect of latency can be considerably reduced by just simply subtracting the offset. In order to achieve improved latency prediction that can cope with the variances an advanced regression model would be preferred.


Background & Aims of the Study: Particulate matters less than 10 microns can absorb into your lungs and reacting with the moisture and enter the circulatory system directly through the airways. The aim of this study is to assess Behavior PM 10 data in different seasons and Determination effects on human health in Ahvaz city during 2013. Materials & Methods: Data Particulate matters less than 10 microns were taken from Ahvaz Department of Environment and Meteorological Organization. Sampling was performed for 24 hours in 4 stations. Method of sampling and analysis were performed according to EPA guideline. Processing data include the instruction set correction of averaging, coding and filtering. Finally, health-effects of Particulate matters less than 10 exposures were calculated with impact of meteorological parameters and converted as input file to the Air Q model. Results: PM 10 concentration in winter season was maximum amount in the year 2013. According to the research findings, highest and the lowest Particulate matters less than 10 microns concentrations during 2013 had the Bureau of Meteorology "Havashenasi" and Head office of ADoE "Mohitzist". Sum of total numbers of cardiovascular death and hospitals admission to respiratory diseases attributed to Particulate matters less than 10 microns were 923 and 2342 cases in 2013. Conclusions: Particulate matter emissions are highly regulated in most industrialized countries. Due to environmental concerns, most industries and dust storm phenomena are required to decrease in source produce particle mater and kind of dust collection system to control particulate emissions. Pollution prevention and control measures that reduce Particulate matters less than 10 microns can very useful for expected to reduce people's exposures to Sulfur dioxide.


Urbanisation is an ever-growing threat to global wildlife. Nevertheless, urban areas around the world
hold significant wild bird populations and urban birds provide a key connection between people and wildlife. Many people provide supplementary resources, such as food and nesting sites. However, even apparently beneficial actions may have unintended negative consequences. This work explores some of these direct and indirect effects.
Grey Squirrels Sciurus carolinensis are a widespread, introduced species in the UK, acting both as a
competitor for resources with birds and predator of their nests. When present, Grey Squirrels effectively excluded birds from supplementary feeding stations. Allowing them unrestricted access both supports their energy requirements and reduces its availability to target taxa, through both behavioural exclusion and food consumption. In addition, nest predation was higher in artificial nests adjacent to filled bird feeders which were frequented by potential nest predators and the exclusion of these predators did not significantly reduce nest predation. Providing point attractants during the
breeding season may therefore depress local urban bird breeding success in addition to directly supporting predator/competitor populations. Garden supplementary feeding stations may also represent a threat to wild bird and human health through pathogen transmission. Bacterial
communities were found to differ between two bird feeder types but there was little association between feeder usage by animals and bacterial load or pathogen presence in a typical UK suburban garden bird-feeding setting. Nest boxes are commonly provided for cavity nesting urban birds as an additional supplementary resource. Nest box using Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus and Great Tits
Parus major differed in their use of anthropogenic material. Anthropogenic nest material was associated with lower arthropod diversity and ectoparasite predator abundance but higher ectoparasite loads. Higher arthropod diversity was linked to lower flea numbers, implying more complex arthropod communities depressed ectoparasite abundance though no direct link was found between these factors with breeding success. Domestic cats Felis catus are the most abundant predator in many urban ecosystems. Cat home ranges varied with level of urbanisation and they ranged significantly further during the night. To reduce the probability of Domestic Cats entering local protected areas a management zone of 300-400m from the nearest housing was estimated to be of management value
and must be adjusted to the local landscape to ensure effectiveness. Despite the various negative effects highlighted in this thesis, the findings suggest that many of them can be mitigated, to ensure that our best intentions do effectively benefit urban birds.


In many machine learning applications, each record represents a set of items. For example, when making predictions from medical records, the medications prescribed to a patient are a set whose size is not fixed and whose order is arbitrary. However, most machine learning algorithms are not designed to handle set structures and are limited to processing records of fixed size. SetTree, presented in this work, extends the support for sets to tree-based models, such as RandomForest and Gradient-Boosting, by introducing an attention mechanism and set-compatible split criteria. We evaluate the new method empirically on a wide range of problems ranging from making predictions on sub-atomic particle jets to estimating the redshift of galaxies. The new method outperforms existing tree-based methods consistently and significantly. Moreover, it is competitive and often outperforms Deep Learning. We also discuss the theoretical properties of Set-Trees and explain how they enable item-level explainability.


The ice thickness distribution of mountain valley glaciers is an important physical constraint for modelling their flow. Ice thickness measurements are used to calculate the geometry and ultimately the driving stress of a glacier. This information is all required if realistic models are to forecast the response of glaciers to climate forcings. For New Zealand's Tasman Glacier, two factors complicate its response to climate: 1) A layer of insulative rocky debris covers the lower half of the glacier, retarding surface melt, and 2) the glacier has recently entered a period of iceberg calving into a proglacial lake, introducing complex mechanical processes. These complications, along with the uncertainty of the current bed topography of the Tasman Glacier, make future predictions of its retreat behaviour difficult. The bed of the Tasman Glacier has not been fully imaged but ice thickness measurements obtained through seismic and gravity surveys have provided constraints for parts of the glacier. This study applies a range of geophysical methods (gravity and refraction seismics) to measure and model the ice thickness distribution of the lower Tasman Glacier. We surveyed orthogonal to glacier flow to obtain 12 transects within the lower 5 km of the glacier. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional gravity models generally indicate a U-shaped valley with ice thicknesses of 92-722 m from the present day terminus to the most upstream transect respectively. These results were used as input data to a simple mass flux model to assess its performance in estimating ice thickness and volume for the Tasman Glacier. The mass-flux model estimated a volume of 14.96 km3 for the Tasman Glacier, but generally underestimated ice thickness with an RMSE of 148 m between the modelled and the gravity-derived ice thickness. This discrepancy could be reduced by constraining ice thickness for a larger area of the glacier and providing a more recent DEM to the mass flux model. Studies such as this highlight the importance of constraining ice thickness in order to improve glacio-dynamic models and global volume estimates.


Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are an emerging computation platform known for their safety-critical need. In this paper, we conduct an empirical study on a widely used open-source UAV software framework, Paparazzi, with the goal of understanding the safety-critical concerns of UAV software from a bottom-up developer-in-the-field perspective. We set our focus on the use of Bounding Functions (BFs), the runtime checks injected by Paparazzi developers on the range of variables. Through an in-depth analysis on BFs in the Paparazzi autopilot software, we found a large number of them (109 instances) are used to bound safety-critical variables essential to the cyber-physical nature of the UAV, such as its thrust, its speed, and its sensor values. The novel contributions of this study are two fold. First, we take a static approach to classify all BF instances, presenting a novel datatype-based 5-category taxonomy with fine-grained insight on the role of BFs in ensuring the safety of UAV systems. Second, we dynamically evaluate the impact of the BF uses through a differential approach, establishing the UAV behavioral difference with and without BFs. The two-pronged static and dynamic approach together illuminates a rarely studied design space of safety-critical UAV software systems.


Background: Migraine is a prevalent neurological disorder with a complex genetic background characterized by recurrent episodes of headache. The disease is subclassified into migraine with aura (MA) and migraine without aura (MO). Many association studies have been performed to date to identify genetic risk variants for common migraine, most of them focusing on selected candidate genes, with variable and often inconsistent results. Recently, a clinic-based genome-wide association study for migraine reported a functionally relevant risk variant (SNP rs1835740), involved in glutamate homeostasis, which showed a significant association with MA. We aimed to replicate this finding in a clinic-based study of a Spanish cohort with MA and MO patients. Methods: We genotyped SNP rs1835740 in a Spanish sample of 1521 patients and 1379 screened controls and performed a case-control association study. Conclusion: No association was found between the assayed SNP and any of the clinical groups considered.


BACKGROUND
Differential diagnosis of ventricular enlargement with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) related symptoms is challenging. Patients with enlarged ventricles often manifest cognitive deterioration but their long-term outcome is not well known.

OBJECTIVES
We aim to evaluate long-term cognitive outcome in patients with enlarged ventricles and clinically suspected NPH.

METHODS
A neurologist and a neurosurgeon clinically evaluated 468 patients with enlarged ventricles and suspected NPH using radiological methods, intraventricular pressure monitoring, and frontal cortical brain biopsy. The neurologist confirmed final diagnoses after a median follow-up interval of 4.8 years.

RESULTS
Altogether, 232 patients (50%) with enlarged ventricles did not fulfill the criteria for shunt surgery. The incidence of dementia among patients with enlarged ventricles, and at least one NPH-related symptom with adequate follow-up data (n = 446) was high, varying from 77 (iNPH, shunt responders) to 141/1000 person-years (non-shunted patients with enlarged ventricles). At the end of the follow-up, 59% of all these patients were demented. The demented population comprised 73% of non-shunted patients with enlarged ventricles, 63% of shunted iNPH patients that did not respond to treatment, and 46% of iNPH patients that were initially responsive to shunting. The most common cause of dementia was Alzheimer's disease (n = 94, 36%), followed by vascular dementia (n = 68, 26%).

CONCLUSIONS
One-half of patients with enlarged ventricles and clinically suspected NPH were not shunted after intraventricular pressure monitoring. Dementia caused by various neurodegenerative diseases was frequently seen in patients with ventricular enlargement. Thus, careful diagnostic evaluation in collaboration with neurologists and neurosurgeons is emphasized.


The French sanitary pass led to an increase in vaccination rates in France, but local heterogeneities in vaccination rates remain. To identify potential determinants of these heterogeneities and how the French sanitary pass influenced them, we used a data-driven approach on exhaustive nationwide data, gathering 181 socio-economic and geographic factors. Our analysis reveals that, both before and after the introduction of the French sanitary pass, factors with the largest impact are related to poverty, with the most deprived areas having greater than 10 times the odds of being among the districts with lower vaccination rates.


Results from working analog VLSI implementations of two different pulse stream neural network forms are reported. The circuits are rendered relatively invariant to processing variations, and the problem of cascadability of synapses to form large systems is addressed. A strategy for interchip communication of large numbers of neural states has been implemented in silicon and results are presented. The circuits demonstrated confront many of the issues that blight massively parallel analog systems, and offer solutions.