Understanding the processes that give rise to quantitative measurements associated with molecular sequence data remains an important issue in statistical phylogenetics. Examples of such measurements include geographic coordinates in the context of phylogeography and phenotypic traits in the context of comparative studies. A popular approach is to model the evolution of continuously varying traits as a Brownian diffusion process. However, standard Brownian diffusion is quite restrictive and may not accurately characterize certain trait evolutionary processes. Here, we relax one of the major restrictions of standard Brownian diffusion by incorporating a nontrivial estimable drift into the process. We introduce a relaxed drift diffusion model for the evolution of multivariate continuously varying traits along a phylogenetic tree via Brownian diffusion with drift. Notably, the relaxed drift model accommodates branch-specific variation of drift rates while preserving model identifiability. We implement the relaxed drift model in a Bayesian inference framework to simultaneously reconstruct the evolutionary histories of molecular sequence data and associated multivariate continuous trait data, and provide tools to visualize evolutionary reconstructions. We illustrate our approach in three viral examples. In the first two, we examine the spatiotemporal spread of HIV-1 in central Africa and West Nile virus in North America and show that a relaxed drift approach uncovers a clearer, more detailed picture of the dynamics of viral dispersal than standard Brownian diffusion. Finally, we study antigenic evolution in the context of HIV-1 resistance to three broadly neutralizing antibodies. Our analysis reveals evidence of a continuous drift at the HIV-1 population level towards enhanced resistance to neutralization by the VRC01 monoclonal antibody over the course of the epidemic.


Snow-dominated and glacierized catchments are important sources of fresh water for biological communities and for populations living in mountain valleys. Gaining a better understanding of the runoff origin and of the hydrological interactions between meltwater, streamflow and groundwater is critical for natural risk assessment and mitigation as well as for effective water resource management in mountain regions. This study is based on the use of stable isotopes of water and electrical conductivity as tracers to identify the water sources for runoff and groundwater and their seasonal variability in a glacierized catchment in the Italian Alps. Samples were collected from rainfall, snow, snowmelt, ice melt, spring and stream water (from the main stream at different locations and from selected tributaries) in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The tracer-based mixing analysis revealed that, overall, snowmelt and glacier melt were the most important end-members for stream runoff during late spring, summer and early fall. The temporal variability of the tracer concentration suggested that stream water was dominated by snowmelt at the beginning of the melting season (May–June), by a mixture of snowmelt and glacier melt during mid-summer (July–early August), and by glacier melt during the end of the summer (end of August–September). The same seasonal pattern observed in streamflow was also evident for groundwater, with the highest electrical conductivity and least negative isotopic values found during cold or relatively less warm periods, when the melt of snowpack and ice was limited. Particularly, the application of a two-component mixing model to data from different springs showed that the snowmelt contribution to groundwater recharge varied between 21% (±3%) and 93% (±1%) over the season, and the overall contribution during the three study years ranged between 58% (±24%) and 72% (±19%). These results provided new insights into the isotopic characterization of the study catchment presenting further understanding of the spatio-temporal variability of the main water sources contributing to runoff.


This paper examines stock returns and dividend growth predictability using dividend yields in seven large developed markets: US, UK, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Altogether, these countries account for around 85% of the MSCI World Index. We use annual data, and for the US, UK, Japan, and France the time series are long enough to conduct a separate analysis of the pre- and post-IIWW periods. We also study the relationship between the predictability in dividend growth and the degree of dividend smoothness. For the post-IIWW period, returns are predictable in the US and the UK but dividends are unpredictable, while the opposite pattern is observed in Spain and Italy. In Germany, there is some evidence of short-term predictability for both returns and dividends, while in France only returns are predictable. In Japan, neither variable can be forecasted. Generally, there is no clear connection between dividend smoothness and predictability.


A historical collection of late Cretaceous plant fossils from Lower Silesia, comprising about 520 specimens, now located at the Museum of Natural History, Berlin, and formerly in possession of the Prussian Geological Survey, has recently been traced back to its origins. Today this collection can be used as a nucleus to develop future scientific research projects. Due to the historical background of the specimens and the scattered locations of additional material from various geologic sites, such projects may have to be realised as a cooperative effort between scientists from several institutions of the Central European countries that were historically involved, namely the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland.


Product sampling, a promotional tactic long employed by brands looking to enter a new market, release a new product, or increase existing sales, has recently been applied in the online context. This seems a viable strategy given the Internet's capability to reach a wide audience and track consumer responses. Furthermore, firms may acquire product consumption experience information from the consumers who are given product samples, and use it as word-of-mouth (WOM) to further stimulate sales. However, our understanding of the effectiveness of employing this strategy in the online context is limited. By analyzing product sampling campaign data from a leading e-commerce store in China, we show that administering product sampling online can lead to increased sales, but only for experience products and not search products. Additionally, publishing product consumption experience information from product sampling (i.e., product sampling reviews), alongside usual consumer reviews, can stimulate sales of experience products directly and indirectly through enhancing subsequent consumer reviews. However, it is interesting to note that when product sampling reviews were overwhelmingly positive, they instead lowered subsequent consumer reviews. This implies that firms hoping to influence consumer reviews through positive product sampling reviews need to be wary of their negative repercussion.


PURPOSE
Hospitalisation can lead to distress for children. Creative play may reduce the adverse effects of hospitalisation on children, as it could lead to children associating satisfaction and fun with their hospital experience. The aim of the current study is to investigate the impact of a creative play intervention on service-care satisfaction measurements of children and their parents.

DESIGN AND METHODS
A mixed-methods design consisting of quantitative pre/post-assessments and qualitative interviews was used within this study. The research was conducted with 30 children (nexperimental group = 15; ncontrol group = 15). Their parents (n = 30) and their nurse practitioners (n = 20) were also contacted in order to capture their reflections of this intervention which included creative activities with unused clean medical materials. Child participants completed the Patient's Nursing Care Perception Tool and their parents completed the PedsQL Health Care Satisfaction Tool.

RESULTS
The two groups did not differ in relation to the Patients' Nursing Care Satisfaction Tool (PNCST) (t(28): 0.348, p = .730) and the PedsQL (t(28): -0.189, p = .852) scores at Time 1 before the intervention; however, significant differences were observed at the end at Time 2 (PNCST: t(28): -11.63, p < .001; PedsQL: t(28): -12.416, p < .001). In qualitative interviews, nurses indicated that their play skills with children had been enhanced by this intervention. Family attendants reported that the intervention improved the nurse-child relationship and their satisfaction with care.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
The results have shown that creative play intervention are a feasible nursing intervention which has a strong potential to be effective on child patients' and their attendants' satisfaction with care services.


BACKGROUND
To reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with preterm birth, home uterine activity monitoring aims for early detection of increased contraction frequency, and early intervention with tocolytic drugs to inhibit labour and prolong pregnancy. However, the effectiveness of such monitoring is disputed.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether home uterine activity monitoring is effective in improving the outcomes for women and their infants considered to be at high risk of preterm birth, when compared with conventional or other care packages that do not include home uterine monitoring.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (31 October 2014), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2014, Issue 8), MEDLINE (1966 to 31 August 2014), EMBASE (1974 to 31 August 2014), CINAHL (1982 to 31 August 2014) and scanned reference lists of retrieved studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised control trials of home uterine activity monitoring, with or without patient education programmes, for women at risk for preterm birth, in comparison to the same care package without home uterine activity monitoring.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently assessed trials for inclusion and risk of bias, extracted data and checked them for accuracy. We did not attempt to contact authors to resolve queries.

MAIN RESULTS
There were 15 included studies (total number of enrolled participants 6008); 13 studies contributed data. Women using home uterine monitoring were less likely to experience preterm birth at less than 34 weeks (risk ratio (RR) 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.62 to 0.99; three studies, n = 1596; fixed-effect analysis) (GRADE high). The significant difference was not evident when we carried out a sensitivity analysis, restricting the analysis to studies at low risk of bias based on study quality (RR 0.75; 95% CI 0.57 to 1.00, one study, 1292 women). There was no significant difference in the rate of perinatal mortality (RR 1.22; 95% CI 0.86 to 1.72; two studies, n = 2589) (GRADE low)There was no significant difference in the number of preterm births at less than 37 weeks (average RR 0.85; CI 0.72 to 1.01; eight studies, n = 4834; random-effects, T² = 0.03, I² = 68%) (GRADE very low). Infants born to women using home uterine monitoring were less likely to be admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (average RR 0.77; 95% CI 0.62 to 0.96; five studies, n = 2367; random-effects, T² = 0.02, I² = 32%) (GRADE moderate). The difference was not statistically significant when only high quality studies were included (RR 0.86; 95% CI 0.74 to 1.01; one study, n = 1292). Women using home uterine monitoring made more unscheduled antenatal visits (mean difference (MD) 0.49; 95% CI 0.39 to 0.62; two studies, n = 3707) (GRADE moderate). Women using home uterine monitoring were also more likely to have prophylactic tocolytic drug therapy (average RR 1.21; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.45; seven studies, n = 4316; random-effects. T² = 0.03, I² = 62%) but this difference was no longer significant when the analysis was restricted to higher quality studies (average RR 1.22; 95% CI 0.90 to 1.65, three studies, n = 3749,random-effects, T² = 0.05, I² = 76%) (GRADE low). One small study reported that the home uterine monitoring group spent fewer days in hospital antenatally. No data on maternal anxiety or acceptability were found.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Home uterine monitoring may result in fewer admissions to a neonatal intensive care unit but more unscheduled antenatal visits and tocolytic treatment, but the level of evidence is generally low to moderate. Important group differences were not evident when sensitivity analysis was undertaken using only high quality trials. There is no impact on maternal and perinatal outcomes such as perinatal mortality or incidence of preterm birth.


The electronic computer is the most significant tecnological product of the 20th Century. It has changed the lives of a vast number of people beyond recognition. It has changed our work, our leisure, and our relationships with each other. Its development has taken place in a period where an increasing amount of information is documented and recorded, and yet elements of its history, particularly its social history are distinct.
A number of histories have been written about the computer. Mostly, these address the technical developments and economic or business histories behind the products rather than the designed form of the computer itself. They have tended to view the development of computing from a technologically deterministic perspective. By presenting the computer as the reseult of inevitable technological progress, they have ignored the social agency of their users and the cultural contexts in which they operate.
Over the past ten years, i have researched and published on vaious aspects of computing technology from a social construction perspective. Using a novel methodology developed and tested over a significant period, this body of work has considered the acceptance and use of computers by different social groups, exploring the role of a computer as a tool of production, a means of control, and as an indicator of status. It has considered the design form and the depiction of computers in the mass media and popular culture to assess the influences on its design and its role in social relations, and in the process has made an original contribution to knowledge in the field of design history.
This submission draws together five published articles from this body of work, which individually trace the history of the conception, production, representation and consumption of different types of computer. Collectively, these articles construct a coherent account exploring the design history of the computer as a social and cultural artefact.


The efficacy and safety of pentoxifylline were assessed in 297 adult patients with ischemic stroke in a molticenter, doable-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial. Treatment was started within 12 hoars after the stroke onset Study medication was administered intravenously continuously (16 mg/kg/day, maximum 1,200 mg/day) for 3 days and per os (400 mg ti.d.) for the remainder of 28 days. Demographic data were comparable, and functional impairment and mortality (pentoxifylline 12%, placebo 10%) were not different between the two groups. Neurologic deficit scores Improved from baseline admission scores during the 4-week study in both groups but did not differ between groups at admission or throughout the study except during the first few days when the consciousness level (Days 1 and 2), motor function (Days 1 and 2), cranial nerve function (Days 1-4), and total neurologic deficit scores (Days 1 and 2) were better in the pentoxifylline group than in the placebo group, especially in a subset of patients with severe deficits at admission. Laboratory values and side effects were also comparable between groups. Our study indicates that pentoxifylline can be given safely in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Although pharmacologk effects were present during the first few days, the clinical benefits were small and not sustained. (Stroke 1988;19:716-722)


We show that efficient bargaining is impossible for a wide class of economic settings and property rights. These settings are characterized by (i) the existence of "adverse efficient opt-out types", whose participation does not change the efficient allocation and who, when they opt out, are the worst type other agents can face, and (ii) non-existence of the "marginal core", and its multivaluedness with a positive probability. We also examine the optimal allocation of property rights within a given class that satisfies (i), such as simple property rights, liability rules, and dual-chooser rules. We characterize property rights that minimize the expected subsidy required to implement efficiency. With two agents, simple property rights that are optimal in this way maximize the expected surplus at the status quo allocation, but this no longer holds with more agents. We also study "second-best" budget-balanced bargaining under a liability rule. The optimal "second-best" liability rule may differ from, but is often close to, the expectation of the victim's harm, which would be optimal if there were no bargaining. However, liability rules that are close to a simple property right result in a lower expected surplus than the simple property right they are near.


Introduction Adverse effects of in utero drug exposure include prematurity, IUGR and neurological and visual sequelae. Many of these problems are common to both drug and alcohol misuse. The extent of alcohol misuse during pregnancy in women who misuse drugs is unknown, and likely to be under-reported. The aims of this study were 1) to describe the incidence of in utero alcohol and illicit drug exposure in infants born to mothers prescribed methadone in pregnancy and 2) to compare the accuracy of confidential maternal interview with postnatal toxicology. Methods Paired urine and meconium samples were collected within three days of birth from 56 infants born to mothers prescribed methadone during pregnancy. A confidential interview was conducted with all mothers within the same period. 45 mothers had had urine toxicology performed during pregnancy. Maternal and infant urine samples were screened using enzyme multiplied immunoassay techniques including methadone, opiates, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, cannabinoids and cocaine metabolites. Meconium samples were screened for the same drugs using ELISA; selected positive samples were further analysed using solid phase and liquid-liquid extraction followed by GC-MS or LC-MS-MS. The detection of elevated fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), as a biomarker for significant prenatal alcohol exposure, was achieved using LC-MS-MS. Results 47% (21/44) of infants tested had elevated FAEEs (> 10,000 ng/g) indicating significant alcohol exposure during pregnancy. This was nine fold greater than the incidence of excess alcohol consumption reported by interview. Combining all toxicology results, 91% of infants (51/56) had been exposed to illicit drugs in utero, including opiates (73%), benzodiazepines (70%), cannabinoids (59%), amphetamines (7%) and cocaine (14%). Meconium analysis yielded more positive results than infant urine: illicit opiates (p<0.01), benzodiazepines (p=0.01), cannabinoids (p<0.01). Meconium analysis also yielded more positive results compared to interview for illicit opiates (p=0.03) and cannabinoids (p<0.01). Conclusion The majority of infants born to mothers prescribed methadone during pregnancy are exposed to poly-substance misuse, and almost one half are additionally exposed to excess alcohol. This has implications for neuro-developmental follow up of this vulnerable cohort. Meconium analysis is more sensitive at detecting in utero drug exposure than maternal interview or infant urine toxicology.


This study examined the frequency of spine and abdominal injuries to motor vehicle occupant crash victims, the relationship between the two types of injuries, and the association with restraint use. There were 303 motor vehicle occupants treated at a regional trauma center for spine and/or abdominal injuries over a 5-year period. Patients with Chance-type fractures of the lumbar spine were much more likely to be rear seat passengers and to be using a lap belt than were patients with other types of spinal injuries. Similarly, patients with hollow viscus injuries were more likely to be rear seat passengers and to be lap belted than were patients with injuries to the spleen, liver, pancreas, or kidneys. Nearly two thirds of the lumbar Chance-type fractures were associated with hollow viscus injuries, including six of seven children. This increased risk of Chance-type fractures and hollow viscus injuries was associated with increased use of lap-belt seat restraints in the population.


SARS-CoV-2 is a new type of coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This virus was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019, and until now, it has become a global pandemic. The FDA recently approved Vekluty (remdesivir) for adults and certain pediatric patients who have COVID-19 and are sick enough to require hospitalization. One of the potential drug target candidates for SARS-CoV-2 is the main protease (Mpro). The purpose of this study was to analyze the flavonoid compounds found in orange (Citrus sp.) peel to determine its potential as anti-Mpro through a molecular docking study. The compounds were initially screened for drug-like properties and then docked using Autodock Vina in the PyRx emulator software. The docking results were visualized using the BIOVIA Discovery Visualizer 2020. The result showed that the binding free energy of hesperidin (-8.6 kcal/mol) was higher than nelfinavir (-8.5 kcal/mol). In addition, hesperitin (-7.3 kcal/mol), sakuranetin (-7.1 kcal/mol), isosacuranetin (-7.2 kcal/mol) and tetra-o-methylscutallerin (-6.8 kcal/mol) exhibited lower binding free energy value than control. Based on these results, hesperidin has the potential as an inhibitor of the main protease's SARS-CoV-2.


Transcriptional perturbation using inactivated CRISPR-nucleases (dCas) is a common method in eukaryotic organisms. While rare examples of dCas9-based tools for prokaryotes have been described, multiplexing approaches are limited due to the used effector nuclease. For the first time, a dCas12a derived tool for the targeted activation and repression of genes was developed. Therefore, a previously described SoxS activator domain was linked to dCas12a to enable the programmable activation of gene expression. A proof of principle of transcriptional regulation was demonstrated on the basis of fluorescence reporter assays using the alternative host organism Paenibacillus polymyxa as well as Escherichia coli. Single target and multiplex CRISPR interference targeting the exopolysaccharide biosynthesis of P. polymyxa was shown to emulate polymer compositions of gene knockouts. The simultaneous expression of 11 gRNAs targeting multiple lactate dehydrogenases and a butanediol dehydrogenase resulted in decreased lactate formation, as well as an increased butanediol production in microaerobic fermentation processes. Even though Cas12a is more restricted in terms of its genomic target sequences compared to Cas9, its ability to efficiently process its own guide RNAs in vivo makes it a promising tool to orchestrate sophisticated genetic reprogramming of bacterial cells or to screen for engineering targets in the genome. The developed tool will accelerate metabolic engineering efforts in the alternative host organism P. polymyxa and might be also applied for other bacterial cell factories.


Growing worldwide demands for food, energy and chemicals threatens natural ecosystems and global climate. Plants are crucial for food production, but may also be used to produce sustainable energy and materials. Hereto novel crops are sought with high productivity per hectare, whilst requiring minimal fossil fuel or fertilizer input. The aquatic fern Azolla is a potential novel crop due to its rapid growth, symbiosis with a nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria and favorable chemical composition. The aim of this thesis is to provide the knowledge and methods necessary to turn the aquatic weed Azolla into a sustainable crop. To provide reliable starting material for cultivation we developed methods to collect, store, fertilize and germinate Azolla spores. Drying for 7 days followed by freezing in liquid nitrogen (cryopreservation) allowed to preserve Azolla spores at -80°C for up to 7 months, as well as the cyanobacteria symbiont residing inside the spores. To better understand the mechanism leading to the formation of spores (sporulation), a first transcriptome database of Azolla was constructed, revealing that ferns have many genes alike those regulating sexual reproduction in seed plants. Growth potentials of A. filiculoides and A. pinnata were determined at 35.5 and 32.8 t dry weight (dw) ha-1 year-1, respectively. Addition of CO2 up to 800 ppm boosted biomass productivity to 48.3 t dw ha-1 year-1. Under ambient CO2, N2-fixation by the fern's cyanobacterial symbionts completely supported Azolla's rapid growth, fixing 1200 kg N ha-1 annually. Nitrogen was predominantly fixed during the day by the phototropic Nostoc Azollae. Analysis of diel transcript profiles and microscopic investigations revealed several adaptations to this form of N-supply in Azolla's metabolism, leaf architecture and transcriptional regulation of nutrient transport. Rapidly growing Azolla contained between 17.6-20.8% protein, valuable as feed due to a high content of essential amino acids compared to soybean meal. While elevated CO2 concentrations boosted biomass yield, protein content and amino acid composition remained similar. Azolla biomass further contained 7.9-10.0 % lipids of which 41±13% consisted of fatty acids that could be converted into biodiesel. Azolla biodiesel meets requirements set by European standards on fuel density, cetane number and iodine value. However, a fractionation step will be required to decrease the high Cold Filter Plugging Point. Azolla was shown to have a relatively high content of soluble (poly)phenols, including 4.0-5.8% of condensed tannins, that are known to limit protein digestibility. Various polyphenol biosynthesis genes were identified in the A. filiculoides genome, including a highly expressed Leuco-Anthocyanidin Reductase (AzfiLAR-like), likely essential for the synthesis of condensed tannins. Digestibility of Azolla biomass may be enhanced by manipulating (poly)phenol biosynthesis, e.g. by knocking out the AzfiLAR-like gene, or by extracting protein separately from the (poly)phenols. Since the formation of protein-tannin complexes limited the yield of alkaline protein extraction we developed two methods to produce protein extracts with reduced (poly)phenol content: pre-extraction using aqueous acetone and competitive binding of tannins to polyethylene glycol during extraction. Both methods produced a protein precipitate containing 38% of total biomass nitrogen, while considerably reducing (<-67%) (poly)phenol content.


High temperature and pressure produced in an internal combustion engine may lead to high thermal stresses. A piston may need to be coated to avoid fails operation due to insufficient heat transfer. Common material that used as a material for Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) is Yttria Partially Stabilized Zirconia (YPSZ) and a ceramic based material called Mullite which has very good properties against high temperature application. In this work, the usage of Mullite and YPSZ were compared to improve the performance of TBC and were plasma sprayed on piston crown (AC8A aluminium alloys) in order to reduce thermal stresses. Those samples were deposited with NiCrAl bonding layers prior to coating of Mullite and YPSZ some samples is remained uncoated for comparison purpose. Detailed analyses (microstructure and hardness) on the deposited coating were examined and studied.


New information and communication technologies have imposed a dynamic on the contemporary world that is inducing transformational change within economic, social and cultural realms, resulting in synergy and convergence effects that are difficult to predict. To put it simply, within the growing complexity and unpredictability of the ambient conditions, there is no defined, closed repertoire, strategy, or solution, whether business oriented or institutional, that provides both effective and innovative approaches to the increasing structural problems of the global stage. The only existing solution to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage within today's world of permanent and endogenous change is the involvement of human capital (potential): its creativity and innovative approaches which alone can become a source of Schumpeter's creative destruction.

This implies even more, in the case of emerging economies, which still lag behind the more mature, developed countries both in economic, social and cultural standards of living. To truly close this gap, an interdisciplinary approach to human capital (human resources) is more than required, especially in reference to the transformational potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and any associated new management techniques, new business models, and new regulatory policies. Thus, the objective of this conference is to provide a forum for interested researchers and practitioners to exchange their experiences and creative ideas related to ICT management for global competitiveness and economic, social and cultural growth in emerging economies.

Possible topics may include but are not limited to the following aspects of innovation:
• Economical, psycho-social and legal frameworks as they relate to ICT and ICT Management
• Unique ICT management techniques for emerging and transition economies
• Methods for measuring the benefits and costs of projects involving the adoption of ICT
• The role of human and social capital
• Gender and other socio-demographic factors in human and social capital and in innovations processes
• Innovative ways for generating revenues and creating commercial knowledge products
• Educational systems and training as they relate to ICT and ICT Management
• Tradition and contemporaneity of pedagogical thought
• ICT innovations to support small and medium enterprises
• ICT innovations as a path to economic growth
• ICT productivity with specific reference to the prevalent social and business conditions
• Global supply chain management in emerging and transition economies
• Country specific case studies, with specific reference to the prevalent psychosocial and business conditions
• ICT off-shoring/outsourcing into emerging and transition economies
• ICT project management, with specific reference to the prevalent social and business conditions
• Digital divide in emerging and transition economies
• E-commerce impact in emerging and transition economies
• E-government in emerging and transition economies
• Healthcare and ICT Management
• Psychological, social, and economic aspects of Internet use in emerging and transition economies
• Virtual reality in psychological treatment and psychotherapy
• Analytical psychology and psychotherapy in the era of new technology
• Information and communication technologies in personnel recruitment, assessment and development
• Leadership and new technologies
• Psychological aspects of working in a virtual team
• Information and communication technologies in an ageing society
• Quantitative methods and information technology in management


Thomas Jackson, in his iconic book, The Logic and Limits of Bankruptcy Law, seeks to establish both a distributional baseline for bankruptcy reorganizations and a normative set of limits for bankruptcy policy. Nonbankruptcy entitlements should establish both the distributional priorities and the distributional floor in a bankruptcy case. A number of normative prescriptions follow. Equity should not seek reorganization on the backs of the unsecured creditors. Bankruptcy-specific priorities should be avoided, to the extent possible to avoid "forum shopping" into bankruptcy (unless, of course, bankruptcy is a more efficient forum). Most importantly, however, the state law rights of secured creditors should be respected.
Since Jackson wrote, however, times have changed. Paradoxically, bankruptcy courts have become the preferred venue for realizing value on a secured creditors' collateral, and Jackson's rhetoric has allowed secured creditors to capture bankruptcy created value that is not necessarily allocated to them by the statute. Specifically, undersecured creditors argue that they have a blanket lien on all of the debtor's assets and should have the power to determine their disposition.
This article first seeks to reestablish the Jacksonian balance by arguing that state law security schemes do not provide for the creation of blanket liens that capture enterprise value, but instead create asset specific security devices that are limited in scope, and are not calculated to maximize value.
It then seeks to establish three key points, and develop their implications. The points are (1) an ownership rule, (2) a realization rule, and (3) an equitable tracing—or "no moving up"—rule. The ownership rule is that baseline entitlements of a secured creditor in bankruptcy are established, as both a legal and a practical matter, by what could have actually been realized by that creditor outside of bankruptcy. The realization rule is that, unless the statute specifies (which it does in some cases), the baseline entitlement is valued as of the petition date. The equitable tracing rule recognizes the limits of the state law definition of proceeds and shows that equitable tracing principles operate to freeze the relative position of creditors on the date of the bankruptcy filing. This, in turn, limits the ability of secured creditors to use their property-based claims to "roll up" all of the bankruptcy-created value.
The article concludes by suggesting that a proper understanding of priority in bankruptcy requires attention not just to the priority of a secured creditor's state law entitlement, but also its limits.


The important tasks of opinion mining is Mining opinion targets and words from the online reviews. The main component is to detect opinion relations between words. We study a novel approach, which looks for opinion relations in the form of alignment process. After that graph-based algorithm is study. And at the last, a candidate who has higher confidence those are extracted. As compared with other methods, this model is making the task of opinion relations, for large-span relations also. As Compared with the syntax method, the word alignment model is looks for negative effects of when we are looking for online texts. We can say that this model obtains better precision, As Compared to the traditional unsupervised alignment model. When we search for candidate confidence, we get to know that higher-degree vertices in the graph-based algorithm are decreasing the probability of the generation of error. Index Terms - Opinion mining; opinion targets extraction; opinion words extraction


Environment settlements should be noted in the city tunnel construction, especially on the Yangtze embankment. Wuhan Yangtze River tunnel is the first one in the world third long river, and the embankment settlements is engineering significant to Wuhan, a city with 9 million people. The Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel is introduced, and the settlements induced by the shield tunnel are investigated. The tunnel, the soil and the embankment are numerical simulated in FEM model. The settlements of the foundation surface are calculated with difference shield face positions, and engineering advices are obtained based on the calculation.


A new method for processing the results of radionuclide studies on the liver blood circulation was proposed. It permitted assessing the state of the liver vascular network by a system of indicators having a specific physiological meaning: the ratio of functioning volumes of the vascular bed of the arterial and portal systems, the general, arterial and portal liver blood circulation in cardiac output fractions. The application of the method to radionuclide studies on the liver blood circulation in 5 healthy persons and 15 patients with metastatic liver lesions showed its efficacy and clinicodiagnostic significance.


Deep learning algorithms for connectomics rely upon localized classification, rather than overall morphology. This leads to a high incidence of erroneously merged objects. Humans, by contrast, can easily detect such errors by acquiring intuition for the correct morphology of objects. Biological neurons have complicated and variable shapes, which are challenging to learn, and merge errors take a multitude of different forms. We present an algorithm, MergeNet, that shows 3D ConvNets can, in fact, detect merge errors from high-level neuronal morphology. MergeNet follows unsupervised training and operates across datasets. We demonstrate the performance of MergeNet both on a variety of connectomics data and on a dataset created from merged MNIST images.


K. Fr. Bauer, the editor-in-chief of this Volume I, has made a successful attempt to furnish a survey of the results of research in a great variety of specialties during the last five or six years. This book offers an excellent orientation in the state of research in many fields of medicine. It so eliminates the necessity to study the abundance of original papers in spheres foreign to the average reader. The following are a few of the many chapters dealt with in his work: "The Surface Structures of Bacteria" (J. Tomcsik), "Metabolites and Antimetabolites" (J. C. Somogyi), "Results of Vitamin Research During the Years 1950-1954" (W. Stepp), "The Present Position of Research in Allergy" (F. Scheiffarth), "The Development of the Human Cerebral Cortex" (V. G. Bonin), "The Essential Amino Acids" (J. Kapfhammer, R. Bauer, and V. Kapfhammer), "Embryology in the Service of Research in Disease" (G. Toendury). It is


Study objective was to evaluate retrospectively central nervous system (CNS) morbidity of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with intensive chemotherapy and cranial radiotherapy for a first isolated or combined CNS relapse. Neurological (Touwen), neuropsychological (CFT 20, Wechsler scales, d2 attention test) and neuromorphological (CT, MRI) assessments were performed in 17 children (9 girls, 8 boys) aged between 7 and 14 years. Patients were off therapy for median 4 years; cranial radiotherapy for CNS relapse (12-24 Gy) was given to all patients 2 to 9 years ago (median 5.5 years). Ten patients had received preventive cranial radiotherapy during front-line treatment, previously. In this group, the cumulative radiation dose ranged between 30 and 39 Gy. Patients received 12 to 30 intrathecal methotrexate doses (median 22). Compared with normative levels for age (100 points) performance IQ (89.9) and full scale IQ (92.0), Culture Fair IQ (88.3) and attention and concentration (90.9) were significantly impaired. Verbal IQ (95.5) was not significantly different from normal expectations. Neurological investigations of 16 patients showed mild signs in 7 (44%) of them, mostly of fine-motor skills and coordination, but no major motor disability. In MRI and CT, white matter changes or ventricular enlargement were noted in 10 of 16 patients (63%). Parent-completed questionnaires indicated problem behaviors in 5 children. Cumulative doses of methotrexate correlated significantly with neuropsychological test results. Children irradiated twice as well as girls had poorer cognitive functions, not being statistically significant. Despite pathological test results, all children attended a normal school and did not exhibit obvious impairment in daily life. In conclusion, CNS relapse and attendant therapy, mostly consisting of a second course of cranial radiotherapy, caused measurable intellectual deficits and CNS morbidity, which did not result in severely impaired performance. Periodic psychological und clinical examinations are recommended for recognition of delayed morbiditiy and early intervention.


This paper presents a theoretical analysis of fiber tension distribution within a ring spun yarn without relaxation. Yarn residual torque is determined on the basis of the translation of fiber tension at the spinning triangle, as presented in the first part of this series of papers, into the fiber tension within the yarn. The results from numerical simulations indicate that, with fiber buckling, the yarn exhibits a lower average fiber tension and, thus, a much reduced yarn residual torque than that without fiber buckling. Comparison with experiments confirmed that fiber buckling exists in ring yarns while the assumption of no fiber buckling is not realistic. Generally, a low yarn twist results in low average fiber tension in the yarn and, thus, a reduced yarn residual torque. A symmetrical spinning triangle leads to a slightly higher yarn residual torque than a right-angle spinning triangle when the yarn counts and twists are identical and fiber buckling occurs.


This paper describes the application of selected block and convolutional coding techniques to digital transmission over an HF radio channel. Performance results are presented for interleaved binary Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes, interleaved two-stage concatenated codes, and diffuse convolutional codes. The performance results are based upon raw error data recorded in transmission over a 640-km HF path, with various data runs representing the typical effects of frequency-selective and non-selective fading, atmospheric impulse noise, and interference from other users of the HF band. The performance of binary BCH codes with bit interleaving is presented and the selection of a code to meet a specified performance criterion is described. The sensitivity of specific codes to changing channel conditions is presented, along with the cost, in terms of interleaving, of designing for one set of channel conditions rather than others. Concatenated codes are discussed as a means of effective error control on channels with clustered errors. Performance data are presented for selected two-stage codes used with inner-stage word interleaving and the effects of varying certain of the code parameters are shown. Emphasis is placed on code designs that use the inner-stage code only for error detection and the outer-stage code mainly for erasure filling with only a small amount of symbol error correction. The impact of error clustering on the performance of concatenated codes is discussed. Two diffuse convolutional codes are evaluated with the use of recorded error data in computer simulations of their threshold-decoding algorithms. Performance of various configurations of these convolutional codes is given and a comparison is made with that of a simple block coding scheme having the same decoder storage requirements. The various coding techniques studied are compared on the basis of achievable performance as well as certain factors affecting the feasibility of implementation.


OBJECTIVE
To compare glycaemic control, as reflected in the A1c level, of diabetic patients with primary care vs. with specialist care.

METHODS
The study used administrative data from eastern Ontario, Canada, and a database containing the results of all A1c tests from this region between 1 September 1999 and 1 September 2000. To avoid referral bias, diabetic patients with an index specialist visit were selected and separated into those with exclusively primary care previously (n = 974) and those with prior specialist care (n = 3533). We compared A1c levels measured within 30 days of the index visit and hence attributable to the prior care. To control for confounding between the groups, both multiple linear regression and propensity score-based matching were used.

RESULTS
After controlling for confounders, patients with prior specialist care had significantly lower A1c levels (P < 0.0001). Other predictors of lower A1c included older age, shorter diabetes duration, rural residence and higher neighbourhood income. In propensity score-matched cohorts, the A1c level was 8.3 +/- 2.0% with prior primary care vs. 7.9 +/- 1.6% with prior specialist care (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
Specialist care prior to the index visit was associated with a lower A1c level than prior primary care. This difference would result in reductions in diabetes complications for patients with ongoing specialist care.


At the Castel Nuovo of Naples in February 1441, Cipriano de' Mari of Genoa featured as Scipio Africanus in a play based on one of Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead, which was performed for King René of Anjou. When the play was over, Cipriano gave a humanist speech in which he likened René to Scipio, and René's enemy, King Alfonso V of Aragon, to Hannibal. This speech, published for the first time here, contributes to our understanding of the cultural–political programme pursued by René and his Italian allies. It also helps paint a remarkable picture of a poorly documented figure whose career nevertheless spanned the western Mediterranean. In this article, Cipriano de' Mari appears as a victorious naval captain who captured the infante of Aragon in battle; an ambassador and diplomatic intriguer whose contacts included members of the political and intellectual elite in Liguria, Provence, France and perhaps Castile; and a man of letters, versed in the works of Livy, Seneca and Valerius Maximus. In tracing the route taken by this Genoese jack‐of‐all‐trades, and exploring the connections he made along the way, a Mediterranean political, social and cultural world is brought to light.


Objective: Glucocorticoids (GCs) in breastmilk have previously been associated with infant body growth and body composition. However, the diurnal rhythm of breastmilk GCs was not taken into account, and we therefore aimed to assess the associations between breastmilk GC rhythmicity at 1 month and growth and body composition at 3 months in infants. Methods: At 1 month postpartum, breastmilk GCs were collected over a 24-h period and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Body composition was measured using air-displacement plethysmography at 3 months. Length and weight were collected at 1, 2, and 3 months. Results: In total, 42 healthy mother–infant pairs were included. No associations were found between breastmilk GC rhythmicity (area-under-the-curve increase and ground, maximum, and delta) and infant growth trajectories or body composition (fat and fat free mass index, fat%) at 3 months. Conclusions: This study did not find an association between breastmilk GC rhythmicity at 1 month and infant's growth or body composition at 3 months. Therefore, this study suggests that previous observations linking breastmilk cortisol to changes in infant weight might be flawed by the lack of serial cortisol measurements and detailed information on body composition.


Sir, 1 would like to endorse and reinforce the criticisms put forward by Jason Gardosi of the validity of some of the conclusions drawn from systematic reviews (Vol 105, January 1998)'. As he states, they are "wide open to errors in analysis and clinical interpretation". Gardosi cites the example of fetal heart rate monitoring. May 1 draw attention to other examples of such conclusions unsupported by the data on which they might be thought to be founded? It has become an article of faith in contemporary clinical practice that labour is the best test of pelvic adequacy in cephalic presentations2. Thus it is claimed that "the use of a partogram in labour will make the diagnosis [of CPD] accurately (my emphasis) and will help in the management of future labour^"^. There can be no more definitive indication of a failed trial of labour than caesarean section for dystocia/CPD. "It is only possible to make a diagnosis of cephalopelvic disproportion after a failed trial of l a b ~ u r " ~ . However, the systematic review of data on this topic shows a picture inconsistent with the conclusions from the review quoted above4. Table 70.5 in the review summates the experience from 22 publications, and shows that among 2528 women who had all undergone section for 'dystocia/CPD', a subsequent trial of labour ended in successful vaginal delivery in 1667 cases (66'1/0)! So much for the reliability of trial of labour in the diagnosis of CPD! Any diagnostic test with reproducibility in the same individual of only one third is laughable. Further, if failure of a trial of labour is the purported gold standard against which other diagnostic methods are to be judged, what validity is there in such fallible comparisons? The same systematic review4 contains another conclusion at odds with the evidence. It endorses the recommendations of the Canadian Consensus Conference on Aspects of Caesarean Birth (1986) which are described as "in accord with the available evidence". These state "The likelihood of vaginal birth after caesarean section appears to be independent of the indication for the first caesarean section (including 'cephalopelvic disproportion' and 'failure to progress')''. But the same Table 70.6 sets out separately the different vaginal delivery rates after previous section for 'dystocial/CPD', 'fetal distress', and 'breech/malpresentation'. These are, respectively, 1667 out of 2528 = 66%; 505 out of 659 = 76.6%; and 1000 out of 1095 = 91.3%. The wide divergence of subsequent vaginal delivery rates demonstrated by these data is confirmed in the literature survey by Lavin et aL5. Their Table 4 showed that the vaginal delivery rate among 543 women who had a trial of labour after primary section for CPD was less than half that achieved by a comparable number of women sectioned for any other reason. There may have been a consensus at the Conference, but it does not appear to have been evidence-based! In Table 70.5 referred to above, the author did not include the proportions of patients who underwent elective section. It could be argued that this factor would bias the comparison of first with second trial of labour, because of selection bias. But Tables 70.1 and 70.2 in the same systematic review suggest that the mind-set of the obstetrician is more important. In the retrospective studies where as many as 57% of 13,509 women underwent elective repeat section, 72.7% of those undergoing trial of labour achieved vaginal delivery; but in the prospective series, where only 31% of 8899 women had elective repeat section, the vaginal delivery rate after trial was higher (80%). It is thus clear, as Gardosi pointed out, that critical appraisal of systematic reviews is vitally important and necessary, especially in areas where they are likely to have a major influence on clinical practice.


Recommender systems (RSs) are popular tools dealing with information overload problems in eCommerce Web sites. RSs match user preferences with item representations and recommend the items that better suit these preferences. However, sometimes, the required information may not be fully available, and it could be beneficial to make conjectures about these missing values in order to generate immediately a recommendation even if not optimal. This paper presents an assumption-based multiagent RS making this type of assumptions about the user's preferences. This approach was validated in a travel application analyzing the impact of various assumption making strategies on the quality and efficiency of the recommendation process. The agents are cooperative when solving their tasks, i.e., finding the appropriate travel services (e.g., hotel or flight) to be aggregated in the final recommendation (a complete travel).


The paper examines the process and context of international efforts to designate
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean. The relationship between
the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR
Convention) and the Madrid Protocol is examined in relation to legal, political and
administrative norms and practices. A contextual overview of the Antarctic MPA system
is considered, followed by an analysis of the overlapping competencies of CAMLR
Commission (CCAMLR) and the Madrid Protocol. The Antarctic MPA debate is placed
in a wider international legal context of the management of global oceans space in
areas beyond national jurisdiction. We provide an analysis of the politico-legal discourse
and point to complicating factors within, and external to, the Antarctic system.
The concluding section suggests options for breathing new life into the Southern
Ocean MPA discourse.


Knowledge Discovery in Bibliographic Databases. Ed. Jian Qin and M. Jay Norton. Library Trends 48, no. 1 (Summer 1999). Champaign: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1999. 281p. single copy, $18.50 (ISSN 0024-2594). Knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) is one of those arcane information science topics that seem both mysterious and inviting to most librarians, bearing an aura of the future of librarianship. While being discussed in the major information science journals (e.g., Trybula 1997; Vickery 1997; Raghavan et al. 1998), it has not found its way into mainstream library science literature. If for no other reason then, the appearance of this issue of Library Trends is a welcome development, especially because of its focus on using KDD in bibliographic databases. The papers comprising this book have been artfully assembled. The introduction and a useful overview of KDD are followed by an assessment of classification schemes, from the standpoint of knowledge discovery. as devices of knowledge representation. This link to bibliographic organizational practice yields in turn to two accounts of finding new knowledge by discovering connections, through common citations, between sets of articles in the biomedical and philosophical literatures. Next is a demonstration of using cocitation links to forge a pathway of relationships through the literatures of several subject areas from economics to astrophysics. There follow three articles on different aspects of discovering knowledge in word-occurrence patterns, another four on automated knowledge discovery using various kinds of document surrogates (search-engine templates, metadata headers, abstracts, MARC-encoded geospatial data), and a concluding essay on the significance of automated information retrieval for librarians. E ach article takes on a distinct subtopic, complementing its neighbors and contributing to a largely satisfying whole. At the same time, the collection suffers somewhat from not sufficiently tailoring its presentation to its primary audience. The authors are all well versed in the information science concepts underlying KDD, but unfortunately most working librarians lack such familiarity. Each article seems intended to introduce a particular aspect of KDD to the nonspecialist; only a few report new research. It is therefore doubly frustrating when bibliometric jargon and obscure statistical formulas are employed without explanation, as they frequently are in this volume. Such explanation would of course slow down a presentation and annoy information scientists, but by writing as if for JASIS (Journal of the American Society for Information Science), most of the authors have squandered an excellent chance to educate the working librarian and drive home the relevance of their topics. A recurring theme in this volume is KDD's function of revealing the broader intellectual context of a scholarly work by using computer-aided association techniques to uncover links between two apparently unrelated articles. This process can have dramatic results. For instance, Don Swanson and Neil Smalheiser present a classic example of bibliographic KDD: linking articles through common citations to produce a promising but unsuspected idea for treating migraine headaches. In the following chapter, Kenneth Cory recounts how humanities researchers adapted Swanson and Smalheiser's methods and discovered an undocumented intellectual link between Robert Frost and the Greek philosopher Garneades. Henry Small's 331-article path from economics to physics is a spectacular demonstration of both the power of bibliographic association and the interrelatedness of knowledge. …


The Disturbance Observer (DOB) is widely used in many robust control applications such as robotics and industrial automation due to its simplicity and efficiency. The DOB estimates and compensates the system disturbances by using an inner-feedback loop in the range of its bandwidth. It includes the inverse of the nominal system model and a low pass filter (LPF) which determines the bandwidth of the DOB. The dynamic characteristic and bandwidth of the LPF directly affect the robust stability and performance of the system. The dynamic characteristic of the LPF can be adjusted by using Higher Order Disturbance Observers (HODOB). The bandwidth of the DOB is demanded to be as high as possible to suppress the system disturbances in a wide frequency range. However, it is bounded by the noise and robustness of the system. The conventional robustness analysis method which is based on the Small Gain theorem and unstructured uncertainties, unnecessarily limits the bandwidth of the DOB due to conservatism. The conservatism can be decreased by using the structured uncertainty based robustness analysis methods. In this paper, the robust stability and performance of the system with DOB/HODOB is analyzed by using the conventional analysis method and Singular Structured Values (SSV) that is based on the structured uncertainties. The pros and cons of these methods are shown. A general second order system model is analyzed and simulation results are given to show the validity of the proposed methods.


The present study deals with the effect of constituent phase (austenite and martensite) characteristics on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an advanced high strength steel obtained through the quenching and partitioning (Q&P) process. The thermomechanical processing route is purposefully employed to modify the microstructures, to produce better mechanical properties. The final microstructures include first and second (fresh) martensite and retained austenite with film or blocky morphology in a wide range of size. The martensite laths mainly contribute in increasing the strength, and the retained austenite positively affects the ductility. Presence of a high fraction of high angle grain boundaries in the martensite laths indicate that the prior austenite grains are fully recrystallized in the thermomechanical process preceding the Q&P treatment. Although a lower carbon content is observed in the initial martensite of the specimen that is deformed during annealing treatment before the Q&P process, nevertheless, a higher work hardenability is found, because the lower carbon content is compensated by increasing the volume fraction of retained austenite and decreasing the martensite islands average sizes. The latter also the great film‐like retained austenite fraction besides the low amount of fresh martensite is found to improve the mechanical behavior significantly.


A new method for testing both refractive and reflective optical components using beam deflection is presented. For a beam with a 80-μm waist, 1-μrad deflections are detectable from a reflecting test surface. This corresponds to an average height resolution in the reflecting surface of eight-tenths of an angstrom over the dimensions of the beam.


Tranexamic acid (TA) is widely used by orthopedic surgeons to decrease blood loss and the need for transfusion following total hip arthroplasty (THA). Although both intravenous and topical applications are described in the literature, there remains no consensus regarding the optimal regimen, dosage and method of delivery of TA during THA. In addition, concerns still exist regarding the risk of thromboembolic events with intravenous administration. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare the efficacy and safety of topical versus intravenous administration of TA in THA. A systemic review of the electronic databases PubMed, CENTRAL, EMBASE and Google Scholar was undertaken to identify all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the topical and intravenous administration of TA during THA, in terms of total blood loss, rate of blood transfusion and incidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) post-operatively. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of both methods of administration. Of 248 potentially relevant papers, three RCTs comprising (482) were eligible for data extraction and meta-analysis. The results showed a slightly higher amount of blood loss [Mean Difference (MD) – 46.37, P=0.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) – 12.54 to 105.29] and rate of transfusion (Risk Ratio 1.30, P=0.39, 95%CI 0.71 to 2.37) postoperatively in the topical TA group, but both did not reach statistical significance. There were 3 cases (1.2%) of DVT/PE in the intravenous group and one case (0.4%) in the topical group. Topical TA is an effective and safe method to reduce blood loss and the rate of transfusion following primary THA. It has comparative effectiveness to IV administration with slightly less post-operative thromboembolic complications. Larger and better-designed RCTs are required to establish the optimum dosage and regimen for topical use.


Low-rank Tucker and CP tensor decompositions are powerful tools in data analytics. The widely used alternating least squares (ALS) method, which solves a sequence of over-determined least squares subproblems, is costly for large and sparse tensors. We propose a fast and accurate sketched ALS algorithm for Tucker decomposition, which solves a sequence of sketched rank-constrained linear least squares subproblems. Theoretical sketch size upper bounds are provided to achieve $O(\epsilon)$ relative error for each subproblem with two sketching techniques, TensorSketch and leverage score sampling. Experimental results show that this new ALS algorithm, combined with a new initialization scheme based on randomized range finder, yields up to $22.0\%$ relative decomposition residual improvement compared to the state-of-the-art sketched randomized algorithm for Tucker decomposition of various synthetic and real datasets. This Tucker-ALS algorithm is further used to accelerate CP decomposition, by using randomized Tucker compression followed by CP decomposition of the Tucker core tensor. Experimental results show that this algorithm not only converges faster, but also yields more accurate CP decompositions.


Exploring the population structure of Toxoplasma gondii is important to understand its worldwide distribution and the determinants of its evolution. To date, in Europe and North America, most of isolated strains appeared to belong to two main weakly pathogenic clonal lineages: Types II and III. Conversely, studies from South America showed evidence for a substantial genetic diversity in this continent. Other genotypes were described in Africa. Determinants of this spatial structure are still poorly understood. Moreover, globalization of exchanges could drive rapid evolution of T. gondii population spatial structure, with unknown health outcomes. Our aim was to investigate the possible role of maritime trade in T. gondii introgressions between France and Senegal, two countries sharing a long history of trade since the 17th century.
In this study, 55 isolates from Senegal were obtained by mouse bioassay from domestic fauna in two ports cities founded by French colons (Dakar and Saint-Louis) and one inland remote region (Kedougou). Genotyping using 15 microsatellite markers revealed the presence of a highly contrasting diversity between port cities and the inland Kedougou. In Saint-Louis, the common lineage Type II and a French Type II variant were predominant (23/26). In Dakar, Type II (10/22) and Type III (6/22) represented together the majority of the isolates, beside a diversity of numerously marginal African lineages and unique strains. Conversely, the highly mouse-virulent African lineage Africa 1 was predominant in Kedougou (4/6).
This contrasting population structure between port cities and inland suggests a possible role of maritime trade.


ABSTRACT Objective: To describe the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) programs to promote farmers markets use by low income families, with a focus on the impacts of such programs and the factors that contribute to their success in Washington State . Methods: Interviews with P2P program leaders, peer educators, and program participants from four P2P programs. Thematic analysis was guided by constructs from implementation sciences and the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework. Results: Analysis of data from 18 respondents indicated that P2P programs increased self-reported shopping at farmers markets and fruit and vegetable consumption among most peer educators and program participants and lead to positive changes at community, organizational and environmental levels. Program facilitators included effective and dedicated peer educators, fit with implementing organization goals, support from organizational leaders, networks with partner organizations, and adequate resources. Conclusions and Implications: Farmers market P2P programs in Washington benefited individuals, organizations, communities, and potentially the agricultural sector.


Objective: To determine frequency, structure of antihyperholesterinemic therapy in the east region of Kazakhstan and compliance of the patients. Material and Methods: The pharmacoepidemiological analysis was carried out on the basis of archival documents (medical history, outpatient cards) of 14 treatment and prevention institutions in Semey city of the East Kazakhstan region. A total of 3458 units of primary material were analyzed. The study included medical documentation of people with the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease, arterial hypertension, arterial atherosclerosis of lower limbs and other chronic diseases, as well as clinically healthy individuals with a study of the content of cholesterol in the blood. To determine adherence, the Moriski-Green test is used. Results: It was revealed that the frequency of prescribing antihypercholesterolemic drugs (statins) in the conditions of Semey city is 80.7% of cases from the number of persons with clinical indications for their use. Atorvastatin (89.7%) prevailed in the structure of antihypercholesterolemic therapy in patients with hypercholesterolemia and clinically manifested atherosclerosis. A low adherence to statin therapy has been revealed, reaching only 46.6% of the number of appointments and decreasing to 39.9% in individuals without clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis. The overall frequency of regular statin use in the group average, taking into account prescriptions and adherence, is 37.6% of the number of people with clinical indications and depends on the clinical diagnosis. Conclusion: It is necessary to implement measures to correct the approaches of doctors to the appointment of antihypercholesterolemic therapy and work with patients aimed at increasing adherence to treatment.


BACKGROUND There are different types, factors and procedures in anaesthesia influencing patient's satisfaction. We have compared the satisfaction level between general anaesthesia (GA) and supra clavicle brachial plexus block (SCBPB) and studied few factors which influences the outcome of satisfaction. 50 patients of age more than 21 years who were admitted for implant removal of the forearm, included in the study. Those operated under GA during previous surgery, were given SCBPB during implant removal and vice versa. Questionnaires based feedbacks were taken twice separately for different anaesthesia they experienced. Statistical analysis was done using student's t test. There is increase in satisfaction level in patients who were operated under SCBPB during present surgery over patients who were operated under SCBPB during previous surgery is 8.78% (*p<0.05). The increase in satisfaction level in present SCBPB group over previous GA group is 32.3% (**p<0.001) which shows strong statistical significance. In comparison between present SCBPB over present GA there is increase in satisfaction level by 14.67% which has a statistical significance at ***p<0.01. Satisfaction level is more in SCBPB group than GA group. The satisfaction score in shivering, post-operative pain control and early oral intake is high in SCBPB group which indicates that these three factors influence the patient's satisfaction level. Anaesthesia, Supra Clavicular Brachial Plexus Block.


Abstract Numerous populations from six spruce taxa, including four relict endemics, Picea chihuahuana (Chihuahua spruce), P. martinezii (Martínez spruce), P. mexicana (Mexican spruce), and P. breweriana (Brewer spruce), and two widespread species, P. engelmannii (Engelmann spruce) and P. pungens (blue spruce), were compared at homologous isozyme loci to test various hypotheses about their affinities and origins. Each of the species was clearly separated, and Neighbor-Joining and Unweighted Pair Group analyses of Nei's genetic distance grouped all populations within a taxon into their own clusters. Spruces from Flys Peak, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, joined a P. engelmannii cluster and were not a bridge to P. mexicana as previously believed. Spruces from Cerro Mohinora, Chihuahua, were clearly P. mexicana, not phantom hybrids of P. chihuahuana and P. pungens. Nuclear random amplified polymorphic DNA and chloroplast simple sequence repeat and cleaved amplified polymorphic genetic markers were compared in a smaller sample of populations, using distance and parsimony approaches. DNA markers, like isozymes, clearly identified spruces from Cerro Mohinora as P. mexicana. In contradiction to the most recent taxonomic treatment, P. chihuahuana and P. martinezii were separated as distinct species by both isozyme and DNA markers, and formed a sister-species group. Picea engelmannii and P. mexicana formed a separate cluster, and the genetic distance between them was similar to values associated with closely related species but greater than distances typical of subspecies or varieties in conifers. Picea pungens, which is so similar to P. engelmannii that the two are frequently misidentified, was clearly distinguished from it, sometimes joining a P. chihuahuana-martinezii group and sometimes a P. engelmannii-mexicana group, depending on analysis. Picea breweriana was well isolated from all other taxa. Both DNA and isozyme phylogenies agreed with results from crossability studies and contradicted intrageneric relationships constructed largely on cone morphology.


The stiffness model of the parallel machine tool is established by static analysis, the static stiffness analysis is carried out through numerical Simulation and the stiffness distribution is given. On the basis of this, the optimal objective is given which is the average of 729 values of -axis stiffness and -axis stiffness corresponding to 729 positions in the workspace. With MATLAB software, the effects are simulated which the structural parameters of the parallel machine tool have on their stiffness, their change rules are gained, and this provides a basis for the structural design of this type of machine tools.


The direct and inverse scattering problems related to objects having inhomogeneous impedance boundaries are addressed by considering cylindrical bodies. In the solution of the direct scattering problem, the scattered field is first expressed in terms of a combined single‐ and double‐layer potential through Green's formula and the boundary condition. By using the jump relations on the boundary of the object, the scattering problem is reduced to a boundary integral equation that can be solved via a Nyström method. The aim of the inverse impedance problem is to reconstruct the inhomogeneous surface impedance of the body from the measured far field data. Here representing the scattered field as a single‐layer potential leads to an ill‐posed integral equation of the first kind for the density that requires stabilization for its numerical solution; for example, by Tikhonov regularization. With the aid of the jump relations the single‐layer potential enables the evaluation of the total field and its derivative on the boundary of the scatterer. Consequently, from the boundary condition the surface impedance can be reconstructed either by direct evaluation or by a minimum norm solution in the least squares sense. The numerical results show that our methods yields good resolution both for the direct and the inverse problem.


We examined the surface modifications of Zr50Cu30Ni10Al10 bulk glassy alloys, including oxidization, nitriding, and diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating to improve wear resistance. Wear abrasion in bulk glassy alloys begins with the formation of shear bands, as in cold-rolled structures. Ultimately, lamellar tearing occurs in the lamellar structure of the shear band in the wear region. Surface modification effectively reduces the wear abrasion corresponding to the easy formation of the shear band. Bulk glassy alloy coated with DLC has outstanding wear resistance due to its low surface-friction coefficient. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.47.1999]


Axe is a new simulation language built upon the foundations of C language. It allows a designer to hierarchically describe and simulate a digital system at the procedural level, gate level, or switch level. The Axe compiler and the simulation code it generates require minimal computer system resources and execute in an efficient manner. This results from the use of the module concept as the central modeling device and by employing a standard C compiler as the ''backend'' of the Axe compiler. In conjunction with the C compiler, Axe allows the user to have access to a full-fledged general-purpose programming language which also supports the simulation of digital systems. This flexibility allows Axe to generate simulations which can be used and modified to meet several needs. In addition, Axe allows modification of the timing parameters of system components in order to gauge the effects upon system performance. A complete example of the use of Axe is given, and several larger simulations are described.


A new type of saturable absorber (SA) based on gold nanorods (GNRs) for all-fiber passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is realized experimentally. The longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption of GNRs is used to induce Q-switching. By inserting the GNRs SA in an EDFL cavity pumped by a 980 nm laser diode, stable passive Q-switching is achieved with a threshold pump power of ~27 mW, and 4.8 μs pulses at 1560 nm with a repetition rate of 39.9 kHz are obtained for a pump power of ~275 mW.


Competitive binding and fluorescence energy transfer experiments were used to examine the binding of 2'[3']-O-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl) adenosine-5'-diphosphate (TNP-ADP) to the catalytic site of Ca ATPase. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), which is known to covalently bind near the catalytic site (13), was shown to exclude all TNP-ADP binding. TNP-ADP, in turn, will protect against FITC labeling of the Ca ATPase in its native state and in both phosphoenzyme forms. The competitive nature of these probes indicates that TNP-ADP binds to the catalytic site exclusively. Fluorescence energy transfer studies using TNP-ADP as an energy acceptor and 1,N6-ethenoadenosine-5'-diphosphate (epsilon-ADP) as an energy donor were used to estimate the distance between nucleotide binding sites in the enzyme complex. A lower limit for the distance measured was 44 A. This is interpreted to be the distance between catalytic sites on adjacent monomers of a dimer unit. The results of this work are consistent with a single nucleotide site per ATPase monomer.


The in vitro culture response of immature zygotic embryos (IZE), from six Gossypium hirsutum and one G. barbadense variety, was studied. Explants were collected from plants grown in the field and the greenhouse. Bolls were collected 12, 14 and 16 days after pollination (DAP) from the field and 10, 12 and 14 DAP from the greenhouse. The young embryos were cultured in vitro in SH and BT supplemented with 2,4-D and kinetin. All genotypes responded well to callogenesis in spite of the environmental conditions where they were grown. Callus formation (%) was higher when the bolls were collected 16 DAP for embryos collected from the field and 14 DAP for embryos collected from the greenhouse. The callus developed was tested for its embryogenic and organogenic potential in several media without positive results. During the callus induction period, it was observed that in some explants the epidermal cells from the upper cotyledon and the hypocotyl were diversified into globular or heart shape embryoids. For their further development, they were transferred to a modified MS medium. Some of the young embryoids formed roots and leaves but they never developed into regular plantlets.


We clinico-statistically studied 8 patients (0.77%) with tuberculous peritonitis (3 cases) and tuberculous endometritis (5 cases) aged 50 or older who visited our gynecological clinic for 6 years from July, 1986 to June, 1992 in Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Geriatric Hospital. The mean age was 72 years with a range of 52 to 82 years. Five cases with tuberculous endometritis were diagnosed based on the findings of endometrial cytology and bacteriology, and the incidence was 0.93% of 535 cases in which the uterine cavity could be examined. Three cases with tuberculous peritonitis were strongly suspected by the ascitic findings (cytology and adenosine deaminase level), and culture of ascitic fluid for acid-fast bacilli was positive in 2 of the three cases. Another case with negative culture was diagnosed based on the marked improvement of clinical findings and symptoms during chemotherapy for tuberculosis. No cases were complicated by active lung tuberculosis. All cases had a family and/or past history of pulmonary tuberculosis. The PPD skin test was positive in 7 of the 8 cases. In all cases, the clinical laboratory data and symptoms were markedly improved by chemotherapy for tuberculosis. Endometrial cytology and transvaginal ultrasonography were very effective methods for the diagnosis of tuberculous endometritis and peritonitis associated with ascites.


The Channel Island of Guernsey exposes pre- and post-tectonic calc-alkaline plutonic rocks attributed to late Precambrian (Cadomian) subduction activity. 40Ar/39Ar mineral cooling ages presented here clarify the age and time-span of post-tectonic intrusions. Amphibole from the Bon Repos meladiorite yields an isotope correlation age of 605.3 ± 4.6 Ma, indicating emplacement during late stages of the tectonothermal event recorded within its host rocks. Igneous hornblendes from the Northern Igneous Complex record consistent isotope correlation ages (St Peter Port gabbro 570.2 ±1.1 Ma, Bordeaux diorite complex 569.0 ± 1.1 and 565.3 ± 2.2 Ma, and a comagmatic enclave within Cobo granite 570.2 ± 1.5 Ma). Hornblende and biotite from contact-metamorphosed host rocks adjacent to the Cobo granite yield isotope correlation ages of 569.6 ±1.1 and 563.8 ± 3.3 Ma respectively. These ages, together with field data, demonstrate that the various members of the Northern Igneous Complex were emplaced contemporaneously at c. 570 Ma, significantly earlier than a c. 500 Ma Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron age previously reported for the Cobo granite. The 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that post-tectonic magmatism on Guernsey was broadly coeval with post-metamorphic cooling around the Baie de St Brieuc on the adjacent French mainland, and occurred c. 30 Ma prior to peak Cadomian deformation and metamorphism in the St Malo area.


We investigated separate and simultaneous effect of temperature, salinity and solar radiation, as well as bacterial strain and origin on Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) survival in seawater in experimental conditions. The experiments were carried out by placing the bottles filled with sea- water of different salinity (15.0, 30.0 and 36.5 psu) and contaminated by bacterial cultures in three light‐protected air incubators set to different temperatures (6, 12, 18 and 24°C), or by placing the bottles in plastic containers filled with water of controlled temperature and exposing them to direct solar light. In experiments in the dark, two typed and two wild E. coli strains were tested. The mean T 90 values were 33.55 h for E. coli ATCC 8739, 42.50 h for E. coli ATCC 35218, 72.8 h for E. coli originating from seagull feces and 278.6 h for E. coli originating from sewage, indicating differences between survival abilities among strains. The effect of tempera- ture on T 90 was significant only in seagull E. coli at 36.5 psu and sewage E. coli at 30.0 psu and was positive. The effect of salinity was significant only in seagull strain and also was positive. No interactive effect of temperature and salinity was recorded. Experiments in the presence of solar radiation, carried out with two ATCC E. coli strains, demonstrated its dominate harmful effect on bacterial cells, reducing T 90 of both strains to 0.30–0.82 h for E. coli ATCC 35218 and 0.31–5.93 h for E. coli ATCC 8739. Within the ultraviolet A (UVA) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) spectrum of solar radiation, the wavelengths of 320–360 nm were found as most bactericidal. By comparing survival of cultivated E. coli cells to those in natural seawater samples, significantly higher survival E. coli cells in natural seawater samples was found.


One of the most promising technologies in high efficiency solar cells is based on quaternary structures grown by epitaxial techniques as Metal Organic Chemical Vapour deposition (MOCVD). The semiconductors III-V structures are elaborated under tailored parameters, allowing the use of a broader area of the solar spectrum. Analytical techniques capable of providing accurate and precise information in cross sections about the composition and thickness of the layers are demanded. Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) has been used for characterization of these structures due to its high depth resolution and sensitivity, stability and reproducibility. It was detected the diffusion process of Al and In across the cell interfaces and the layer diffusion over GaAs substrates. The Al diffusion was associated at incorrect incorporation of elements during growth process and the layer diffusion was associated at changes of manufacturing parameters. Such studies show the SIMS ability to diagnose of faults during the growth process, detection of impurities and incorrect diffusion of dopants that may affect the layer properties and the structure functionality.


When we discuss agent-based system construction with software developers or ask students to implement common agent architectures using object-oriented techniques, we find that it is not trivial for them to create an elegant system design from the standard presentation of these architectures in textbooks or research papers. To better communicate our interpretation of popular agent architectures, we draw UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagrams to guide an implementer's design. However, before we describe these diagrams, we need to review some basic features of agents. The paper considers an architecture showing a simple agent interacting with an environment. The agent senses its environment, uses what it senses to choose an action, and then performs the action through its effectors. Sensory input can include received messages, and action can be the sending of messages. To construct an agent, we need a more detailed understanding of how it functions. In particular, if we are to build one using conventional object-oriented analysis and design techniques, we should know in what ways an agent is more than just a simple object.


For installing many sensors in a limited space with a limited computing resource, the digitization of the sensor output at the site of sensation has advantages such as a small amount of wiring, low signal interference and high scalability. For this purpose, we have developed a dedicated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Large-Scale Integration (LSI) (referred to as "sensor platform LSI") for bus-networked Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS)-LSI integrated sensors. In this LSI, collision avoidance, adaptation and event-driven functions are simply implemented to relieve data collision and congestion in asynchronous serial bus communication. In this study, we developed a network system with 48 sensor platform LSIs based on Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in a backbone bus topology with the bus length being 2.4 m. We evaluated the serial communication performance when 48 LSIs operated simultaneously with the adaptation function. The number of data packets received from each LSI was almost identical, and the average sampling frequency of 384 capacitance channels (eight for each LSI) was 73.66 Hz.


PurposeThe academic community has warned that predatory journals may attempt to capitalize on the confusion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to further publish low quality academic work, eroding the credibility of scholarly publishing.Design/methodology/approachThis article first chronicles the risks of predatory publishing, especially related to misinformation surrounding health research. Next, the author offers an empirical investigation of how predatory publishing has engaged with COVID-19, with an emphasis on journals related to virology, immunology and epidemiology as identified through Cabells' Predatory Reports, through a content analysis of publishers' websites and a comparison to a sample from DOAJ.FindingsThe empirical findings show that there were 162 titles related to these critical areas from journals listed on Cabells with a range of infractions, but most were defunct and only 39 had published on the pandemic. Compared to a DOAJ comparison group, the predatory journal websites were less likely to mention slowdowns to the peer review process related to the pandemic. Furthermore, another 284 predatory journals with COVID-19 engagement were uncovered from the initial exploration. These uncovered journals mostly centered on medical or biological science fields, while 42 titles came from other broader fields in social science, other STEM or humanities.Originality/valueThis study does not prove that predatory publications have released misinformation pertaining to COVID-19, but rather it exemplifies the potential within a complex academic publishing space. As these outlets have proven to be vectors of misleading science, libraries and the broader educational community need to stay vigilant as information intermediaries of online research.


This faunal and systematic study on the subfamily Chrysomelinae (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) is based on material collected from Artvin, Erzincan and Erzurum provinces during 1992-1996 and previous years. 34 species belonging to twelve genera were recorded. Among them, Chrysolina cuprina (Duftchimit), C. geminata (Paykul), C. hyrcana Weise, C. trapezicollis Bechyne and Timarcha hummeli Falderman are new records for Turkish fauna. Chrysomela collaris L., C. populi L., C. salceti (Weise) and Plagiodera versicolora (Laicharting) were determined as willow and poplar pest, Gonioctena linnaeana (Schrank), Phratora vitellinae (L.) and P. tibialis (Suffrian) as willow pest, Gonioctena fornicata (Brugg.) as alfalfa pest and Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) as potato pest. Furthermore, Gastrophysa viridula caucasica Jolivet has a potential use in the biological control of Rumex alpinus L., that is a significant weed species in spruce (Picae sp.) plantations. A short description was made for each species, and drawings of body parts having taxonomic importance were enclosed. Keys to the genera and species were prepared . The host plants of some species were recorded. Their distribution in the research area, other parts of the country and in the world was included.


A hundred and seventy-nine patients with osteoarthrosis (OA) (mean age 50.48+/-5.81 years) were examined for metabolic syndrome (MS) from the International Diabetic Federation (IDF) criteria in the groups with normal and increased fasting C-peptide levels. The blood level of immunoreactive insulin was determined and the insulin resistance indices (Cari, HOMA-IR, ISI, and QUICKI) were calculated. The results were analyzed using the correlation analysis and methods of multivariate statistics. HyperC-peptidemia was found in 84.36% of patients with OA, hyperinsulinemia in 82.12%. As C-peptidemia increased, metabolic disturbances progressed in terms of levels and absolute values. At the same time four fifths of the OA patients with normal laboratory C-peptide levels were diagnosed as having MS from the 2005 IDF criteria. The level of C-peptide and the HOMA-IR and QUICKI indices were more closely correlated with the severity of polyosteoarthritis than insulin. The relationship of insulin resistance to the course of osteoarthritis has been confirmed. It is suggested that hyperC-peptidemia and hyperinsulinemia shows an inflammation-adaptive role in the pathogenesis of OA, the latter associated with obesity in particular.


The present study aimed to adapt the Child and Adolescent Worry Scale (CAWS) to use in the context of Bangladesh. The original scale developed by Campbell and Rapee in 1994 consisted of 20 items and higher scores on the scale indicate higher anxiety. Standard procedure for adaptation was followed. Item analysis was done on school going 130 mainstream and special need children aged between 6 to 15 years. The Cronbach's Alpha and test-retest reliability was found to be .799 and .858 respectively for the adapted scale indicating high level of reliability. Criterion-related validity was measured by calculating concurrent and postdictive validity. Concurrent validity was measured by computing correlation (r= .912, p=.001) between the adapted scale and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Similarly, correlation value of postdictive validity was found to be .806, p=.001. Both measures ensured that the adapted scale measures the same construct as the original one. Moreover, the Mann-Whitney U test also indicated that the scale could differentiate between the mainstream and special need children regarding their worry/anxiety. Worry score was greater for the special need children than the other group (U= 608.50 at p =.001). It indicates that the adapted scale has good sensitivity to varying levels of anxiety severity. The psychometric properties of the Bangla CAWS suggest that professionals and the researchers can use the scale to assess children and adolescent's overall level of anxiety in Bangladeshi context.
Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 30(3 CSI): 417-427, 2022 (June)


This study examines the long-run equilibrium and short-run dynamic relationship between services sector and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and between services and nonservices sectors in India. The model is estimated using the optimal single-equation and the maximum-likelihood system estimators. All the estimators consistently suggest the cointegrating relationship between services sector and GDP as well as between services and nonservices sectors. The estimates of long-run elasticity parameters are statistically significant and dimensionally consistent across the estimators. The conventional Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) and the new CUSUM and Moving Sum (MOSUM) tests suggest the stability of the equilibrium residuals and reinforce the cointegrating relationship between the model series. The error correction model provides some support for unidirectional Granger-causality from services sector to GDP. The impulse response and variance decomposition analyses instead suggest the bidirectional causality between services sector and GDP and between services and nonservices sectors. The stable growth of services sector is essentially crucial to absorb the adverse effects of exogenous weather shocks in agriculture and industry and provide resilience to the economy.


The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a national survey of a random sample of community rehabilitation programs (CRPs) that hold Special Wage Certificates established under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 214(c). The intent of the survey was to identify the types of services provided, the trends in the employment services, and the factors that were perceived as inhibiting and facilitating integrated employment outcomes. The survey results are categorized for this report in the following three areas: 1) characteristics of community rehabilitation programs, 2) organizational change trends, and 3) factors that influence the type of employment program utilized by consumers with disabilities. Representative results from the survey are that overall, facility-based programs continue to be the predominant service provided by community rehabilitation programs holding 14(c) certificates. Of the 20,075 staff members identified as serving consumers, only 1,741 (8.7%) are reported as working with individuals earning at least minimum wage. Although competitive employment and individual supported employment services among these CRPs are growing at a faster rate than other services, use of facility-based services continues to expand. Overall, the findings indicate that the organizations that provide daily services to those Americans with disabilities utilizing 14(c) certificates are continuing to predominately support facility-based work and non-work activities versus services leading to integrated employment outcomes.


In this paper, we propose an immersive empathic design method and used it to create an interactive high-resolution core visualization system for real-world geological core drilling expeditions. A high domain knowledge barrier makes it difficult for a person from outside this field to imagine the user experience simply through observation. The globally distributed nature of the core drilling community imposes further design constraints. We used this approach to embed a computer scientist trained as a junior core technician. This process allowed the developer to experience authentic user activities and enabled the design of an innovative system for solving real-world problems. This approach made the best use of precious co-located opportunities, overcame the initial domain knowledge barrier, and established a trust relationship between the developer and the domain scientists. The system designed through this approach formed a sustainable and adaptive foundation that the domain scientists can build on. Through in-situ deployment, observation and interview evaluations from on-going expeditions, we present the advantages of this process.


This study shows that the misspelling rates in Amazon reviews can be effectively modeled as having cyclical components by using seasonal decomposition, and this effectiveness is almost identical to that gained by using a neural network that uses basic astronomical placements of the day. While the modeling of past Amazon misspelling rates was slightly more effective using a neural net and astronomy of day as compared to seasonal decomposition, future values were only effectively predicted by the neural net that used astronomy of day.


The Ana and Doina gas fields are Pliocene-age, shallow, marine sandstone reservoirs some 100 km offshore Romania in the Black Sea. Doina was discovered in 1995 and Ana in 2007. Both have been appraised and are currently being prepared for development. Activity has stepped up since 2007 when Midia Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sterling Resources, started a re-evaluation of the Midia Concession. Seismic has been key in addressing two important issues, gas presence and depth conversion. As a result of the geophysical program instigated, the GIIP (gas initially in place) has been revised upward, thus directly impacting the field development planning. Three successful new wells have subsequently been drilled, one exploration and two appraisal.


The timing jitter of erbium doped, fiber optic and Titanium: Sapphire lasers, both passively mode-locked ultrafast lasers at 80 MHz, is measured with unprecedented resolution and bandwidth. Using the balanced optical cross-correlator timing detector, we found a total integrated timing jitter of 2.2 fs rms [100 Hz, 1 MHz] for the fiber supercontinuum and only 55 as rms [100 Hz, 10 MHz] jitter for the Ti:S laser. This measurement of fiber laser jitter is an absolute measurement, since the jitter of the fiber laser was measured against the Ti:S laser, which is negligible.


Conventional convolution neural networks (CNNs) trained on narrow Field-of-View (FoV) images are the state-of-the art approaches for object recognition tasks. Some methods proposed the adaptation of CNNs to ultra-wide FoV images by learning deformable kernels. However, they are limited by the Euclidean geometry and their accuracy degrades under strong distortions caused by fisheye projections. In this work, we demonstrate that learning the shape of convolution kernels in non-Euclidean spaces is better than existing deformable kernel methods. In particular, we propose a new approach that learns deformable kernel parameters (positions) in hyperbolic space. FisheyeHDK is a hybrid CNN architecture combining hyperbolic and Euclidean convolution layers for positions and features learning. First, we provide intuition of hyperbolic space for wide FoV images. Using synthetic distortion profiles, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. We select two datasets - Cityscapes and BDD100K 2020 - of perspective images which we transform to fisheye equivalents at different scaling factors (analogue to focal lengths). Finally, we provide an experiment on data collected by a real fisheye camera. Validations and experiments show that our approach improves existing deformable kernel methods for CNN adaptation on fisheye images.


This paper presents damping force control performances of a magnetorheological (MR) damper via new control strategy considering hysteretic behavior of the field-dependent damping force. In order to achieve this goal, a commercial MR damper which is applicable to passenger vehicle is adopted and its field-dependent damping force is experimentally evaluated. Since the field-dependent damping force shows the hysteretic behavior which significantly affects to control characteristics of the system, Preisach hysteresis model for the MR damper is established and its first order descending (FOD) curves are experimentally identified. Subsequently, a feed-forward compensator strategy for the MR damper is formulated and damping force control is evaluated. In addition, vibration control performances are experimentally evaluated with quarter-vehicle test facility.