Spatial Aloha is probably the simplest medium access protocol to be used in a large mobile ad hoc network: each station tosses a coin independently of everything else and accesses the channel if it gets heads. In a network where stations are randomly and homogeneously located in the Euclidean plane, there is a way to tune the bias of the coin so as to obtain the best possible compromise between spatial reuse and per transmitter throughput. This paper shows how to address this questions using stochastic geometry and more precisely Poisson shot noise field theory. The theory that is developed is fully computational and leads to new closed form expressions for various kinds of spatial averages (like e.g. outage, throughput or transport). It also allows one to derive general scaling laws that hold for general fading assumptions. We exemplify its flexibility by analyzing a natural variant of Spatial Aloha that we call Opportunistic Aloha and that consists in replacing the coin tossing by an evaluation of the quality of the channel of each station to its receiver and a selection of the stations with good channels (e.g. fading) conditions. We show how to adapt the general machinery to this variant and how to optimize and implement it. We show that when properly tuned, Opportunistic Aloha very significantly outperforms Spatial Aloha, with e.g. a mean throughput per unit area twice higher for Rayleigh fading scenarios with typical parameters.


Background IUGR increases the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in later life, due to reduced insulin sensitivity and impaired adaptation of insulin secretion. In IUGR rats, development of T2DM can be prevented by neonatal administration of the GLP-1 analogue exendin-4. We therefore investigated effects of neonatal exendin-4 administration on insulin action and β-cell mass and function in the IUGR neonate in the sheep, a species with a more developed pancreas at birth. Methods Twin IUGR lambs were injected s.c. daily with vehicle (IUGR+Veh, n = 8) or exendin-4 (1 nmol.kg-1, IUGR+Ex-4, n = 8), and singleton control lambs were injected with vehicle (CON, n = 7), from d 1 to 16 of age. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity were measured in vivo during treatment (d 12–14). Body composition, β-cell mass and in vitro insulin secretion of isolated pancreatic islets were measured at d 16. Principal Findings IUGR+Veh did not alter in vivo insulin secretion or insulin sensitivity or β-cell mass, but increased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in vitro. Exendin-4 treatment of the IUGR lamb impaired glucose tolerance in vivo, reflecting reduced insulin sensitivity, and normalised glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in vitro. Exendin-4 also reduced neonatal growth and visceral fat accumulation in IUGR lambs, known risk factors for later T2DM. Conclusions Neonatal exendin-4 induces changes in IUGR lambs that might improve later insulin action. Whether these effects of exendin-4 lead to improved insulin action in adult life after IUGR in the sheep, as in the PR rat, requires further investigation.


Despite the growing interest in comparative human resource management, comparison of international reward management practices is a neglected area. This article reports on a research project undertaken in 1995 that looked at managerial reward systems within three organizations operating in two different geographical locations. It focuses on three international banks in Hong Kong and London. The aim was to identify the overall strategic reward philosophy of each bank and the form and content of the reward systems for managers in each location. The findings indicate that the shape and substantive content of the reward package was not predetermined by cultural or environmental considerations but that these are important influences on how global pay strategies are interpreted at national level. The marked differences in the banking industry labour markets of the two locations was a major determinant. A significant element of localized decision taking was accompanied by similarities in practice and broad reward philosophy between the two locations and the three institutions.

However, the research suggests that the cultural interpretation put on the forms of payment—particularly perforrnance-related pay— may be different in the two locations. While the same terms may be used for overall descriptions of the content and philosophy of the reward strategy, cultural and environmental factors mean that the reality may be rather different.


This study explores pre-1970 lesbian life and lives in Aotearoa/New Zealand before the impact of women's and gay liberation and lesbian-feminism, using written sources and oral histories. The thesis argues that before 1970 most women could make lesbianism the organising principle of their lives only through the strategies of discretion and silence. Despite apparent censorship, many classical, religious, legal, medical and fictional discourses on lesbianism informed New Zealand opinion, as regulation of this material was one thing, but enforcement another, and most English language material was available here. These discourses functioned as cautionary tales, warning women of the consequences of disclosure, while at the same time alerting them to lesbian possibilities. Though lesbian sexual acts were not criminalised in New Zealand, lesbianism was contained, regulated and controlled through a variety of mechanisms including the fear of forced medical treatment, social exclusion and disgrace, as well as the loss of employment, housing and family relationships. Class and race affected these outcomes, and this study concludes that learning how to read a wide variety of lesbian lives is essential to furthering research into lesbian histories in New Zealand. The study examined pre-1970 published and unpublished writing suggesting lesbian experiences by selected New Zealand women, within a context informed by writing from contemporaries who have been identified as lesbian, and oral histories from pre-1970 self-identified lesbians.. Many of these women led secretive, often double lives, and of necessity deceived others through silence and omission, actual denial, or sham heterosexual marriages and engagements. The lies, secrecy and silence of self-censorship has often meant the deliberate destruction of written records such as letters or diaries, by women themselves, or later by family members and friends. The study concludes that the private lesbianism of most pre-1970 lesbian lives cannot be understood in isolation, and that scholars must move beyond the women's necessary masquerades to place their lives into a lesbian context in order to recognize and understand them. Each life informs an understanding of the others and by considering them together the study provides a picture of lesbianism in pre-1970 New Zealand, with the stories of the narrators illuminating the written experiences. Silences should not be mistaken for absences, or heterosexuality assumed for all pre-1970 New Zealand women. The stories of resistance and rebellion told by the self-identified lesbian narrators indicate that the women whose lesbian experiences are suggested by their writings similarly resisted societal expectations and prescriptions. Learning how to interpret and understand these materials is essential for moving beyond superficial and heterosexualised accounts of their lives. Towards the end of the period, influenced by other social changes, some lesbians in this study began to resist the need for caution and discretion, providing the basis for the liberation movements of the 1970s.


If the free [Ca2+] in the cytoplasm of a skeletal muscle fiber is raised substantially for a period of seconds to minutes or to high levels just briefly, it leads to disruption of the normal excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling process and a consequent long-lasting decrease in force production. It appears that the disruption to the coupling occurs at the triad junction, where the voltage-sensor molecules (dihydropyridine receptors) normally interact with and open the Ca2+ release channels (ryanodine receptors) in the adjacent sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). This disruption results in inadequate release of SR Ca2+ upon stimulation. Such E-C uncoupling may underlie the long-duration low-frequency fatigue that can occur after various types of exercise, as well as possibly being a contributing factor to the muscle weakness in certain muscle diseases. The process or processes causing the disruption of the coupling between the voltage sensors and the release channels is not known with certainty, but might be associated with structural changes at the triad junction, possibly caused by activation of the Ca2+-dependent protease, micro-calpain.


In many areas in Africa, seasonal movements of migratory ungulates are restricted and their population numbers decline, for example in the Tarangire region, Tanzania. Here, agriculture restricts migration of ungulates to their wet season ranges. We investigated whether low forage quality or supply are possible causes of population decline of wildebeest and zebra when access to these wet season ranges is restricted and migratory herds have to reside in the dry season range year-round. We simulated grazing through a clipping experiment in the dry season range during the wet season. Clipping negatively affected forage supply and had a positive effect on forage quality by increasing proportions of live and leaf biomass as well as nutrient concentrations in the leaves. However, increase in forage quality in the dry season range due to grazing was not as such that requirements of wildebeest during the wet season, when females are lactating, could be met. We conclude that low forage quality in the dry season range during the wet season could cause the decrease in migratory ungulate populations in the Tarangire region. With this study, the necessity of protecting wet season ranges from expanding human activities to safeguard migratory systems is supported.


Designers are challenged to create sustainable products that succeed in the marketplace, often relying on life cycle analyses to identify engineered sustainable features while neglecting perceived-as-sustainable (PAS) features. PAS features may not contribute to engineered sustainability but are identified by customers as sustainable. In previous papers we proposed methods for extracting PAS features from online reviews using machine learning techniques and validating them using collage placement techniques. We demonstrated our methods using French presses (and other products). In this paper, we combined design and marketing approaches to test previously extracted PAS features in terms of valuing and purchasing products that include PAS features, as compared to others that do not. We built a simulated Amazon shopping experience using incentive alignment and constructed a within-subject, fractional- factorial design with a variety of product features and physical appearances. We collected data on purchase intent, willingness to pay, and sustainability rating. We found that participants opted to purchase products with PAS features more often than products with dummy features. Participants also indicated they were willing to pay more for products with PAS features and rated those products as more sustainable, despite the features not contributing to engineered sustainability. Our findings demonstrate the potential value of identifying and including PAS features in sustainable products and a new application for shopping simulation experiments in design research. We recommend that sustainable designers include both engineered and PAS features in sustainable products to align with customer needs, drive purchasing decisions, and potentially increase profitability.


Study Design. A k-means cluster analysis of patients with spinal and radicular pain based on the SF-36 Health Survey scales. Objective. The aim was to determine whether spine patients fall into clusters according to self-reported health status as measured by the SF-36 and to determine if clustering is similar across four common diagnostic categories: herniated disc, spinal stenosis, spondylosis, and chronic pain syndrome. Summary of Background Data. Cognitive-behavioral classifications of chronic pain patients have previously identified three patient groups described as Dysfunctional, Interpersonally Distressed, and Minimizers/Adaptive Copers. The purpose of these classifications is to facilitate and direct treatment based not only on biomedical diagnosis but also on emotional, social, and behavioral diagnoses. This type of analysis has not been done on the quality-of-life scores of patients with specific spinal diagnoses. Methods. Health status data were reviewed from the initial visits of 15,748 spine patients in the National Spine Network database. Based on the eight scales of the SF-36, k-means cluster analysis divided the National Spine Network population into distinct clusters of similar patients. Clustering was performed separately for each clinical diagnosis group. Results. In all four diagnostic categories, cluster analysis classified patients into three groups. Group 1 had fairly high (relative to the entire sample) scores on all scales and was labeled "Highly Functional." Group 2 had low measures on physical variables but comparatively high scores on the mental scales. These were labeled "Emotional Adapters." Group 3 had low scores on all scales. These patients were labeled "Dysfunctional." Although patients in each diagnostic category fell into one of the three groups, the proportion of patients within each group was quite different among chronic pain patients ascompared to the other three diagnostic groups. For example, 29% of herniated disc patients were in the Highly Functional group, whereas only 14% of patients in chronic pain were categorized as Highly Functional. Thirty-three percent of spondylosis patients were classified as Dysfunctional compared with 51% of chronic pain patients. Conclusions. Patients with spinal pain fall into three groups according to their profile of scores on the SF-36 Health Survey. It is proposed that such empirical groupings can guide decision-making in selecting the most appropriate therapies. Spine 2003;28:2276–2282


A pyrotechnic current-limiting interrupter (CLI) has been developed for use in high-current 60 Hz 480 V three-phase electrical bus circuits. The interrupter design combines a high continuous current rating (4800 A r.m.s.) with a high current interruption capability (210 kA r.m.s. symmetrical). Its electrical power loss is low and its mechanical construction uses no complex moving mechanisms. The CLI is used with a current sensor, electronic logic, and energy storage circuitry. the current sensor continuously monitors the current through and CLI and provides input to logic circuits which analyze and determine the validity of the fault condition. Both the fault current magnitude and rate of current increase are used in combination to make the decision when to activate the CLI. Using stored electrical energy, a detonator is activated causing an explosive cord to generate shock waves sufficient to cut the current-carrying conductors. Detection and initiation of the interruption process occurs within 1/4 cycle for a symmetrical fault and within 1/2 cycle for an asymmetrical fault. The first peak in the fault current is limited to the first half-cycle.<<ETX>>


This study was carried out to evaluate the concentration, spatial distribution, and fate of potentially harmful elements in soils and sediments in Onitsha metropolis [N=162]. The samples were air-dried, sieved and digested with Aqua regia prior to elemental analysis using ICP-MS. Five [5] potentially harmful elements [Pb, Zn, As, Cd, and Mn] were selected for geoenvironmental assessment. A five-step sequential extraction was carried out to ascertain the fate of these selected elements in the soils and sediments. Elemental concentrations revealed that Pb ranged from 7.2 ppm-2026.0 ppm; Zn, 3.0 ppm-8395.0 ppm; As, 0.5 ppm -27.3 ppm, Cd, Undetected-10.3 ppm and Mn, 10.0 ppm -2127.0 ppm. Elevated concentrations of these elements were found in soils when compared to the sediments. The result also revealed that there was a marked variation between the metal concentrations in the topsoil compared to the sub-soil. The result of the sequential extraction showed that Zn and Cd were more in the carbonate bound fraction, while As were higher in the Organic bound fraction with Mn and Pb more in the hydroxide and residual fraction respectively. It was observed that the concentration of elements that were leached at the demineralized fractions was generally low in all the elements. The relative bioavailability of the metals can be summarized as Cd>Zn>As>Mn>Pb. Owing to the extremely toxic nature of the selected metals and the ease with which they could be leached to the environments where they could become extremely bio-available, it is important that a monitoring programme is instituted in order to avoid catastrophic consequences.


Climate change is expected to cause more severe environmental problems, including soil erosion. This study aims to examine the effects of climate change on the sediment yield and sediment retention capacity through soil erosion in the Yeşilırmak Basin with the InVEST sediment delivery ratio model. RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios of the GFDL-CM3 (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Climate Model Version III) general circulation model were used to examine the effects of climate change on soil erosion. Decreases in the sediment yield and sediment retention rates of Yeşilırmak Basin were projected up to 9.48% and 12.47% in 2070, respectively. The main reason for the decrease in soil erosion rates is the decrease in rainfall erosivity resulting from the decrease in precipitation amounts, and the effect of this decrease is predicted to have a positive impact on wetland systems and agricultural lands. In addition, this research points to the advantages of the InVEST model approach in spatial and temporal estimation of the possible effects of future climate change on soil erosion.


T cell development occurs in the thymus and is critically dependent on productive TCRβ rearrangement and pre-TCR expression in DN3 cells. The requirement for pre-TCR expression results in the arrest of thymocytes at the DN3 stage (β checkpoint), which is uniquely permissive for V-DJβ recombination; only cells expressing pre-TCR survive and develop beyond the DN3 stage. In addition, the requirement for TCRβ rearrangement and pre-TCR expression enforces suppression of TCRβ rearrangement on a second allele, allelic exclusion, thus ensuring that each T cell expresses only a single TCRβ product. However, it is not known whether pre-TCR expression is essential for allelic exclusion or alternatively if allelic exclusion is enforced by developmental changes that can occur in the absence of pre-TCR. We asked if thymocytes that were differentiated without pre-TCR expression, and therefore without pause at the β checkpoint, would suppress all V-DJβ rearrangement. We previously reported that premature CD28 signaling in murine CD4−CD8− (DN) thymocytes supports differentiation of CD4+CD8+ (DP) cells in the absence of pre-TCR expression. The present study uses this model to define requirements for TCRβ rearrangement and allelic exclusion. We demonstrate that if cells exit the DN3 developmental stage before TCRβ rearrangement occurs, V-DJβ rearrangement never occurs, even in DP cells that are permissive for D-Jβ and TCRα rearrangement. These results demonstrate that pre-TCR expression is not essential for thymic differentiation to DP cells or for V-DJβ suppression. However, the requirement for pre-TCR signals and the exclusion of alternative stimuli such as CD28 enforce a developmental "pause" in early DN3 cells that is essential for productive TCRβ rearrangement to occur.


The temporalis and masseter muscles have a complex architectural design with large attachment areas. As a consequence, each of these muscles is capable of producing a large number of mechanical effects. In addition, within each muscle the muscle fibres and sarcomeres undergo different excursions during jaw movements. This leads to intramuscular differences in the possible excursion range and the capacity to produce force. Depending on the desired motor task, the nervous system is able to vary both the magnitude and direction of muscle force by selective activation of specific muscle portions. The anterior temporalis and the superficial and deep masseter are capable of generating large forces, e.g. during biting and chewing. The posterior temporalis and the anterior and posterior deep masseter are suited to establish a precise adjustment of forces and movements during laterotrusion and protrusion/retrusion.


MapReduce is a powerful platform for large-scale data processing. To achieve good performance, a MapReduce scheduler must avoid unnecessary data transmission by enhancing the data locality (placing tasks on nodes that contain their input data). This paper develops a new MapReduce scheduling technique to enhance map task's data locality. We have integrated this technique into Hadoop default FIFO scheduler and Hadoop fair scheduler. To evaluate our technique, we compare not only MapReduce scheduling algorithms with and without our technique but also with an existing data locality enhancement technique (i.e., the delay algorithm developed by Face book). Experimental results show that our technique often leads to the highest data locality rate and the lowest response time for map tasks. Furthermore, unlike the delay algorithm, it does not require an intricate parameter tuning process.


This paper makes the case for revisiting our understanding and valuing of basic or fundamental nursing care. Despite the interest in movements such as the person-centred or patient-centred care agenda, there continues to be concern about patient safety, quality of experience and getting the simple things right. Part of this debate is around whether meeting patients' fundamental care needs (such as personal hygiene, elimination and eating and drinking) within acute care settings constitutes legitimate nursing responsibilities or whether these needs ought to become part of "hotel services" executed by care assistants with elementary training or, as in many lower-income health systems, undertaken by relatives.


Abstract Layered models of stratified flow are favored by theoreticians because of their conceptual simplicity but have only seen limited use in numerical modeling due to difficulties related to layer outcropping (vanishing layer depth). Two mass transport schemes capable of handling outcropping are tested against analytic solutions describing wind- and buoyancy-forced flow in a two- and three-layer ocean. In both cases, the model is found to closely reproduce the available analytic solutions. This result helps alleviate longstanding reservations about the severity of the outcrop problem in layer models.


It is supposed that human and robot share living area in future. That time, the most important thing is security and safety of human. Robot have not injure human at any case. There are three ways for that. The first one is to control robot completely for fear that there is no emergency, which is almost impossible and dream of all engineers. The second one is to achieve smooth body like sponge. The third one is to insure soft joint actuation of robot like. Here the third method is studied using the pneumatic muscle actuators. The comparison between motor actuator and pneumatic muscle actuator is described and the method to configure robot manipulator using pneumatic muscle is also explained. Also, sliding mode control is applied to control 2-link manipulator. Finally impulse from crash on obstacle is studied to show the joint stiffness modification effects. Dual arm simulator is used to assure the controllability of 2-link manipulator and the property of impulse at a sudden crash.


This work is the first investigation into the biosynthesis of abscisic acid.

Green tomato fruit were injected with a solution of either the potassium salt of (±)-[2- 14 c] mevalonic acid in O.05M phosphate buffer, pH 7.3, containing 10% ethanol, or {±)-[2- 14 C] mevalonic acid in ethanol. Radioactivity was detected in material which co-chromatographed with authentic abscisic acid and the authentic derivatives of abscisic acid. This material exhibited the highly characteristic spectral properties of (+)-abscisic acid. Similar results were obtained when (t)-[2- l4 c] mevalonic acid was supplied to avocado fruit preparations. The results of this work have been published in the Biochemical Journal, Vol.ll2, p.547-548 (1969).

Many analogues of abscisic acid have been synthesised at Shell Research Limited, Woodstock Agricultural Research Centre, and their growth inhibitory activity assessed. The strong inhibitory activity of (+)-5-(l',2'~epoxy-2' ,6',6'-trimethylcyclohexyl)-3- methylpenta-cis-2-trans-4-dienoic acid (epoxide) on plant growth was of particular interest since the compound has the same carbon skeleton and similar substitution to abscisic acid. To discover whether this compound was active per se or because it was converted to abscisic acid the (±)-[2- 14 C] labelled material was synthesised and injected, as an ethanol solution, into tomato fruit. Epoxide was converted to abscisic acid in 1.8% yield (3.6% of one enantiomer if only one is utilized) and 15% of the abscisic acid was derived from the precursor. The 2-trans isomer was not converted to abscisic acid. Neither epoxide nor its 2-trans isomer were converted to abscisic acid in boiled tomato fruit.

Treatment of epoxide with dilute mineral acid produced the 1',2'-dihydroxy derivative. The 1',2'-dihydroxy derivative was not converted to abscisic acid in tomato fruit.

Wright and Hiron (1969) reported that the abscisic acid concentration in wheat leaves increased 40-fold during the first 4 hours of wilting. It was found that this increase was caused by synthesis of abscisic acid rather than by its release from a conjugate or a precursor. This was shown by the increased incorporation of [2- 3 H] mevalonic acid into abscisic acid by wilted wheat shoots in comparison with turgid shoots which had absorbed equal amounts of [2- 3 H] mevalonic acid. When (+)-[2-14C] labelled epoxide was supplied, larger amounts of labelled material were again incorporated into abscisic acid by wilted plants.

The incorporation of [14C] epoxide into abscisic acid shows that the carbon skeleton of the epoxide becomes the carbon skeleton of abscisic acid. The fate of the epoxy oxygen was also investigated with wilting wheat because any [18o] containing abscisic acid formed during the experiment would not be diluted by a large pool of endogenous [16o] material. (+)- [1'2'-18o] epoxide was converted to abscisic acid, the oxygen of the l',2'-epoxy group became the tertiary hydroxyl of abscisic acid and the conversion was quantitative. For the [18ᴏ] to be retained the C-l'-oxygen bond must remain intact and epimerization at C-l' is not possible. It follows that only one enantiomer of the epoxide is converted into abscisic acid: that one in which the I' ,2'-epoxy group is on the same side of the six-membered ring as the hydroxyl group in abscisic acid. The results of this work have been published in the Biochemical Journal, VOl.119, p.727-734 (1970).

The 1',4'-diols of synthetic abscisic acid were found to inhibit the growth of a number of plants (private communication, Mr. R. Leach and Dr M. Anderson) although they were less potent than abscisic acid.

The demonstration of the conversion of the epoxide into (+)-abscisic acid which entails the introduction of a 4'-keto-group, and which by analogy with similar oxidations (Murphy and West, 1969) probably takes place by a hydroxylation, suggested that plants were able to oxidise the 4'-hydroxy group in the l',4'-diols of abscisic acid to a 4' ketone. The abscisic acid produced would then account for the observed growth inhibitory activity of the l',4'-diols.

(±)-[2- 14 C]- cis-1', -l' ,4' and trans-l',4' diols of abscisic acid are both converted to abscisic acid by wilted and turgid wheat shoots. The abscisic acid recovered showed a preponderance of the unnatural (-) enantiomer. The unreacted cis-1', 4'-diol which was recovered from the tissues also showed an excess of the (-) enantiomer, unreacted trans-I' ,4'-diol which was recovered from the tissue lacked optical activity and is presumed to be a racemic mixture.


Tuen Mun is one of a series of large new towns being developed in Hong Kong's New Territories as part of the Government's strategy of decentralization from the highly congested urban areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. It is located in and around Castle Peak Bay in the west of the Territory, about 30 km from Kowloon. In order to obtain the necessary land to accommodate the town and much of its infrastructure, an extensive reclamation was required in Castle Peak Bay. Additional land was provided by raising fiat low-lying areas and by excavating large terraces into the surrounding mountains and hills. These operations have resulted in more than 1200 ha of new land being formed for the town. More than 30 million cubic metres of dredged and land-won material were used during the reclamation work. The solid geology of the Tuen Mun area is dominated by Mesozoic volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, mainly comprising andesitic lavas and tufts and fine-medium grained granites. The valley is also underlain in part by Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks. A mantle of weathered material typically overlies the bedrock in most of the area. Superficial deposits occur onshore and offshore and comprise alluvial and marine sequences together with debris flow deposits, which are common in valleys and also as large fans in downslope areas. Debris flow deposits can also occur offshore beneath the recent marine sediments. Numerous land and marine ground investigations have been carried out throughout the development area over a number of years


Objective Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is regarded as one of the most effective intervention for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, many patients remain untreated or inadequately treated due to time or geographical constraints. The purpose of this study was to develop an internet-based CBT (ICBT) for OCD, and to examine its efficacy in the Korean clinical setting. Methods The ICBT program ('COT') was developed from the same OCD manual in the standard CBT intervention. Twenty-seven participants of the total 42 patients completed all training sessions of the ICBT and the remainder (n=15) were classified as non-completers. Self-report measures of OCD, depression, anxiety, and work/social functioning, in addition to a neurocognitive test battery, were administered by face-to-face before and after treatment. Results The participants showed significant improvements in OCD and depressive symptoms, and in work/social functioning after ICBT completion. The presence of combined medication had no significant impact on treatment effect. The non-completers displayed more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms, and ICBT responders were younger and performed better in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Conclusion ICBT was found to be as effective for patients with moderate OC symptoms and little treatment experience. Considering the high accessibility and convenience of ICBT, it could be a helpful first treatment step for OCD patients when face-to-face treatment is unavailable. In the future a randomized controlled study will be necessary for verification and generalization of these results.


The paper examined the issues relating to equity, accessibility and quality education on Nigeria as an emerging issue for consideration in the modern Nigeria. However the study defined the concepts of equality, accessibility to quality educational system.  Also the paper find out the causes of in equality and reasons for low accessibility to quality education in Nigeria and the associated problem from the unequal distribution of educational opportunities and methods of ameliorations was examined. It was however recommended that all efforts to provide equal education opportunities to Nigeria should be explored. That the learning environment should be made attractive and encourage the students to have equal accessibility to quality education emerging issue of quality should be improved up by all and sundry by means of moderate school fees, improved teachers conditions of service and adequate provision of educational facilities and welfare services in the school system.


Online consumers experience a three-stage transaction process and every stage has its different characteristics, we developed a model based on S-O-R (Stimulation-Organism-Response) framework to show how they influence online consumers' repurchase behavior. We used data collected from undergraduates by specified online purchase and the method of Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the model. The empirical findings indicated that three aspects of website characteristics including website design, functionality and usability, post-purchase service quality all significantly affected online repurchase behavior both directly and indirectly through consumer satisfaction.


Abstract There are many types of unreliable first-person narrators. This article shows that there is a certain kind of unreliable I-narrator who could be termed monologic in the Bakhtinian sense of the term. Bakhtin (1895–1975) saw monologism as closed, static and finalized in the sense that it is limiting in its denial of an Other. In her short story, "Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants" (Gordimer, Gollancz, 1983 [1965]), Nadine Gordimer has created a first-person narrator whose unreliability is prominently active in the construction of meaning. The analysis focuses on this narrator's mind style, which is shown to be self-contradictory, faulty and limiting in such a way that it can be called monologic. Monologism is seen as a quality of the discourse and, it is argued, a monologic Self can be distinguished from other unreliable Selves by means of how they relate to other people and by their degree of stasis, closure and lack of development.


In many species, environmental stimuli can affect the germline and contribute to phenotypic changes in the offspring, without altering the genetic code1–5. So far, little is known about which biological signals can link exposure to germ cells. Using a mouse model of postnatal trauma with transgenerational effects, we show that exposure alters lipid-based metabolites in blood of males and their non-exposed offspring. Comparable alterations are validated in serum and saliva of orphan children exposed to trauma. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) is identified as mediating the effects of metabolites alterations. Mimicking PPAR activation with a dual PPARα/γ agonist in vivo induces changes in the sperm transcriptome similarly to trauma, and reproduces metabolic phenotypes in the offspring. Injecting serum collected from adult males exposed to postnatal trauma into controls recapitulates metabolic phenotypes in the offspring. These results suggest conserved effects of early life adversity on blood metabolites, and causally involve paternal blood factors and PPAR nuclear receptor in phenotype heritability.


Several cities around the world are facing mobility related problems such as traffic congestion and air pollution. Although limited individually, the combination of bicycle and transit offers speed and accessibility that can compete with automobiles by complementing each other's characteristics. Recognising the potential benefits with regard to accessibility, health, and sustainability, several studies have investigated policies that encourage integration of these modes. However, the actual users and trips of the combined bicycle and transit mode have not been extensively studied empirically. This study addresses this gap by (i) reviewing empirical findings on related modes, (ii) deriving user and trip characteristics of the combined bicycle and transit mode in the Netherlands, and (iii) applying latent class cluster analysis to discover prototypical users based on their socio-demographic attributes. Most trips by this combined mode are found to be for relatively long commutes where transit is in the form of trains, and bicycle and walking are access and egress modes respectively. Furthermore, seven user groups are identified and their travel behaviour is discussed. Transport authorities may use these empirical results to further streamline integration of bicycle and transit for its largest users as well as to tailor policies to attract more travellers.


Objective: Individuals with schizophrenia and other chronic mental illnesses present a series of risk factors, that predispose them to extensive medical comorbidity. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for respiratory disease in chronic psychiatric inpatients. Methods: All patients at a long-term mental institution were invited to participate in this study. Socio-demographic data, tobacco and alcohol consumption, respiratory symptoms and chest x-rays were collected from 154 patients. Sputum microscopy and cultures for M. tuberculosis were done in specific cases. Results:The symptoms reported were cough (58%); expectoration (44.2%); dyspnea (28.6%); hemoptysis (9.7%), and chest pain (20.1%). There were chest x-ray changes in 57.1% of patients. These were suggestive of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 31.2% and an interstitial pattern in 19.1%. The prevalence of tuberculosis in this sample was 4.5%. Schizophrenia was the most common mental illness (43.5%), followed by an organic mental disorder (32.5%). We found a positive relationship between schizophrenia and cigarette smoking (odds ratio 2.30, 95% CI 1.11 to 4.76), and schizophrenia and x-ray changes (odds ratio 2.35,95% CI 1.15 to 4.83). There was no significant relationship with other psychiatric disorders. Conclusions: The high prevalence of respiratory morbidity in patients with chronic mental illness hospitalized in long-term care facilities, is probably due to factors such as extreme poverty, tobacco consumption, overcrowding, and nutritional deficit.


Aim: To compare the consumption of the cow milk proteins A1 and B β-casein among children and adolescents in Iceland and Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) as this might explain the lower incidence of type 1 diabetes (per 100,000/year, 0–14 years) in Iceland. Methods: The consumption of A1 β-casein in each country among 2- and 11- to 14-year-old children was calculated from results on food intake and on cow milk protein concentration. The consumption values were then compared and evaluated against the incidence of type 1 diabetes. Results: There was a significant difference between the consumption of A1 (p = 0.034) as well as the sum of A1 and B (p = 0.021) β-casein in Iceland and Scandinavia for 2-year-old children. In the same age group, consumption of A1 β-casein correlated with the incidence of type 1 diabetes in the countries (r = 0.9; p = 0.037). No significant difference in consumption of A1 or the sum of A1 and B β-casein was found for 11- to 14-year-old adolescents. Conclusion: This study supports that lower consumption of A1 β-casein might be related to the lower incidence of type 1 diabetes in Iceland than in Scandinavia. Additionally it indicates that consumption in young childhood might be of more importance for the development of the disease incidence than consumption in adolescence.


Background Pregnant women are usually excluded from clinical drug trials. However, many women take medicines while they are fertile. Because of this, the pharmacy department agreed with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (DOG) to write drug teratogenicity reports (TDR) for pregnant women (or women who desired a child). Purpose To evaluate drug teratogenicity and write reports as requested by the DOG. Furthermore, to assess the suitability of prescriptions in the light of recommendations drawn up by the clinical pharmacist. Materials and methods Drug teratogenicity was reviewed from September 2009 to October 2011. Drugs were classified according to drug class and the FDA teratogenicity category (A, B, C, D, X). Category recommendations were as follow: categories A and B: continue treatment; Category C: consider the risk-benefit balance; Categories D and X: stop treatment. The suitability of prescriptions in the light of TDR recommendations was assessed by reviewing the electronic medical records and the electronic ambulatory prescription records. Results 32 TDRs were written, with 59 drugs reviewed. The FDA classification categories were: A (n=2), B (n=6), C (n=31), D (n=18), X (n=2). 49% of drugs taken belonged to the classes antidepressant, benzodiazepines or antiepileptics. During the study period seven of the 32 women were lost to follow-up. In three cases, pregnancy was legally interrupted, and the last 22 women were monitored to the end. Of all the drugs of each of the 22 women monitored, 21 drugs were discontinued (B=1; C=10; D=10; X=1), 12 drugs were continued (A=2; B=1; C=6; D=3) and it was not possible to figure it out in two drugs (B=1; C=1). The prescriptions were appropriate in the light of the TDR recommendations in 88% of the cases. Conclusions The contribution of clinical pharmacists to the multidisciplinary team is increasingly valuable. The TDR and the subsequent monitoring of these special patients improved the knowledge of drugs during pregnancy.


A social return on investment (SROI) has been widely promoted by both third sector organisations and the Scottish Government reflecting greater demands for financial accountability among the voluntary/third sector and charities who are under increasing pressure to evidence their effectiveness. There has been little academic scrutiny of the use of the SROI by human service agencies in the field of criminal justice where the impact of desistence from crime is valued, but the quality of data in social agencies is often problematic. This paper draws from the evaluation of the Routes out of Prison Project (RooP), a peer support prison throughcare initiative, to provide a case study of how the SROI model might be applied positively to a criminal justice context and provide a consistent framework for valuing and comparing initiatives aimed at promoting desistence from crime. The paper provides an overview of both the RooP and the SROI, before examining the issues raised by RooP and the advantages and limitations of SROI in this context.


The rural territories of the third world are important demographic factors, which indirectly contribute to the social balance as the countryside means the strategic depth of the society, because it is responsible for food-safety and for securing the unqualified labour. Unfortunately, the majority of the developing countries could not reach that balance as they ignored rural economy, which is reflected in agriculture and animal husbandry. Investment in these branches was under the standard and what they reached was developed in the form of suggestions suppressing social demands and was without promoting the well-being and developmental projects of the rural population. However, some countries realized the importance of this role and elaborated developmental strategies for improvement, thus they reached the developmental balance between the poles of urban and rural societies and provided fertile field for participation of the rural population and for the social and economic development as well. Recently the interest in the developmental strategy towards the Egyptian and Saudi-Arabian territories has increased. With elimination of the developmental differences between the communities of rural and urban population and with increasing the social and economic level of the countryside, the aim was to reach the social and economic balance soon in order to let the countryside participate effectively in the developmental processes.


Metallicity calibrations of low-resolution pa- rameters are potentially useful for (at least) two problems: the properties of moving groups, and the supermetallicity problem in K giants. In this paper, metallicity calibra- tions are derived for six sets of parameters. One of these parameters is the DDO CN index CN. This parameter and three others are calibrated for use with evolved G and K stars. Two additional sets of low-resolution param- eters are calibrated for use with G and K dwarfs. The calibrations are derived by comparing the input data with two catalogs of homogenized high-dispersion results from diverse authors (see Taylor 1995, 1999a). Using rms errors that are given in the catalogs, intrinsic rms errors are de- rived for metallicities deduced from the calibrations. The errors turn out to be comparable to those that apply for averaged high-dispersion results.


ABSTRACT This article examines the social and architectural context of an extensive building campaign in Turkey in the early twentieth century. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), one of the Second Constitutional Period's prominent political and cultural actors (1908–18), commissioned club and school buildings for social outreach operations. Influenced by their European counterparts, the Committee's protagonists believed that a social revolution could be accomplished by employing the education of the masses. Moreover, education was also essential to create a national identity for an Empire in a struggle. In this context, many clubs (for adults) and schools (for the youngsters) mushroomed in many cities simultaneously. Accordingly, the architecture of new club and school buildings reflected societal concerns and provided remarkable examples of their kinds. The education of the masses and the use of social propaganda by state agents in Republican Turkey have been scrutinized so far. Still the origins of the social engineering projects should be examined to contextualize Republican period developments. Thus, this article examines the building and impact of the clubs and schools of the CUP in the provinces and constitutes a contextual frame for their formative role in Turkish modernization.


Fiber-reinforced laminated composites are frequently preferred in many engineering projects. With the development in production technology, the using of the fiber reinforced laminated composites has been increasing in engineering applications. In the production stage of the fiber-reinforced laminated composites, porosities could be occurred due to production or technical errors. After a level of the porosity, the mechanical behaviors of composite materials change significantly. This paper presents buckling analysis of fiber-reinforced laminated composite plate with porosity effects within the first shear deformation plate theory. In the porosity effect, three different porosity models are used in the laminated composite plate. The material properties of the laminas are considered as orthotropic property. In the solution of the problem, the Navier procedure is used for the simply supported plate. Influences of the porosity coefficients, the porosity models, the fiber orientation angles and the sequence of laminas on the critical buckling loads are presented and discussed.


This paper presents an Automatic Question Generator from narrative text using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, by paying particular emphasis on discourse connectives. Discourse connectives are words or phrases that indicate relationships between two logical sentences or phrases and suggest the presence of mutually related extended verbal expression. A detailed design and development issues are discussed in this work. The system formulates questions from a  student"s lecture material and displays it to the user in the form of test questions. It also makes provision for the user to answer the questions in essay format and on submission of the answer, the system grades the user and returns the score  obtained to the user. The questions were generated by first extracting the text from the materials supplied by the user using text processing concept of NLP. The  discourse connectives in each of the sentences are identified and questions are generated from the sentence based on the peculiarity of the connective contained in the sentence. The marker checks the submitted answer to see if it contains 50% of the expected answer. If it does, the user"s answer against a particular question is marked as being correct, otherwise it is marked wrong. The end result is an Automatic system which generates test questions for the user and allows him/her to submit essay answers back into the application system. Evaluation results with the system show that the generated questions achieved average accuracies of 87.5% and 88.1% by two human experts. Keywords : Discourse Connectives, Machine Learning, Automatic Test Generation E-Learning.


This correspondence describes a new stereo analysis method using three views, in which correspondence is established among three images taken from triangularly configured viewpoints. Each match-point candidate obtained by the initial matching between the first and second images is easily examined independently of the other candidates using the third image. The correspondence determination is simple, fast, and reliable. Additionally, this analysis method allows occlusion to be dealt with explicitly. The effectiveness of the three-view stereo-analysis method is demonstrated by simulation and real object experiments. Ambiguous matches are sufficiently avoided for polyhedra. Position errors are less than 2.5 mm (about 0.4 percent) with camera-object spacing of 630 mm.


Carcinoma of the pancreas is the fifth most lethal cancer in humans. Its almost uniform mortality nate is largely related to the rarity with which a diagnosis is established early in the course of the disease. In this study, we have evaluated the leukocyte adherence inhibition (LA1)assay as a specific immunodiagnostic test for the presence of pan creatic cancer. One hundred thirty micro-LAI assays were performed on 104 individuals that included 23 pancreatic carcinoma patients, 29 patients with benign disease (14 with acute pancreatitis), 26 patients with nonpancreatic gastrointestinal cancers, and 25 normal healthy volunteers. Using an LAI index of @0.20 as a cut-off value, 19 of 23 patients with pancreatic cancer had a positive test result in the micno-LAI assay. In contrast, 3 of 81 control patients also gave a positive test result. The LAI response of the pancreatic carcinoma patients appeared to be immunolog icaily specific inasmuch as the leukocytes of these patients did not respond to a control colon carcinoma tumor extract. Thus, the micno-LAI assay is able to detect specifically pancreatic cancer and to discriminate between pancreatic cancer, acute pancreatitis, other forms of cancer, and the normal state. While these results suggest an immunodi agnostic potential for the micro-LAI assay in pancreatic cancer, this potential can be realized only after a much larger number of patients are evaluated and concomitant technological improvements are made in the assay that will result inamorestandardized response.


PURPOSE
To assess the efficacy and safety profile of high-dose (0.3 mmol/kg cumulative dose) gadoteridol in patients with suspected central nervous system metastatic disease.

METHODS
We studied 67 patients using an incremental-dose technique. Patient monitoring included a medical history, physical examination, vital signs, and extensive laboratory tests within 24 hours before and after the MR examination. Precontrast T1- and T2-weighted spin-echo studies were performed, followed by intravenous injection of 0.1 mmol/kg of gadoteridol. T1-weighted images were acquired immediately after and at 10 and 20 minutes after injection. At 30 minutes an additional 0.2 mmol/kg of gadoteridol was administered (0.3-mmol/kg cumulative dose), and T1-weighted images were acquired. Cases demonstrating abnormal MR findings were assessed for efficacy by unblinded and blinded reviewers and were analyzed quantitatively.

RESULTS
Three adverse effects in two patients were considered to be related to gadoteridol administration. No adverse effects were serious; all self-resolved. Forty-nine cases showed abnormal MR findings and were included in the efficacy analysis. A significantly greater number of lesions was seen on the high-dose as opposed to the standard-dose images. Blinded and unblinded readers identified 5 and 8 patients, respectively, with solitary lesions on standard-dose examination and multiple lesions on high-dose examination. Two patients who had normal standard-dose findings had lesions identified on high-dose studies. Quantitative analysis of 133 lesions in 45 patients demonstrated significant increases in lesion signal intensity on high-dose studies when compared with standard-dose studies.

CONCLUSION
Gadoteridol can be safely administered up to a cumulative dose of 0.3 mmol/kg. High-dose contrast studies provide improved lesion detectability and additional diagnostic information over studies performed in the same patients with a 0.1-mmol/kg dose and aid in patient diagnosis and treatment. High-dose gadoteridol study may facilitate the care of patients with suspected central nervous system metastasis.


Merging live action and synthetic imagery in a realistic manner is becoming increasingly important, and has become ubiquitous to filmmaking and television. However, current techniques to merge live and synthetic imagery typically generate low-quality images in real-time, or high-quality results though off-line processes. Being able to realistically merge live and synthetic imagery in real-time would generate many new applications, particularly in the virtual set, augmented reality, military, and entertainment industries. This thesis presents a framework for the realistic, real-time merging of live action with synthetic imagery by analyzing the three major components of the process. First, we maintain the necessity of utilizing synthetic imagery that mimics the visual complexity of the real world. Second, we demonstrate that attention must be spent on acquiring live action that is visually compatible with the synthetic imagery, with the emphasis on matching specific illumination characteristics. Finally, we propose the use of a compositing mechanism that accounts for the missing visual interaction between the live and synthetic components, including occlusion, shadowing, and reflection. We present the real-time implementation of two virtual set systems that adhere to these principles. An image-based renderer generates realistic imagery in limited interaction environments, while a software-based ray-engine simulates physically based, dynamic environments. The live and synthetic environmental illumination is matched by manipulating the histogram characteristics of the live video. Finally, we implement a compositing system that accounts for the visual interactions between the live and synthetic imagery, synthesizing inter-reflections and shadows using a silhouette reprojection technique.


Due to the significant role of rotational properties for normal knee function, this study aimed to investigate transverse plane kinematics and kinetics in total knee arthroplasty and unicondylar knee arthroplasty patients during activities of daily living compared to a healthy control group, including stair ascent and descent. The study participants consisted of a total knee arthroplasty group including posterior cruciate retaining and posterior stabilized designs as well as a unicondylar knee arthroplasty group and a healthy control group. Three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics were captured using a Vicon system and two Kistler force plates embedded in the floor and another two in a staircase. Inverse dynamics of the lower limbs was computed in Anybody™ Modeling System. Transverse plane joint angles and joint moments were analyzed utilizing the statistical non-parametric mapping approach, considering the entire curve shape for statistical analysis. The patients with total knee arthroplasty exhibited significantly reduced knee internal rotation of the operated knee compared to the control group and the patients' unimpaired limb, especially during the stair climbing tasks. Both unicondylar and total knee arthroplasty patients were found to have similar reduced internal rotation motion time series in stair descent. In conclusion, potential kinematic and kinetic benefits of unicondylar knee arthroplasty over total knee arthroplasty could not be proven in the current study. Aside from the usually mentioned reasons inducing constrained knee internal rotation in total knee arthroplasty patients, future studies should investigate to what extent co-contraction may contribute to this functional impairment in patients after knee arthroplasty surgery.


Deep learning models often require extensive efforts in optimizing hyperparameters and architectures. Standard hyperparameter optimization methods are expensive because of their multi-trial nature: different configurations are tried separately to find the best. In this paper, we propose AutoHAS, an efficient framework for both hyperparameter and architecture search. AutoHAS generalizes the concept of efficient architecture search, ENAS and DARTS, to hyperparameter search and hence can jointly optimize both in a single training. A key challenge in such generalization is that ENAS and DARTS are designed to optimize discrete architecture choices, whereas hyperparameter choices are often continuous. To tackle this challenge, we discretize the continuous space into a linear combination of multiple categorical basis. Furthermore, we extend the idea of weight sharing and augment it with REINFORCE to reduce its memory cost. In order to decouple the shared network weights and controller optimization, we also propose to create temporary weights for evaluating the sampled hyperparameters and updating the controller. Experimental results show AutoHAS can improve the ImageNet accuracy by up to 0.8% for highly-optimized state-of-the-art ResNet/EfficientNet models, and up to 11% for less-optimized models. Compared to random search and Bayesian search, AutoHAS consistently achieves better accuracy with 10x less computation cost.


As operations management (OM) best practices have become mature, research on practices has begun to shift its interest from the justification of the value of those practices to the understanding of the contextual conditions under which they are effective—OM practice contingency research (OM PCR). This article sets out to examine and critique the current state of OM PCR. We review OM PCR studies through the lens of the major theoretical view on contingencies, contingency theory, along a number of relevant dimensions: contingency variables, performance variables, measurement, research design and employed form of fit. In this process, we put forward a number of tasks that need to be accomplished in order to move OM PCR forward and develop more solid conceptual foundations in which to anchor rigorous research in this area. Finally, we reflect on the theoretical arguments that underlie OM PCR (which are based on the contingency approach) and identify its limitations in fully explaining the currently observed patterns of use of OM practices and associated performance outcomes. As a result, we propose that in order to increase our understanding of these patterns, OM scholars need to study in more depth the process of selection of OM best practices by organizations. Accordingly, we put forward a framework to underpin such research integrating contingency theory and other theoretical perspectives. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Introduction Sarcoma of the breast is a rare tumor with poor prognosis. Majority of the cases described in literature are secondary to radiotherapy. Fine needle aspiration cytology is a good tool for diagnosis. Optimal treatment for breast sarcoma is still unclear. Case Report A 25 years female presented with a recurrent 10x8 cm lump in her left breast. Systematic examination of the contralateral breast revealed a 4 x3 cm lump in her right breast also. FNAC suggested the possibility of a malignant mesenchymal lesion. Bilateral simple mastectomy was performed. Histopathology revealed bilateral angiosarcoma of the breast with extensive haemorrhage and necrosis. Immunohistochemistry was positive for Vimentin and CD 31 but negative for S 100. Adjuvant chemotherapy (MAID regime) was given to the patient. Discussion Primary sarcoma of the breast usually presents as a lump with variegated consistency in the breast in a young female often secondary to radiotherapy. FNAC is diagnostic. Angiosarcoma is the most common variant. 5 year survival ranges from 40%-91 %. Margins of surgical resection are an important prognostic indicator. Axillary dissection is generally thought to be unnecessary for soft tissue sarcomas. Conclusion Adequate surgical excision, grade and tumor diameter seem to be the most important prognostic factors.


Operational transformation (OT) is an approach which allows to build real-time groupware tools. This approach requires correct transformation functions regarding two conditions called TP1 and TP2. Proving correctness of these transformation functions is very complex and error prone. In this paper, we show how a theorem prover can address this serious bottleneck. To validate our approach, we verifed correctness of state-of-art transformation functions de ned on strings of characters with surprising results. Counter-examples provided by the theorem prover helped us to design the tombstone transformation functions. These functions verify TP1 and TP2, preserve intentions and ensure multi-effect relationships.


Author(s): Desai, Ankush Pankaj | Advisor(s): Seshia, Sanjit | Abstract: Asynchronous event-driven systems are ubiquitous across domains such as device drivers, distributed systems, and robotics. These systems are notoriously hard to get right as the programmer needs to reason about numerous control paths resulting from the complex interleaving of events (or messages) and failures. Unsurprisingly, it is easy to introduce subtle errors while attempting to fill in gaps between high-level system specifications and their concrete implementations.This dissertation proposes new methods for programming safe event-driven asynchronous systems.In the first part of the thesis, we present ModP, a modular programming framework for compositional programming and testing of event-driven asynchronous systems.The ModP module system supports a novel theory of compositional refinement for assume-guarantee reasoning of dynamic event-driven asynchronous systems. We build a complex distributed systems software stack using ModP.Our results demonstrate that compositional reasoning can help scale model-checking (both explicit and symbolic) to large distributed systems.ModP is transforming the way asynchronous software is built at Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Microsoft uses ModP for implementing safe device drivers and other software in the Windows kernel.AWS uses ModP for compositional model checking of complex distributed systems. While ModP simplifies analysis of such systems, the state space of industrial-scale systems remains extremely large.In the second part of this thesis, we present scalable verification and systematic testing approaches to further mitigate this state-space explosion problem.First, we introduce the concept of a delaying explorer to perform prioritized exploration of the behaviors of an asynchronous reactive program. A delaying explorer stratifies the search space using a custom strategy (tailored towards finding bugs faster), and a delay operation that allows deviation from that strategy. We show that prioritized search with a delaying explorer performs significantly better than existing approaches for finding bugs in asynchronous programs.Next, we consider the challenge of verifying time-synchronized systems; these are almost-synchronous systems as they are neither completely asynchronous nor synchronous.We introduce approximate synchrony, a sound and tunable abstraction for verification of almost-synchronous systems. We show how approximate synchrony can be used for verification of both time-synchronization protocols and applications running on top of them.Moreover, we show how approximate synchrony also provides a useful strategy to guide state-space exploration during model-checking.Using approximate synchrony and implementing it as a delaying explorer, we were able to verify the correctness of the IEEE 1588 distributed time-synchronization protocol and, in the process, uncovered a bug in the protocol that was well appreciated by the standards committee.In the final part of this thesis, we consider the challenge of programming a special class of event-driven asynchronous systems -- safe autonomous robotics systems.Our approach towards achieving assured autonomy for robotics systems consists of two parts: (1) a high-level programming language for implementing and validating the reactive robotics software stack; and (2) an integrated runtime assurance system to ensure that the assumptions used during design-time validation of the high-level software hold at runtime.Combining high-level programming language and model-checking with runtime assurance helps us bridge the gap between design-time software validation that makes assumptions about the untrusted components (e.g., low-level controllers), and the physical world, and the actual execution of the software on a real robotic platform in the physical world. We implemented our approach as DRONA, a programming framework for building safe robotics systems.We used DRONA for building a distributed mobile robotics system and deployed it on real drone platforms. Our results demonstrate that DRONA (with the runtime-assurance capabilities) enables programmers to build an autonomous robotics software stack with formal safety guarantees.To summarize, this thesis contributes new theory and tools to the areas of programming languages, verification, systematic testing, and runtime assurance for programming safe asynchronous event-driven across the domains of fault-tolerant distributed systems and safe autonomous robotics systems.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous intercellular messenger molecule with important cardiovascular, neurological, and immune functions. In addition, it has been postulated that the pharmacological inhibition of NO or its actions may be therapeutically valuable in the disease management. The levels of nitric oxide may provide clues about the severity and the state of the underlying disease process. It could be an inflammatory biomarker that may enable clinicians to direct the environmentally based prevention or treatment programmes and to establish whether NO plays a role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis or not. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the salivary and the serum levels of NO in generalized chronic and aggressive periodontitis. The Study Design: Unstimulated whole saliva and serum samples were collected from a total of 60 subjects who were in the age group of 18-45 years, who participated in this study. They were divided into three equal groups with 20 subjects in each group; group A (healthy controls), group B (chronic periodontitis) and group C (aggressive periodontitis). The clinical parameters were assessed, based on the oral hygiene index simplified (OHI-S), the gingival index (GI), the probing pocket depth and the clinical attachment loss (CAL). A biochemical analysis was performed to evaluate and compare the salivary and the serum nitric oxide levels of the above groups. Statistical Analysis and Results: The statistical comparisons were done under the Griess Reaction. There were statistically significant salivary and serum levels of NO in the groups of periodontitis (group B and C) as compared to those in the healthy controls (group A). A significant positive correlation was found between the values of the salivary and the serum NO levels in chronic and aggressive periodontitis.

CONCLUSION
Nitric oxide is a potent modulator of the inflammatory disease processes and under pathological conditions, NO has damaging effects. As there is a paucity in the studies which have compared chronic and aggressive periodontitis, this study paved an interest for combining the serum and the salivary analysis in comparing the levels of nitric oxide in chronic and aggressive periodontitis.


Abstract The first known tetraploid amniote that reproduces through parthenogenetic cloning by individual females is named and described. The species originated through hybridization between Aspidoscelis exsanguis (triploid parthenogen) × Aspidoscelis inornata (diploid bisexual or gonochoristic species) in the laboratory. We compared multivariate morphological variation between two lineages that arose from separate F1 hybrid zygotes in one clutch and among several generations in those lineages. The tetraploid species is also compared with its ancestral taxa, with two hybrids of A. exsanguis × A. inornata that were found in nature at two localities that are 100 km apart in southern New Mexico, and with three laboratory hybrid males. This will facilitate identification of field-caught tetraploids in the future.


The cost of reproduction is expected to influence survival or future reproduction. Most previous studies have assessed cost of reproduction in relation to natural and experimental variation in number of offspring produced. The ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana is a passerine bird species with biparental care, and the Norwegian population of the species has an extraordinarily skewed sex ratio with only about half of the males attracting a female, and therefore provides a rare opportunity to compare survival of males that have paired and bred with that of non-breeders (unpaired males), which have not paid a cost of reproduction. Results showed that survival rates of paired (65.0%) and unpaired (64.2%) males did not differ. However, when comparisons were restricted to paired males that definitely had nestlings, their survival rate (76.8%) was significantly higher than that of unpaired males, and the same was the case when comparisons were further restricted to paired males that had offspring recruiting to the population the next year (76.8% survived). Males breeding successfully are likely to be a biased subset of high quality males. In analyses of a subset of males that had bred successfully when young, there was no difference in survival of paired and unpaired individuals when these males were older. In conclusion, breeding male ortolan buntings did not appear to pay a cost of reproduction in terms of reduced survival to the next year compared to non-breeding males. These results may be explained by non-breeding males also incurring extra costs during the breeding season, and that costs of reproduction are not shared equally among sexes in the ortolan bunting and other bird species with biparental care.


Properties of AMPA type glutamate receptors widely presented within mammalian central nervous system are reviewed. AMPA receptors belong to ionotropic subclass of glutamate receptors and participate in fast excitatory glutamatergic transmission in the brain. Molecular structure of AMPA receptors consists of several subunits (GluRA1-GluRA4), which display various sensitivity to receptor ligands. These receptors are named according to their selective agonist alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA). AMPA receptor modulators represented by several chemical groups: pyrrolidinones (aniracetam), benzothiodiazinedioxides, benzylpiperidines and biarylpropylsulphonamides. These compounds facilitate AMPA receptor-mediated glutamatergic neurotransmission. AMPA receptor modulators enhance cognitive functions (learning and memory), reveal anxiolytic and antidepressant action, suppress the effects of psychostimulant agents, potentiate the effects of antipsychotic drugs, display neuroprotective properties. Positive modulation of AMPA receptor-associated ionic channels was shown to underline the mode of action of these substances that results in enhancement of long-term potentiation (LTP) and increasing neurotrophic factors expression. Preliminary clinical results have shown positive therapeutic effect of these substances in patients with cognitive impairment.


Physical and chemical properties of polyethylene (PE) films doped with calcium salt of oxycellulose (Ca-oxy) and its interaction with cells in culture conditions were studied. The samples with various concentrations of Ca-oxy (0-20 %) were prepared. Samples were tested by goniometer measurements, X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy and SEM. Sample weight changes during boil sterilization and adhesion and proliferation of tissue cells (3T3 mouse fibroblasts) were studied. It was found that wetting angle of the doped films decreased with increasing Ca-oxy concentration to up to 10% and then increased again. Both film surfaces had different amount of crystalline phase, thereby different surface roughness. Due to a smaller surface roughness, cell growth was much better on the inner surface of the film than on the outer one. Cells adhered better to samples with 1% of Ca-oxy and with a higher content of oxycellulose over 7%. Cell proliferation was the best on samples with 1-5% Ca-oxy. Samples were polished to modify their surface roughness. Polishing increased cell proliferation especially on samples with a lower Ca-oxy concentration (1-5%).


Arecibo Observatory and Magellan radar data for Venus are compared to airborne radar images for potential terrestrial analog surfaces. Volcanic deposits in Western Eistla Regio and northern Sedna Planitia are characterized. It is shown that the expected-sense circularly polarized echoes in the "dark plains" and broad flow aprons of Eistla Regio decrease rapidly with incidence angle. This angular scattering behavior implies surfaces no rougher than terrestrial pahoehoe flows. Polarization ratio (based on the ratio of the "unexpected"- to "expected"-sense circular echoes) comparisons show that the extensive lava flows in Western Eistla Regio and Sedna Planitia are generally consistent with the properties of terrestrial pahoehoe flows, with only limited occurrences of a'a morphology. Blocky textures on scales of several meters are not observed in these regions. This occurs despite the fact that Arecibo images are collected at 12.6-cm wavelength, while the airborne data are collected at 24-cm wavelength; shorter illuminating wavelengths tend to increase the perceived roughness of a given surface. Comparison of calibrated backscatter cross section values for Hawaiian lava flows and Magellan synthetic aperture radar data of the study areas supports these interpretations: only three major units of a'a morphology are identified (other radar-bright surfaces are likely rough pahoehoe flows). These results suggest three scenarios: (1) many of the large flow units in the two study regions were emplaced as complexes of low-effusion rate (presumably tube-fed) pahoehoe flows, rather than as higher eruption rate events which might be expected to produce a'a surface textures, (2) the long lava flows were originally emplaced as a'a but have since weathered to a smoother texture, or (3) a combination of atmospheric and magma compositional effects combine to inhibit a'a formation even at high volume eruption rates.


Richard Strauss's Orchestral Music and the German Intellectual Tradition: The Philosophical Roots of Musical Modernism. By Charles Youmans. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005. [x, 294 p. ISBN 0-253-34573-1. $39.95.] Music examples, index, bibliography. This is the first book-length treatment of a central project in Strauss scholarship over the past decade or so: rescuing the composer from his outdated status as a "late romantic" and recasting him as an antiromantic and early modernist. In this important book, Charles Youmans shores up this project and adds significant original contributions. Since the book assumes a thorough knowledge of Strauss's life, the orchestral works and their programs, and to a lesser extent German, most readers will need a supplementary "life and works" volume. The book is divided into a prologue and two main parts: "The Private Intellectual Context of Strauss's Early Career"-with chapters on the composer's conversion to Wagnerism and appropriation of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Goethe, respectively -and "Orchestral Composition as Philosophical Critique" with chapters on the two cycles of tone poems and two later "symphonies." The book's title, however, does not represent its contents accurately; the discussion of Strauss's orchestral works occupies less than half the book, the "German intellectual tradition" includes only Goethe, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, and the context of "musical modernism" outside the confines of Strauss's orchestral works remains largely unaddressed. One suspects that the title might be "calculatedly overblown," to use Youmans's characterization of Strauss's Symphonia domestica and Eine Alpensinfonie (p. 214). The premise of the book, as stated in the prologue (pp. 3-4), is that the hijacking of modernism by Schoenberg has blinded us to the "avant-garde edge" of its early phase beginning around 1890 in addition to changing the focus of attention from aesthetics to musical technique, thus necessitating a reinvestigation. After a useful discussion of the Schopenhauerian or metaphysical conception of music shared by the feuding absolute and program music camps, Youmans states his revisionist argument: "The thesis of the present book is that Strauss's coming of age was an intellectual as well as musical process, with the intellectual side of things directly affecting, in specific and sophisticated ways, all of his major works for orchestra" (p. 16). He dedicates his first three chapters to correcting what he feels to be the misguided traditions in Strauss scholarship making this book necessary: a one-dimensional view of the role of Alexander Ritter and a lack of appreciation of the intellectual activity of Strauss's early career. The first chapter, on Strauss's "conversion" to Wagnerism, begins by fleshing out his relationship with Bayreuth in charting the conflicting versions of Wagnerian ideology that he encountered, concluding that by the early 1890s Strauss had developed a "dephilosophised attitude toward Wagner" (p. 38), and that Strauss's "conversion" is more complex and less datable than commonly held. Although based on a good deal of speculation, this nuancing is helpful and long overdue. Still more valuable is Youmans's account of Strauss's relationship with Alexander Ritter, his close friend and mentor ca. 1885-93, pieced together from primary sources (such as Ritter's articles for the Bayreuther Blatter) and the most comprehensive to date. He identifies Ritter's ideology as "a form of neo-romanticism unsurpassed in its exaggerated spiritual claims" (p. 44) and notes that this was the specific type of Wagnerism that Strauss rejected. In the following two chapters, Youmans proves once and for all that the image of the composer as a clueless and superficial materialist uninterested in the deeper issues of his art, cultivated by Strauss himself and still battled by biographers, was only a convenient facade. Using mostly primary sources, many of them unpublished, the author carefully chronicles Strauss's deep engagement with Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and the evolution of his revolutionary rejection of the prevailing metaphysical conception of music. …


ABSTRACT This paper looks at the writing retreat as a model for Creative Writing H.E. teaching. Initially, the retreat seems to offer a way of encouraging the deep-level learning helpful to students in the development of a writing life. If Creative Writing students benefit from the kind of heutagogical capability development associated with constructivist teaching, then the writing retreat, with its opportunities for independent work and thinking and for quiet time away from the constraints of the usual timetable and the pressures of everyday life, seems to have much to offer. However, considerations of assessment soon call the model to account. How should the writing produced on retreats be assessed? Can assessment requirements ever be managed in a way that doesn't counteract the freedom of the retreat? This paper draws on staff and student research gained from a Student Academic Partnership project and a level 5 Creative Writing retreat module in an attempt to answer these questions.


Abstract Phototropins are UV-A/blue light photoreceptors containing two flavin mononucleotide (FMN)–binding domains, light, oxygen and voltage (LOV)1 and LOV2, of which LOV2 is more sensitive toward light and more important for the physiological response compared with LOV1. Some physiological responses are plant phototropism, chloroplast migration and stomatal opening. Oat phototropin 1 together with light-dependent autophosphorylation shows a reduced electrophoretic mobility and reduced immunoreaction against a heterologous antiserum; both effects were suggested to be caused by phosphorylation at the same sites (M. Salomon, E. Knieb, T. von Zeppelin and W. Rüdiger [2003] Biochemistry 42, 4217–4225). In this study, we show that both effects can be separated from each other: at low temperature, reduced immunoreaction preceded the mobility shift, and irradiation with UV-C light led to the mobility shift without the loss of immunoreactivity. We demonstrated that UV-C light at 280 nm, which does not match any absorption maximum of FMN, leads to autophosphorylation of phototropin. It is hypothesized that UV-C light causes differential activation of the LOV domains via energy transfer from aromatic amino acids.


In two studies, the predictive accuracy and the incremental validity of different dynamic risk assessment measures were examined. In Study 1, the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-Entry (DRAOR), which is a measure of dynamic risk and protective factors, was examined with a sample of 203 male adult sexual offenders. The results demonstrated that the DRAOR significantly predicted technical violations, but failed to significantly predict sexual recidivism. Further, the DRAOR made a significant incremental contribution over the Static-99R for predicting technical violations. In Study 2, the Stable-2007 and Acute-2007, which were designed to assess dynamic predictors of sexual recidivism among male adult sexual offenders, were examined with a sample of 207 sex offenders. Results showed that both dynamic measures significantly predicted technical violations, but demonstrated weak predictive accuracy for sexual reoffense. The Stable-2007 and Acute-2007 also added incremental validity to the prediction of technical violations over and above the Static-99R.


Introduction Between 2012 and 2014, rates of congenital syphilis increased in Louisiana (LA) (from 52.7 to 73.4 cases per 1 00 000 live births) and Florida (FL) (from 17.4 to 22.1 cases per 1 00 000 live births) ranking them among the highest in the United States. Both states have rules and regulations that require testing pregnant women for syphilis during the first trimester, early third trimester, and at delivery. We evaluated the effectiveness of early and third trimester syphilis screening for the prevention of congenital syphilis in these high-morbidity states. Methods Reported syphilis cases among pregnant women in FL and LA during January 1, 2013–December 31, 2014, were reviewed for documented screening for syphilis in the first two trimesters and the third trimester. Pregnant women with syphilis were linked to congenital syphilis records and stratified by whether their pregnancy led to a reported congenital syphilis case. Results 710 pregnant women with syphilis in LA and FL led to 155 congenital syphilis cases. 555 (78%) potential congenital syphilis cases were averted. 370 (52%) of the pregnant women with syphilis were staged as early syphilis or high-titer late-latent syphilis, and they were linked to 109 (70%) of the congenital syphilis cases. 513 pregnant women tested positive for syphilis in the first two trimesters and 470 (92%) of them had babies without congenital syphilis. Of the remaining 197 women, 109 tested positive for syphilis in the third trimester, and 85 (78%) of them had babies without congenital syphilis. 39 (6%) women had no reported syphilis screening ≥30 days prior to delivery. 85 women had at least one negative screening test during pregnancy before the positive test, and 55 of them had a baby with congenital syphilis. Conclusion Screening for syphilis both early and in the third trimester prevented many pregnant women with syphilis from having a baby with congenital syphilis. Preventing all congenital syphilis would likely require preventing all syphilis among women.


A novel pyridopyrimidin-4-one derivative, N-tert-butyl-2-[2-(3methoxyphenyl)-6-[3-(morpholin-4-yl)propoxy]-4-oxopyrido[2,3d]pyrimidin-3(4H)-yl]acetamide (TASP0434299), was characterized as a radioligand candidate for arginine vasopressin 1B (V1B) receptor. TASP0434299 exhibited high binding affinities for human and rat V1B receptors with IC50 values of 0.526 and 0.641 nM, respectively, and potent antagonistic activity at the human V1B receptor with an IC50 value of 0.639 nM without apparent binding affinities for other molecules at 1 mM. [H]TASP0434299 bound to membranes expressing the human V1B receptor as well as those prepared from the rat anterior pituitary in a saturable manner. The binding of [H]TASP0434299 to the membranes was dose-dependently displaced by several ligands for the V1B receptor. In addition, the intravenous administration of [H]TASP0434299 to rats produced a saturable radioactive accumulation in the anterior pituitary where the V1B receptor is enriched, and it was dosedependently blocked by the oral administration of 2-[2-(3-chloro-4fluorophenyl)-6-[3-(morpholin-4-yl)propoxy]-4-oxopyrido[2,3-d] pyrimidin-3(4H)-yl]-N-isopropylacetamide hydrochloride, a V1B receptor antagonist, indicating that [H]TASP0434299 can be used as an in vivo radiotracer to measure the occupancy of the V1B receptor. Finally, the intravenous administration of [C]TASP0434299 provided positron emission tomographic images of the V1B receptor in the pituitary in an anesthetized monkey, and the signal was blocked by pretreatment with an excess of unlabeled TASP0434299. These results indicate that radiolabeled TASP0434299 is the first radioligand to be capable of quantifying the V1B receptor selectively in both in vitro and in vivo studies and will provide a clinical biomarker for determining the occupancy of the V1B receptor during drug development or for monitoring the levels of the V1B receptor in diseased conditions.


Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are pathogen associated molecular pattern (PAMP) receptors that are expressed by several cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems. TLR-9, also referred to as CD289, is localized in the endosomal compartment and recognizes specific unmethylated CpG motifs prevalent in microbial but not vertebrate genomic DNA. Activation of TLR-9 results in an inflammatory response, ultimately via a Th1-based pathway. TLR-9 is known to play a critical role in mediating the inflammatory response to lung injury. Due to its significant circulating blood volume and continuous exposure to the external environment, the lung is constantly exposed to potentially injurious agents that may trigger a common final pathway causing acute lung injury (ALI) or its more severe form, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Both conditions result in a marked increase in inflammatory cytokines, such as TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6, and can result in significant morbidity and mortality. Prior studies have demonstrated the role of TLR-9 in sepsis and lung injury, focusing on its interactions with artificial CpG DNA and the potential positive immunomodulatory benefits from inhibition. In this review, we discuss the role of TLR-9 in the pathogenesis and treatment of lung injury. J Nat Sci, 5(2):e551, 2019


The International Conference on Intelligent Computing (ICIC) was formed to provide an annual forum dedicated to the emerging and challenging topics in artificial intelli- gence, machine learning, pattern recognition, image processing, bioinformatics, and computational biology. It aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry to share ideas, problems, and solutions related to the mul- tifaceted aspects of intelligent computing.ICIC 2010, held in Changsha, China, August 18-21, 2010, constituted the 6th In- ternational Conference on Intelligent Computing. It built upon the success of ICIC 2009, ICIC 2008, ICIC 2007, ICIC 2006, and ICIC 2005, that were held in Ulsan, Korea, Shanghai, Qingdao, Kunming and Hefei, China, respectively.This year, the conference concentrated mainly on the theories and methodologies as well as the emerging applications of intelligent computing. Its aim was to unify the picture of contemporary intelligent computing techniques as an integral concept that highlights the trends in advanced computational intelligence and bridges theoretical research with applications. Therefore, the theme for this conference was "Advanced Intelligent Computing Technology and Applications." Papers focusing on this theme were solicited, addressing theories, methodologies, and applications in science and technology.ICIC 2010 received 926 submissions from 29 countries and regions. All papers went through a rigorous peer-review procedure and each paper received at least three review reports. Based on the review reports, the Program Committee finally selected 254 high-quality papers for presentation at ICIC 2010, of which 244 papers are in- cluded in three volumes of proceedings published by Springer: one volume of Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), one volume of Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelli- gence (LNAI), and one volume of Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS). The other 10 papers will be included in Neural Computing & Appli- cations.This volume of Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) includes 74 papers.


Optimization of multimedia transmissions over wireless channels should be aimed at maximizing the video quality perceived by the final user. For transmission of video sequences over an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system in a slowly varying Rayleigh faded environment, we develop a cross-layer technique, based on a slice loss visibility (SLV) model used to evaluate the visual importance of each slice. In particular, taking into account the visibility scores available from the bitstream, depending on the scenario, we optimize the mapping of video slices within a 2-D time-frequency resource block and/or the channel code rates, in order to better protect more visually important slices. The proposed algorithm is investigated for several scenarios, with different levels of information about the channel available in the optimization process. Results demonstrate that, for different physical environments and different video sequences, the proposed algorithm outperforms baseline ones which do not take into account either the SLV or the CSI in the video transmission.


Human behaviour is based on a reliable recognition of its environment. The predictive coding theory (PCT) provides an explanation of how recognition becomes reliable by integrating prior experience about the environment. The PCT suggests that the brain provides a prediction based on prior experience which is compared with the sensory information. The sensory information that cannot be explained by the prediction causes the prediction to be updated.

An established view is that the brain is organised in a hierarchical manner and the sensory information is transferred bottom-up the hierarchy. Within the hierarchical organisation, the PCT proposes that the prediction is sent top-down to be compared to the sensory information and that the unexplained information, the prediction error (PE), is sent bottom-up to update the prediction (Friston, 2003, 2005; Rao and Ballard, 1999). Accordingly, the information flow circulates: PEs drives Prediction updates, and Predictions drive PE minimization.

The predictive coding concept is compelling, but the neurophysiological implementation still remains unknown. However, Bastos and colleagues (Bastos et al., 2012) suggest that high frequency band activity (>30Hz) reflects PEs and low frequency band activity (<30Hz) reflects Predictions. This variant of the implementation of the PCT is testable with neurophysiological methods like the magnetoencephalography (MEG).

The present thesis investigated the representation of the Prediction within the framework of the PCT with a new learning paradigm using two-tone stimuli. In this paradigm, the participants expected a target face identity (TFID) at a predefined position in a trial to gain reliable visual information of the TFID. Furthermore, the participants were supposed to test their recognition ability with a test stimulus as well at a predefined position in a trial.

First, our understanding is that to solve this task sensory evidences of the TFID must be integrated into a coherent internal model (IM). Second, according to Bubic (Bubic, 2010), we can assume that the IM should become the predictive information when expecting an upcoming stimulus of the TFID. Third, we suppose that the IM should increase in detail through learning and accordingly we assume that this refinement of the IM can be associated with the increasing precision of predictions.

Indeed, an increase in the discrimination performance of the TFID with increasing refinement of the IM could be verified when analysing the behaviour of 41 participants. At the neurophysiological level, this was accompanied by an enhancement of the well-known familiarity ERF component M250 (Olivares et al., 2015; Schweinberger and Neumann, 2016).

Recent proposals of the PCT claim a distinction of the low frequency band activity in alpha and beta frequency band activity (ABA, BBA). It is proposed that the ABA signals the precision of predictions and the BBA signals the update of predictions (Sedley et al., 2016). In our MEG data, we observed a change in the ABA in the expectation interval which had a positive relationship to the increasing discriminability of the participants. Three brain sources of major importance were identified for this effect in the expectation interval and in the ABA by a beamformer source localization approach. These were the occipital face area (OFA), the precuneus (PreC) and the lateral occipital cortex (LOC). These brain areas (and two others) were supposed to constitute a face-identity-predictive (FIP) network. Further, we tested for effects of ABA in the post-stimulus interval and found an increase in ABA in primarily early visual areas and the PreC. Thus, we assign the PreC a key role in the representation of the IM of faces.

It stands to reason that the ABA in the expectation interval and the post-stimulus interval are related to the same IM. Thus, we propose the ABA in the expectation interval to reflect an abstract representation and the ABA in the post-stimulus interval to reflect a more detailed internal model representation. This interpretation is in line with a tentatively proposed implementation of the PE minimization by Kwisthout and colleagues (Kwisthout et al., 2017).


There exists an apparent paradox between the continuing significance and growing glamorization of the professional game on a global scale and the increasingly unstable labour market conditions affecting professional football players at the national level – in this case, the Scottish professional football field. In this paper, we utilize Pierre Bourdieu's formula of habitus, capital and field to frame professional footballers' social practices – with specific emphasis on their engagement (or lack of engagement) with educational discourses. We also employ Bourdieu's concept of strategy to consider the ways in which footballers' identities might be reformulated within rather than outside the boundaries of the professional football field. Empirically, data generated from an in-depth qualitative study of two Scottish professional football clubs are presented. The paper concludes that, despite the increased awareness and availability of educational opportunities, players' engagement with educational discourses is, at best, an instrumental, means-end and outcome-based one.


ABSTRACT Daniel O'Connell was an acknowledged leader of the anti-slavery movement in the 1830s and 1840s. To American abolitionists, he embodied an Irish opposition to slavery. Yet, many, such as Frederick Douglass, saw a contrast between the Irish in Ireland and those in America when it came to the issue of slavery. The Irish in America were among the most ardent opponents of abolitionism. An examination of some of the leading nationalist newspapers opinion of the American Civil War and emancipation indicate that contrast between the Irish abroad and at home on the slavery question is exaggerated. Influential Irish opinion makers had a racial sense of Irishness which trumped O'Connell's universalist call for emancipation.


We use the known surface boulder-size distribution of the C-type rubble pile asteroid Ryugu (NEA 162173) to determine its macroporosity, assuming it is a homogeneous granular aggregate. We show that the volume-frequency distribution of its boulders, cobbles, and pebbles, is well-represented by a lognormal function with σ = 2.4 ± 0.1 and μ = 0.2 ± 0.05. Application of linear-mixture packing theory yields a value for the macroporosity of ϕ = 0.14 ± 0.04. Given its low bulk density of 1.19 gm cm−3, this implies an average density for Ryugu's rocks of 1.38 ± 0.07 gm cm−3 throughout its volume, consistent with a recent determination for surface boulders based on their thermal properties. This supports the spectrum-based argument that interplanetary dust particles may be the best analog material available on Earth, and it suggests that high-density, well-lithified objects such as chondrules and chondrule-bearing chondrites may be rare on Ryugu. Implications of this result for the origin of chondrules, a long-standing problem in cosmochemistry, are discussed. We propose that chondrules and most chondrites formed together in rare lithification events, which occurred during the accretion of chondritic envelopes to large, differentiated planetesimals at a time when they were still hot from 26Al decay.