Author(s): Hennessee, Joseph P | Advisor(s): Knowlton, Barbara J | Abstract: Aging is associated with declines in memory performance and profound functional and structural changes in the brain, though older adult's ability to selectively learn and retrieve valuable information appears to be well preserved. Prior research suggests that older adults differentially employ elaborative encoding strategies when encoding valuable items and selectively allocate attention to these items, as reviewed in Chapter 1. The underlying aims of the current study were to examine how this selective learning affects different aspects of memory and what cognitive and neural mechanisms may support older adult's effective learning of valuable information. Chapter 2 describes findings from a project aimed at determining how value-directed remembering affects different aspects of memory. This research suggests that selectively encoding valuable items is associated with greater recognition performance, higher confidence, and increased recollection in both younger and older adults. Although age-related declines in recollection are typically observed, value's enhancement of item recollection appears to be intact in healthy aging. Selectively encoding valuable items also resulted in stronger binding between items and incidentally learned task-relevant details, perhaps at the expense of encoding extraneous details. Older adults did not demonstrate greater item-location memory for valuable items, suggesting that value's influence on associative binding may be diminished in aging. Chapters 3 and 4 describe two projects designed to investigate how strategic and automatic processes contribute to value-directed remembering, and whether differences in the structural integrity of white matter tracts predicts differences in older adult's ability to selectively learn based on value. The findings of these two studies suggest that younger adults are relying on a more automatic reward circuit involving the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area, whereas older adults rely on semantic processing in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF). Older adults may be relying on the IFOF in a compensatory manner. The implications of these findings for theories of aging and learning are discussed in Chapter 5.


Water boards perform stream restoration projects mainly to restore ecology. Hydrodynamic modelling is an important part of those restoration projects, mainly to forecast future water levels and flood risk. In Dutch stream restoration projects, it is very common to use one-dimensional Sobek software for hydrodynamic modelling. Still, though monitoring of stream restoration projects is scarcely performed, it is a common belief that hydraulic forecasts are not always optimal. The general assumption is that multi-dimensional models can improve upon the predictions made with the one-dimensional model.
This research makes a comparison between modelling stream restoration projects in their design phase with one-dimensional Sobek software compared to two-dimensional Delft3D FM software. The Delft3D FM software was specifically selected out of the two-dimensional models available, because of its flexible grid. This means both spacing and shape of the grid can vary, which is especially useful in modelling meandering streams.
The objective of the research was: to determine if modelling stream restoration projects, in their design phase, with a two-dimensional (Delft3D FM) compared to a one-dimensional (Sobek) model has advantages in forecasting water levels and developments in morphology and vegetation. To investigate this, two restoration projects were modelled, one in the Lunterse beek and one in the Tungelroyse beek. Both projects were traditional stream restoration projects (re-meandering projects).
For the stream restoration project analysed in the Lunterse beek two models were set-up, a Sobek model and a Delft3D FM model. Both models were set-up for the period shortly after restoration and stationary discharge scenarios were used as model forcing. A comparison between simulated water levels and observed water levels showed that the one-dimensional model performed better than the two-dimensional model for this particular situation. It was also found that the water level simulations with the Delft3D FM model could improve if lower roughness values were selected or if the bed level interpolation method was changed though, which was not the case for the Sobek model. It was found that differences in output between the models were likely caused by differences in bathymetry and experience in working with the models.
For the stream restoration project performed in the Tungelroyse beek, a Delft3D FM model was set-up. Again, the period shortly after restoration was modelled using stationary discharge scenarios as forcing for the model. Performance of water level forecasts improved compared to the Delft3D FM model of the Lunterse beek. However, it was concluded that advantages of a two-dimensional model over a one-dimensional model will likely not come from water level forecasts since the water levels simulated with the Sobek model are already accurate. It is expected that the two-dimensional model can list equally good results though if more experience is gained with two-dimensional modelling in stream restoration projects.
Forecasts in morphological developments were made based upon output of the Delft3D FM models. First the locations where transport can be expected were determined using the Shields parameter and the critical Shields parameter. After that flow velocity and flow direction maps were made for the most important discharge scenarios. For the Lunterse beek these maps were qualitatively compared to monitored quantitative developments in bed level. The maps created with the high uniform discharge scenarios (T100, T10 and T1) showed good correspondence to monitored developments, while the lower discharge scenarios (T0.05 and T0.005) showed some correspondence looking into bed erosion and sedimentation. It was found that the monitored discharge for the given period was between the discharge used as forcing for the T0.05 and T0.005 scenarios. The bank erosion that was monitored in the field could not be explained by these scenarios. An explanation for this can be that water levels are overestimated in the model, wherefore flow velocities are underestimated for equal discharges.
The flow velocity and flow direction maps made for the Tungelroyse beek agreed with qualitative developments monitored with respect to morphology. However, no quantitative measurements were performed of bed level developments. Therefore, agreement between forecasts made with the models and developments encountered in reality could not be proven. In the end it was concluded that there might be benefits of a two-dimensional model with respect to forecasting morphological developments after stream restoration in its design phase, but this could not be proven in this research.
To make forecasts about expected developments in vegetation, flow velocity output of the Delft3D FM models was used. In the literature it was found that more vegetation can be expected for locations with low flow velocities and less vegetation if flow velocities are high. Though developments in vegetation depend on many other factors, it was found that forecasts corresponded quite well to monitored developments in vegetation for some scenarios. Validation was performed for the Lunterse beek by using a high resolution aerial image and for the Tungelroyse beek using a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) map. It has to be noted though that in-stream vegetation developments could not be validated, while these are often very important for water boards.
Finally it was concluded that using a two-dimensional Delft3D FM model in the design phase of stream restoration projects to make forecasts in vegetation development might be beneficial. Using flow velocity output of the two-dimensional model to base these forecasts upon gave good results for a few discharge scenarios for both streams. There might also be a benefit in two-dimensional modelling with respect to making forecasts in morphological developments, however this is only partly supported by this research. Finally, it became clear that advantages of a two-dimensional model compared to one-dimensional model are likely not present in water level forecasts since the one-dimensional model already performs very well. It is expected though, that the water level forecasts made with the two-dimensional model can be improved by gathering more experience. This should eventually lead to water level forecasts that are just as accurate for the two-dimensional model as for the one-dimensional model.


NEXT-MM is a general-purpose high pressure (10 bar, ∼ 25 l active volume) Xenon-based TPC, read out in charge mode with an 0.8 cm × 0.8 cm-segmented 700 cm2 plane (1152 ch) of the latest microbulk-Micromegas technology. It has been recently commissioned at University of Zaragoza as part of the R&D of the NEXT 0νββ experiment, although the experiment's first stage is currently being built based on a SiPM/PMT-readout concept relying on electroluminescence. Around 2 million events were collected during the last months, stemming from the low energy γ-rays emitted by a 241Am source when interacting with the Xenon gas (Eγ = 26, 30, 59.5 keV). The localized nature of such events around atmospheric pressure, the long drift times, as well as the possibility to determine their production time from the associated α particle in coincidence, allow the extraction of primordial properties of the TPC filling gas, namely the drift velocity, diffusion and attachment coefficients. In this work we focus on the little explored combination of Xe and trimethylamine (TMA) for which, in particular, such properties are largely unknown. This gas mixture offers potential advantages over pure Xenon when aimed at Rare Event Searches, mainly due to its Penning characteristics, wave-length shifting properties and reduced diffusion, and it is being actively investigated by our collaboration. The chamber is currently operated at 2.7 bar, as an intermediate step towards the envisaged 10 bar. We report here its performance as well as a first implementation of the calibration procedures that have allowed the extension of the previously reported energy resolution to the whole readout plane (10.6% FWHM@30 keV).


Abstract Reservoir-scale structural heterogeneity, especially in terms of mechanical layering and natural fracture systems, is often insufficiently constrained by subsurface data alone. In North Oman, a large dataset in Cretaceous carbonates comprises data from multiple subsurface reservoirs and analogue outcrops. This provides an ideal opportunity to integrate outcrop constraints into the subsurface, and to calibrate the resulting models dynamically. For this purpose, a reservoir-scale analogue outcrop fracture template was created for the Jebel Madmar anticline in the Oman Mountains foothills. The outcrop template provides improved conceptual and quantitative constraints on (i) fracture types and dimensions (e.g. of NE-trending fracture corridors), (ii) fracture heterogeneity, both aerially and stratigraphically, (iii) fracture properties (e.g. cementation evolution, variations due to preferential fault/fracture reactivation) and (iv) structural evolution and history of reactivation. Within a regionally consistent structural framework, the outcrop template has greatly assisted in the creation of geologically realistic models for one of the fractured carbonate reservoirs, complementing the subsurface dataset. Initial dynamic calibration indicates successful application of the outcrop template in that the spatial fracture heterogeneity was succesfuUy captured in the reservoir models and provides a history match to production data. The reduced range of possible fracture system geometries in turn has provided better constraints on the effective fracture properties.


Well understanding the access behavior of hot data is significant for NAND flash memory due to its crucial impact on the efficiency of garbage collection (GC) and wear leveling (WL), which respectively dominate the performance and life span of SSD. Generally, both GC and WL rely greatly on the recognition accuracy of hot data identification (HDI). However, in this paper, the first time we propose a novel concept of hot data prediction (HDP), where the conventional HDI becomes unnecessary. First, we develop a hybrid optimized echo state network (HOESN), where sufficiently unbiased and continuously shrunk output weights are learnt by a sparse regression based on L2 and L1/2 regularization. Second, quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) is employed to compute reservoir parameters (i.e., global scaling factor, reservoir size, scaling coefficient and sparsity degree) for further improving prediction accuracy and reliability. Third, in the test on a chaotic benchmark (Rossler), the HOESN performs better than those of six recent state-of-the-art methods. Finally, simulation results about six typical metrics tested on five real disk workloads and on-chip experiment outcomes verified from an actual SSD prototype indicate that our HOESN-based HDP can reliably promote the access performance and endurance of NAND flash memories.


This paper applies credit-risk pricing theory from literature on bonds to price loans in the peerto-peer (P2P) lending market. The purpose is to study the risk-adjusted return for investors investing in P2P loans. Historical data from the loan book of the P2P lending platform Lending Club, are used to attain estimates for risk in the P2P sector. These estimates are put into an extended version of the CIR univariate (ECIR) model, which in turn is used to price the loans issued at the Lending Club platform in 2015. The main finding is that all of the the interest rates set by Lending Club are higher than the theoretical interest rates from the ECIR model. This means that Lending Club compensates investors more than the ECIR model suggests, given the risk they have taken on. Furthermore, the spread between the two increases as the riskiness of the loan increases. We have considered plausible explanations for the difference in interest rates, and find that it seems to be connected to perception of risk and market inefficiency. Still, there are reasons to believe that the difference in real and modelled interest rates indicates the excistence of excess returns for inverstors in the P2P lending market. However, further research on P2P lending will be nescesary to fully understand the risk-return relationship for the investors.


Magnesium alloys are very attractive materials for applying to the development of automobile parts or electric goods where a lightweight and a higher strength need. Due to higher ratio of strength vs. weight and stiffness vs. weight, various magnesium alloys are well applied in much weight saving design applications though an extrusion or a die-casting process. However, for the requisites of higher strength and weight savings, some new fabrication processes has been and it can be realized though the aid of the injection molding technology. To obtain the parametric data based upon the injection molding process, various experiments were executed for AZ91D magnesium alloy. This research proposes the optimum condition of an injection temperature, the first and the second pressure. The process was lined-up successfully often changing the injection unit and the hydraulic unit from the conventional plastic injection machine.


We describe the processing of the 336 billion raw data samples from the High Frequency Instrument (HFI) which we performed to produce six temperature maps from the first 295 days of Planck-HFI survey data. These maps provide an accurate rendition of the sky emission at 100, 143, 217, 353, 545 and 857 GHz with an angular resolution ranging from 9.9 to 4.4′. The white noise level is around 1.5 μK degree or less in the 3 main CMB channels (100–217 GHz). The photometric accuracy is better than 2% at frequencies between 100 and 353 GHz and around 7% at the two highest frequencies. The maps created by the HFI Data Processing Centre reach our goals in terms of sensitivity, resolution, and photometric accuracy. They are already sufficiently accurate and well-characterised to allow scientific analyses which are presented in an accompanying series of early papers. At this stage, HFI data appears to be of high quality and we expect that with further refinements of the data processing we should be able to achieve, or exceed, the science goals of the Planck project.


Aims. We determine carbon, oxygen, and their isotopic abundances based on CO and OH spectra in 23 red giant stars, and identify possible origin of difficulty in abundance analysis of cool luminous stars. Methods. We apply the line-by-line analysis based on the classical micro-turbulent model and 1D model photospheres. Results. We found empirically that there is a critical value of logW/ν ≈− 4.75 (W is the equivalent width and ν the wavenumber) above which the observed lines do not follow the classical line formation theory based on the micro-turbulent model and that the classical abundance analysis can be applied only to the weak lines of logW/ν −4.4 are contaminated by the contribution from outer molecular layers. The less strong but saturated lines of −4.75 < logW/ν < −4.4 (intermediate-strength lines) cannot be understood at all with the abundance and turbulent velocity based on the weak lines. By studying the behavior of these lines and considering other observations such as the detection of H2O lines, not only in the late M giants but also in the early M and K giants, we show that the intermediate-strength lines are essentially identical to the strong lines in that they also include contamination from the extra molecular layers. Thus, the behavior of the intermediate-strength lines, including those with LEP as high as 2 eV, appears to be nothing but a manifestation of the warm molecular envelope or MOLsphere. Conclusions. The infrared spectra of K–M giant stars are a hybrid of at least two components originating in the photosphere and MOLsphere. Only the weak lines, mostly high excitation, are relatively free from the effect of MOLsphere and can be used to extract photospheric abundances. The strong lines and the intermediate-strength lines, which dominate the observed infrared spectra, are affected badly by contamination from the MOLsphere. For this reason, they provide little information about the photosphere, but instead can be important proves of the warm molecular envelope for which little is known yet. In the interpretation and analysis of the infrared spectra of K–M giant stars, it is essential to consider their hybrid nature.


A Mn-containing master alloy (MA) has been specially designed, through thermodynamic and metallurgical criteria, for obtaining high performance low alloy PM steels by SPSS or DPDS. This MA exhibits improved characteristics with respect to ferromanganese and other Mn carriers for alloying PM steels preventing oxidation, keeping a high compressibility of the powder mixture and providing opportunities for low temperature processing. The improved sinterability through the formation of a transient liquid phase leads to dimensional stability and high reproducibility of mechanical properties after sintering at 1120°C. The microstructural development of the PM steels was studied during the sintering cycles. The final microstructure of these PM steels, after defined sintering cycles, was characterised by LOM while the mechanical properties of the consolidated materials were determined by tensile testing.


Abstract Dactylogyrus species (Dactylogyridae: Monogenea) are a group of monogenean gill parasites that are highly specific to freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae. Dactylogyrus species were sampled from 19 cyprinids and one percid collected in Europe. Using partial 18S rDNA and ITS1 sequences, a phylogeny of 51 Dactylogyrus species was reconstructed to investigate the patterns of parasite speciation and diversification. Three main Dactylogyrus lineages were recognized from all phylogenetic trees, that is, analysis of 18S rDNA alone and combined 18SrDNA and ITS1. The first lineage associates the Dactylogyrus species of Cyprinus carpio and Carassius auratus of the Cyprininae; the second associates Dactylogyrus species of the Gobioninae, Pseudorasbora parva of the Rasborinae, and Ctenopharyngodon idella of the Cyprininae; and the third associates Dactylogyrus species of the Leuciscinae and Alburninae and Barbus barbus of the Cyprininae. Our results suggest that the genus Dactylogyrus is of quite recent origin and that these three lineages separated from each other in a very short period of time. Host subfamily mapping onto the parasite tree inferred from analysis of the combined dataset showed that the Cyprininae could be plesiomorphic hosts for Dactylogyrus. Dactylogyrus parasites would have secondarily colonized the Percidae and representatives of the Leuciscinae, Alburninae, Gobioninae, and Rasborinae. Comparison of host and parasite phylogenetic relationships indicated that a very high number of parasite duplications occurred within two of the three Dactylogyrus lineages. Dactylogyrus diversification can be mainly explained by sympatric intrahost speciation events that seem to be correlated to strict host specificity. Moreover, the present study shows that the congeneric parasites speciating within one host tend to occupy niches within hosts differing at least in one niche parameter.


Generalization is at the core of evaluation, we estimate the performance of a model on data we have never seen but expect to encounter later on. Our current evaluation procedures assume that the data already seen is a random sample of the domain from which all future data will be drawn. Unfortunately, in practical situations this is rarely the case. Changes in the underlying probabilities will occur and we must evaluate how robust our models to such differences. This paper takes the position that models should be robust in two senses. Firstly, that any small changes in the joint probabilities should not cause large changes in performance. Secondly, that when the dependencies between attributes and the class are constant and only the marginals change, simple adjustments should be sufficient to restore a model's performance. This paper is intended to generate debate on how measures of robustness might become part of our normal evaluation procedures. Certainly some clear demonstrations of robustness would improve our confidence in our models' practical merits.


OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study were (1) to estimate the prevalence, bothersomeness, and variation of HIV-related symptoms in a nationally representative sample of HIV-infected adults receiving medical care and (2) to evaluate new aggregate measures of symptom frequency and bothersomeness.

METHODS
Beginning in January 1996, 76% of a multistage national probability sample of 4,042 HIV-infected adults receiving medical care were interviewed. Participants endorsed the presence and degree of bothersomeness of 14 HIV-related symptoms during the preceding 6 months. Sex-standardized symptom number and bothersomeness indices were constructed. After sampling weights were incorporated, symptom distributions were compared according to selected characteristics by analysis of variance and multiple linear regression modeling.

RESULTS
Prevalence of specific symptoms in the reference population was as follows: fever/night sweats, 51.1%; diarrhea, 51%; nausea/anorexia, 49.8%; dysesthesias, 48.9%; severe headache, 39.3%; weight loss, 37.1%; vaginal symptoms, 35.6% of women; sinus symptoms, 34.8%; eye trouble, 32.4%; cough/dyspnea, 30.4%; thrush, 27.3%; rash, 24.3%; oral pain, 24.1%; and Kaposi's sarcoma, 4%. Aggregate measures were reliable (Cronbach's alpha > or =0.75) and demonstrated construct validity when compared with other measures of disease severity. After adjustment for CD4 count, both symptom number and bothersomeness varied significantly (P <0.05) by teaching status of care setting, exposure/risk group, educational achievement, sex, annual income, employment, and insurance category. However, the magnitude of variation was small. Symptoms were greatest in women and injection drug users, as well as in persons with lower educational levels, lower income, and Medicare enrollment or those who were followed up at teaching hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence and bothersomeness of HIV-related symptoms are substantial and vary by setting of care and patient characteristics.


Through the pyrolysis experiments of the building room's common combustible materials in this paper, the weight loss curves were obtained and the kinetic parameters of these three substances - activation energy and pre factor were got on which based the thermal kinetics analysis. While the reaction properties of materials were obtained by the smoldering experiments with different heat flow on a certain degree,with the increase of the heat flow, the temperature and time curve offset to the left. This is also consistent with the result of pyrolysis experiment. To some extent, this will laid a theoretical foundation for the building interior materials handling fire.


Abstract. The high-spatial-resolution observations of the auroral E-region echoes by the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) HF radar at Pykkvibaer, Iceland considered in a previous study are re-examined. Both the spectral power and Doppler velocity of the E-region HF echoes exhibit strong dependence on the slant range and expected off-perpendicular magnetic aspect angle (aspect angle attenuation). We consider the aspect angle attenuation effects in identification of spectral HF echo types. It is argued that echoes with Doppler velocities close to the nominal value of the ion-acoustic speed C s (~350 m/s) and echoes with velocities greatly exceeding the C s (up to 600 m/s) are more related in their generation mechanisms than previously thought. It is proposed to treat the echoes near the C s as aspect-angle-attenuated counterparts of the high-velocity echoes and that both types are generated directly by the modified two-stream instability with aspect angle attenuation resulting in the preferential phase velocity saturation at the C s .


Algorithms used for mitigation of the effects of atmospheric turbulence on video sequences often rely on a process for creating a reference image to register all of the frames. Because such a pristine image is generally not available, no-reference image quality metrics can be used to identify frames in a sequence that have minimum distortion. Here, we propose a metric that quantifies image warping by measuring image straightness based on line detection. The average length of straight lines in a frame is used to select best frames in a sequence and to generate a reference frame for a subsequent dewarping algorithm. We perform tests with this metric on simulated data that exhibits varying degrees of distortion and blur and spans normalized turbulence strengths between 0.75 and 4.5. We show, through these simulations, that the metric can differentiate between weak and moderate turbulence effects. We also show in simulations that the optical flow that uses a reference frame generated by this metric produces consistently improved image quality. This improvement is even higher when we employ the metric to guide optical flow that is applied to three real video sequences taken over a 7 km path.


Despite the immense progress in recent years, efficient solutions for monitoring remote areas are still missing today. This is especially notable in the context of versatile maritime and offshore use cases, owing to a broader span of operating regions and a lack of radio network infrastructures. In this article, we address the noted challenge by delivering a conceptual solution based on the convergence of three emerging technologies: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), battery-less sensors, and wireless powered communication networks (WPCNs). Our contribution offers a systematic description of the ecosystem related to the proposed solution by identifying its key actors and design dimensions together with the relevant resources and performance metrics. A system-level modeling-based evaluation of an illustrative scenario delivers deeper insights into the considered operation and the associated trade-offs. Further, unresolved challenges and perspective directions are underpinned for a subsequent study.


Arguably the most influential theologian in the Latin West, Augustine of Hippo conventionally figures as the greatest ally, after the Bible, of Protestantism in Reformation Europe. Roman Catholics, however, also laid claim to Augustine as their chief witness—as the works of Peter Canisius (1521–1597), the most prominent catechist in the early Society of Jesus, attest. His Large Catechism adduces the authority of Augustine as "the truly Catholic doctor," an authority Canisius repeatedly invokes to assert Catholic orthodoxy.


Cosmology is one of the three key domains used by anthropologists to define hunter‐gatherers. Although there is much variety found among hunter‐gatherers, broad continuities are typically envisaged across a range of cosmological themes including animism, shamanism, double creation, sacred geographies, tricksters, and worldview. Since the 1980s, researchers have problematized many of these categories and taken cosmology from the field of "primitive" religion and spirits to human relations with other humans, and human relations with nonhuman persons. By interrogating many of the assumptions about subject–object relations and human relationships with nature, which anthropologists have received as part of their European intellectual heritage, scholars of hunter‐gatherer cosmology are reuniting spheres of knowledge of science and philosophy that have been divorced since the nineteenth century.


A total of 40 extracted human maxillary premolar teeth were used in this study. Teeth were randomly distributed between two main groups. In group A conservative class II Box preparations were cut in each tooth. In group B the proximal cavity was prepared through the occlusal surface and the proximal marginal ridge was left intact (tunnel preparation). Group A and group B were randomly subdivided into two subgroups (a & b). In groups Aa and Bb a posterior composite resin material was used to restore the prepared cavities (no base was used). While in groups Aa & Bb the posterior composite resin was used with a glass ionomer cement base. The teeth were tested on an Instron testing machine for their resistance to fracture, force being applied equally to buccal and lingual cusps. Mean fractures values were: Gp. Aa 285 LB.: Gr. Bb 245 lb. Bb 240 lb. One way analysis of variance showed no statistical difference between the four groups. The tunnel preparation did not increase the resistance to fracture of the restored tooth compared to a box preparation.


In this paper a scalable multiple description video coding approach based on embedded multiple description scalar quantization (EMDSQ) is presented. The proposed approach enables the progressive transmission of video over unreliable channels with variable bandwidth. Experimental results show that in lossy transmission conditions the proposed embedded multiple description coding system yields better rate-distortion performance compared to single description video coding and can efficiently sustain 20% of losses.


AIMS
This paper reports on a Training Needs Analysis for Non-Medical Prescribers commissioned by a south of England Strategic Health Authority.

BACKGROUND
The aim of the TNA was to inform future policy, educational provision and practice development and provide nurse managers with significant information on the perceived Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs of the non-medical prescribers.

METHODS
Data were collected from a sample of 270 non-medical prescribers using an in-depth questionnaire, and telephone interviews with a purposive sample of 11 key stakeholders.

RESULTS
The findings report: * The qualifications that non-medical prescribers possess. * The level of confidence described by the non-medical prescribers in their role. * What non-medical prescribers identify as their present and future CPD requirements in relation to prescribing. * What education and training provision non-medical prescribers have attended in relation to their prescribing role since qualifying.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest, first that short courses that were specific to the non-medical prescribers role were considered to be the most popular and useful. However, courses needed to be advertised well in advance. Second, training gaps were identified.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
Pharmacology and prescribing are rapidly changing and require regular CPD in order to keep up to date with the latest developments. Non-medical prescribing is a comparatively new innovation to the NHS, therefore those who are not medically qualified need mentorship from experienced prescribers, as well as the encouragement from nurse managers to be confident prescribers themselves and enhance patient care.


The so-called Vesting Clause of Article II of the Constitution, which provides that The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America, stands in apparent contrast with the Article I Vesting Clause, which provides that All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States. . . . . This textual difference, usually bolstered with historical materials, has long undergirded the claim that the Article II Vesting Clause implicitly grants the President an array of residual powers, especially foreign affairs powers, that are not specified in the remainder of Article II. This argument, which we call the Vesting Clause Thesis, was famously advanced by Alexander Hamilton in his first Pacificus essay defending President Washington's 1793 Neutrality Proclamation. In recent years, the Vesting Clause Thesis has gained newfound popularity. White House officials were apparently prepared to deploy the argument in support of the Bush Administration's authority to use military force against Iraq had Congress not expressly granted such authority. Professors Saikrishna Prakash and Michael Ramsey recently defended the Vesting Clause Thesis at length in an important article in the Yale Law Journal. Professor John Yoo has invoked the Thesis in a number of recent articles as support for a variety of alleged presidential foreign affairs powers. The Thesis also has received recent support from Professor Phillip Trimble, and its historical account of executive foreign affairs authority is similar to the account developed in a thoughtful recent book by Professor H. Jefferson Powell. This Article critiques the Vesting Clause Thesis on both textual and historical grounds. As for text, the difference in wording between the Article I and Article II Vesting Clauses can be explained on a number of other plausible grounds and need not be read as distinguishing between a limited grant of legislative powers and a plenary grant of executive power. As for history, the narrative that is offered by proponents of the Vesting Clause Thesis has two central features. First, it is a story of continuity, whereby European political theory is carried forward, relatively unblemished, into American constitutional design and practice. Second, the narrative relies on what could be called executive power essentialism - the proposition that the Founders had in mind, and intended the Constitution to reflect, a conception of what is naturally or essentially within executive power. We argue that this historical narrative is wrong on both counts. Among other things, the narrative fails to take account of complexity within eighteenth century political theory, the experience of state constitutionalism before 1787, and the self-conscious rejection by the Founders of the British model of government. The narrative also understates the degree to which the constitutional Founders were functionalists, willing to deviate from pure political theory and essentialist categories in order to design an effective government.


A comprehensive collection of results on longitudinal double-spin asymmetries is presented for charged pions and kaons produced in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering of electrons and positrons on the proton and deuteron, based on the full HERMES data set. The dependence of the asymmetries on hadron transverse momentum and azimuthal angle extends the sensitivity to the flavor structure of the nucleon beyond the distribution functions accessible in the collinear framework. No strong dependence on those variables is observed. In addition, the hadron charge-difference asymmetry is presented, which under certain model assumptions provides access to the helicity distributions of valence quarks.


Although learned actions can be automatically elicited in response to expected stimuli for which they have been prepared, little is known about whether learned actions can be automatically initiated by unexpected stimuli. Responses of unwitting participants to balls unexpectedly thrown by an experimenter (n = 10) or propelled by a hidden ball cannon (n = 22) were recorded by motion capture. Experience of ball catching correlated negatively with hand movement distance, indicating most responses were defensive, but successful catches were made in response to both thrown and fired balls. Although reaction time was faster in response to fired balls, interception was more frequent in response to thrown balls, indicating that movement cues by the thrower facilitated unexpected ball catching. The latency to begin a catching action by the only successful catcher of an unexpectedly fired ball was 296 msec. Given current knowledge of reaction time tasks and latencies of neural substrates of conscious perception and deliberation, it is probable that there was insufficient time available for conscious preparation of catch attempts. Ball catching may represent an example of a learned response which can be rapidly and unconsciously initiated without contextual priming or expectation of the stimulus.


Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of the Built Environment in Housing to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017


In the era of the digital economy (ICT,
Internet Objects, Cloud, Big and Open Data, etc.), we observe important
transformations linked to this digital revolution [1], including development of
collaborative and participative platforms, the rise of inter-company,
inter-organization and inter-network collaborations, as well as the development
of sharing and open innovation dynamics (crowd sourcing, crowd funding, maker
space, Fab Lab, Innovation Laboratory Open, etc.). We wanted to better
understand how innovation was developed in this context and to this end, we
conducted a thorough study of an open-value network aimed at developing
innovative products. The network studied, Sensorica, is organized around three
fundamental pillars, each with a specific role: an association, the NPO, for
governance, a network of companies for commercialization and an open,
international community for collaborative work and the development of innovation.
It is thanks to a platform on the internet that individual workers, motivated
by the values of the peer to peer (P2P) or participative economy are involved
in creating together innovations on distributed projects. In the context of
participatory economics, this network illustrates new forms of cooperation,
ways of managing collaborations based on the model of P2P, based on a
partnership of shared values system.


Although neuromuscular block (NMB) allows immobility for airway management and surgical exposure, termination of its effect is limited by and associated with side effects of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Sugammadex is a selective relaxant binding agent that has been shown to reverse deep NMB, even when administered 3 minutes following a 1.2 mg/kg dose of rocuronium. This novel drug is a modified gamma cyclodextrin, that through encapsulation process terminates the effects of rocuronium and vecuronium (aminosteroid muscle relaxants), and enables the anesthesiologists rapidly to reverse profound NMB induced by rocuronium or vecuronium, in a "can't ventilate, can't intubate" crisis. In this review, data from published phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials are reviewed and presented. In addition, clinical trials on special patient populations (patients with pulmonary disease and renal insufficiency) are evaluated. Each article reviewed will conclude with a discussion of relevance, focus on adverse event profile, and clinical usefulness.


Hereditary elliptocytosis (HE) is a group of hemolytic anemias characterized by the presence of elliptical erythrocytes. The underlying alterations lie in the proteins of the membrane skeleton. Defects of the αI domain of spectrin have been defined based on a decrease in the normal 80-kD αI domain and a concomitant increase in one or more lower molecular weight peptides. We have studied three Brazilian kindreds with black ancestry, who presented mild common spαI/50 HE. Our aim was to determine the molecular alteration responsible for the spαI/50 HE observed in these three kindreds and to evaluate the presence and influence of allele αLELY in the expression of this type of HE. In order to establish the molecular defect, exons 5, 6 and 11 were amplified and submitted to a nonradioactive single strand conformation polymorphism protocol. An identical band shift in exon 6 was observed in all 3 patients and their affected relatives. Direct sequencing of the amplification products of exon 6 showed the same molecular defect in all patients: a T→C substitution, responsible for the L260P mutation. Allele αLELY, detected by PCR and restriction enzyme digestion, was present in the heterozygous form in the three propositi and was associated in trans with the elliptocytogenic mutation. Blood smears of the patients with HE and αLELY in trans showed pronounced elliptocytosis, poikilocytosis and a few small red cell fragments, whereas the blood smears of their relatives, who had HE without allele αLELY, showed mild common HE with a predominance of ovalocytes and the absence of poikilocytes. We conclude that allele αLELY does not lead to the worsening of clinical conditions when associated in trans with mild HE, but can be easily distinguished by a blood smear analysis. The predominance of the L260P mutation in the kindreds studied could be related to the colonization of Brazil during the slave trade by Africans from the Benin-Togo area, where this mutation is particularly common.


Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is becoming a major threat to public health. It is imperative to find new therapeutic interventions to fight pathogens. Thus, deciphering host-pathogen interactions may allow defining targets for new strategies for effective treatments of infectious diseases. This chapter focuses on the bacterial manipulation of the host cell actin cytoskeleton. We discuss three infectious processes. The first is pathogen establishment of infection/invasion, explaining cellular uptake pathways that rely on actin, such as phagocytosis and macropinocytosis. The second process focus on the establishment of a replication niche, a process that subverts cytoskeletal functions associated with membrane trafficking namely phagosome maturation and cellular innate immune responses. Finally, pathogen dissemination is an emerging field that microfilaments have shown to participate: pathogen motility through the cytoplasm and from cell-to-cell or on the outer surface of the plasma membrane mimicking a receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathway that helps the projection of pathogens to neighboring cells. It also establishes a connection with the innate immunity related with induction of cell signaling to inflammation, inflammasome activation, and programmed cell death. These studies revealed several potential targets related to actin cytoskeleton manipulation to design new therapeutic strategies for bacterial infections.


The purpose of this study was to develop artificial neural network (ANN) models for predicting the effects of wood species, sodium perborate tetrahydrate (SPBTH) ratio, time, and beating degree on tensile index and brightness in bleaching pulp. Unbleached kraft-AQ bamboo and poplar pulps were exposed to first stage oxygen delignification for bleaching under 0,5 MPa, 3% NaOH and 12% consistency conditions. SPBTH bleaching was then carried out as the final stage. SPBTH bleached pulp was next beaten using two different degrees (55 SR° and 65 SR°). Tensile index and brightness data for training, validation and testing of the models were elicited from these experimental investigations. The models were established using the resulting data. The lowest R2 value was 0,98 among training, testing and validation data sets in the prediction of both tensile index and brightness. The networks therefore explain at least 98% of the experimental data for all data sets. The results indicate that ANN is a useful and effective tool for predicting tensile index and brightness. This study thus describes a novel and alternative approach to predicting tensile index and brightness in bleaching pulp compared to the literature.


The high sintering temperatures required for solid-state derived powders is a significant obstacle inhibiting more widespread use of single pure phase BaZrO3 with high density. The aim of this research was to reduce the sintering temperature whilst maintaining pure single phase BaZrO3. By using of sintering aid, such as TiO2 additive, the pure perovskite BaZrO3 powder have been fabricated with the solid state chemistry at 1250°C. Low levels of TiO2 (3%) produced the pure BaZrO3 particles with the smallest size, and the corresponding sintered ceramic has the density of 95% theoretical using sintering temperature as low as 1550°C. The microstructure of the particular ceramic with full density confirmed that the particle grain in ceramic block have shaped with the less pore and connected thickly.


ABSTRACT Chinese bureaucracy, with its long history and distinctive characteristics, has provided the organizational basis of governance and played a pivotal role in the economic takeoff in recent decades. Chinese bureaucracy also shows intriguing dualism between entrepreneurial activism and bureaucratic inertia, between formal rules and informal institutions, and between high responsiveness and noticeable loose coupling. In this study, I explore these distinctive features of Chinese bureaucracy through three lenses: Weber's comparative-historical approach helps locate Chinese bureaucracy in a distinct mode of domination; the Confucian lens identifies the prevalence of informal institutions that underlie bureaucratic behaviors; and the Marchian lens sheds light on the organized anarchy and set of mechanisms that shape the key characteristics of Chinese bureaucracy.


The paper presents the first photometric analysis of two southern eclipsing binary stars, IS Tel and DW Aps. Their V light curves from the All Sky Automated Survey were modelled by using Wilson-Devinney method. The final models give these two Algol-like binary stars as having detached configurations. Absolute parameters of the components of the systems were also estimated.


We demonstrate a technique for assembling photonic-plasmonic nanotweezers by optically driving the adsorption of multi-walled carbon nanotubes onto a silicon waveguide. The nanotweezers are then used to trap and release individual polystyrene beads. Additionally, we demonstrate the ability to localize the deposition of metallic nanoparticles to the intersection points between multiple carbon nanotubes with the goal of forming more complex hybrid nanostructures.


The Fisher-KPP model supports travelling wave solutions that are successfully used to model numerous invasive phenomena with applications in biology, ecology, and combustion theory. However, there are certain phenomena that the Fisher-KPP model cannot replicate, such as the extinction of invasive populations. The Fisher-Stefan model is an adaptation of the Fisher-KPP model to include a moving boundary whose evolution is governed by a Stefan condition. The Fisher-Stefan model also supports travelling wave solutions; however, a key additional feature of the Fisher-Stefan model is that it is able to simulate population extinction, giving rise to a spreading-extinction dichotomy. In this work, we revisit travelling wave solutions of the Fisher-KPP model and show that these results provide new insight into travelling wave solutions of the Fisher-Stefan model and the spreading-extinction dichotomy. Using a combination of phase plane analysis, perturbation analysis and linearisation, we establish a concrete relationship between travelling wave solutions of the Fisher-Stefan model and often-neglected travelling wave solutions of the Fisher-KPP model. Furthermore, we give closed-form approximate expressions for the shape of the travelling wave solutions of the Fisher-Stefan model in the limit of slow travelling wave speeds, c ≪ 1.


Abstract The identification of activity areas in archaeological sites is an important part of archaeological research contributing to the reconstruction of past ways of life. The threshing floor is an activity area that relates to subsistence practices in agricultural societies, yet identifying threshing floors in the archaeological record is difficult. We present a geoarchaeological study conducted at an Iron Age layered feature unearthed in 1998 at Tel Megiddo, Israel, in which we tested a previous assumption that it represents the remains of a threshing floor. Using micromorphology, mineralogy, elemental analysis, phytoliths, and dung spherulites, we show that the materials comprising the bulk of the layers in the Megiddo feature include large amounts of wood ash and the inorganic remains of livestock dung. Based on these results, coupled with ethnographic data on threshing floors and observations on the macroscopic traits of the feature under consideration, we conclude that the layered feature at Megiddo does not represent a threshing floor but a single-household trash heap. We suggest that the interpretation of similar features at other archaeological sites as threshing floors be reevaluated.


Bilevel optimization has arisen as a powerful tool for many machine learning problems such as meta-learning, hyperparameter optimization, and reinforcement learning. In this paper, we investigate the nonconvex-strongly-convex bilevel optimization problem. For deterministic bilevel optimization, we provide a comprehensive finite-time convergence analysis for two popular algorithms respectively based on approximate implicit differentiation (AID) and iterative differentiation (ITD). For the AID-based method, we orderwisely improve the previous finite-time convergence analysis due to a more practical parameter selection as well as a warm start strategy, and for the ITD-based method we establish the first theoretical convergence rate. Our analysis also provides a quantitative comparison between ITD and AID based approaches. For stochastic bilevel optimization, we propose a novel algorithm named stocBiO, which features a sample-efficient hypergradient estimator using efficient Jacobian- and Hessian-vector product computations. We provide the finite-time convergence guarantee for stocBiO, and show that stocBiO outperforms the best known computational complexities orderwisely with respect to the condition number $\kappa$ and the target accuracy $\epsilon$. We further validate our theoretical results and demonstrate the efficiency of bilevel optimization algorithms by the experiments on meta-learning and hyperparameter optimization. Our code for stocBiO and its comparison to other algorithms is available online$^1$.


An initial cognitive study of early learning of programming aimed to extract experimental test data to establish novices' understanding process has been carried out by us [1]. This empirical study was inspired by the notion that different people bring different patterns of knowledge in any new learning process, and demonstrated that how each student tackles the problem in a different way based on their mental model. The initial study suggests that success in the first stage of an introductory programming course is predictable, by noting consistency in use of the mental models which students apply to a basic programming problem even before they have had any contact with programming notation, but the consistency/inconsistency measurement was somewhat subjective. In this paper I present an objective marking method which hope will lead us to more precise and more finely-graduated predictions. This method is being trialed in at least one experiment, and we hope that by the time of the conference I will be able to describe the results.


Implicit learning reflects learning from experience that occurs without intention or awareness of the information acquired and is hypothesized to contribute to skill acquisition by improving performance with practice. The role of motivation has not been examined because this kind of memory is represented outside awareness. We manipulated motivation (approach/avoidance) and type of feedback (positive/negative) to measure how these affected a well-studied task of implicit sequence learning. Across 2 experiments, we found a consistent effect that motivation to avoid loss led to much higher levels of sequence-specific task performance. When the motivation manipulation was removed, performance fell to typical levels, indicating that motivation enhanced knowledge expression through performance, not learning. Even though implicit skill knowledge is represented outside awareness, our ability to apply this knowledge is enhanced when motivated by fear of loss, potentially providing insight into the value of coaching/training practices that motivate performers in this manner.


An attempt is made for improvement of secret image invisibility in circulation images with dyadic wavelet based data hiding with run-length coded secret images of which location of codes are determined by random number. Through experiments, it is confirmed that secret images are almost invisible in circulation images. Also robustness of the proposed data hiding method against data compression of circulation images is discussed. Data hiding performance in terms of invisibility of secret images which are embedded in circulation images is evaluated with the Root Mean Square difference between the original secret image and extracted one from the circulation images. Meanwhile the conventional Multi-Resolution Analysis (MRA) based data hiding is attempted with a variety of parameters, level of MRA and the frequency component location of which secret image is replaced to it and is compared to the proposed method. It is found that the proposed data hiding method is superior to the conventional method. Also the conventional data hiding method is not robust against circulation image processing.


Continuity and discontinuity is a relative concept, and there are various categories of the continuity and discontinuity in our circumference. Generally, characteristics of postmodernism including between the difference and the variety have being regarded as a discontinuity. Concept of the continuity includes between the quantitative continuity and the qualitative continuity qualitative continuity has organic characteristic, which encourages creating something permanently through the flowing of the time. Therefore, this thesis has studied like this complex social condition and various relationships expressed in modern fashion focusing on permanently creative movements and behaviors equal to the 'continuance' theory of Herni Bergson and 'continuity' theory of Jill Deleuze. This thesis classifies characteristics of the qualitative continuity into spatiotemporal and spatial continuity, and subdivides into 3 sets: perceptual continuity, spatial continuity, transferring continuity of physical experience, immaterial informational continuity, and fluid continuity with environment. Continuous viewpoint, which accepts the existing elements and allows them to flow liberally, should be present more appropriative thinking direction in explaining the complex situation expressed in the modern fashion, rather than discontinuous viewpoints focused on the only changing moment.


Initial measurements of black carbon (BC) content at both 880 and 370 nm, obtained in two sites in southern Italy by an aethalometer, have been analyzed. The sites are located in the same region (Basilicata), but are affected by different emission sources. In one case the main source of BC is related to vehicular traffic from a nearby freeway. Data were collected, although not continuously, during 2008, 2009 and 2010. In the second case, a fresh crude-oil pre-treatment plant continuously burns petroleum-derived products, thus contributing to emissions of both carbonaceous matter and its organic component. The corresponding data-set was collected in the period January–April 2011. At the first site, two daily peaks were found for the BC content, typical of vehicles emissions, with maximum values ranging from 2000 ng/m 3 to 4700 3 found during weekdays. This behavior disappears at the weekend or when polluted air-masses from north-east Europe are transported over the measurement site. At the second site, two daily peaks were never found, suggesting that crude oil chemical processes were the main source of the emissions. In this case, the maximum BC values ranged between 1000–8000 ng/m 3 , depending on the processes occurring at the fresh crude-oil pre-treatment plant. Moreover, the estimated level of BC at 370 nm was higher than that of BC at 880 nm in all months, expect for April, indicating a clear organic component in atmospheric aerosols. Finally, based on a best-fit procedure applied to the seven wavelengths' absorption coefficients, aerosols with different spectroscopic properties have been detected at these two sites.


The Two Year Key Stage 3 Project, which was launched in 2003, assisted secondary schools in developing curricula for Key Stage 3 that could be covered in two years instead of the conventional three years (Years 7, 8 and 9). The Project aimed to increase the pace of learning, improve the motivation and engagement of pupils, improve the transition from Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6) to Key Stage 3, and open up curricular flexibility through the time saved. Schools were able to decide how to use the time saved by completing Key Stage 3 within two years. This evaluation consisted of three elements: an examination of Phase 1 pupils' attainment when in Years 7 and 8; an examination of pupils' reported attitudes as reflected in questionnaire responses; and visits to eight case study schools to examine how a two year Key Stage fitted in with the work of individual schools.


As invading species expand, they eventually encounter physical and biotic stressors that limit their spread. We examine latitudinal and climatic variation in physiological tolerance in one native and two invading populations of Drosophila subobscura. These flies are native to the Palearctic region, but invaded both South and North America around 1980 and spread rapidly across 15° of latitude on each continent. Invading flies rapidly evolved latitudinal clines in chromosome inversion frequencies and in wing size that parallel those of native populations in the Old World. Here we investigate whether flies on all three continents have evolved parallel clines in desiccation and starvation tolerance, such that flies in low‐latitude regions (hot, dry) might have increased stress resistance. Starvation tolerance does not vary with latitude or climate on any continent. In contrast, desiccation tolerance varies clinally with latitude on all three continents, although not in parallel. In North American and Europe, desiccation tolerance is inversely related to latitude, as expected. But in South America, desiccation tolerance increases with latitude and is greatest in relatively cool and wet areas. Differences among continents in latitudinal patterns of interspecific‐competition potentially influence clinal selection for physiological resistance, but no simple pattern is evident on these continents.


Background/Objectives: Soil stabilization is one of the methods used when the given site conditions does not have desirable strength characteristics to support structures, railways and roads. It is the process for improving the soil properties by methods of mechanical or chemical, to produce an soil material which has all the required engineering properties. Application of solid waste disposal (Industrial or Agro waste) for soil stabilization is a significant which serves various benefits to the environment. Methods/Statistical Analysis: In this study the properties of weak soil is improved with the addition of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) of varying percentages of 3, 6, 9 and 12%. The sample was compacted at maximum dry density with the addition of OMC. A series of laboratory experiment has been conducted on expansive soil blended with Rice Husk Ash in 3%, 6%, 9%, 12% and 15% by weight of dry soil. Findings: Unconfined compressive and CBR values of soil increased with the addition of rice husk ash. From the UCC test result, showing that the percentage increase in UCS is 242% and the decrease in swell value from 75 to 45 for the addition of 12% RHA. The study giving the most relevant results by addition of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) upto12% in soil sample. Variations in mineralogical composition analysed by SEM and XRD studies clearly indicate the variation in soil structure formation, due to the chemical reactions initiated by the agro waste mixed in soil. Application/ Improvement: The Rice Husk Ash has a potential to improve the strength characteristics of expansive soil and it reduces the swelling potential of soil. Use of RHA in soil stabilisation is economic; eco friendly and it also solve the disposal problem.


This study explores the relation between Scandinavian donor private sector development and collaboration (PSD/PSC) policies and recipients of the support in Mozambique. It seeks to understand how such relations function in the complex local political and business environment. The study departs in theory regarding hybrid regimes and private sector development, and an analytical framework is designed as a model for relations based on theories on state-business relations and aid effectiveness. The material was gathered during a two-months field study where interviews were carried out with key actors of development cooperation such as embassy staff, fund managers and local entrepreneurs. The study finds that several PSC tools are shaped according to a western point of view and not always well adjusted to the local Mozambican context. It also finds that the design of the policies in many cases produces a high entrance barrier to Mozambican entrepreneurs, why most recipients are essentially foreign business people.


We describe an eye-tracking experiment that tested the effect of syntactic predictability on skipping rates during reading. We found that plural noun phrases were skipped more often than singular noun phrases, in syntactic contexts which induced a high expectation for a plural. We interpret this effect as evidence that the plural noun phrase has been predicted ahead of time. The results indicate that the examination of skipping rates might be a useful tool for the investigation of syntactic prediction effects.


5G cellular network is the next revolutionary wireless network system that is anticipated in the next few years with exceptional capabilities to achieve the IMT 2020 requirements. The 5G network will introduce a high level of flexibility, user centric, ultra reliable and low latency communications with a plethora of novel applications. Introduced in the LTE advanced system, carrier aggregation technology was one of the major milestone in radio resource management, significantly increasing the overall network performance. 5G will be a collision of networks tiers of various transmit powers, sizes, different radio access technologies, backhaul connections, and unprecedented number of heterogeneous and smart devices. Device to Device (D2D), Massive Machine Communication (MMC), enhanced carrier aggregation along with other technologies proposed in 5G such as energy harvesting and wireless network virtualization will introduce complexity of the resource scheduling.While the network design is envisioned to overcome the fundamental challenges of the existing and previous mobile networks, there are some clearly unprecedented challenges that can be foreseen. A survey of recently proposed resource allocation strategies for 5G, design aspects, issues and the likely challenges to be encountered in the resource allocation for the multi-tier architecture of this device driven network are presented. Keywords—5G, IMT 2020, Radio Resource, Allocation Strategies, Future Networks, D2D Communication


Despite sustained economic growth at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, Latin America and the Caribbean still faces high inequality and weak indicators of well-being among certain population groups. Women, people of African ancestry, and indigenous peoples are often at the bottom of the income distribution. The share of female-headed households rose in the past 20 years. By the beginning of the 1990s, women headed 1.2 percent of complete households (households in which both husband and wife are present) and 79.8 percent of single- head households. This book presents a regional overview of gender and ethnic disparities in labor earnings during this last turn of the century. Latin America and the Caribbean provide a rich environment for studying social inequality, because historical inequalities along gender and ethnic lines persist, despite positive indicators of economic development. The extent of inequality and its probable causes vary widely across the many countries in the region. The book adopts a sophisticated econometric methodology for measuring earnings gaps and applies it consistently across and within countries to measure gender and racial or ethnic differences. The analysis includes a dynamic dimension that sheds light on the evolution of earnings gaps over time. The book offers important insights on economic and political strategies that could be adopted to reduce inequality. The reduction of gender-based segregation in the workplace represents an area in which policy interventions can improve the efficiency of labor markets. Determining whether addressing occupational rather than hierarchical segregation is more effective is one of the areas of policy design to which this book aims to make a contribution. Latin America and the Caribbean is also a racially and ethnically diverse region, with some 400 ethnic groups.


Over the years, it has become apparent that high levels of pollutants, either man-made or natural, have detrimental consequences on the health of stream, lakes, rivers and body of water; more specifically the affect the pollutants have on the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the stream and population of plankton. Which leads to the question: why do some bodies of water have a higher concentration of DO and algae in them, while others have less? Previous experiments measure the DO concentration of multiple bodies of water and measures certain pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorous; this way makes it difficult to say if these pollutants are the cause of the DO concentration being high or low since bodies of water are effected by various variables. Our experiment took water samples from one source and subjected those samples to different chemical concentration. This research will show the importance of waste management, that waste run off of any kind will have severe consequences to the ecosystem.


Introduction: Pediatric injury is one of the common emergencies encountered in the emergency department. It is emerging as leading cause of death and disabilities in children. This study aims to analyze the patterns of pediatric injury based on age group, gender, mode, type, place of injury and its outcome.
Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional study conducted in Emergency Department of KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital from 1st May 2019 to 30th July 2019. A total of 110 patients aged 15 years and below and with history of trauma were included in this study.
Results: A hundred and ten pediatric patients presented to emergency with injuries. Majority of pediatric trauma cases belonged to age group 1-5 years (38.2%, n=42) and more frequent in male children (66.4%, n=73) .In both gender, male (45.5%, n=50) and female (17.3%, n=19); fall was most common mode of injury followed by accidental cut injury (7.3%,n=8) in male and road traffic accident (6.4%,n=7) in female. Most of the cases sustained soft tissue injury (32.7%, n=36) followed by cut injury (26.4%, n=29) and fracture (16.4%, n=18). Common place of injury was found to be at home (64.5%, n=71). Majority were discharged (n=100; 90.9%), Nine (8.2 %) were admitted and one expired (0.9 %) expired.
Conclusion: Fall injuries are the major mode of injury encountered in both male and female children. Injuries tend to occur more at home than school. Children should be adequately supervised at home and school.
Keywords: Emergency department, Pediatric injury.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between personality factors and the use of mental health services (past 12 months) among adults in the community.

METHOD
Data were drawn from the Midlife Development in the United States Survey (MIDUS), a representative sample of 3,032 adults aged 25-74 in the United States population. Analyses of variance and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between personality factors and mental health service utilization, in the presence and absence of mental disorders, during the past 12 months.

RESULTS
Neuroticism [OR = 1.5 (1.2, 1.9)] was associated with significantly increased likelihood of mental health service utilization among adults in the community. Conscientiousness [OR = 0.7 (0.5, 0.9)] and extraversion [OR = 0.7 (0.5, 0.98)], in contrast, were associated with decreased likelihood of use of mental health services. Among adults with mental disorders, conscientiousness [OR = 0.5 (0.3, 0.8)] was associated with decreased odds of mental health service utilization. Neuroticism [OR = 1.8 (1.3, 2.4)] was associated with increased likelihood of service use among those who did not meet criteria for common mental disorders.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings are the first to document a significant association between personality factors and the use of mental health services among adults in the general population. Our results highlight new ways in which personality may influence mental health in the community. This information may be useful in identifying those with unmet need for mental health treatment and developing more effective interventions for those at risk for common mental disorders. Replication of these findings is needed.


Genomic and transcriptomic analyses identify increased AP-1 activity and SIK2 copy-number amplifications in resistant ovarian cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, uncovering synergistic effects of AP-1 and SIK2 inhibitors with chemotherapy. The growing use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to treat advanced stage high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) creates an opportunity to better understand chemotherapy-induced mutational and gene expression changes. Here we performed a cohort study including 34 patients with advanced stage IIIC or IV HGSOC to assess changes in the tumor genome and transcriptome in women receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. RNA sequencing and panel DNA sequencing of 596 cancer-related genes was performed on paired formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens collected before and after chemotherapy, and differentially expressed genes (DEG) and copy-number variations (CNV) in pre- and post-chemotherapy samples were identified. Following tissue and sequencing quality control, the final patient cohort consisted of 32 paired DNA and 20 paired RNA samples. Genomic analysis of paired samples did not reveal any recurrent chemotherapy-induced mutations. Gene expression analyses found that most DEGs were upregulated by chemotherapy, primarily in the chemotherapy-resistant specimens. AP-1 transcription factor family genes (FOS, FOSB, FRA-1) were particularly upregulated in chemotherapy-resistant samples. CNV analysis identified recurrent 11q23.1 amplification, which encompasses SIK2. In vitro, combined treatment with AP-1 or SIK2 inhibitors with carboplatin or paclitaxel demonstrated synergistic effects. These data suggest that AP-1 activity and SIK2 copy-number amplification are induced by chemotherapy and may represent mechanisms by which chemotherapy resistance evolves in HGSOC. AP-1 and SIK2 are druggable targets with available small molecule inhibitors and represent potential targets to circumvent chemotherapy resistance. Significance: Genomic and transcriptomic analyses identify increased AP-1 activity and SIK2 copy-number amplifications in resistant ovarian cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, uncovering synergistic effects of AP-1 and SIK2 inhibitors with chemotherapy.


Countless people around the world live with exposure to continuous traumatic stress (CTS) as a result of violent political conflict. Over the past 15 years, residents of southern Israel have been exposed to rocket fire from Gaza with varying intensity, and their mental health has been the subject of many studies. The purpose of this article was to systematically review the empirical literature on psychopathology in the southern Israel adult population exposed to CTS, focusing on their symptomatic picture, prevalence rates, and risk and protective factors. Twenty-eight quantitative articles were identified for review. The reviewed studies reported high levels of probable posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and other psychopathological reactions among the CTS population during low-intensity periods, which appear to rise sharply during escalations. This review identified high-risk groups based on community of residence, level of exposure, socioeconomic factors, and perceived social support. This review proposes that future studies use intensive, longitudinal methods to elucidate the effect of changing exposure intensity, and that interventions target the identified vulnerable groups, with a focus on intrapersonal, social, and community protective factors highlighted in the review.


Abstract In the last three decades a profound transformation of the medical profession has taken place. The modern clinician is required to consume vast amounts of information from clinical studies, critically reviewing evidence that may or may not lead to changes in clinical practice. The present article presents some challenges that this era of information poses to clinicians and patients.


Frequent migraine attacks require prophylactic treatment. Anticonvulsants have been suggested due to the progressive knowledge that cortical hyperexcitability is involved in migraine pathophysiology. Topiramate is one of these drugs and its efficacy has been demonstrated in several studies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the adherence and response to topiramate in migraineurs under treatment in a tertiary center. During a 2-year period, all of the patients receiving topiramate for migraine were evaluated after 3 months. The parameters evaluated were adherence to treatment, frequency reduction of attacks >50% and adverse events. Among 175 patients included, 134 (76.6%) returned. Among the 134 patients evaluated, 82 (61.2%) revealed frequency reduction >50% and 105 (78.4%) patients presented weight loss (average 3.4Kg). The most frequent side effects were paresthesias (39.6%); emotional disturbances (including depression, irritability and anxiety) in 17,9%; thinking impairment (12.7%); memory disturbances (12.7%) and altered taste (11.9%). Despite methodological limitations we concluded that adherence to its use and efficacy occurred in most of the patients. In addition, the side effect profile was acceptable. Further controlled studies are necessary to confirm these observations.


Background:
 Over half of the ischemic strokes in the US are "mild" by NIHSS scores at presentation.The most common reason for witholding tPA in patients who arrive in time is that the stroke is "too mild."Based on mounting evidence that mild strokes may cause significant disability, the stroke team at Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute (SLNI) began to consider mild strokes (NIHSS 0-5) eligible for treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IVtPA) in 2009.This analysis evaluated whether more aggressive treatment of mild strokes with IVtPA resulted in better overall outcomes measured by a greater percentage of patients being discharged home with fewer discharges to skilled nursing (SNF) and lower mortality.

 Methods:
 We retrospectively reviewed strokes in the SLNI database with presenting NIHSS scores of 0-5 in 2007/2008, and in 2010/2011 by treatment status and discharge disposition.

 Results:
 In 2007/2008, there were 342 mild strokes; 11(3.2 %)received tPA.In 2010,2011 there were 432 mild strokes; 62(15.7%)received tPA (p=0.001).Overall discharge to home: 218/342(63.7%) in 07/08 and 310/432(71.8%) in 10/11 (p=0.017). Discharge to SNF: 45/342(13.2%)in 07/08; 42/432(9.7%) in 10/11 p=0.133. In cases treated with IVtPA in both cohorts, discharge to SNF=5/79(6.3%); no IVtPA=82/695(11.8%)p=0.108. Mortality: 9/342 (2.6%) in 07/08 and 3/342(0.7%) in 10/11 (p=0.030).Of the 12 total mortalities, 2 were treated with IVtPA.There were no statistically significant differences in the percentage of discharges to rehabilitation in the two cohorts.

 Conclusions:
 It is safe to administer IVtPA to patients with mild strokes.There is a trend toward more aggressive treatment of mild strokes with tPA being associated with a higher likelihood of being discharged to home, fewer discharges to SNF, and lower mortality in the group as a whole.A randomized prospective trial would be useful to further direct decision making in this group of patients.


Minimisation of a conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) is a non-smooth stochastic minimisation problem with the non-smoothness caused by a plus function in the integrand of the objective function. We study the performance of several smoothing approximations of the plus function in the CVaR minimisation, using an example of a one period CVaR-minimising hedging. The smooth plus function that outperforms others is identified. The convergence of the solution of the smoothed CVaR minimisation problem with increase in the sample size and with decrease in the smoothing parameter is illustrated. The performance of the one period CVaR-minimising hedging and delta-gamma hedging are compared in terms of several commonly used performance criteria. Numerical simulations show that the magnitude and the probability of large losses are smaller in the CVaR-minimising hedge, compared to the delta-gamma hedge. This often occurs at the expense of a deteriorated expected return and increased variance of the hedge. We identify the situations when the CVaR-minimising hedge outperforms the delta-gamma hedge according to all performance criteria.

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The implementation of new production organization methods become essential in the evolution of companies' context. These methods include scheduling. In this context, scheduling is generally multicriteria. To solve this problem, we need multicriteria optimization methods to search all optimal solutions and multicriteria decision making methods to choose the best compromise between potential solutions. The objective here, is to evaluate the performance of a multicriteria decision making method used, in real time, in the holonic, isoarchic and multicriteria model (named PROSIS (Product, Resource, Order, Simulation, Isoarchic System)) through academic benchmarks. After presenting the control based on an intelligent scheduling service and existing multicriteria scheduling methods, the choice of the `Analytic Hierarchy Process' (AHP) method is justified. After that, the implementation of the scheduling service in PROSIS is described. Finally, the benchmarks allowing to study the performance of the multicriteria scheduling are presented before analysing the results.


This paper describes the use of a mobile health unit as a part of a community education, screening, and counseling program. By virtue of its mobility and more flexible hours, this model extends services into the basic urban, suburban, and rural community. Quality control of the diagnostic and counseling activities on the unit is maintained through supervision by the full-time staff of the Howard University Center for Sickle Cell Disease. The program is a part of the University Health Science complex which provides backup consultation and referral sources. The mobile health unit is equipped with a laboratory and waiting, education, and counseling areas; it operates in conjunction with a speakers bureau which conducts a significant portion of the community education. Referrals are made from the unit to a variety of community resources but primarily for additional education and counseling for sickle cell and follow-up services for elevated blood pressure and low and borderline hemoglobin levels.


Soil solarization is a non-chemical method for disinfecting soil solely by solar radiation. The basic principle is to cover the soil with a mulching film during the hottest period of the year so that the soil temperatures increase to levels that are lethal to many soil-borne plant pathogens and weeds. The best results, however, are achieved in closed greenhouses, where temperature regimes in the soil are strongly influenced by the shape and dimensions of the greenhouse as well as by the characteristics of the greenhouse covering material. The modeling of thermal regimes in the soil during solarization treatment is an important issue; it can be useful to estimate the required duration of the treatment in relation to the climatic conditions and the efficacy of the technique in reducing infections due to soil-borne pathogens. To this aim, several studies have modeled the physical processes of the soil-mulch-greenhouse system. The application and reliability of these models require accurate knowledge of the thermo-physical properties of each component of the system, which are sometimes difficult to measure. Neural network (NN) models represent an alternative and widely accepted method for studying physical problems and offer a way to tackle complex systems that may be difficult to define. However, until now, no work in the literature has described the use of NNs for this specific application. In this article, an innovative approach is proposed based on NN models that use as input only climatic data. The development and validation of the NN model were performed using data collected during soil solarization treatments carried out in two full-scale commercial greenhouses that differed in building features. The study showed that a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) network with one hidden layer of 60 neurons and continuous (sigmoid) transfer functions was very efficient. More specifically, the network used outside air temperature, outside solar radiation flux, and time of day as input variables and provided air temperature and solar radiation flux inside the greenhouse as well as soil temperatures at different depths as output variables. The results of the validation show that the modeled NNs estimate the output variables with high accuracy when trained at least once with data measured in the modeled greenhouse. The results for the modeled soil temperatures are particularly remarkable considering that the obtained precision is of the same order of magnitude as the accuracy of the sensors used in the field trials. The results obtained with the designed networks for cases different from those considered in the training can only be used as an indication because they are the outcome of an extrapolation. Nevertheless, the proposed NN model can be used as a reference for an NN of wider effectiveness obtained by training it on a large set of data from different case studies.


Abstract Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), p(HEMA), -based superporous hydrogels (SPHs) in interpenetrating network (IPN)/semi-IPN form were synthesized by radical polymerization with the incorporation of gelatin, acrylic acid (AA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG 600). They are called as p(HEMA) SPH, p(HEMA)-gelatin SPH-semi IPN, p(HEMA)-gelatin SPH-IPN, p(HEMA)-PEG SPH-semi IPN, p(HEMA-co-AA) SPH and p(HEMA-co-AA)-PEG SPH-semi IPN. SPHs reached equilibrium in ∼60 s with rapid swelling in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) due to the capillary effect. AA containing SPHs showed pH-dependent swelling and p(HEMA-co-AA)-PEG SPH-semi IPNs have the highest equilibrium swelling ratio. PEG containing SPHs, pHEMA-PEG and p(HEMA-co-AA)-PEG SPHs, showed great improvement in mechanical properties. Model proteins, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and fibrinogen (FG), were loaded into SPHs by solvent sorption in a very short time (<30 min) with very high capacities. Release profiles from SPHs indicated initial burst of proteins during the first 30 min followed by a completed release in 3 h for BSA and 6 h for FG. The results indicated that, especially p(HEMA-co-AA)-PEG SPH-semi IPNs with their pH-dependent high loading capacity without causing activity loss and fast release behavior can be considered as drug delivery vehicles especially in implantable systems for high molecular weight proteins. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Abstract Sir Charles Cotton (1885–1970), a New Zealander by birth, was Professor of Geology at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, between 1921 and 1953. He produced a quartet of well-known textbooks, the most influential being Geomorphology of New Zealand first published in 1921, and a remarkable number of pioneering papers on a great variety of subjects in geomorphology. Essentially self-taught, much of Cotton's earlier work followed the ideas of W. M. Davis in terms of an explanatory description of landforms (structure, process, form), but he also emphasized the importance of climate change and tectonic movements in landscape-forming processes. His work was enhanced by the use of block diagrams to demonstrate progressive evolution of landscape features and his simple sketches, in particular, provided a clarity allowing people to see the land around them with new interest and understanding. His studies were never quantitative, and he remained sceptical about illusions of precision and accuracy in the new post-World War II trends and ideas in geomorphology. Cotton's range of interests was wide, but certain themes keep returning; in particular, shore processes and shoreline development and classification, the significance of faulting in all its forms, and the geomorphic history of the area of his Wellington home in New Zealand. Although Cotton's work became well known throughout the scientific world, he did not create a school of geomorphological thought. His international reputation came from his scientific papers and especially his books that captured the interest of generations of university students and citizens from all walks of life. Indeed, the honour of a knighthood in 1959 could well have come 30 years earlier when, at the age of 41, he had already gained such recognition. He made an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the evolution of New Zealand's landforms. Cotton's bibliography is included.


A disposable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dELISA) device for ate-home or doctor's
office use was developed to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Serology testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies
is currently run using well-plate ELISAs in centralized laboratories. However, the scale of serology testing
needed for epidemiological and clinical screening studies will overwhelm existing clinical laboratory
resources. Instead, a point-of-need device that can be used at home or in doctor's offices for COVID-19
serology testing must be developed and is one of four target products prioritized by the World Health
Organization. Lateral flow assays are common and easy to use, but lack the sensitivity needed to reliably
detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in clinical samples. This work describes a disposable ELISA device that
is as simple to use as a lateral flow assay, but as sensitive as a well-plate ELISA. The device utilizes
capillary-driven flow channels made of transparency films and double-sided adhesive combined with
paper pumps to drive flow. The geometry of the channels and storage pads enables automated sequential
washing and reagent addition steps with two simple end-user steps. An enzyme label is used to produce a
colorimetric signal instead of a nanoparticle label in order to amplify signal and increase sensitivity, while
the integrated washing steps decrease false positives and increase reproducibility. Naked-eye detection
can be used for qualitative results or a smartphone camera for quantitative analysis. The device can detect
antibodies at 2.8 ng/mL from whole blood, which was very close the concentration of detectable target in
a well-plate ELISA (1.2 ng/mL). In this study the dELISA system was used to detect SARS-CoV-2
antibodies, but we believe that the device represents a fundamental step forward in point-of-care
technology that will enable sensitive detection of many other analytes outside of a centralized laboratory.


Although small states' total share of global trade has been declining over time, specific sectors, including those related to the ocean economy, have been experiencing growth. A number of Commonwealth coastal small states have been pioneering blue economy approaches underpinned by integrated ocean governance frameworks. This International Trade Working Paper explores the associations between improvements in ocean governance – with a focus on fisheries – and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 trade-related outcomes. It draws on three Commonwealth case studies: Barbados, Belize and Seychelles. The preliminary analysis undertaken suggests that improvements in ocean governance through enhanced coastal protection could boost trade by US$3 million a year on average for Commonwealth small states. Boosting Commonwealth small states coastal protection so that it exceeds the global average could increase the value of fisheries trade for member countries by an average of US$10 million annually. These initial exploratory results provide a number of avenues for further research, including the ocean economy and trade strategies being pioneered in selected Commonwealth small states.


This paper intends to explore the Socio-Economic contribution of Institution of Madresa in Pakistani society while critically evaluating the authenticity of criticism against the institution which has surfaced after the 9/11 incident, accusing Madresa to be the breading ground of militancy, terror networks and sectarian violence. Additionally the paper explores the free-for-all service of Madresa in providing education, increasing literacy rate and employability for the poorest of the poor. It is discovered that Madresa provide a near equivalent of primary to tertiary levels of education by only spending almost half the amount spent by its conventional counterparts in the country. Along with this residential Madaris save the poorest of children from various illegal activities including child prostitution. Furthermore role of religiosity in crime reduction is also discussed in the light of various cross-national secondary researches and it is argued that by enhancing the influence of Madresa to increase the religiosity of the society, crimes of all nature, including corruption and white collar crimes, can be significantly reduced. The most of the conclusion are drawn on the basis of limited data available on Madaris affiliated with Wifaq-ul-Madaris Al-Arabia (which adhere to Deobandi school of thought) therefore the confidence level of conclusions needs to be further evaluated by adding more primary data including of other Madaris-networks operated with by Ahle-Tashee, Ahle-Hadith and Barelvi schools. The paper however provides a basis for further research in Pakistan to explore the influence of Madresa-initiated-religiosity on law and order situation, the degree of employability of Madresa graduates and the cost effectiveness of Madaris in all corners of Pakistan.


We report the fabrication of cm-length free standing thin graphitic-films filled with Fe3C particles and of cm-length free standing thin buckypaper-like films comprising thin walled carbon nanotubes filled with Fe3C nanowires which exhibit a high smoothness with an unusual reflectance in the 450–1000 nm wavelength region. These films are fabricated by chemical vapour deposition of ferrocene in presence of large quantities of toluene or dichlorobenzene respectively. The structural, magnetic and optical properties of these films are analysed in detail through scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry and spectrography.


This paper presents a novel method for controlling teams of unmanned aerial vehicles using Stochastic Optimal Control (SOC) theory. The approach consists of a centralized high-level planner that computes optimal state trajectories as velocity sequences, and a platform-specific low-level controller which ensures that these velocity sequences are met. The planning task is expressed as a centralized path-integral control problem, for which optimal control computation corresponds to a probabilistic inference problem that can be solved by efficient sampling methods. Through simulation we show that our SOC approach (a) has significant benefits compared to deterministic control and other SOC methods in multimodal problems with noise-dependent optimal solutions, (b) is capable of controlling a large number of platforms in real-time, and (c) yields collective emergent behaviour in the form of flight formations. Finally, we show that our approach works for real platforms, by controlling a team of three quadrotors in outdoor conditions.