BACKGROUND
Changes in central venous pressure (CVP) rather than absolute values may be used to guide fluid therapy in critically ill patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. We conducted a study comparing the changes in the CVP produced by an increase in PEEP and stroke volume variation (SVV) as indicators of fluid responsiveness. Fluid responsiveness was assessed by the changes in cardiac output (CO) produced by passive leg raising (PLR).

METHODS
In 20 fully mechanically ventilated patients after cardiac surgery, PEEP was increased +10 cm H2O for 5 min followed by PLR. CVP, SVV, and thermodilution CO were measured before, during, and directly after the PEEP challenge and 30° PLR. The CO increase >7% upon PLR was used to define responders.

RESULTS
Twenty patients were included; of whom, 10 responded to PLR. The increase in CO by PLR directly related (r=0.77, P<0.001) to the increase in CVP by PEEP. PLR responsiveness was predicted by the PEEP-induced increase in CVP [area under receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC) curve 0.99, P<0.001] and by baseline SVV (AUROC 0.90, P=0.003). The AUROC's for dCVP and SVV did not differ significantly (P=0.299).

CONCLUSIONS
Our data in mechanically ventilated, cardiac surgery patients suggest that the newly defined parameter, PEEP-induced CVP changes, like SVV, appears to be a good parameter to predict fluid responsiveness.


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Production systems (or rule-based systems) are widely used for the development of expert systems. To speed-up the execution of production systems, a number of different approaches are being taken, a majority of them being based on the use of parallelism. In -this paper, we explore the issues involved in the parallel implementation of OPS5 (a widely used productionsystem language) in QLISP (a parallel dialect of Lisp proposed by John McCarthy and Richard Gabriel). This paper shows that QLISP can easily encode most sources of parallelism in OPS5 that have been previously discussed in literature. This is significant because the OPS5 interpreter is the first large program to be encoded in QLISP, and as a result, this is the first practical demonstration of the expressive power of QLISP. The paper also lists the most commonly used QLISP constructs in the parallel implementation (and the contexts in which they are used), which serve as a hunt to the QLlSP implementor about what to optimize. We also discuss the exploitation of speculative parallelism in RHS-evaluation for O!'S5. This has not been previously discussed in the literature. PARALL& EXECUTION OF OPSS IN QLISP i Table of


in the date range 18 January 2018 - 1 February 2018. This is a summary listing which allows you to drill through to complete details of each decision.


Three new citrinin derivatives, penicitrinols C, D, and E (1-3), along with two known compounds, citrinin (4) and decarboxydihydrocitrinone (5), were isolated from Penicillium citrinum. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods and X-ray diffraction analysis. Compounds 1 and 3 demonstrated weak cytotoxicity against the HL-60 cell line.


BACKGROUND
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in the majority of clear-cell renal cell carcinomas (RCCs). The prognostic significance of EGFR overexpression after nephrectomy, however, is controversial because of different methods used in the immunohistochemical (IHC) evaluation of EGFR expression.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In this study, we evaluated EGFR expression and its prognostic significance using 3 IHC evaluation methods. A tissue microarray composed of 44 cases of clear-cell RCC was stained for the patterns of EGFR overexpression, including membranous, cytoplasmic (EGFR-c), and total (membranous and cytoplasmic), and the percentage of cells positive for EGFR overexpression were recorded. An EGFR composite score was calculated by multiplying the total EGFR overexpression score (0-3) and percentage of positive cells.

RESULTS
Membranous EGFR overexpression was detected in 38 of 44 cases (93.2%), with moderate to strong staining (scores 2 and 3) in 35 cases (79.5%). EGFR-c was detected in 28 cases (63.6%), with moderate to strong staining (scores 2 and 3) in 16 cases (36.4%). EGFR-c was significantly associated with pathologic stage (P = 0.003) and Fuhrman nuclear grade (P = 0.042). Epidermal growth factor receptor composite score correlated with pathologic stage (P = 0.045) but not Fuhrman nuclear grade. However, EGFR expression did not correlate with overall survival or disease recurrence.

CONCLUSION
This study demonstrates that the prognostic value of EGFR overexpression differs significantly when different methods are used to evaluate EGFR expression by IHC. Future studies should use standardized methods to evaluate the EGFR staining pattern and intensity and the percentage of positive cells in order to clarify the prognostic significance of EGFR overexpression in clear-cell RCC.


The aim of this research is to estimate the impact of violent film excerpts on university
students (30 f, 30 m) in two different sequences, a "justified" violent scene followed by an
"unjustified" one, or vice versa, as follows:
1) before-after sequences, using Aggressive behaviour I-R Questionnaire, Self Depression
Scale and ASQ-IPAT Anxiety SCALE;
2) after every excerpt, using a self-report to evaluate the intensity and hedonic tone of
emotions and the violence justification level.
Emotion regulation processes (suppression, reappraisal, self-efficacy) were considered.
In contrast with the "unjustified" violent scene, during the "justified" one, the justification
level was higher; intensity and unpleasantness of negative emotions were lower.
Anxiety (total and latent) and rumination diminished after both types of sequences.
Rumination decreases less after the JV-UV sequence than after the UV-JV sequence.
Self-efficacy in controlling negative emotions reduced rumination, whereas suppression
reduced irritability.
Reappraisal, self-efficacy in positive emotion expression and perceived emphatic selfefficacy
did not have any effects.


Abstract Whether to resume antithrombotic treatment after oral anticoagulant–related intracerebral haemorrhage (OAC-ICH) is debatable. In this study, we aimed at investigating long-term outcome associated with OAC resumption after warfarin-related ICH, in comparison with secondary prevention strategies with platelet inhibitors or antithrombotic discontinuation. Participants were patients who sustained an incident ICH during warfarin treatment (2002–2014) included in the Multicenter Study on Cerebral Hemorrhage in Italy. Primary end-point was a composite of ischemic stroke/systemic embolism (SE) and all-cause mortality. Secondary end-points were ischemic stroke/SE, all-cause mortality and major recurrent bleeding. We computed individual propensity score (PS) as the probability that a patient resumes OACs or other agents given his pre-treatment variables, and performed Cox multivariable analysis using Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW) procedure. A total of 244 patients qualified for the analysis. Unlike antiplatelet agents, OAC resumption was associated with a lower rate of the primary end-point (weighted hazard ratio [HR], 0.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.09–0.45), as well as of overall mortality (weighted HR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.06–0.45) and ischemic stroke/SE (weighted HR, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.06–0.60) with no significant increase of major bleeding in comparison with patients receiving no antithrombotics. In the subgroup of patients with atrial fibrillation, OACs resumption was also associated with a reduction of the primary end-point (weighted HR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.09–0.54), and the secondary end-point ischemic stroke/SE (weighted HR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.02–0.40). In conclusion, in patients who have an ICH while receiving warfarin, resuming anticoagulation results in a favorable trade-off between bleeding susceptibility and thromboembolic risk.


BACKGROUND
Tularemia is an endemic but rare disease in France. We describe the epidemiologic, clinical, diagnostic, treatment, and prognostic aspects of the disease in 101 consecutive patients investigated during a 5-year period (2006-2010).

METHODS
All tularemia cases confirmed at the French Reference Center for Tularemia (FRCT) were included. Data were collected both at the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (mandatory notification) and FRCT. Diagnostic methods included serological tests (microagglutination and indirect immunofluorescence assay), Francisella tularensis cultures, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, and molecular identification of the F. tularensis subspecies involved.

RESULTS
The patient cohort consisted of 55 men and 46 women (sex ratio, 1.2; average age, 51.7 years), including 93 sporadic cases that occurred throughout France. Contaminations occurred predominantly through contact with or ingestion of lagomorphs (31.7%), tick bites (10.9%), or contaminated environments (7.9%). The glandular and ulceroglandular forms predominated (57.5% of cases), but 18.8% of patients experienced a systemic disease and 29.7% were hospitalized. Specific diagnosis was mainly based on serology, but 38.6% of patients had positive RT-PCR tests and 20.8% had a positive culture. F. tularensis subspecies holarctica was identified in 25 patients. All patients except 1 recovered from infection, but 38.6% experienced relapses despite appropriate antibiotic therapy.

CONCLUSIONS
The epidemiological and clinical aspects of tularemia in France are varied, suggesting different modes of contamination. The high rates of systemic diseases and hospitalization indicate that the more serious cases are more likely to be diagnosed and notified. RT-PCR tests may help to improve diagnosis and reporting of the disease.


In this study, alkali preimpregnation was proved to be an pretreatment that could remove the hemicellulose effectively. Both the concentration of NaOH and the preimpregnation time were investigated. The optimum amount of NaOH was 16% od wood in the kraft pulping process. Cooking with 0.05% AQ (anthraquinone) could avoid the reduce of cellulose. The physicochemical Parameters of acetate grade pulp can be achieved after the O-D-E-D-E-Q-P-A bleaching sequence.


The field of Deep Learning (DL) has undergone explosive growth during the last decade, with a substantial impact on Natural Language Processing (NLP) as well. Yet, as with other fields employing DL techniques, there has been a lack of common experimental standards compared to more established disciplines. Starting from fundamental scientific principles, we distill ongoing discussions on experimental standards in DL into a single, widely-applicable methodology. Following these best practices is crucial to strengthening experimental evidence, improve reproducibility and enable scientific progress. These standards are further collected in a public repository to help them transparently adapt to future needs.


The purpose of this study is to assist SDC with its decision on whether to integrate the Tanzania National TB Leprosy Programme into national delivery structures. The paper looks at experiences in three countries (Ghana, Bangladesh and Zambia), which have integrated some vertical programmes into their national systems which are also supported by a SWAp. The main finding is that integration can, and has caused problems of retaining programme performance. This can be attributed to the reorganisation of technical responsibilities, rationalisation of procurement arrangement, shortages of funding, changes in priorities and changes in government and donor relationships. At the same time however a review of other aspects of the SWAps in those countries suggests that the longer term prognosis for programme performance may be positive because there are indications of improvements in planning, financial management and accountability, greater expenditure at district level and resource allocation, swifter programme mobilisation, better linkages outside MoH and wider accountability for programme performance. In response to these findings, a number of recommendations on how to deal potential problems in Tanzania are given (section 5), and then priorities summarised (section 6). Recommendations are noted here according to when in the process they should be addressed. Issues to consider before making the decision to integrate; Reappraise the likelihood of macro-economic decline and economic shocks (e.g. natural disasters) and their possible impact on Government of Tanzania (GoT) capacity to sustain funding to any integrated programme where overall finance levels depended on GoT funds as well as donors. Also consider the possible impact of a change of government or minister, and the effect on the programme if the SWAp lost political support, Assess whether there is enough cohesion with other DPs to overcome possible future programme problems without the control offered by direct funding, Assess absorption capacity of national delivery systems to utilise available funds adequately without the impetus of a vertical programme, Assuming that the programme would then be funded through the existing district basket, assess whether SDC could maintain commitments to this pool, and how well the pool as a whole has been functioning to date in terms of timely disbursements etc. Accept a change over to integration is probably a one way event Once the decision to integrate has been made; Ensure that transition is gradual and that capacity exists before any technical and managerial responsibilities are passed on, Plan for continued capacity building after integration, including continued technical assistance, Work with MoH to consider options for retaining dedicated supervisory and technical capacity at the centre and regions after integration even if these still resemble a vertical programme approach. Pay particular attention to where supervisory and leadership responsibilities lie in the system. Ensure that there is adequate technical input to national planning processes at all levels and that the process is not overly administratively led, Ensure reporting remains robust, Ensure that during the transition phase and capacity building TB and leprosy control continue to be presented as national priorities. Also appraise national planning and budgeting mechanisms to establish how well they communicate and support national priorities, Consider earmarking pooled funding as an interim measure, Carry out a careful assessment of MoH procurement capacity in order to establish its immediate ability to procure effectively and efficiently. Anticipate having to carry out some immediate capacity building work in order to ensure that any new procurement functions operate smoothly, Try to negotiate with GoT and other DPs a procurement system which reduces transaction costs and labour intensity rather than increases them Longer term strategies to consider are; Consider helping MoH to develop specific strategies for advocacy for TB and leprosy as priority programmes with both national government (MRALG) and
local government in order to try to ensure that disease control activities remain a priority, Encourage improvements in participation by local populations and better needs assessment at local level with flexibility in funding to respond to these, Carefully monitor overall expenditure of the programme in order to ensure that substitution does not take place


Three tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cvs., Rio Grande, Monika F1, and Marylin F1, were grown hydroponically in a controlled temperature (CT) room for 6 weeks to investigate the effectiveness of foliar application of supplementary potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) to the leaves of plants grown at high NaCl concentration (60 mM). Supplementary 5 mM K and P as KH2PO4 was supplied via leaves to the plants grown at high NaCl (60 mM) twice a week for 4 weeks. The plants grown at high NaCl produced less dry matter and chlorophyll than those at normal nutrient solution for all three cultivars. Membrane permeability increased with high NaCl application and these increases in membrane permeability were decreased by supplementary K and P. Daily water use by plant was decreased with high NaCl application and increased with supplementary P and K. Foliar application of supplementary K and P resulted in increases in dry matter and chlorophyll concentrations for all three cultvars. These increases were greater in Monika F1 and Marylin F1 than Rio Grande. Sodium (Na) concentration in plant tissues increased for all three cultivars in the elevated NaCl level. Concentrations of P and K were at deficient ranges in the plants grown at high NaCl levels and these deficiencies were corrected by supplementary K and P application via leaves.


. A Smart City is one that places people at the center of development, incorporates Information and Communication Technologies in urban management and uses these elements as tools to stimulate the formation of an efficient government that includes collaborative planning processes and citizen participation. By promoting integrated and sustainable development, Smart Cities become more innovative, competitive, attractive, and resilient, thus improving lives. The social fabric of the industrial zone of Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, presents an important social disconnection, in addition to being an industrial sector, generating considerably a lot of environmental pollution. It seeks to find solutions through technology and the model of Smart Cities and thus contribute to improving the quality of life in the area.


Restriction to the freshwater environment plays a dominant role in the population genetic structure of freshwater fauna. In taxa with adaptations for terrestriality, however, the restrictions on dispersal imposed by drainage divides may be overcome. We investigate the mitochondrial phylogeographic structure of the eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis), a widespread Australian freshwater obligate with strong overland dispersa\l capacity and specific adaptations to terrestriality. We predict that such characteristics make this freshwater species a strong candidate to test how life-history traits can drive gene flow and interbasin connectivity, overriding the constraining effects imposed by hydrological boundaries. Contrary to expectations, and similar to low-vagility freshwater vertebrates, we found two ancient mitochondrial haplogroups with clear east–west geographic partitioning either side of the Great Dividing Range. Each haplogroup is characterised by complex genetic structure, demographically stable subpopulations, and signals of isolation by distance. This pattern is overlaid with signatures of recent gene flow, likely facilitated by late Pleistocene and ongoing anthropogenic landscape change. We demonstrate that the divergent effects of landscape history can overwhelm the homogenising effects of life-history traits that connect populations, even in a highly vagile species.


The findings reported by Fraser et al 1 from the Adventist Health Study revive our interest in looking for data from prospective studies that show diet factors associated with favorable blood cholesterol or lipoprotein levels in free-living populations eventually lead to lower rates of coronary heart disease (CHD). Most of what we know about the effects of diet factors, particularly the saturation of fat and cholesterol, on serum lipid parameters derives from metabolic ward—type studies. 2,3 Alas, such findings, within a cohort studied over time have been disappointing, indeed the findings have been contradictory. For example, in Framingham, Mass, the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate , the lower the person's serum cholesterol. The opposite of what one saw in the 26 metabolic ward studies, the opposite of what the equations provided by Hegsted et al 2 and Keys et al 3


To the Editor: Vibrio cholerae is a water-borne pathogen that causes a severe watery diarrhea disease known as cholera. On the basis of variable somatic O antigen composition, >200 serogroups of V. cholerae have been recognized. Classical and El Tor are 2 well-established biotypes within the V. cholerae O1 serogroup, and they can be distinguished by differences in their biochemical reactions or phenotypic traits (1). In addition to phenotypic traits, genetic markers have recently been used in the identification of the biotypes of V. cholerae. For example, the major toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) gene, tcpA, of the TCP cluster possesses classical- and El Tor–specific alleles that encode identical functions but differ in their DNA sequence composition; however, the rtxC gene of the repeat in toxin (RTX) cluster is present in El Tor strains only and absent in classical strains (2,3). The cholera toxin, encoded by the ctxA and ctxB genes, is the principal toxin produced by V. cholerae O1 and O139 and is responsible for the disease cholera. Heterogeneity within the ctxB gene and protein was first reported in the early 1990s, and, on this basis, 3 ctxB genotypes of the V. cholerae O1 strains have been identified. Based on amino acid residue substitutions at positions 39, 46, and 68, all classical and US Gulf Coast El Tor strains have been categorized as genotype 1, the Australian El Tor strains as genotype 2, and the El Tor strains of the seventh pandemic and the Latin American epidemic as genotype 3. Genotyping of ctxB has indicated that the classical strains harbor a unique cholera toxin gene that is not in the El Tor strains except for the US Gulf Coast El Tor clone (4). The US Gulf Coast hybrid El Tor strains that harbor the classical cholera toxin have been associated with sporadic outbreaks in the United States (5) and, until recently, had not been reported anywhere else in the world. Then in 2004, hybrid El Tor strains that encode the classical cholera toxin were isolated from cholera patients in Matlab, Bangladesh (6), and in Beira, Mozambique (7). In 2006, Nair et al. reported that the current seventh pandemic prototype El Tor strains had been replaced by hybrid El Tor strains in Bangladesh (8). We now report how far the hybrid El Tor strains have spread in Asia and Africa.

We examined 41 clinical V. cholerae strains from Asia and Africa that were isolated from 1991 through 2004 (Table) and confirmed as serogroup O1 by O-antigen biosynthesis gene (rfbO1)-specific PCR. Biotyping was performed by using standard procedures, and all strains were confirmed as El Tor (Table). All strains were PCR-positive for the El Tor–specific 451-bp tcpA and 263-bp rtxC amplicons but negative for the classical-specific 620-bp tcpA amplicon. All 41 strains were PCR-positive for ctxAB (1,037 bp) and produced cholera toxin, as demonstrated by the VET-RPLA Toxin Detection Kit (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK). Sequence comparison of the PCR-amplified ctxB gene (460 bp) of each strain with the reference strains (569B and N16961) showed that 30 strains harbored classical cholera toxin (with histidine at position 39, phenylalanine at position 46, and threonine at position 68), whereas the remaining 11 strains carried the El Tor cholera toxin gene (with tyrosine at position 39, phenylalanine at position 46, and isoleucine at position 68) (Table). The overall analysis showed that all test strains are El Tor biotype but that most harbor the classical cholera toxin gene.

Table

Phenotypic and genotypic traits of Vibrio cholerae O1 clinical strains isolated from Asia and Africa, 1991–2004*

The major finding of this study is that El Tor strains that harbor the classical cholera toxin gene are not limited to the US Gulf Coast, Bangladesh, and Mozambique; they have spread to several other countries in Asia and Africa. Since 1817, 7 cholera pandemics have occurred around the world. Firm evidence indicates that the fifth and sixth cholera pandemics were caused by the classical biotype whereas the most extensive and ongoing seventh pandemic is caused by the El Tor biotype. Since the onset of El Tor dominance in 1961, the classical strains have been gradually replaced by the El Tor strains and are now believed to be extinct. However, reports from Bangladesh (6), Mozambique (7), and this study have provided sufficient evidence to indicate that the classical cholera toxin gene has reappeared but that for these cases its carrier has been El Tor. Although how the classical cholera toxin in El Tor strains would affect V. cholerae pathogenicity is unclear, cholera caused by the classical biotype is more severe, whereas the El Tor biotype is considered to be better able to survive in the environment (1,9). Given that cholera toxin is directly responsible for the major clinical sign of the disease, such a genetic change could result in substantial alteration in the clinical manifestation of cholera. Additionally, this subtle genetic change may also influence the effectiveness of current cholera vaccines, which could stimulate both antitoxic and antibacterial immunity.


There is no effective treatment for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis, which has an association with a high rate of recurrent stroke. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stenting (PTAS) has been applied to the intracranial lesion, and only the WingspanTM Stent System (Stryker) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005. However the high incidence of stoke or death (7%–14% at 6 months) and restenosis (25%–32%) have been viewed with suspicion and a randomized trial for intracranial symptomatic severe stenosis (SAMMPRIS Clinical Trial) revealed the superiority of aggressive medical treatments to PTAS. This first-generation intracranial stent can have still room for both procedural and technical improvement. We aimed to explore the cause of stroke complication after stenting in animal model and evaluated the biological response in the Wingspan stent by the fine element method (FEM). Simulation analysis using idealized model showed various stress distribution depended on stent geometries. Although idealized stent analysis has a limitation in its symmetry and uniformity, realistic artery model has been recognized to be essential to prove the correlation with pathobiological response. Some realistic simulation analysis concluded that higher radial stress concentration or non-uniform distribution of wall shear stress could lead to greater neointimal hyperplasia. In this report, we deployed the Wingspan stent at swine ascending pharyngeal artery, and simulated the several stress distribution including radial, circumferential and wall shear stress. We used a realistic arterial model to simulate the clinical situation. As for the radial stress, stress concentration at stent markers and the gradational augmentation of radial stress from proximal to distal were detected. The high wall shear stress gradient at distal stent segment, especially around the stent markers, was also marked. Actually, the excessive intimal hyperplasia was recognized around the distal stent. The radial stress and wall shear stress distribution can have an essential biological implication for intimal hyperplasia. These insights about stress concentration can help us, not only perform the optimal intracranial stenting, but also develop a new endovascular device in future. Competing interests None.


The Haft Saravan area is located in 90 km SE Arak in the central Iran. This area is a part of Malyer-Isfahan metallogenic belt. The article's objective is determining the most suitable method for identifying mineralized zones using original singularity and weighted singularity methods in three-dimensional space. In weighted singularity method, mineralized zones have a greater volume relative to original singularity method. Coefficient of areal association showed that percentage of overlapping of two methods is less than 50% for Pb, Fe and Mn and less than 55% for Zn. Two methods were compared by modified singularity method in order to select the best method. Percentage of overlapping is more than 98% both original and modified singularity methods for Pb, Zn and Mn and is less than 45% for weighted singularity method. Therefore, it can be said that original singularity method is suitable relative to weighted singularity in identifying mineralized zones due to the high overlapping of original and modified singularity method.


Background A retrospective study was performed to compare the differences in clinical and laboratory features of (ANS) Methods One hundred and four eligible patients were enrolled from the beijing ditan hospital between February 2017 and June 2018, including 35 ANS and 69 symptomatic neurosyphilis. The clinical data was analyzed retrospectively, including age, sex, treatment history, serum Alb, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), CRP, RPR, rapid plasma reagin(RPR), as well as CSF RPR, CSF Alb, CSF WBCs, and CSF protein. Results Of the one hundred and four inpatients, there were significant differences in age, male, serum RPR, CSF protein, NLR, PLR, CSF-Alb /S-Alb and CRP between the two groups. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that CSF protein (OR 1.07, 95%CI 1.024-1.118, P=0.002) , serum RPR (OR 1.035, 95%CI 1.001-1.059, P=0.003) and NLR (OR 2.568, 95% CI 1.226-5.376, P=0.012) were independent risk predictors for symptomatic neurosyphilis. Female (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.025-0.490 , P=0.004) was protective factor for symptomatic neurosyphilis. Conclusions Male gender, serum RPR, CSF protein and NLR were risk factors for symptomatic neurosyphilis. They may indicate the development and aggravation of neurosyphilis Moreover, the ROC showed that NLR ≥ 3.348 could better predict the development of symptomatic neurosyphilis. Inflammation was significantly correlated with the development of neurosyphilis at discharge.


Popular machine learning estimators involve regularization parameters that can be challenging to tune, and standard strategies rely on grid search for this task. In this paper, we revisit the techniques of approximating the regularization path up to predefined tolerance $\epsilon$ in a unified framework and show that its complexity is $O(1/\sqrt[d]{\epsilon})$ for uniformly convex loss of order $d \geq 2$ and $O(1/\sqrt{\epsilon})$ for Generalized Self-Concordant functions. This framework encompasses least-squares but also logistic regression, a case that as far as we know was not handled as precisely in previous works. We leverage our technique to provide refined bounds on the validation error as well as a practical algorithm for hyperparameter tuning. The latter has global convergence guarantee when targeting a prescribed accuracy on the validation set. Last but not least, our approach helps relieving the practitioner from the (often neglected) task of selecting a stopping criterion when optimizing over the training set: our method automatically calibrates this criterion based on the targeted accuracy on the validation set.


OBJECTIVE
Periodontal disease is a possible contributing factor to preterm delivery. The aim of this study was to compare the periodontal status of women with preterm prelabour rupture of membranes (PPROM) and women with uncomplicated singleton pregnancies.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Seventy-eight women with PPROM at gestational ages between 24 + 0 and 36 + 6 weeks and 77 healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies, matched for gestational age at sampling without preterm birth, were included in this study. All women underwent evaluation of periodontal and oral hygiene status.

RESULTS
Women with PPROM had higher gingival and plaque indexes in crude analysis (gingival index: median 0.80 versus 0.20; p < 0.0001; plaque index: median 0.80 versus 0.10; p < 0.0001), even after adjustment for smoking status (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001). Mean clinical attachment loss (CAL) and probing pocket depth (PPD) values were higher in women with PPROM in the crude analysis (CAL: median 2.3 mm versus 1.8 mm; p < 0.0001; PPD: median 2.3 mm versus 1.8; p < 0.0001), as well as after adjustment for smoking status (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
Pregnant women with PPROM residing in central Europe had worse periodontal status than women with uncomplicated pregnancies.


AbstractIn reply to the question whether articles of faith can be demonstrated, William of Ockham articulated a peculiar thesis: Even though it is impossible to prove articles of faith in this life, the blessed in heaven could demonstrate our creditive propositions. In contrast to traditional views, William held that both conclusions drawn in heaven and conclusions drawn in this life are subject to the same criteria. This assumption led to a controversy between William's contemporaries, namely, Walter Chatton and Adam Wodeham, who discussed whether theories of propositions are applicable to articles of faith. This essay tries to explain why the problem of demonstrating creditive propositions arose and in what way William's answer gave a new meaning to the dispute.


This essay provides an interpretation and defence of Gilbert Ryle's discussion of knowing how, which has hitherto received relatively little attention given the importance of his remarks to the contemporary literature. I argue that Ryle offers an account of knowing how which can be contrasted with both so-called 'intellectualist' and 'neo-Rylean' theories. This consists of two claims concerning the conditions for the psychological state of having an ability, which on Ryle's implicit definition can be termed 'knowing how'. Abilities of this kind consist in reliable success, where this success can be attributed to the agent who possesses the ability. The negative claim is that knowing how to do a kind of activity does not require being in any mental state with propositional content. The positive claim is that it is necessary and sufficient for knowing how to do an activity of some kind that one is disposed to act in accordance with learned rules when carrying out that activity. I then defend this account against objections drawn from linguistic and psychological considerations. The aim is to treat these two areas of objection in general by looking at two specific objections and showing why they do not work. Although critical accounts of Ryle's theory in the recent literature have mainly focused on the erroneous neo-Rylean interpretation, I apply the two objections to the Rylean theory properly understood. The two objections are Stanley and Williamson's much-discussed linguistic argument for the claim that knowing how is a kind of knowing that, and Bengson and Moffett's argument from conceptual understanding. I argue that these objections suffer from lack of support, and give an account of the structure of the constitutive conditions of knowing how to demonstrate why this is the case that arises from considering some remarks of Michael Dummett's.


Background Randomized clinical trials comparing the efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) with vitamin K antagonist (VKA) or low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) generally exclude patients who are morbidly obese (body mass index ≥ 40 kg/m2 or weight ≥ 120 kg). Recently, smaller studies have compared DOACs with warfarin or low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in morbidly obese patients with VTE. We aim to systematically review and do a meta-analysis of the studies that directly compared DOACs with VKAs or LMWH in morbidly obese patients. Methods Studies comparing DOAC with warfarin or LMWH in patients with acute VTE were identified through electronic literature searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, clinicaltrials.gov, and the Cochrane Library up to March 2020. The primary efficacy outcome was recurrent VTE and the primary safety outcome was major bleeding as defined by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) guidelines. Study-specific odds ratios (OR) were calculated and combined using a random-effects model meta-analysis. Result Five studies were identified. Recurrent VTE occurred in 95 of 3207 (2.96%) patients in the DOAC group and 81 of 3181 (2.54%) patients in the VKA and LMWH group (OR: 1.17; 95% CI 0.87 to 1.59, p=.30). Major bleeding occurred in 63 of 3316 (1.89%) patients in the DOAC group, and 83 of 3259(2.54%) patients in the VKA or LMWH group (OR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.53 to 1.03, p=.08). Sensitivity analysis comparing factor Xa inhibitors apixaban and rivaroxaban to warfarin also yielded consistent findings. Conclusion DOACs showed similar efficacy and safety in the prevention of recurrent VTE risk and major bleeding events in morbidly obese patients when compared to warfarin/LMWH. Our study underscores the need for further modifications of therapy to reduce the high VTE recurrence rate irrespective of whether the patient is on a DOAC or VKA. This might be possible through a very large multi-institutional randomized clinical trial.


Australia Brazil Canada China France Germany India Indonesia Italy Japan Republic of Korea Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Kingdom United States For the purpose of this report, exploration subsidies include: national subsidies (direct spending and tax expenditures), investment by state-owned enterprises and public finance. The full report provides a detailed discussion of technical and transparency issues in identifying exploration subsidies, and outlines the methodology used in this desk-based study.


The impact of fine content of carbon black pellets on rubber mixing process and reasons for carbon black pellet degradation during pneumatic conveying process has been investigated and analyzed. The influential factors of carbon black degradation are introduced. It is identified and concluded that specific surface area of carbon black, size of carbon black pellets, parameters of pressure in conveying, conveying modes, materials of pipelines and conveying distance are major factors in the impact of degradation of carbon black. The conclusion is confirmed by the results of tests. The measures to reduce carbon black pellet fine content are proposed.


ABSTRACT Nitrous Oxide Emission from Rainfed Lowland Rice Soils through Applications of Rice Straw and Nitrification Inhibitor Materials. Alternate wet-dry of soil condition under rainfed lowland system influence on source and sink dynamics of green house gases. Lowland rice soil is one of antropogenic sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) emission produced by microbiological nitrification-denitrification mediated processes. Attempt to increase soil productivity in lowland rice system by organic amendment is predicted to stimulate nitrous oxide production. The increase of N2O production in lowland rice could be suppressed by using nitrification inhibitor materials. A field experiment was conducted in rainfed lowland rice during 2009 dry season. The objective was to study interaction of rice straw application and nitrification inhibitor materials on nitrous oxide emission from rainfed lowland rice. Experiment was arranged using factorial randomizes block design with three replicates and treatment of rice straw application (without rice straw, fresh straw, composting straw) and inhibitor nitrification materials (without inhibitor nitrification, neemcake, carbofuran). Interaction of rice straw and nitrification inhibitor materials decreased significantly N2O emission from lowland rice soil. Nitrous oxide emission in plot without rice straw was higher than in plot treated with neither fresh rice straw nor composting straw. Application neemcake combined with composting straw emitted lowest nitrous oxide with flux of 72 g N2O ha-1 season-1, whereas the highest N2O emission was found in plot without nitrification inhibitor materials and rice straw with flux of 454 g N2O ha-1 season-1. Compared with treatment of without nitrification inhibitor, application of neemcake and carbofuran could suppress nitrous oxide emission of 48.6 and 41.3 %, respectively. Key words : nitrous oxide emission, rainfed lowland, rice straw, nitrification inhibitors


A simple rapid, sensitive, accurate, precise and reproducible high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed to estimate impurity profile for Proguanil hydrochloride in drug as well as in tablet dosage form. The HPLC analysis used a reversed phase Kromasil C18 (150 x 4.6mm, 5μm) column and mobile phase constituted of buffer and methanol (42:58 % v/v). The buffer was composed of 4.0g hexane-1-sulphonic acid, sodium salt and 10 mL of glacial acetic acid in 790 mL of water. The dual wavelengths of the detection were 235 nm& 254 nm. The validation data showed that the method was sensitive, specific and reproducible for the impurity determinations of proguanil hydrochloride in dosage as well as in bulk form. The method was linear from 0.075μg/mL to 0.75μg/mL for Proguanil hydrochloride and it's impurities A, C & D. The accuracy of the method was found to be 100.21% for impurity A, 99.76% for impurity C and 100.21% for impurity D. Inter and intraday assay relative standard deviation (RSD) were found less than 3.01% in drug form and 2.77% in tablet dosage form for impurity A, less than 3.03% in drug form and 3.03% in tablet dosage form for impurity C and less than 2.34% in drug form and 3.62% in tablet dosage form for impurity D. The proposed method provided an accurate and precise analysis of impurity A, C & D in Proguanil hydrochloride Drug form as well as in pharmaceutical dosage form


This paper investigates to what extent the emergence of the princeps shapes Dio's narrative. The best fitting passages for investigating this topic are the so called "anectodical-biographical sections", which cannot be utterly dismissed as pieces of imperial biography: it would be better to consider those sections as devoted to the evaluation of the emperor's praxis of government on a very concrete (rather that moralistic) ground. These narrative proceedings betray the existence of a well-structured framework lying beneath the work's building in terms of political thought. In fact, Dio develops a consistent perspective about the relationship he expected between the princeps and the senate, fashioned, to my mind, by the princeps civilis model. This paradigm is sustained by a very classical political theory, although remoulded: the 'mixed constitution' theory.


This study examined the predictive effects of moral competence, prosocial norms and positive behavior recognition on school misbehavior among Chinese junior secondary school students. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that students were more likely to misbehave in school when they had lower levels of moral competence and prosocial norms, and when they perceived their positive behavior being less likely recognized. Practical implications were discussed on how to guide students to make the right choices to behave appropriately in school. Implications for future research were also discussed. Keywords—Moral competence, positive behavior recognition, prosocial norms, school misbehavior.


Margarita M. Balmaceda, James I. Clem and Lisbeth L. Tarlow, eds. Independent Belarus. Domestic Determinants, Regional Dynamics, and Implications for the West. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002. 464 pp. Index. Paper.The scope and magnitude of knowledge found in this anthology on contemporary Belarus is well balanced. The book includes the works of twenty-two contributors (three of whom are also the editors) from both sides of the ocean; twenty-two more participants are named in the acknowledgements as advisors, critics, and field workers. Though the book project dates back to April 1999 when Harvard held a conference dedicated to Belarus, subsequent fact-finding trips to the country have strengthened the text. The book's eighteen chapters are divided into five parts: "Domestic Politics," "The Belarusian Economy," "Russia and Belarus: Mutual Perceptions and Influences," "Belarus and European security," and "The Belarusian Challenge for the West: Strategy for Engagement." An appendix that includes Charter '97, which is in Belarusan and English, follows the chapters.Timothy J. Cotton's "Belarusian Public Opinion and the Union with Russia," is the opening chapter. It examines Belarusan public opinion and concludes that the majority of Belarusans favors some integration with Russia but prefer to live in a sovereign Belarus. The second chapter, "The Opposition in Belarus: History, Potential, and Perspectives," by David R. Marplesand Uladzimir Padhol, names sixteen different major political groups and parties that exist under the umbrella of the Opposition that agrees only on one matter: the need to get rid of the Belarusan president. The authors show how Lukasenka, being a totalitarian leader, uses the government's apparatus on a population that has significant remnants of a pro-Soviet mentality. Rainer Lindner's chapter, with the self-explanatory title "The Lukashenka Phenomenon," evaluates and analyzes not only the figure of the president and his exploitation of Belarusan institutions and society but also the failures of the Opposition.Patricia Brukoff s "The Belarusian Economy: Is It Sustainable?" covers the period of 1995-2000. Brukoff foresees a gloomy future for the Belarusan economy unless better cooperation with Western countries is developed. Leonid Zlotnikov wrote the fifth chapter, "Possibilities for the Development of a Private Economic sector and a Middle Class as a Source of Political Change in Belarus." This study, with its hopeful title, provides substantial economic tables. Summing up his analyses, the author points to the country's president and his major institutions as unbeatable obstacles to the formation of a Belarusan middle class. Margarita M. Balmaceda's chapter, "Belarus as a Transit Route: Domestic and Foreign Policy Implications," presents convincing arguments on the major economic asset of Belarus-its location-and the reasons for the country's failure to bank on such privileges as trans-border cooperation in the Euro-regions.The third part of the anthology opens with Arkady Moshes' "Lukashenka's Role in Russian Politics." In this seventh chapter, the author points at a number of socio-political and economic contradictions between the two countries. he also proposes not to exaggerate the personal willingness of Putin and Lukasenka to unite their countries, as well as Lukasenka's role in such a merger. Andrei Sannikov, in the eighth chapter, "Russia's Varied Roles in Belarus," elaborates on three reasons for Russian interests in its much smaller neighbor: economic, military, and political. However, the Belarusan president is shown as a serious obstacle to fruitful relations. Yuri Drakokhrust's and Dmitri Furman's chapter, "Belarus and Russia: The Game of Virtual Integration," ends the section on mutual perceptions and influences of the two countries. These scholars deduce that the proposed union is nothing but a political game for both governments.The fourth part of the book, consisting of five articles, embraces issues concerning the role of Belarus in European security. …


Synchrony between circadian and metabolic processes is critical to the maintenance of energy homeostasis. Studies on essence of chicken (EC), a chicken meat extract rich in proteins, amino acids and peptides, showed its effectiveness in alleviating fatigue and promoting metabolism. A recent study revealed that it facilitated the re-entrainment of clock genes (Bmal1, Cry1, Dec1, Per1 and Per2) in the pineal gland and liver in a rat model of circadian disruption. Here, we investigated the role of EC-facilitated circadian synchrony in the maintenance of the energy homeostasis using a mouse model of prolonged circadian disruption. Prolonged circadian disruption (12 weeks) resulted in hepatic maladaptation, manifested by a mild but significant (p < 0.05) hepatomegaly, accompanied by disturbed hepatic lipid metabolism and liver injury (indicated by increased circulating hepatic enzymes). Evidently, there was marked elevations of hepatic inflammatory mediators (interleukin-1beta and interleukin-6), suggesting an underlying inflammation leading to the hepatic injury and functional impairment. Importantly, the disruption paradigm caused the decoupling between key metabolic regulators (e.g. mTOR and AMPK) and hepatic clock genes (Per1, Cry1, Dec1, Bmal1). Further, we showed that the loss of circadian synchrony between the master and hepatic clock genes (Per1, Cry1, Dec1, Bmal1) could be the underlying cause of the maladaptation. When supplemented with EC, the functional impairment and inflammation were abolished. The protective effects could be linked to its effectiveness in maintaining the synchrony between the master and hepatic clocks, and the resultant improved coupling of the circadian oscillators (Per1, Cry1, Dec1, Bmal1) and metabolic regulators (mTOR, AMPK). Overall, EC supplementation promoted the physiological adaptation to the prolonged circadian disruption through facilitation of endogenous circadian synchrony and the coupling of circadian oscillators and metabolic regulators. This forms an important basis for further elucidation of the physiological benefits of EC-facilitated circadian synchrony.


This study assessed and the use of information skills among the students of Alagappa University Central library users. Simple random sampling technique is used in the study. The scope of the study covered various aspects like awareness in library sources and services, both printed document and electronic documents.; Knowledge about the item usually covered in the catalogue and including Internet; familiarity use ICT and Online Database; Information literacy a determining factor in the development of the information society. The study shows that the majority of the students accessing internet in university central library and the maximum number of students are using various information resources for developing their knowledge and prepare the seminar, conference and writing journal article. The study also analyzed that the main problem of the lack of electricity was the prime barriers to the use of the computer by university library users.


Underground metal mining has long suffered the inability to effectively design, plan and control the mining process due to the lack of an effective production simulator. This paper reports on the application of simulation models for teleremote mining systems in underground operations of INCO Limited, Ontario Division, Canada. In order to evaluate teleremote mining, research has centred on the adaptation and extension of state-of-the art simulation techniques to consider the interaction between mining methods and machine systems (for drilling, blasting and loading). The AutoMod PC-simulation software by AutoSimulations Inc., a powerful and interactive three-dimensional industrial simulation and animation-modelling environment, has been adapted for the purpose of simulating teleremote mining. Machine modules have been designed to model development and production drills, explosives loaders, LHD machines and other materials handling system components. The software allows the integration of equipment performance and stoping sequence through its engineering-oriented language to model complex materials flow logics.


The environmental performance of a wind turbine is usually calculated as the ratio of the life cycle impacts occurring during the manufacture, installation, maintenance and dismantling of the plant, to the electricity it produces during the use phase. The modelling of the life cycle inventory in each phase should ideally cover the temporal, geographical and technological dimensions of the product system under study. Assumptions are commonly used to simplify and handle variable aspects of the inventory. While this approach provides generic one-size-fit-all inventories, it may disregard important characteristics of the wind turbine leading to biased end-results. As these assumptions are prone to differ from one study to another, the results become hardly comparable. With more than 1,500 wind turbine models on the market and a high variability of sites and manufacture periods of the different installations, it makes the environmental assessment of wind turbine fleets a daunting task. LCA_WIND_DK is an on-line tool that provides the environmental footprint of Danish wind turbines based on systematic individual cradle-to-grave life cycle inventories using manufacturer's data. The temporal context is considered through the evolution of the electricity mix used for manufacturing wind turbines as well as the evolution of recycled content in materials over time. The spatial dimension is also accounted with geographical parameters determining the amount of material required, such as the distance from shore and sea depth for offshore installations. Additionally, the supply chain is adapted to select the relevant origin of the material and energy suppliers. Finally, the approach considers the registered electricity production for past and present wind turbines and assesses the future production from site-specific weather re-analysis data and power curves. Denmark, where wind power contributed to 45% of the gross annual electricity production in 2016, is a prominent choice to demonstrate the benefits of such comprehensive modelling based on spatial, technological and site specific LCAs. The approach generates a life cycle assessment for each of the 11,000 wind turbines that compose the Danish national fleet over the 1980-2030 period. The results, through the on-line tool, are showcased as a map, where the individual performance of each of the past, present and future wind turbines can be consulted, as well as the performance of the whole fleet at a given year.


specificity. In Drosophila, 25 proteins that can interact with SO have been identified (Giot et al., 2003; Kenyon et al., 2005). We performed database searches for putative Xenopus orthologues of these fly genes and identified between one and four clones with sequence homology to 15 of them. Expression assays show that 20 Xenopus orthologues of 10/15 of the fly genes are expressed in the developing placodes as well as other craniofacial tissues. These results suggest that there are novel co-factors that may regulate the ability of Six1 to promote and maintain cranial placodes during development. Functional assays will determine the roles of these proteins in placode development. (Supported by NIH HD055321 and NSF IOS-0817902).


In recent years, many location-aware routing protocols have been proposed for mobile ad hoc networks. The efficiency of the routing protocols can be improved by considering the location information of the mobile nodes (MNs). However, the mobility characteristics of the MNs have not been taken into account in most of the related work. In this paper, the proposed velocity-aided routing (VAR) algorithm determines its packet forwarding scheme based on the relative velocity between the intended forwarding node and the destination node. The routing performance can further be improved by the proposed predictive mobility and location-aware routing (PMLAR) algorithm, which incorporates the predictive moving behaviors of MNs in protocol design. The region for packet forwarding is determined by predicting the future trajectory of the destination node. The routing performance can be effectively enhanced by adopting both the proactive maintenance and the VAR mechanisms within the proposed PMLAR scheme. Simulation results show that the PMLAR protocol associated with its derivative schemes outperforms other routing protocols under different network topologies.


Proposed treatments of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are most likely to succeed if they are based on an understanding of the complex biology of AD and its effects on cognition. Treatments may target a single or multiple components of the complex pathology of AD with the hope that by affecting an individual component of AD pathology, the disease course can be affected. One such component is amyloid-beta (Abeta), a feature of the senile plaque. Abeta may be critical for inducing the pathology seen in AD. Accumulation of Abeta may result in a cascade of biochemical events leading to neuronal dysfunction, which may present opportunities for intervention at multiple different points to slow disease progression. Treatment may be directed towards decreasing Abeta production, increasing Abeta removal, and decreasing Abeta aggregation. Alternatively, treatment may be directed at more distal pathways by: modulating downstream events possibly due to Abeta such as free radical toxicity, decreasing inflammation, preventing cell membrane damage, restoring calcium homeostasis, preventing excitotoxicity, and blocking the cellular response to injury by inhibiting neuronal apoptosis. This review underscores the complex biology of Abeta specifically looking at the potential targets of therapeutics based on emerging knowledge of this biology.


The ideology of "Local Architecture" was about the religious experience, social and cultural interpretations non-awareness, and solutions for environmental and social problems. This case aims at producing a compatible architecture for this society. The problem of the paper deals with the absence of the local heritage in contemporary architecture. Most of our buildings reflect western ideologies, and use the local vocabulary, as has happened in most of the Arab architecture, that deals directly with a language of shapes to create compatibility with the public. Hence, the aim of the paper is to link the variables that the contemporary architecture formulated with concepts of local architecture. To meet such aims, the research is pivot around two themes: Firstly, tackling how to extract the forces that lead to the contemporariness of local heritage and formalize the DNA of any local community (Culture, Community Aspiration, Climate, and Technology), as well as discussing some experience that dealt with local architecture. Secondly, discussing some recent trials that learned from the previous attempts through history. The attempts strongly re-activate the local architecture in the contemporary challenges, namely, the use of heritage forms as is to conform to environmental determinants, development of these forms using contemporary materials through the visions of local architecture, and employing high-tech solutions to achieve contemporary appropriateness within traditional ideologies. In the end, the paper presents new ideas of the local architecture that learned from the previous experiences in our Arab societies to meet the needs of today's Arab societies.


This is the first detailed "grass roots" account of Uzbekistan's protracted decollectivisation process. It explores continuity and the change in relations between rural communities, agricultural producers, and the local state authorities in the cotton-growing region of Khorezm. Built up during the Soviet period, the cotton sector has maintained its importance for the state and for rural communities in the years following independence, although economic parameters and social conditions have worsened significantly. Uzbekistan's agricultural reform path does not follow that of most post-socialist scenarios and continuity with the past remains strong. Despite seeming immobility, the local view on rural society presented in this book unveils an unexpectedly dynamic situation, characterized by shifts in patronage relations, struggles over legitimacy, and transformations in family structure and community life. Poised between the state, their communities, and an emerging stratum of absentee farm "sponsors," the focus is on the new farmers ("fermer") and their struggles for a place in rural society. What emerges from decollectivisation is a complexly articulated new agrarian concern: its new inequalities are rooted in the political economy of cotton. (Series: Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia - Vol. 23)


UNLABELLED
What impact does day surgery have on primary treatment?

AIMS
highlighting the impact that day surgery has on the system of primary treatment.

RESULTS
The study highlighted a lack in continuity of treatment due to a breakdown in communication between hospital specialists and general practitioners. This reflects the growing habit in the medical field whereby hospital surgeons take charge of surgical indications and carrying out the operation, thus focusing their attention on their own limited scope of action. On the other hand general practitioners are called upon merely to hand out prescriptions and certificates. However, it seems obvious that general practitioners should be involved in the selection phase and discharge of the patient, as occurs in countries where one-day surgery is now in widespread use. That is the only way to improve the quality of healthcare assistance and contain costs to the national health service.


Fertilization currents are similar in ascidian oocytes and fragments, irrespective of the size and global origin of the fragments; this result suggests that fertilization channels are distributed uniformly over the oocyte surface. Because no correlation exists between peak current and surface area of the cell, it is probable that the fertilizing spermatozoon does not open all available precursor fertilization channels, but a fixed number limited to an area around its point of entry.


Since the FeO-sink method to estimate plant-available P in soils was first introduced in 1983, modifications have continued to improve the procedure. Recently FeO-coated paper circles (5.5-cm diam.) were used in place of the traditional 2 by 10 cm strips. The objective of this study was to more clearly describe the preparation and use of the FeO-coated circles. We used Whatman no. 50 hardened filter paper (2.7-μm pore openings). Standard methods for FeCl 3 treatment of the papers were used. After the papers had been air dried, one paper was secured between two 10 by 10 cm fiberglass screens. By simultaneously immersing stacks of 25 of these paper-screen units in 2.7 M NH 4 OH for a 30-s immersion time, 100 papers could be uniformly coated with FeO in about 10 min. Immersion times of 30, 60, and 180 s in NH40H solution showed that papers immersed for 30 s in NH 4 OH solution extracted P as effectively as those immersed for longer times. One 5.5-cm FeO circle was as effective as three circles in extracting P from most soils. A desorption model for soil P was used that can relate soil-test P to desorption kinetics. In soils with maximum reversible P ranging from 25.1 to 106.5 mg kg -1 , desorption constants ranged from 0.141 to 0.232 h -1 with a mean of 0.191 h -1 . Low-P soils released P slower than did high-P soils. Such information may be of interest in assessing P availability in soils.


It was revealed by the replique method that the Staphylococcus aureus populations were (in the primary cultures of material obtained from sick and healthy individuals) heterogeneous by phage type, pathogenicity signs and by the resistance to the antibacterial preparations. The extent of heterogeneity could be assessed by the number of variants and by the percentage of the most numerous variant. It differed in different groups of the patients examined. The extent of heterogeneity decreased in cloning the subcultures; this was in favour of the fact that heterogeneity of the primary cultures was caused chiefly by the entrance into the human organism of staphylococci of different biotypes. The replique method permitted to reveal the changes in the clonic structure of the staphylococcus population in the course of the disease, the effect of antibacterial therapy, the appearance of exogenous staphylococci, and their further fate.


We report a 46-year-old male patient with late-onset vacuolar myopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy. Acid maltase activity of the muscle was normal, but the biopsied muscle specimen stained for lysosome-associated membrane protein-2 (LAMP-2), which has recently been reported to be deficient in muscles of patients with Danon disease. The clinical features of the patient are distinct from X-linked myopathy with excessive autophagy, infantile autophagic vacuolar myopathy and autophagic vacuolar myopathy with late-onset and multiorgan involvement (Kaneda).


Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) has become one of the major concerns in the hospital setting due to its ability to cause hospital-acquired infection particularly from medical device contamination. The management of S. epidermidis infections become more challenging with the increase of antimicrobial resistance cases over the past years. Limited reports on S. epidermidis antibiotic resistance among healthy people leave uncertainty about the magnitude of antimicrobial resistance spreads among the community. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of S. epidermidis isolated from healthy undergraduate students in one of Malaysia public universitieshealth campuses. Ninety-six hand palm swab samples were collected and undergo several tests, including microscopic, biochemical identification tests and antibiotic susceptibility test for erythromycin, oxacillin, gentamicin, penicillin and tetracycline following Kirby-Bauer test. A total of 43 samples showed the presence of S. epidermidis (44.8%), where 72.1% of the isolates showed resistance towards at least one type of antibiotic. The highest and lowest resistance was observed for penicillin and gentamycin, respectively. Although there is no significant difference of antibiotic susceptibility pattern was observed between genders, the presence of high antibiotic resistance in S. epidermidis among these healthy communities should warrant further investigation since the spreading of the resistant strain could occur in the wider community population without notice.


With the development of computer technology, the importance attached to the security of computer application systems is increasing day by day. Access control, as an important security technology, has been applied in the operating system, the database management system, security management and network operating system etc. This paper adopt the system ideology of high cohesion and low coupling in software engineering, achieve the design of login component by improving RBAC model under .NET platform, the model increases mechanism of direct authorize the users and shield part of users' authority based on authorize main role, enriches the old RBAC mode of controlling authority, avoids the illegal operation of users, make sure the security of the system. Meanwhile, the component is well designed, and can be easily used as login component in large systems.


The article provides the notion of intellectual property infringement in cyberspace, analyses principal forms and peculiarities thereof. The authors emphasize differences between traditional infringement of intellectual property rights as well as infringement of intellectual property in cyberspace, as well as specific acts which infringe intellectual property rights and can only be done online. Intellectual property in cyberspace is more vulnerable, when compared to traditional media for intellectual assets, since cyberspace allows minimal economic cost of infringement, no marginal cost for additional or repetitive infringement. Moreover the negative socio-economic consequences of the intellectual property infringement in cyberspace is also far greater that of the traditional intellectual property infringement, due to the fact that all infringing content provided online is immediately global (in case the infringement is committed and unlawful content is uploaded into the cyberspace in Lithuania, such an unlawful content can be immediatelly accessed, downloaded and taken advantage of by any user of the cyberspace, regardless of the geographical location). Intellectual property infringements in cyberspace are also instantaneous – unlawful content placed in cyberspace instantly becomes accessible top anyone interested. Based on the above the socioeconomic loss of intellectual property infringement in cyberspace inflicted upon the right-holders and society is potentially very high, and therefore needs to be specifically addressed by the legislature. The goal of the article – to identify features of the intellectual property infringement in cyberspace, to analyse principal features, which shall be taken into account for the purpose of cyberspace legislation, to review and evaluate curent legislation and fitness thereof for dealing with intellectual property infringement, as well as suggest necessary directives for the improvement thereof. The autors place specific emphasis on Lithuanian legislation and case law pertaining to the intellectual property infringements in cyberspace. The article concludes by establishing a justification for the need to introduce speficic legislation or amendments to existing regulations, in order to adress increased perils of the intelectual property infringement in cyberspace, as well as to adress acts, which are left out by the current regulations aimed at traditional forms of intellectual property infringement.


Struggling to navigate a world that is increasingly shaped by legal rules and obligations, most ordinary Americans lack real access to courts. Often this means simply forgoing legal rights and entitlements or giving up in the face of claims of wrongdoing. Among those who cannot avoid courts—such as those facing eviction, collection, or foreclosure and those seeking child support, custodial access, or protection from violence or harassment—the vast majority (as many as 99 percent in some cases) find themselves in court without any legal assistance at all. There are many reasons for this lack of meaningful access, including the underfunding of courts and legal aid, but perhaps the most fundamental is the excessively restrictive American approach to regulating legal markets. This regulation, controlled by the American legal profession and judiciary, closes off the potential for significant reductions in the cost of, and hence increases in access to, courts. Unlike the problem of funding, that is a problem that state courts have the power, if they can find the judicial will, to change.


As an industrial organic solid waste, oil residue, with wide sources and low price, but could not find an effective way to use currently. In addition, with the development of mushroom industry and rising price of traditional raw-materials, it is very necessary to find the substitute raw material to reduce production cost of mushroom cultivation. This study attempts to produce the strains of Flammulina velutipes by taking use of oil residue to replace part of the traditional raw material, there are two groups in the experiment: the test group is adding 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 40% of the oil residue to replace the culture medium of cottonseed hull and wheat bran; the control group is the traditional culture medium, then comparatively observed the growth of the mycelium. The results showed that it can promote the growth of the mycelium and shorten the cycle of seed production to add the oil residue in the test. But the growth rate of mycelium will be hindered when the concentration exceeds a certain range.The optimal culture medium to add the oil residue is as follows: 15% of the oil residue, 64% cottonseed hull, 20% coarse wood chips, 0% wheat bran , 1% lime. Oil residue contains a lot of the nutritional components to benefit the growth of edible fungi, and without the heavy metal pollution, can replace the culture medium of cottonseed hull and wheat bran and other traditional materials, reduce cost of production the strains, a fair-sized economic efficiency can be received, the environment can be protected.


Otitis media (OM), defined as infection or inflammation of the middle ear (ME), remains a major public health problem worldwide. Cholesteatoma is a non-cancerous, cyst-like lesion in the ME that may be acquired due to chronic OM and cause disabling complications. Surgery is required for treatment, with high rates of recurrence. Current antibiotic treatments have been largely targeted to previous culturable bacteria, which may lead to antibiotic resistance or treatment failures. For this study, our goal was to determine the microbiota of cholesteatoma tissue in comparison with other ME tissues in patients with long-standing chronic OM. ME samples including cholesteatoma, granulation tissue, ME mucosa and discharge were collected from patients undergoing tympanomastoidectomy surgery for chronic OM. Bacteria were profiled by 16S rRNA gene sequencing in 103 ME samples from 53 patients. Respiratory viruses were also screened in 115 specimens from 45 patients. Differences in bacterial profiles (beta-diversity) and the relative abundances of individual taxa were observed between cholesteatoma and ME sample-types. Additionally, patient age was associated with differences in overall microbiota composition while numerous individual taxa were differentially abundant across age quartiles. No viruses were identified in screened ME samples. Biodiversity was moderately lower in cholesteatoma and ME discharge compared to ME mucosal tissues. We also present overall bacterial profiles of ME tissues by sample-type, age, cholesteatoma diagnosis and quinolone use, including prevalent bacterial taxa. Our findings will be useful for fine-tuning treatment protocols for cholesteatoma and chronic OM in settings with limited health care resources.


Abstract Forecast distributions based on historical yields and subjective expectations for 1987 expected crop yields were compared for 90 Western Kentucky grain farms. Different subjective probability elicitation techniques were also compared. In many individual cases, results indicate large differences between subjective and empirical moments. Overall, farmer expectations for 1987 corn yields were below those predicted from their past yields, while soybean expectations were above the historical forecast. Geographical location plays a larger role than crop in comparisons of relative variability of yield. Neither elicitation technique nor manager characteristics have significant effects on the comparisons of the forecasts.


The structure and mechanical properties of the laminates produced by explosive welding of low carbon steel were investigated. The maximum number of layers in the composites was 21. It was shown that the structure of the composite is not uniform across the thickness of the layers and along the boundaries in the shape of the wave. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the sizes of the grain-subgrain clusters forming in the weld adjacent zones are about 100…400 nm. The maximum temperature was reached in the areas of the vortices. High-strength martensite was formed in these zones in the process of cooling. The strength properties and toughness of the com-posite is almost 2 times higher compared with the properties of the original plates. It was shown that the boundaries of welds are the barriers inhibiting the development of fatigue cracks.


Design is a creative and innovative process that takes advantage of engineering's technical knowledge to develop products, services, and benefits for a consumption-driven society. This article highlights the importance of a coordinated approach between design and engineering education as a driver for innovation. To validate this concept, we analyzed several use cases undertaken at a higher education institution that resulted in the systematization of the adopted methodology. Then, a case study, the RnHealth TECH project, has been used to validate the proposed methodology. This project, aims to design and develop new technologies and products, and create interactive materials to prevent and promote awareness regarding the risk of exposure to indoor radon gas, a radioactive gas that tends to accumulate in indoor environments with a known relation to lung cancer. In this context, design and engineering students are collaborating on the design and development of a set of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices for Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) management and thus promote awareness-raising. Although engineering methodologies have tasks that overlap with the design process, with a focus on functionalities, they may face technical implementation constraints. Product design, on the other hand, must respond to user requirements, user interface, market needs, and product manufacturing requirements, with a focus on satisfying consumers. These two areas complement each other, resulting in a continuous improvement process of product design, particularly in the innovation process development. This multidisciplinary synergy between students and researchers works both ways, with each functional area contributing to the work according to its specificity and influencing the final product. This approach not only develops students' specific technical knowledge but also provides them with new skills that can be applied to improve their technological literacy.


The strength of nickel-based superalloys usually consists of solid solution strengthening from the gamma matrix and precipitation hardening due to the gamma' and/or gamma" precipitates. In the present work, a model was developed to calculate the high temperature strength of nickel-based superalloys, where the temperature dependence of each strengthening contribution was accounted for separately. The high temperature strength of these alloys is not only a function of microstructural changes in the material, but the result of a competition between two deformation modes, i.e. the normal low to mid temperature tensile deformation and deformation via a creep mode. Extensive validation had been carried out during the model development. Good agreement between calculated and experimental results has been achieved for a wide range of nickel-based superalloys, including solid solution alloys and precipitation-hardened alloys with different type/amount of precipitates. This model has been applied to two newly developed superalloys and is proved to be able to make predictions to within useful accuracy.


: From each of 14 women undergoing laparotomy at different stages of the luteal phase of the cycle, the corpus luteum (CL) was excised, cut into pieces and incubated for 120 min. Incubations were performed in the absence and presence of hCG and prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha). In addition, noradrenaline (NA) was added to the incubation medium of newly formed CL, and the adrenergic blocker propranolol to incubated specimens of mid-luteal phase CL. After incubation the tissue levels of protein and cyclic AMP (cAMP) and the media concentrations of progesterone (P) were determined. In young CL, PGF2 alpha did not interfere with the stimulatory effect of hCG on neither cAMP nor P formation, while in CL of the mid-luteal phase PGF2 alpha significantly counteracted the stimulatory effect of hCG on these two parameters. In the presence of propranolol, however, this antigonadotrophic effect of PGF2 alpha in vitro was abolished. Furthermore, when NA was added to specimens of young CL, PGF2 alpha significantly counteracted the stimulatory effect of hCG on both cAMP and P formation. These in vitro data show that endogenous catecholamines may regulate the antigonadotrophic, 'luteolytic' effect of PGF2 alpha in human CL.


We introduce a novel multi-factor Heston-based stochastic volatility model, which is able to reproduce consistently typical multi-dimensional FX vanilla markets, while retaining the (semi)-analytical tractability typical of affine models and relying on a reasonable number of parameters. A successful joint calibration to real market data is presented together with various in- and out-of-sample calibration exercises to highlight the robustness of the parameters estimation. The proposed model preserves the natural inversion and triangulation symmetries of FX spot rates and its functional form, irrespective of choice of the risk-free currency. That is, all currencies are treated in the same way.


For a variety of reasons, vaccines and other critical pharmaceutical products have become increasingly scarce in the last few years, and persistent shortages involving dozens of essential drugs may imperil the public health. Pressures emanating from regulatory agencies, the courts, and insurers have conspired to make some lines of the pharmaceutical business less than attractive. Although concerns about unpredictable tort liability received most of the blame in the past, two other factors may help to account for the latest round of drug shortages: stringent federal control of manufacturing facilities and aggressive cost-containment efforts that further erode profit margins. Whatever the cause, scarce supplies necessitate efforts at rationing that pose their own difficulties for health care providers. Policymakers could avoid putting physicians to such tough choices regarding patients by focusing on ways to ensure the production of adequate quantities of these highly cost-effective medical technologies. Some commentators have called for greater public sector involvement, but this Article concludes that, in addition to bolstering its emergency stockpiles, the federal government instead needs to take steps designed to encourage private manufacturers to continue supplying critical pharmaceuticals. To this end, the government should adopt more flexible regulations governing manufacturing facilities, provide companies with greater protection from the vagaries of tort liability, and avoid pursuing excessive cost-control strategies. Otherwise, patients may continue to lose access to important therapeutic products.


Purpose: This article aims to assess the impact of the efficiency of the banking sector and its concentration level on the stability of the banking system in Poland. Design/Methodology/Approach: The impact assessment relies on correlation and regression analysis. The stability of the banking sector is expressed in Z-Score indicator. The assessment of banking efficiency is based on the Return on Equity (ROE) after tax and on the bank cost-to-income ratio. The concentration level is shown as the share of the assets of Poland's three largest commercial banks in the total assets of the banking sector. The calculations are based on panel data for the banking sector in Poland, for the period 1996– 2017. Findings: The results obtained suggest a positive influence of the return on equity after tax of the banking sector on the stability of Poland's banking sector and no relationship between the stability of the banking sector and the level of its concentration or the bank cost-toincome ratio. Practical Implications: Identification of the factors determining the stability of the banking system may contribute to its increase, and thus reduce the likelihood of banking crises. Ultimately, this will translate into an increase in the stability of the entire financial system as well as an increase in the stability of the entire economy. Originality/Value: The paper contains the author's original research into stability of banking system in Poland. The study will contribute to the development of theories concerning factors of the stability of the banking system.


This paper examines the local construction of law on the street regarding immigrants. Local agencies play a key role in immigration enforcement and in providing services to immigrants. As such, they are increasingly the 'face of the state' to immigrants, a face which varies across localities and regions and ranges from friendly to hostile. Some agencies have a full array of policies and procedures for providing services to immigrants, including policies requiring equal service without regard to immigration status, informational materials in foreign languages and training in providing neutral professional service, while others have few or none of these things.Much of the research has focused on law enforcement actions towards immigrants, but many other public agencies frequently interact with these groups and shape official policies and immigrant perceptions of the state. This paper focuses on public libraries a service organization that receives scant public or academic attention. The purpose of this paper is two-fold; first, it develops a framework for measuring the degree of 'welcomeness' of public agencies. Second, it examines how widely local agencies are welcoming (or unwelcoming) to immigrants and what are the conditions that shape the degree of welcomeness. To address these questions, this paper uses results from nationwide surveys of local public library systems in counties with a minimum population of 30,000 and a foreign-born population of least 5%. The research is framed by three competing theoretical approaches: minority group threat, neo-institutionalism and economic regimes. Libraries face conflicting political pressures that are often hostile to immigrants and professional norms favoring equal service to all in the community. The degree of welcomeness depends on the balance between these opposing forces. This study improves understanding of how administrative policies and practices evolve in the context of political and institutional pressures. Preliminary results find a remarkable degree of deliberate welcomeness toward immigrants even in some politically conservative states.


This paper proposes a deep neural network structure that exploits edge information in addressing representative low-level vision tasks such as layer separation and image filtering. Unlike most other deep learning strategies applied in this context, our approach tackles these challenging problems by estimating edges and reconstructing images using only cascaded convolutional layers arranged such that no handcrafted or application-specific image-processing components are required. We apply the resulting transferrable pipeline to two different problem domains that are both sensitive to edges, namely, single image reflection removal and image smoothing. For the former, using a mild reflection smoothness assumption and a novel synthetic data generation method that acts as a type of weak supervision, our network is able to solve much more difficult reflection cases that cannot be handled by previous methods. For the latter, we also exceed the state-of-the-art quantitative and qualitative results by wide margins. In all cases, the proposed framework is simple, fast, and easy to transfer across disparate domains.


The orientation and glazed surface area used for windows in a building have significant effects on its indoor thermal comfort and overall energy consumption. The increasing use of glazed windows and lack of consideration of orientation in building design have become a major problem in warm and humid regions as windows cover sensitive skin areas for the exchange of energy leading to increased solar gain inside the building. This paper describes the effect of the varied 'area ratio of glazed window to the wall for different building orientations' on the thermal performance of the residential building in a warm humid climatic region of Nepal. A typical residential building located in Kalikanagr of Butwal, the fast-urbanizing sub-metropolis of Western Nepal, was selected for the study from 18 houses surveyed using the purposive sampling method. Nine varying values of Window to Wall Ratio (WWR) of glazed façade ranging from 0.1 to 0.9 with a constant increment of 0.1 in north and south façades, and the change in the building orientations were considered for the detailed study. Altogether eighty different test scenarios including base case scenarios were created and annual thermal energy consumption was computed for each test scenario using the Autodesk Ecotect Analysis, 2011. Findings from the study showed that the south orientation is the most appropriate compared to the north-east for all WWR to reduce the building energy consumption and an increase in WWR also results in increased energy consumption. The study concludes the careful considerations of WWR and the south orientation during the designing of building will contribute to efficient energy consumption in residential buildings.


This study examined the effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) on the hormone and lipolytic responses. Eight male subjects performed WBV and control (CON) trials on separate days. The WBV session consisted of 10 sets of vibration for a duration of 60 s with rest periods of 60 s between each set (frequency 26 Hz). The subjects maintained a static squat position with knees bent on the platform. In the CON trial, the WBV stimulation was not imposed. Blood samples were collected before both trials and during the recovery period. In the WBV trial, the concentrations of plasma epinephrine (Epi) and norepinephrine (NE) increased immediately after the session (P < 0.05). Serum free fatty acids (FFA) concentration increased significantly at the 150, 180, and 210 min points of the recovery period in the WBV trial (P < 0.01) with the interaction between trial and time (P < 0.01). Serum glycerol showed no significant change in either trial. These results suggest that the WBV session causes secretions of Epi and NE, and it subsequently increases FFA concentration during the recovery period. However, because the FFA response was inconsistent with that of glycerol, we were unable to clarify the effect of WBV exposure on lipolysis.


It has been previously demonstrated that systems based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are suitable for face recognition. The proposed approaches in the literature are either HMMs with one-dimensional (1D-HMMs) or two-dimensional (2D-HMMs) topology. Both have shown some serious drawbacks. The 1D-HMM approaches typically use a whole row (or column) of an image as observation vector and by consequence do not allow horizontal (or vertical) alignment. 2D-HMM approaches present some implementation issues because of the computational cost. In this paper, we propose a 1D-HMM approach which allow the use of local features and we will demonstate the accuracy of this approach on the so-called BANCA database.


Aim. To obtain planting material of Miscanthus × giganteus in a large amount in order to study the peculiari- ties of morphogenesis of isolated meristem culture. Methods. The explants were sterilized using 70 % etha- nol and 0.1 % mercury bichloride, after that, the methods of plant cultivation and reproduction in vitro and statistical processing of the obtained data was performed. Results. The study presents the results of obtaining the regenerate plants from dormant buds of 3-year-old rhizomes of Miscanthus × giganteus. The Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) (0.75 mg/L) and kinetin (1.2 mg/L) was found to be the best for regeneration of microsprouts, providing the maximum value of the regeneration index (95 %) and contributing to the development of the main sprouts and tillering. The obtained sprouts were rooted in Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with half-dose of macro- and micronutrients without growth regulators. In doing so, rooting index made up 95.0–97.0 %.
The best substrate for the adaptation of miscan- thus plants in vivo was found to be a mixture of peat, sand, and perlite in a ratio of 2 : 1 : 1, respectively. In this substrate, plant establishment reached 91 %. Conclusions. The peculiarities of morphogenesis in Miscan- thus × giganteus isolated meristem were studied. At the same time, the index of sprouts regeneration varied from 90.0 to 100.0 %. In addition, the development of the main sprout and multiple tillering occurred in 85.0– 100.0 % explant. The highest survivability of micro-plants (91–95 %) was provided in the peat-sand-perlite substrate in a ratio of 2 : 1 : 1.


Under the environment of the electrical power market, every power plant inside the pool will deliver electrical energy to power grid following the daily generating plan. A variation from the plan of more than 2% is considered a generating deviation. This paper presents the classification of generating deviation, and in applying the principle of the small-signal stability, analyzes the effect of the small-signal generating deviation to the behavior of the power-angle and the frequency of the grid. The result calculation leads to the conclusion is that the small-signal generating deviation will decrease the transient stability margin in some way but not threaten the safety of the grid in discussed case.


This article examines the continuing controversies regarding personal versus social responsibility for health as they are being played out at the turn of the century. Following a brief examination of the contested meaning of "personal responsibility for health" in recent historical context, attention is focused on the arguments for and against holding the individual to be primarily accountable for his or her health behavior. The paper then makes the case for more balanced, ecological approaches that stress individual responsibility for health within the context of broader social responsibility. The article concludes by briefly summarizing the Canadian approach to health promotion as a useful example of what such a balanced, ecological approach might look like.


China's urban agricultural development takes on stage evolution, and functional structure, customer structure, industrial organization, innovation activity, spatial form and industrial value of each stage has significant difference. Using the system variable analysis method, this paper established the urban agricultural development system including six types of functional variables. On the basis of summarizing stage characteristics, it analyzed reasons for stage characteristics focusing on four key variables, i.e. cost, efficiency, connection, and risk. Finally, it came up with recommendations for promoting China's urban agricultural development with the aid of stage development rules.


We report the development of an artificial haircell (AHC) fabricated using polymer surface micromachining and efficient 3D assembly. The AHC is modeled after biological hair cells, a common and versatile mechanoreceptor in biology. The design and fabrication process are discussed in the paper. Response to static deflection and airflow is also discussed.


MRI images of the same subject in different contrasts contain shared information, such as the anatomical structure. Utilizing the redundant information amongst the contrasts to sub-sample and faithfully reconstruct multi-contrast images could greatly accelerate the imaging speed, improve image quality and shorten scanning protocols. We propose an algorithm that generates the optimised sampling pattern and reconstruction scheme of one contrast (e.g. T2-weighted image) when images with different contrast (e.g. T1-weighted image) have been acquired. The proposed algorithm achieves increased PSNR and SSIM with the resulting optimal sampling pattern compared to other acquisition patterns and single contrast methods.


Periodic larval surveys for Aedes aegypti were conducted in 11 Caribbean countries between 1983 and 1989. On average, there were 24 potential larval habitats per house including 4.9 which held water at the time of examination. Breteau indices for the various islands ranged from 34.7 to 121.6. In descending order of importance, water storage drums, house plants, buckets, used tires and miscellaneous small discarded containers accounted for 84% of all foci. Highest rates of infestation were found in tires (38.4%) and drums (33.8%). For the development of integrated community-based vector control programs, not only should consideration be given to the larval ecology of Ae. aegypti, but also to the sociological significance of the various container habitats and the selection of control strategies most appropriate for their management.


This paper documents the short-term and long-term trends in internal conflict in South Asian countries, using multiple data sources. I find that incidents of terrorism have been rising across South Asia over the past decade, and this increase has been concentrated in economically lagging regions in the post-2001 period. This is in contrast to both the historical patterns of conflict, and the evolution of other types of violence. Analyzing the role of economic, geographic and demographic factors, I find that poorer areas have significantly higher levels of conflict intensity. The paper reviews the various approaches taken by governments to deal with conflict, contrasting security-based approaches with political accommodation and economic approaches. Finally, the paper reviews the potential role of regional cooperation in mitigating conflict.


While the technique of auralization has been in use for quite some time in architectural acoustics, the application to environmental noise has been discovered only recently. With road traffic noise being the dominant noise source in most countries, particular interest lies in the synthesis of realistic pass-by sounds. This article describes an auralizator for pass-bys of accelerating passenger cars. The key element is a synthesizer that simulates the acoustical emission of different vehicles, driving on different surfaces, under different operating conditions. Audio signals for the emitted tire noise, as well as the propulsion noise are generated using spectral modeling synthesis, which gives complete control of the signal characteristics. The sound of propulsion is synthesized as a function of instantaneous engine speed, engine load and emission angle, whereas the sound of tires is created in dependence of vehicle speed and emission angle. The sound propagation is simulated by applying a series of time-variant digital filters. To obtain the corresponding steering parameters of the synthesizer, controlled experiments were carried out. The tire noise parameters were determined from coast-by measurements of passenger cars with idling engines. To obtain the propulsion noise parameters, measurements at different engine speeds, engine loads and emission angles were performed using a chassis dynamometer. The article shows how, from the measured data, the synthesizer parameters are calculated using audio signal processing.