The streaming model of computation is a popular approach for working with large-scale data. In this setting, there is a stream of items and the goal is to compute the desired quantities (usually data statistics) while making a single pass through the stream and using as little space as possible. Motivated by the importance of data privacy, we develop differentially private streaming algorithms under the continual release setting, where the union of outputs of the algorithm at every timestamp must be differentially private. Specifically, we study the fundamental $\ell_p$ $(p\in [0,+\infty))$ frequency moment estimation problem under this setting, and give an $\varepsilon$-DP algorithm that achieves $(1+\eta)$-relative approximation $(\forall \eta\in(0,1))$ with $\mathrm{poly}\log(Tn)$ additive error and uses $\mathrm{poly}\log(Tn)\cdot \max(1, n^{1-2/p})$ space, where $T$ is the length of the stream and $n$ is the size of the universe of elements. Our space is near optimal up to poly-logarithmic factors even in the non-private setting. To obtain our results, we first reduce several primitives under the differentially private continual release model, such as counting distinct elements, heavy hitters and counting low frequency elements, to the simpler, counting/summing problems in the same setting. Based on these primitives, we develop a differentially private continual release level set estimation approach to address the $\ell_p$ frequency moment estimation problem. We also provide a simple extension of our results to the harder sliding window model, where the statistics must be maintained over the past $W$ data items.


Abstract The present study aimed to investigate the effects of a standardized fatiguing protocol on central and peripheral fatigue in knee-flexors and knee-extensors. Thirteen healthy men (age: 23 ± 3 years; height: 1.78 ± 0.09 m; body-mass: 73.6 ± 9.2 kg) volunteered for the present study. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), Electromyography (EMG) activity, voluntary activation level (VAL) as an index of central fatigue and twitch potentiation as an index of peripheral fatigue were measured before and after the fatiguing protocol. The fatiguing protocol consisted of a 0.6 duty-cycle to exhaustion (6 s isometric contraction, 4 s recovery) at 70% MVC. After the fatiguing protocol, MVC decreased in both (Effect-size (ES) = 1.14) and knee-extensors (ES = 1.14), and EMG activity increased in both knee-flexors (ES = 2.33) and knee-extensors (ES = 1.54). Decreases in VAL occurred in knee-flexors (ES = 0.92) but not in knee-extensors (ES = 0.04). Decreases in potentiation occurred in both knee-flexors (ES = 0.84) and knee-extensors (ES = 0.58). The greater central occurrence of fatigue in knee-flexors than in knee-extensors may depend on the different muscle morphology and coupled with a greater tolerance to fatigue in knee-extensors. The present data add further insight to the complicated knee-flexors-to-knee-extensors strength relationship and the mechanisms behind the different occurrence of fatigue.


In the intelligence civilization, in addition to practical competence and information technologies, it is becoming increasingly critical for people to develop a wider rage and encouraging social connections. Micro blogging communities that support updates, sharing new information like text, images, and videos time to time provided with privacy such as twitter. A twitter is Micro blog that uses digital backchannels to represent the timely exchange of pithy comments and impressions in large events. At present, mutual updates displayed in the form of a simple catalogue (list), making it difficult to get an overview of the communication that proceeds rapidly. This will confuse the participants of the twitter from the main event occurred. In other way, our Visual Backchannel design provides an evolving,interactive, and multi-faceted visual overview of large-scale ongoing conversations on Twitter. To visualize an uninterrupted updating information stream, we include visual saliency for what is happening at this moment and what has just occurred a moment ago, set in the context of the evolving conversation. For visual system we introduce a Temporal adjustable Stacked graph represents topic streams that visualizes topic over time accompanied by two compact visualizations, people Spiral, Image Cloud that has shared images which are going to be varied according to the popularity in the events together with post listing all these are linked with the time ranges. We consider our design considerations, in particular with respect to developing visualizations of dynamically changing data. Through the Extension representation of user"s data supposed to increase the efficiency of the visual backchannel.


There are many surprising and perhaps counter-intuitive properties of optimization of deep neural networks. We propose and experimentally verify a unified phenomenological model of the loss landscape that incorporates many of them. High dimensionality plays a key role in our model. Our core idea is to model the loss landscape as a set of high dimensional \emph{wedges} that together form a large-scale, inter-connected structure and towards which optimization is drawn. We first show that hyperparameter choices such as learning rate, network width and $L_2$ regularization, affect the path optimizer takes through the landscape in a similar ways, influencing the large scale curvature of the regions the optimizer explores. Finally, we predict and demonstrate new counter-intuitive properties of the loss-landscape. We show an existence of low loss subspaces connecting a set (not only a pair) of solutions, and verify it experimentally. Finally, we analyze recently popular ensembling techniques for deep networks in the light of our model.


Using combined asteroseismic and spectroscopic observations of 418 red-giant stars close to the Galactic disc plane (6 kpc $<R_{\rm Gal}\lesssim13$ kpc, $|Z_{\rm Gal}|<0.3$ kpc), we measure the age dependence of the radial metallicity distribution in the Milky Way's thin disc over cosmic time. The slope of the radial iron gradient of the young red-giant population ($-0.058\pm0.008$ [stat.] $\pm0.003$ [syst.] dex/kpc) is consistent with recent Cepheid measurements. For stellar populations with ages of $1-4$ Gyr the gradient is slightly steeper, at a value of $-0.066\pm0.007\pm0.002$ dex/kpc, and then flattens again to reach a value of $\sim-0.03$ dex/kpc for stars with ages between 6 and 10 Gyr. Our results are in good agreement with a state-of-the-art chemo-dynamical Milky-Way model in which the evolution of the abundance gradient and its scatter can be entirely explained by a non-varying negative metallicity gradient in the interstellar medium, together with stellar radial heating and migration. We also offer an explanation for why intermediate-age open clusters in the Solar Neighbourhood can be more metal-rich, and why their radial metallicity gradient seems to be much steeper than that of the youngest clusters. Already within 2 Gyr, radial mixing can bring metal-rich clusters from the innermost regions of the disc to Galactocentric radii of 5 to 8 kpc. We suggest that these outward-migrating clusters may be less prone to tidal disruption and therefore steepen the local intermediate-age cluster metallicity gradient. Our scenario also explains why the strong steepening of the local iron gradient with age is not seen in field stars. In the near future, asteroseismic data from the K2 mission will allow for improved statistics and a better coverage of the inner-disc regions, thereby providing tighter constraints on the evolution of the central parts of the Milky Way.


The presence of dendritic cells in human atherosclerotic lesions and in atherosclerotic lesions in some animal models of atherosclerosis is well established [1]. However, whether dendritic cells do populate atherosclerotic lesions of rabbits with experimental hypercholesterolemia is still unknown. The micrographs included in the image show cells with typical ultrastructural features of dendritic cells [2]. The micrographs were obtained from sections of aortas of rabbits kept on cholesterol diet [3]. (Panel A): Semithin section of atherosclerotic lesion showing the area from which ultrastructural pictures were obtained; Section was stained with toluidine blue. (Panels B-D): Dendritic cells (marked by stars) containing cisterns of the tubulovesicular system (shown by arrows). Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Ultrathin sections were stained with lead citrate and uranyl acetate.


The Al-Cu-Fe nano films were successfully deposited by magnetron co-sputtering with the Al, Cu and Fe independent targets. The surface morphologies, microstructure and composition of the films were analyzed by SEM and XRD. The bonding strength, friction coefficient, nanohardness and elastic modulus of the films before and after annealing at 600 °C were determined by nano-indentation and nano-scratch. The results show that the bonding strength of the film with stainless steel substrate is the highest among these substrates. The friction coefficient of the film for pure Cu substrate is 0.17. New fine β phases with approximate quasicrystalline structure are formed in Al-Cu-Fe films after annealing at 600 °C. Furthermore, the hardness and elastic modulus of the films are obviously increased respectively.


At present, the main focus in the development of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) is deepening the network model to improve accuracy. However, this may increase the numbers of parameters and calculations in the network architecture. When the network model is applied to mobile devices and embedded systems, the storage capacity, computing performance, and memory will become major limitations. A local binary convolutional neural network (LBCNN) has been proposed to reduce the numbers of parameters and calculations. In the LBCNN, the convolutional layer of the CNN is replaced by a local binary convolution (LBC) module. In the LBC module, there is a pre-initialized fixed parametric filter layer. Since the parameters of the filter are generated in a random manner, the result is different each time and therefore unstable. Therefore, to provide a stable and efficient recognition technique for image sensors, we propose a genetic-algorithm-based local binary convolutional neural network (GA-LBCNN) for gender recognition in this study. The genetic algorithm (GA) is used to search for the best filter parameters of the LBCNN. LeNet is adopted as the basic model architecture, and two datasets acquired from image sensors, the CIA and MORPH datasets, are used to perform face gender classification. According to the evaluation results, LBC successfully reduces the numbers of parameters and calculations. Experimental results show that the classification accuracy of the proposed GA-LBCNN reaches 88.8 and 98.2% for the CIA and MORPH datasets, respectively. Compared with the conventional LBCNN, the classification accuracy of the proposed GALBCNN is increased by 7.2 and 1.1%, respectively, for the two datasets.


The utilization of marine currents for power production offers a sustainable option to augment traditional power technologies and enhance the expansion of renewables. The marine current resource is potentially large and could generate a significant part of the European Union's electricity requirements. Before the installation of marine prototypes, specific trials are necessary to evaluate the behaviour of each system and the ability to exploit tidal or marine currents. This paper presents experimental campaigns carried out on marine energy converter systems under METRI II program performed in the Ifremer free surface hydrodynamic water tunnel. Two of them concern horizontal axis marine current turbine systems: a "classical" pile-mounted tidal turbine concept and a fully submerged machine in deep water. The third concept is an innovative marine current and wave energy system based on Venturi principle from a submerged pipe network. The results presented provide useful information for the hydrodynamic caracterization of marine energy converter systems, their design and for the validation of numerical studies.


This paper presents the steps one needs to take in order to run a signal processing algorithm designed in Simulink on the ARM processor of smartphones. The steps are conveyed by transitioning two signal processing application examples from Simulink to smartphone. The application examples involve background noise classification and lane departure detection. Considering that Simulink programming is widely used in signal processing, the approach presented in this paper is of benefit to practicing engineers and signal processing researchers/educators in terms of the process of making Simulink codes or models to run on smartphones.


Rukundo A. & Magambo J. (2013). Professional impotence: Impact of alcohol abuse on secondary schoolteachers in Uganda. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 2(2), 69-74. doi: 10.7895/ijadr.v2i2.104 ( http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v2i2.104 ) Aims: We conducted this study to explore the impact of alcohol consumption on teachers' jobs in Uganda. Specifically, we investigated the types of alcohol consumed by schoolteachers, reasons for alcohol abuse among teachers, justifications for mixing different types of drinks while drinking, and the effects of alcohol abuse on secondary schoolteachers. Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive. Participants: We involved 54 teachers (79.6% males and 20.4% females) in focus group discussions (FGDs) and four teachers (all male) in in-depth interviews. Measurement: Interviews were conducted to validate the data from FGDs as done by vanTartwijk, den Brok, Veldman and Wubbels (2008). Thematic analysis was employed to describe themes and emerging trends. Results: Data gathered from both in-depth interviews and FGDs show that teachers in Uganda drink a variety of "local" and "exotic" types of alcohol, for a variety of reasons. Results also indicate that during drinking sessions, teachers mix drinks for different reasons, but mainly to increase or decrease the potency of alcoholic drinks, depending on their types. All participants mentioned that over-consumption of alcohol negatively affects the teacher's job and career in ways that include poor performance, neglect and loss of job. Conclusion: While teachers in Uganda drink many types of alcohol for apparently "good" reasons, those teachers who over-drink eventually fall into job inefficiency.


The economic idea of Abu Yusuf pointed out is concerning State and economic activity, kharaj (Taxation), public finance and price mechanism.. He always stressed the importance of meeting the needs of the people and developing various projects that are oriented towards the general welfare. Next on taxation, in setting tax rates he recommends the use of the system muqasamah (proportional tax) than the system Misahah (Fixed Tax). In the case of kharaj administration, Abu Yusuf rejects the practice of taqbil (qabalah). Taqbil is a kharaj collection system where a person is usually from a local inhabitant, volunteers to the ruler to be responsible for collecting and gathering kharaj in his territory. Furthermore, on public finances he believes that State Revenue in Daulah Islamiyah is divided into three categories, namely ghanimah, adaqah, and fa'I treasures (jizyah, 'usyur and kharaj). And in the price mechanism he argues that prices may remain expensive when supplies are abundant while goods will be cheap even if inventory is reduced.


An eleven-year-old, male, neutered Golden Retriever was referred for a chronic history of stertorous breathing, inspiratory stridor and mucopurulent discharge from the left nostril. A computed tomographic (CT) scan of the head, neck and thorax revealed a nasopharyngeal mass causing bone lysis of the hard palate. There were no signs of local or distant metastatic disease. Nasopharyngoscopy confirmed a large mass, occluding the entire nasopharynx. Histopathologi cal analysis of the biopsies was indicative of a chronic inflammatory polyp. The mass was surgi cally removed through a ventral approach to the nasopharynx. Histopathological examination of the mass identified it as a thymic carcinoma arising from ectopic thymic tissue. The dog recov ered well but died of unknown causes one year later.


Continuous EEG monitoring provides an opportunity to both accurately identify seizures and monitor the neurologic status of critically ill neonates in the intensive care unit. The incidence of seizures is higher in the neonatal period than at any other time in life. Seizures and abnormalities of EEG background are associated with significant risk of mortality and long-term neurodevelopmental morbidities. In the neonatal population the majority of seizures are not clinically evident and go undetected without EEG monitoring. We review the incidence and risk factors for neonatal seizures, and the utility of continuous EEG monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit for seizure detection and for analysis of background to allow prognostication. We consider the role of amplitudeintegrated EEG in the neonatal population. We consider the utility of continuous EEG for frequently encountered neurologic indications and discuss the outcome data and some new developments in continuous EEG monitoring.


The vast majority of pheochromocytomas secrete solely or almost entirely norepinephrine. Successful medical therapy depends on providing sufficient α-adrenergic blockade to diminish BP, prevent paroxysms, and allow intravascular volume expansion. The two agents most commonly used for this purpose are phentolamine mesylate and phenoxybenzamine hydrochloride. Phentolamine is a competitive antagonist to norepinephrine.1It has a short half-life and must be given frequently, with the patient being awakened to receive medication. Nausea, vomiting, and nasal congestion are common side effects. In addition, resistance to the drug frequently develops, making it poorly suited for long-term oral therapy.2The basis for this resistance is unclear, but it may perhaps be explained by the recent observation that there exist two different α-receptors within each synapse,3rather than just one as formerly postulated. See also p 2321. α1-Receptors are postsynaptic and when stimulated result in vasoconstriction, increased vascular resistance, and


Introduction Obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASIS) occurs in 5%–7% of normal deliveries and increases with vacuum extraction (VE) to 12%–14% in nulliparous women in Sweden. Lateral/mediolateral episiotomy may reduce the prevalence of OASIS at VE in nulliparous women. The current use of episiotomy is restrictive. The protective effect and consequences are uncertain. This trial will investigate if lateral episiotomy can reduce the prevalence of OASIS and assess short-term and long-term effects. Methods and analysis This is a multicentre randomised controlled trial of lateral episiotomy versus no episiotomy in nulliparous women with a singleton, live fetus, after gestational week 34+0 with indication for VE. A lateral episiotomy of 4 cm is cut at crowning, 1–3 cm from the midline, at a 60° angle. The primary outcome is OASIS by clinical diagnosis analysed according to intention to treat. To demonstrate a 50% reduction in OASIS prevalence (from 12.4% to 6.2%), 710 women will be randomised at a 1:1 ratio. Secondary outcomes are pain, blood loss, other perineal injuries, perineal complications, Apgar score, cord pH and neonatal complications. Web-based questionnaires at baseline, 2 months, 1 and 5 years will be used to assess pain, incontinence, prolapse, sexual function, quality of life and childbirth experience. A subset of women will receive follow-up by pelvic floor sonography and pelvic examination. Mode of delivery and recurrence of OASIS/episiotomy in subsequent pregnancies will be assessed at 5 and 10 years using register data. Ethics and dissemination The trial is open for enrolment. The trial has received ethical approval from the Regional Ethical Review Board of Stockholm and full funding from the Swedish Research Council. Women are interested in participation. The predominant restrictive view on episiotomy may limit recruitment. Results are of global interest and will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and at international congresses. Trial registration number NCT02643108; Pre-results.


CONTEXT
- Autopsy studies of the older population (≥65 years of age), and particularly of the "oldest-old" (≥85 years of age), have identified a significant proportion (∼20%) of cognitively impaired patients in which hippocampal sclerosis is the major substrate of an amnestic syndrome. Hippocampal sclerosis may also be comorbid with frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Alzheimer disease, and Lewy body disease. Until recently, the terms hippocampal sclerosis of aging or hippocampal sclerosis dementia were applied in this context. Recent discoveries have prompted a conceptual expansion of hippocampal sclerosis of aging because (1) cellular inclusions of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43) are frequent; (2) TDP-43 pathology may be found outside hippocampus; and (3) brain arteriolosclerosis is a common, possibly pathogenic, component.

OBJECTIVE
- To aid pathologists with recent recommendations for diagnoses of common neuropathologies in older persons, particularly hippocampal sclerosis, and highlight the recent shift in diagnostic terminology from HS-aging to cerebral age-related TDP-43 with sclerosis (CARTS).

DATA SOURCES
- Peer-reviewed literature and 5 autopsy examples that illustrate common age-related neuropathologies, including CARTS, and emphasize the importance of distinguishing CARTS from late-onset frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP-43 pathology and from advanced Alzheimer disease with TDP-43 pathology.

CONCLUSIONS
- In advanced old age, the substrates of cognitive impairment are often multifactorial. This article demonstrates common and frequently comorbid neuropathologic substrates of cognitive impairment in the older population, including CARTS, to aid those practicing in this area of pathology.


A simple, accurate, selective and stability-indicating RP-HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of pseudoephedrine, ambroxol and desloratadine in bulk and their tablet formulations. Effective chromatographic separations were achieved on a Hypersil BDS C8, 250×4.6 mm, 5 μ column with reverse phase elution. The mobile phase composed of 0.01 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate and acetonitrile in the ratio of 50:50 v/v at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The detection was carried out at 220 nm. The retention times were 2.2 min for pseudoephedrine, 3.4 min for ambroxol and 5.5 min for desloratadine. The linearity ranges for pseudoephedrine, ambroxol and desloratadine were 15 to 90 μg/ml, 30 to 180 μg/ml and 2.5 to 15 μg/ml, respectively with correlation coefficient 0.999. The developed method was validated statistically with respect to linearity, range, precision, accuracy, specificity, robustness, ruggedness, detection and quantification limits and also subjected to stress conditions like acidic and alkaline hydrolysis, oxidation, photolysis and thermal degradation. The method was accurate, precise, specific, rapid and found to be suitable for the analysis of commercial samples.


Research work was aimed at the welding of thin sheets using high power CO2 laser. Process parameters, evaluation of the weld by micro, macro and mechanical are briefly given. Characteristics of the laser welding are described. Optimal process parameters which are power, weld speed, gas flow, focal point, gap distance, were used. Microstructural evaluation by light microscope and transmission electron (TEM) microscope for substructural analysis was employed. Therefore general weld imperfections were observed and laser weld evaluation was made with EN ISO 13919-1. Mechanical performance of welded sheets was done by uniaxial tensile test, Erichsen test, and microhardness test. Uniaxial tensile test was employed transverse- weld oriented to the tensile direction and longitudinal-weld oriented to the tensile direction. Results were compared with base metal properties. Maximum tensile strength was obtained from the longitudinal-weld with reduced ductility. In transverse-weld direction fracture was far from the weld. Microhardness test was applied to the cross section of the welded sheets. Maximum hardness was obtained from the weld fusion zone (FZ) where hardness was increasing from HAZ to weld FZ center. Therefore hardness results were verified by empirical equations, which are proposed by various authors. Erichsen test was employed for the ductility evaluations of the welded sheets whereby two types of defect were observed from the Erichsen test. The First one was observed in the weakest sheet (lowest gauge or lowest strength). It is occur when the major strain direction is perpendicular to the weld seam. The second one was occurred across the weld by the higher strength and lower elongation of the weld while major strain direction was parallel to the weld seam. Process parameters, microstructural and substructural analyses were compared with mechanical performance of the welded sheets. As a result the laser welded thin sheets were evaluated in many aspects.Research work was aimed at the welding of thin sheets using high power CO2 laser. Process parameters, evaluation of the weld by micro, macro and mechanical are briefly given. Characteristics of the laser welding are described. Optimal process parameters which are power, weld speed, gas flow, focal point, gap distance, were used. Microstructural evaluation by light microscope and transmission electron (TEM) microscope for substructural analysis was employed. Therefore general weld imperfections were observed and laser weld evaluation was made with EN ISO 13919-1. Mechanical performance of welded sheets was done by uniaxial tensile test, Erichsen test, and microhardness test. Uniaxial tensile test was employed transverse- weld oriented to the tensile direction and longitudinal-weld oriented to the tensile direction. Results were compared with base metal properties. Maximum tensile strength was obtained from the longitudinal-weld with reduced ductility. In transverse-weld direction fracture was far from the ...


Existing semantic segmentation approaches are often limited by costly pixel-wise annotations and predefined classes. In this work, we present CLIP-S4 that leverages self-supervised pixel representation learning and vision-language models to enable various semantic segmentation tasks (e.g., unsupervised, transfer learning, language-driven segmentation) without any human annotations and unknown class information. We first learn pixel embeddings with pixel-segment contrastive learning from different augmented views of images. To further improve the pixel embeddings and enable language-driven semantic segmentation, we design two types of consistency guided by vision-language models: 1) embedding consistency, aligning our pixel embeddings to the joint feature space of a pre-trained vision-language model, CLIP [34]; and 2) semantic consistency, forcing our model to make the same predictions as CLIP over a set of carefully designed target classes with both known and unknown prototypes. Thus, CLIP-S4 enables a new task of class-free semantic segmentation where no unknown class information is needed during training. As a result, our approach shows consistent and substantial performance improvement over four popular benchmarks compared with the state-of-the-art unsupervised and language-driven semantic segmentation methods. More importantly, our method outperforms these methods on unknown class recognition by a large margin.


BACKGROUND
 A growing body of evidence is suggesting a significant association between the COVID-19 pandemic and population-level mental health. Study findings suggest that individuals with a lifetime history of disordered eating behavior may be negatively affected by COVID-19–related anxiety, and prevention measures may disrupt daily functioning and limit access to treatment. However, data describing the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on disordered eating behaviors are limited, and most findings focus on individuals in treatment settings.

 OBJECTIVE
 The aim of this study is to characterize the experiences of Reddit users worldwide who post in eating disorder (ED)–related discussion forums describing the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on their overall mental health and disordered eating behavior.

 METHODS
 Data were collected from popular subreddits acknowledging EDs as their primary discussion topic. Unique discussion posts dated from January 1 to May 31, 2020 that referenced the COVID-19 pandemic were extracted and evaluated using inductive, thematic data analysis.

 RESULTS
 Six primary themes were identified: change in ED symptoms, change in exercise routine, impact of quarantine on daily life, emotional well-being, help-seeking behavior, and associated risks and health outcomes. The majority of users reported that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health prevention measures negatively impacted their psychiatric health and contributed to increased disordered eating behaviors. Feelings of isolation, frustration, and anxiety were common. Many individuals used Reddit forums to share personal experiences, seek advice, and offer shared accountability.

 CONCLUSIONS
 Reddit discussion forums have provided a therapeutic community for individuals to share experiences and provide support for peers with ED during a period of increased psychiatric distress. Future research is needed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on disordered eating behavior and to evaluate the role of social media discussion forums in mental health treatment, especially during periods of limited treatment access.


The construction of a radial basis function (RBF) network involves the determination of the model size, hidden nodes, and output weights. Least squares-based subset selection methods can determine a RBF model size and its parameters simultaneously. Although these methods are robust, they may not achieve optimal results. Alternatively, gradient methods are widely used to optimize all the parameters. The drawback is that most algorithms may converge slowly as they treat hidden nodes and output weights separately and ignore their correlations. In this paper, a new discrete-continuous algorithm is proposed for the construction of a RBF model. First, the orthogonal least squares (OLS)-based forward stepwise selection constructs an initial model by selecting model terms one by one from a candidate term pool. Then a new Levenberg-Marquardt (LM)-based parameter optimization is proposed to further optimize the hidden nodes and output weights in the continuous space. To speed up the convergence, the proposed parameter optimization method considers the correlation between the hidden nodes and output weights, which is achieved by translating the output weights to dependent parameters using the OLS method. The correlation is also used by the previously proposed continuous forward algorithm (CFA). However, unlike the CFA, the new method optimizes all the parameters simultaneously. In addition, an equivalent recursive sum of squared error is derived to reduce the computation demanding for the first derivatives used in the LM method. Computational complexity is given to confirm the new method is much more computationally efficient than the CFA. Different numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Further, Friedman statistical tests on 13 classification problems are performed, and the results demonstrate that RBF networks built by the new method are very competitive in comparison with some popular classifiers.


The environment of cysteine beta-93 is altered during the oxygenation of hemoglobin. Electron spin resonance was used to probe the hemoglobin conformation in this crucial region on the proximal side of the heme. Spin-labeled hemoglobins in both the R-liganded state [methemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin] and the T-unliganded state [deoxyhemoglobin as well as Ni(II) and Cu(II) substituted hemoglobins] were investigated. Included in this study are iodoacetamide and maleimide labels with different constraints at the point of reaction with the SH-group, as well as a series of pyrrolidinyloxyl maleimide labels of different chain length. From differences in the correlation time of the spin labels it was possible to identify two distinct strongly immobilized configurations in addition to the relatively mobile configuration with the label on the surface of the protein. By dipolar interactions between the spin labels and paramagnetic Cu(II) at the heme center, the relative position of the three orientations for the spin label are defined. Differences are observed between the two hemoglobin conformations with respect to the relative population of the various orientations and with respect to the potential barrier associated with the reorientation of the spin labels.


ABSTRACT Bottom grab samples and shallow cores from the Charlotte Harbor system have been studied to show the distribution of its sediments textural and compositional properties. The sediments are relatively uniform in character throughout the harbor system. They are composed essentially of two components, terrigenous quartz sand and biogenic carbonate detritals with minor amounts of phosphorite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, attapulgite, and illite. The terrigenous mineralogical constituents are inherited from adjacent parent rocks and reflect relative availability. The mean grain size of the sediments as well as the percentage of the carbonate detritals increases seaward. The coarse fractions of the sediments are accumulated within high energy areas at the harbor mouth and in the channels, whi e the finer aggregates are concentrated in the harbor head and lagoons. The distribution of the sediment properties shows that the sediments are shifted by the two major tidal circulations of the harbor proper and of San Carlos Bay. Multivariate nonlinear regression is used to relate the sediment characteristics to their provenance, transportation, and depositional environments.


Teaching English to children who do not come from an English speaking background is an interesting challenge for educators. In this paper, we present an Augmented reality (AR) tool, TeachAR, for teaching basic English words (colors, shapes, and prepositions) to children for whom English is not a native language. In a pilot study we compare our AR system to a traditional non-AR system. The results indicate a potentially better learning outcome using the TeachAR system than the traditional system. It also showed that children enjoyed using AR-based methods. However, it also showed a few usability issues with the TeachAR interface, which we will improve on in the future.


Objective To investigate a possible association between retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and an increased risk of developing acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Design A population-based retrospective cohort study using the entire population of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) from 1st January, 2001 to 31st December, 2013. Methods A total of 37921 subjects with RVO were enrolled in the RVO group, and 113763 subjects without RVO were enrolled in the comparison group. The comparison group consisted of randomly selected individuals who were propensity score (PS)-matched with the RVO group at a ratio of 1:3, based on age, gender, obesity, stroke, hyperviscosity syndrome, glaucoma, and the use of antithrombotic drugs. A log-rank test was used to compare the cumulative hazard of AMI between the two groups. A multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to estimate the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of AMI, adjusted for PS, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, congestive heart failure, and chronic renal failure. Results The mean age of the cohort was 62.4±13.2 years. RVO patients had significantly higher proportions of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, congestive heart failure, and chronic renal failure than the comparisons. The mean follow-up period was 5.52 years in the RVO group and 5.55 years in the comparison group (p = 0.16). A log-rank test comparing the cumulative hazard curves of AMI for the two groups revealed a significant difference (p<0.0001). In the multivariate Cox regression after adjustment for PS and confounders, the RVO group had a significantly higher risk of AMI (adjusted HR = 1.21; 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.30). When the RVO group was divided into central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) and branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and analyzed separately, both groups had significantly higher adjusted HRs for developing AMI than the comparison group. Moreover, the CRVO group had a significantly higher risk of AMI than the BRVO group. Conclusions People with RVO are at significantly greater risk of developing AMI than individuals without RVO.


By definition, pseudogenes are relics of former genes that no longer possess biological functions. Operationally, they are identified based on disruptions of open reading frames (ORFs) or presumed losses of promoter activities. Intriguingly, a recent human proteomic study reported peptides encoded by 107 pseudogenes. These peptides may play currently unrecognized physiological roles. Alternatively, they may have resulted from accidental translations of pseudogene transcripts and possess no function. Comparing between human and macaque orthologs, we show that the nonsynonymous to synonymous substitution rate ratio (o) is significantly smaller for translated pseudogenes than other pseudogenes. In particular, five of 34 translated pseudogenes amenable to evolutionary analysis have o values significantly lower than 1, indicative of the action of purifying selection. This and other findings demonstrate that some but not all translated pseudogenes have selected functions at the protein level. Hence, neither ORF disruption nor presence of protein product disproves or proves gene functionality at the protein level.


CONTEXT
Chronic psychological distress has deleterious effects on many of the body's physiological systems. In experimental animal models, chronic stress leads to neuroanatomic changes in the hippocampus, in particular a decrease in the length and branching of dendrites as well as a decrease in the number of dendritic spines.

OBJECTIVES
To examine whether analogous distress-related neuroanatomic changes occur in humans and whether such changes might also be related to cognitive dysfunction observed in older people who report greater psychological distress.

DESIGN
Postmortem study of brain tissues from participants of the Religious Orders Study, an ongoing population-based clinicopathological study of aging and cognition.

SETTING
The Rush University Religious Orders Study and the University of Pennsylvania Cellular and Molecular Neuropathology Program.

PARTICIPANTS
Seventy-two deceased participants of the Religious Orders Study.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Densities of microtubule-associated protein 2-immunolabeled dendrites and synaptopodin-immunolabeled dendritic spines in the CA3 subfield of the hippocampus, quantified using semiautomated image acquisition and analysis.

RESULTS
Higher levels of trait anxiety and longitudinal depression scores were associated with decreased densities of dendrites and spines in CA3. Dendrite and spine densities did not correlate with an index of global cognition or with densities of common age-related pathological changes.

CONCLUSIONS
Regressive neuronal changes occur in humans who experience greater psychological distress. These changes are analogous to neuronal changes in animal models of chronic stress.


Urinary tract obstruction is a common clinical problem. The obstruction of the urinary flow may be acute or chronic, partial or complete, unilateral or bilateral, and may occur at any site of the urinary tract. The major causes of urinary tract obstruction vary with the age of the patient. Anatomic abnormalities, e. g. ureteropelvic junction obstruction, account for the majority of cases in children. In comparison, calculi are most common in young adults, while prostatic hyperplasia or carcinoma, retroperitoneal or pelvic neoplasms, and calculi are the primary causes in older patients. Urinary tract obstruction results in different pathophysiological changes causing various symptoms. In addition to the aetiology, pathophysiology and clinical presentation of obstructive uropathy in adults, modern diagnostic and therapeutic options are presented in this review.


An acoustic-velocity based finite element procedure is presented in this paper to investigate the propagation of pressure transients in a two-dimensional fluid-structure acoustic system. The nine-node Lagrangian finite elements are employed to formulate the dynamic equations of fluid and solid media. The strong interactions between the fluid and the structure are modelled by enforcing no-separation condition in the direction normal to the fluid-structure interface.  In the tangential direction, the slip and stiction of the fluid particles relative to the fluid-structure interface for varying dynamic pressure are modelled using the classical law of friction.  The so-obtained wave equations are discretized in the time domain using the implicit Newmark integration scheme. For fluid-structure interactions in the tangential direction, the discontinuous frictional force problem involving both equality and inequality frictional constraints is successfully reduced to a quadratic mathematical problem or the linear complementary problem (LCP) with the introduction of non-negative and complementary variable pairs (supremum velocities and slack forces). The so-obtained complementary equations in the complementary pairs can be solved efficiently using the Lemke algorithm. Motion of different media in the acoustic system is induced exclusively by a local sound source away from the structure.  The fluid is considered stationary with no bulk flow. For small scale acoustic motion, the initial cold and conformal finite mesh is used effectively to address the key fluid-structure interaction phenomena.  If needed, the initial mesh can be updated at the end of each time step to more accurately account for the fluid-structure interactions.  The objectives of this research are to present a generic model for the tangential fluid-structure interactions, understand the transient properties of acoustic pressure in the multi-media acoustic system, and reveal the sound reflection/absorption characteristics.   From the numerical results, obtained using the proposed scheme, and comparisons with ANSYS for various scenarios, the proposed scheme is found to be efficient and accurate in solving strong fluid-structure interaction problems.


As SARS-CoV-2 evolves, it accumulates mutations, which are changes in the genetic code. Because this virus has built-in RNA repair mechanisms, it generates mutations more slowly than some other RNA viruses. Thousands of mutations have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic throughout all virus genomes sequenced to date, resulting in thousands of distinct variants. However, some variants have recently been discovered that appear to increase transmissibility and may affect illness pervasiveness. In this study, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 variants and how countries intervene with them. We also depicted the top 25 countries where the Omicron variant is prevalent, with the UK, US, Denmark, France, and Australia having the top five places as of January 13, 2022. The perception of SARS-CoV-2 variants was investigated in those five countries, and the propagation rate of the Omicron variant was determined to be 51%, 29%, 26%, 15%, and 44% respectively, indicating that the Omicron variant is the most prevalent among the others. Then, a study of SARS-CoV-2 infection test rate based on tests conducted per one million populations with number of sequences in those five countries reveals that 25%, 73%, 1.6%, 4.8%, and 1.5% respectively, it suggests that viral testing should be increased in all five countries since it will help to determine the precise distribution of variants and aid governments in making policy decisions for public safety. We anticipated the production of new variants strains. This research implies that limiting disease transmissions, such as acquiring a COVID-19 vaccine and booster doses for those aged 18 and older, as well as wearing the mask in public places, is the best strategy to prevent the emergence of new variants. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Financial market integration mitigates production shocks that occur in a country by pooling the risk through portfolio diversification and this contributes to consumption smoothing for life-time utility maximization. Financial market integration also contributes to economic growth by supplying capital to developing countries via the integrated financial market. However, the integrated financial market also serves as a transition channel where the financial shock which originated from the center country spreads to its neighboring economies. In the event of a financial crisis, there is a potential risk of capital flight from neighboring countries to the financial center, meaning that many countries in the integrated financial market have an economic structure that is vulnerable to external shocks. As the uncertainties in the international financial market increased significantly during the financial crisis, financial variables such as asset prices, leverage, credit growth, and capital flows in many countries were heavily affected by global financial market sentiments rather than their own monetary policies. This is evidence supporting that many countries in the global financial market have constrained monetary policies. In this report, we try to understand how monetary policy is constrained in the context of the international financial market, from which we can derive relevant policy implications. To this end we analyze how monetary policies are restricted by introducing the concept of monetary policy independence.


RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Reducing the rate of hospital readmissions, particularly avoidable ones, has significant implications on patient outcomes, cost containment, and quality of care. Given that the reason of readmission may differ from the patient's main diagnosis in the index admission, this study aims to assess the influence of index comorbidities on the primary readmission diagnoses and explore the risk of deemed avoidable readmission because of prior comorbidities.

METHODS
A retrospective review of 3962 discharges was conducted at a 527-bed teaching hospital in Jordan, utilizing data related to 2025 internal medicine patients.

RESULTS
Among all discharges, 29% were followed by a 30-day readmission, of which 13% were identified as potentially avoidable. Of all readmissions, 36% of patients were readmitted because of one of the comorbidities that had been identified at index admission. In addition, 47% of the potentially avoidable readmissions had a main diagnosis that was one of the index comorbidities. The results also showed an association between readmission for one of the index stay's comorbidities and being avoidable, with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.12 (95% confidence interval, 1.65-2.72). Overall, the presence of certain diseases, being identified as one of the preceding comorbidities, was found to have a substantial influence on the risk of potentially avoidable readmission. These diseases included digestive, circulatory, respiratory, genitourinary systems, and infectious and parasitic diseases (adjusted relative risks = 1.57, 1.49, 1.36, 1.30, and 2.30, respectively).

CONCLUSION
To help reduce the rates of readmission, potential gains seem available if hospitals adopt clinical practices that support the patient's care during the post-discharge transition. This implies that health care providers need to pay more attention to the comorbidities of high-risk patients to be closely monitored after discharge.


A new hybrid method for automatic clustering of satellite-observed natural scenes is presented. It uses a partitional clustering algorithm augmented by a hierarchical split-and-merge step at each iteration. The method also dynamically computes image-specific split-and-merge thresholds and can accommodate arbitrary information vectors. Better partitioning of the data and improved computational efficiency are achieved. The sensitivity of the method to the clustering parameters is presented, and the results show that the method is relatively insensitive to the choice of clustering parameters. Comparisons with the often used ISODATA algorithm show the effectiveness of the new approach.


Thermal energy diffusion through two directions of a micro/nanoscale thin film is modeled by a dimensionless form of Boltzmann transport equations of phonon density distribution functions. With the model named a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), the discrete Boltzmann transport equations are able to be solved directly. The present model applied is based on physic expression of the dimensionless phonon density distribution functions together with both physic based dimensionless relaxation time models and the physic based dimensionless form of boundary conditions. Effects due to the variations of film thickness, distribution of temperature, and phonon transport frequency are all included in the physic based model. Phonon energy and effective thermal conductivity distributions are shown in the two-dimensional (2D) space. The spatial distributions of temperatures and thermal conductivities are validated by comparing with previous studies. Effects of the longitude and transvers direction heat transfer patterns and their effective thermal conductivities under different size and geometry ratios are compared.


This study focuses on how a single layer of clothing affects-human decomposition, and if human decomposition-has a noticeable affect on clothing materials. Two cadavers were placed at the Anthropological Research Facility in Knoxville, TN on January 16, 1991. One was clothed, the other was nude. Seven different types of yarns were attached to the inside of the clothing on the experimental subject, and another set of these yarns was anchored to the base of nearby tree to serve as a control sample set. Cadavers were monitored as they decomposed, and insect activity was observed, from January 16, 1991 until May 4, 1991. The National Weather Service provided daily high and low temperatures. Yarn samples were collected from January 16, 1991 until November 5, 1991 and examined visually, and fibers from the yarns were examined microscopically for mechanical/structural deterioration, and breaking strengths were measured. The clothed cadaver (EXP) decomposed more quickly than the nude cadaver (CTL) did. EXP reached bloating and active decay almost twice as quickly as did CTL, probably because the garment facilitated the growth and development of carrion insects which are responsible for much of the destruction of the remains. Fibers from experimental and control yarns showed little or no structural or mechanicai damage microscopically or visually. Breaking strength tests indicated that the yarns responded differentially to human decomposit:ion. However, larger sample sizes and a longer period of research will offer clearer answers.


In recent years adaptive reuse has proven to be a promising strategy for preserving cultural heritage. When the adaptive reuse approach is used for cultural heritage, the expected outcome is not only the building protection, but the preservation of its historical and heritage significance, and the trade-off between the retention of symbolic values and the adaptation to new alternative (economically profitable) uses becomes of paramount importance. Decisions on the allocation of resources for cultural heritage preservation or development are based on a set of multiple, often conflicting, criteria, as well on the preferences of various, and not always consensual, stakeholders, who attribute different relative importance to market and non-market effects of adaptive reuse proposals. In this context, multiple criteria approaches provide a proper theoretical and methodological framework to address the complexity which characterizes adaptive reuse strategies of cultural heritage. This paper aims to contribute to this strand of literature by proposing a multicriteria decision aiding approach for ranking adaptive reuse strategies of cultural heritage. In detail, we present a novel application of the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE) to support the design and implementation of adaptive reuse strategies of abandoned industrial heritage in vulnerable contexts, and evaluate relative tangible and intangible effects. Industrial sites are frequently left to deteriorate, as their preservation is not considered as important as other kinds of heritage structures. Nevertheless, they are characterized by special architectural and technical features as well as by huge spaces suitable to be redeveloped for new uses. The paper focuses on the potential reuse of nine different abandoned buildings located in an industrial valley in the North-West of Italy, with a strong presence of wool and silk factories starting from the 18th century.


Greater access and inclusion of civil society is a possible means of increasing participation in international governing processes and thus enhancing the democratic legitimacy of global governance. Yet, opening the doors of an international organization to civil society is often controversial. At the core of such controversies are costs and benefits that may arise from the inclusion of civil society. The aim of this article is to explore the opening of international organizations' doors to civil society actors, emphasizing state's preferences. To explore state preferences on civil society's access, this article looks at the WTO dispute settlement process and amici submissions, and asks: what factors shape states' preferences to allow civil society actors access? Drawing from a unique dataset on state preferences on amici submissions to the WTO's dispute settlement process, I argue that state preferences are shaped by the capacity to manage costs of civil society access.


Software Process Consulting Organizations (SPCOs) support other organizations to define, deploy, and improve their software processes. Usually they are requested to define similar processes to different organizations, leading to some process reuse opportunities. Software Process Lines (SPLs) are reusable process architectures that model similarities and variabilities among processes, and could be of great value for SPCOs to derive multiple processes based on the same original SPL. This paper presents a reuse-based software process definition approach that aims at making it easier for consulting organizations to define reusable processes. We describe the main concepts related to a SPL, and how to define and use them in this context. We also present a supporting tool to define SPLs and derive defined processes. Finally, we present a usage experience of the approach in the context of a SPCO in Brazil.


Formal models of war termination have been developed along two major approaches: in one, war is interpreted as a series of battles, where nations exchange denials that aim to destroy enemy forces; in the other, war is illustrated as a process of bargaining with mutual punishments that inflict costs on opponents. By integrating these two approaches, I build a dynamic model of war, where two nations choose between military force and civilian value as the targets of their attacks in every battle. The war proceeds along one of the following three paths in equilibrium. First, either nation immediately gives in to the other's threat of punishment such as nuclear strikes. Second, both the nations continue to conduct counterforce denial campaigns to weaken each other until either side is fully disarmed (i.e. all-out war). Third, after significant military imbalance is generated by the exchange of denials in an early battle, the winner of the battle switches to a countervalue punishment campaign, to which the loser responds by capitulation (i.e. limited war). My equilibrium analyses suggest that while denials largely determine a war's outcome, punishments can influence its duration. Unlike existing models, mine illuminates the two-way causal relationship, where past battle outcomes can influence the choice of military strategy, whereas military strategies also shape how the war will further evolve.


Thoroughly revised and up-dated, this comprehensive, authoritative reference will help both the experienced and novice practitioner diagnose skin diseases and disorders more accurately and effectively. In this title, a superb full colour art programme illustrates the salient pathological features of both neoplastic and non-neoplastic conditions and will help the reader easily interpret key clinical and diagnostic points. This single-authored text incorporates the wealth of Dr Weedon's own personal observations and experience in his approach to the diagnosis and interpretation of skin biopsies and is full of useful diagnostic clues and pearls. This remarkable book is an indispensable resource for all those involved in the identification and evaluation of skin disorders.


The inoperative railway stations in Greece, which are scattered throughout the country, are buildings that demonstrate in a remarkable way the modern history of Greece and constitute pieces of contemporary cultural heritage. Megara railway station was built in 1886 as an intermediate station beyond Elefsina, of the extension of the railway that connected Piraeus and Athens with the rest of Southern Greece and played an important role in trade and transportation until 2005 when it was closed down. The old Megara Railway Station is surrounded by an area of 13.000 m2 and is located at the city center nearby the urban square, which is considered to be the location of the ancient temple of Apollo. The aim of this study is the redevelopment and the enhancement of this area, so that it integrates with the life of the modern city. Upon mapping the respective area and registering the vegetation, which is randomly scattered, it is proposed to strengthen the existing vegetation with the intention to create a linear park. The design and selection of the plant material took into account the historicity of the location, mostly choosing indigenous species and plants related to the ancient era. By using the particular species, it is also proposed to create an archaeological park, so that the historicity of the area is emphasized and revived. In addition, it is proposed to exploit the building of the railway station to create an historical thematic museum and the existing old train wagons, which can be restored, to be used as museum exhibits, integrated in an outdoor thematic museum with the purpose to revive the area, which is currently abandoned.


The use of post-editing of machine translation output is increasing throughout the language technology community. In this work, we investigate whether the MT system influences the human translator, thereby introducing "bias" and potentially leading to errors in the post-editing. We analyze how often a translator accepts an incorrect suggestion from the MT system and determine different types of bias errors. We carry out quantitative analysis on translations of eCommerce data from English into Portuguese, consisting of 713 segments with about 15k words. We observed a higher-than-expected number of bias errors, about 18 bias errors per 1,000 words. Among the most frequent types of bias error we observed ambiguous modifiers, terminology errors, polysemy, and omissions. The goal of this work is to provide quantitative data about bias errors in post-editing that help indicate the existence of bias. We explore some ideas on how to automate the finding of these error patterns and facilitate the quality assurance of post-editing.


An object-oriented logic programming language for modeling data is presented. This language supports most of the object-oriented features for data modeling and is based on many sorted horn clause logic. The data model provides a means for expressing queries as classes. Objects are defined as instances of a class allowing factoring of methods and type information.


Recent aspects of mechanism of benzodiazepines (BDZ) via indirect GABA-mimetic inhibitory effects at brain-specific BDZ-GABA receptors may contribute to an understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms of anxiety disorders and drug dependencies. The development of various BDZ receptor ligands with diverse psychopharmacological properties may lead to safer drugs with regard to "drug seeking" and "maintaining" properties. This paper reviews recent research of BDZ receptor pharmacology and clinical aspects of abstinence syndromes including also prospective studies.


The recent advance of seismic metamaterials has led to various concepts for the attenuation of seismic waves, one of them being the locally resonant metamaterial. Based on this concept, the so-called metafoundation has been designed. It can effectively protect a fuel storage tank from ground motions at various fluid levels. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed design, the response of the metafoundation is compared to the response of a tank on a traditional concrete foundation. The design process of conceiving the metafoundation, optimizing it for a specific tank, and its seismic response are described herein. Furthermore, the response of a tank during a seismic event can cause severe damages to pipelines connected to the tank. This phenomenon can be of critical importance for the design of a seismic tank protection system and must be treated with care. Since the coupled structure (tank + foundation + pipeline) exerts highly nonlinear behavior, due to the complexity of the piping system, a laboratory experiment has been conducted. More precisely, a hybrid simulation (HS) that uses the metafoundation and a tank as a numerical substructure (NS) and a piping system as a physical substructure (PS) was employed. To make the results relatable to the current state of the art, additional experiments were performed with concave sliding bearings (CSBs) as an isolation system in the NS. The metafoundation offered a clear attenuation of tank stresses and, in some cases, also reduced the stresses in the piping system.


Functional segmentation of brain images is important in understating the relationships between anatomy and mental diseases in brains. Volumetric analysis of various brain structures such as the cerebellum plays a critical role in studying the structural changes in brain regions as a function of development, trauma, or neurodegeneration. Although various segmentation methods in clinical studies have been proposed, most of them require a priori knowledge about the locations of the structures of interest, preventing the fully automatic segmentation. In this paper, we present a novel method for detecting and locating the brain structures of interest that can be used for the fully automatic functional segmentation of 2D rodent brain MR images. The presented method focuses on detecting the topological changes of brain structures based on a novel area ratio criteria. The mean successful rate of the detection method shows 89.4% accuracy compared to the expert-identified ground truth.


The problem of acoustic noise is becoming increasingly serious with the growing use of industrial and medical equipment, appliances, and consumer electronics. Active noise control (ANC), based on the principle of superposition, was developed in the early 20th century to help reduce noise. However, ANC is still not widely used owing to the effectiveness of control algorithms, and to the physical and economical constraints of practical applications. In this paper, we briefly introduce some fundamental ANC algorithms and theoretical analyses, and focus on recent advances on signal processing algorithms, implementation techniques, challenges for innovative applications, and open issues for further research and development of ANC systems.


At the end of ISG*ISARC2012 World Conference, Eindhoven, June 27-29, 2012, a discussion took place by video conference, between participants of the AAL summit (chaired by Olga Rivera, Basque Country's Deputy Minister of Health Research and Innovation) and the gerontechnology conference (chaired by Alain Franco, ISG president). The Basque country declaration has been well received by the Gerontechnology community as convened in Eindhoven at the ISG*ISARC2012 conference. It was understood that the AAL Summit in Bilbao concerned R&D funding and business issues of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). The Basque country declaration is a sturdy and welcome initiative to turn the aging society in a successful society for all. It looks for new and sustainable models for health and takes into account stakeholders from academia, industry, technological research institutes, care organisations and even users. Some remarks are presented about education, prevention and sustainability, end users, usability and building environments. The Basque country declaration is an important and needed document, which hopefully will have considerable impact. We strongly support the pronounced user orientation regarding technology development and use as clearly highlighted in the declaration. The gerontechnology community may further strengthen our move to a successful aging society by providing insights and results on the interface of gerontology and technology, including needed paradigm changes.


Abstract Purpose: Drawing on the experience of adoption of a model based on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by Portuguese non-financial unlisted companies in 2010, called Sistema de Normalização Contabilística (SNC), this paper explores auditors' perceptions regarding dimensions of relevance and suitability of the new accounting model to the Portuguese setting, major problems encountered, and the main engendered benefits. Methodology: An interpretative approach based on qualitative research methods was adopted, in which sixteen interviews with statutory auditors were conducted from a vantage point in 2017, seven years after the formal implementation of the IFRS-based model. Findings: Evidence suggests enduring problems but mostly a significant level of legitimation and institutionalization of the IFRS-based model: (i) the perceived motivations for SNC adoption are a good fit with the theoretically acknowledged motivations underlying accounting convergence; (ii) the principle-based standards and the fair value were largely perceived favorably; and (iii) the IFRS-based model brought about a number of benefits as expected ex ante. Implications: Findings shed light on the potential of the IFRS model to conform to countries whose accounting systems are remarkably disparate – as it was in Portugal – and offer an agenda for regulators and local and international policymakers. Originality and value: This study contributes to the accounting literature on IFRS adoption by providing empirical evidence from a European country that posited an a priori adverse context.


Demarcating the continental–oceanic boundary (COB) is extremely important as it contributes to an understanding of the tectonic environments of marginal basins through plate reconstructions. In general, the COB is estimated by jointly interpreting the features of the basement geomorphology, bathymetry and geophysical datasets, including gravity, magnetic, seismic and geochemical data. We propose a novel methodology named the tilt-theta angles correlation (TTAC), a second-order filtering approach to estimate the COB using high-resolution satellite gravity data. This method computes the angular difference or correlation angle between the vectors computed from the gradients of the tilt and theta derivative-based first-order filters. Oceanic regions generally exhibit small correlation angles (∼0°), thereby indicating a direct correlation; in contrast, continental regions depict large correlation angles (∼180°) and thus display an inverse correlation. The TTAC method marks the COB at the spatial position where the correlation angles abruptly shift from inverse to direct. Tests using synthetic data and the larger spectral energy content of TTAC for long wavelengths over tilt, theta and minus of the sign of vertical derivative (-SiVD) filters attest the effectiveness of the new methodology over first-order derivative based filters. Additionally, tests utilizing real data over both the West African Transform Margin (WATM) and across the South Atlantic Conjugate Margin (SACM) provide favourable results compared with the previous methodologies used to demarcate the COB. The COB estimates derived using the new methodology are consistent with the COB estimates obtained during recent plate-reconstruction studies. We also compare our results with an earlier interpretation along a conjugate margin encompassing magma-poor and magma-rich regions. In the complex rifted environments of the SACM, in which volcanic rocks are dominant, the TTAC methodology substantially improves the previous COB estimates, thereby establishing it as an efficient edge marker by simultaneously reducing small-scale geological noise and enhancing regional-scale geological contributions.


This study shows that ichonology can be used to refine sequence stratigraphy as well as to interpret the depositional environment of the Kalat Formation (Upper Maastrichtian) in the Central Kopeh- Dagh Basin (NE Iran), Dareh-Gaz section. Field studies and petrography of these deposits led to recognize four lithofacies and nine subfacies that formed in the tidal flat (lithofacies A), lagoon (lithofacies B), shoal (lithofacies C), and open marine (lithofacies D) within a carbonate ramp system. Trace fossils in this succession consist of Psilonichnus quietis, Thalassinoides suevicus, Diplocraterion parallelum, Rhizocorallium jenense and Ophiomorpha isp. that are classified in the Psilonichnus ichnofacies and Thalassinoides suevicus, Diplocraterion parallelum, Rhizocorallium jenense, and Ophiomorpha isp. in the Cruziana ichnofacies. Based on lithofacies and ichnofacies analyses, two depositional sequences (DS1 and DS2) were identified, that are composed of transgressive and highstand systems tracts. The maximum flooding surface (MFS) in DS1 is characterized at the top of the bed containing Rhizocorallium jenense, while this surface in DS2 is recognized by Diplocraterion parallelum grading into Ophiomorpha isp. in similar lithofacies. This study is an example where ichnology provides additional support for high-resolution sequence stratigraphy in carbonate deposits. Moreover, our study demonstrates that trace fossils could be useful in identification of the MFS in similar lithofacies elsewhere.


The semen used in this study was collected from 77 Rhode Island Breeder cocks reared in battery cages under intensive management from a private farm in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria using the back massage procedure, 27 of the 77 semen samples (35.1%) contained bacterial isolates. None of the samples grew fungi. Bacteria isolates obtained from the semen include: Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , Streptococcus faecalis , Proteus species and Klebsiella species . Seventy of the semen samples were negative for brucellosis but seven samples exhibited Brucella specie agglutinins using tube agglutination test and the level of antibody titres are 61.5, 82.0 and 102.5 iu/ml respectively. The pressence of Brucella agglutinin detected in this study is significant since brucellosis is of public health and economic significance. In addition, the presence of bacteria contaminants in semen should be viewed with seriousness. As a consequence, routine control of bacteria in collected semen seems desirable. This study sought to identify the bacterial flora and pathogens in semen collected from cocks and see how they may be effectively reduced or destroyed in the interest of the efficient collection, preservation and delivery of highly fertile semen artificially. Areas for further investigations were highlighted. Keywords: Cocks, Semen. Bacterial flora, Artificial Insemination, Rhode Island Breeder.


In fair division of indivisible goods,  ℓ-out-of-d maximin share (MMS) is the value that an agent can guarantee by partitioning the goods into d bundles and choosing the ℓ least preferred bundles. Most existing works aim to guarantee to all agents a constant fraction of their 1-out-of-n MMS. But this guarantee is sensitive to small perturbation in agents' cardinal valuations. We consider a more robust approximation notion, which depends only on the agents' ordinal rankings of bundles. We prove the existence of ℓ-out-of-⌊(ℓ + 1/2)n⌋ MMS allocations of goods for any integer ℓ ≥ 1, and present a polynomial-time algorithm that finds a 1-out-of-⌈3n/2⌉ MMS allocation when ℓ=1. We further develop an algorithm that provides a weaker ordinal approximation to MMS for any ℓ > 1.


Rate-dependent hysteresis existing in the magnetostrictive actuator usually causes undesirable inaccuracies or oscillations and even instability of the controlled system. So an intelligent modeling method, which is based on modified online least squares support vector machines (MOLS-SVM), is proposed in this paper to describe the rate-dependent hysteresis in magnetostrictive actuator. The model is fast and does not require tremendous computational efforts. The data measured in the experiment are used for modeling. The results obtained by using the proposed model are in good agreement with experimental results.


The case of a 58‐year‐old Japanese female with strumal carcinoid of the ovary is described. Ultrastructural examinations revealed numerous neurose‐cretory‐type granules in the cytoplasm of both thyroid and carcinoid components. Immunohistochemical studies showed immunoreactivities for thyroxin and thyroglobulin in the thyroid component. Several mucous glands were also observed in the tumor tissue. These morphological findings suggested that the follicles in the thyroid component were lined with thyroid follicular, carcinoid and mucous cells, and also supported the theory that this tumor may be derived from multidirectional differentiations of endodermal origin.


This book provides the current updated knowledge on all essential aspects in the rapidly evolving area of Helicobacter pylori research. H. pylori is a class I carcinogen and one of the most common infections in the world. While most people colonized by H. pylori will remain asymptomatic, up to 20 % of them may develop serious gastroduodenal disease such as peptic ulcers or gastric cancer. H. pylori is the only known bacterium linked to the development of cancer and consequently is an important focus of research. Outstanding international experts from diverse scientific disciplines contribute here to give detailed insights into the current understanding concerning the physiology and role of this pathogen. Both basic science and clinical research with actual practical consequences are taken into account. The chapters target microbiology, epidemiology, genetics, biochemistry, interactions with the immune system, signal transduction, pathogenic mechanisms in the gastroduodenal mucosa, gastric disease development, and therapy including antibiotics or probiotics treatment as well as vaccination strategies. This book is an important reference not only for clinicians but also microbiologists. It provides in a single volume an up-to-date summary of our current knowledge of this microbe and the multiple ways in which it impacts upon public health in all parts of the world


With the development of technology, machine learning (ML), a branch of computer science that aims to turn computers into decision-making agents using the most appropriate algorithms, is also paving its way in the modern world. This systematic review arises from the need to understand the impact and report the best practices for applying ML in occupational safety and health. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were used to provide the best research results. From the 759 identified papers, only 42 were included in the study after applying both exclusion and inclusion criteria. Application is primarily used in accident and risk assessment, and construction and office work are the leaders in applications. The applied methods mainly consist of classification (injuries, accidents, monitoring data), prediction (of hazards), and regression (to find patterns of accidents to prevent them). In conclusion, decision-makers and workers are taking advantage of various artificial intelligence techniques to find solutions in the occupational safety and health environment when experts have access to correct data, either in real-time or recorded datasets. However, it is necessary that in future investigations, limitations of using ML applications in occupational safety and health area be improved and their full potential is achieved.


Throughout the USA, cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is irrigated to avoid the deleterious effects of drought stress on growth and development. Irrigation, while optimizing water status, results in a concomitant cooling of soil temperatures. Previous field studies have focused on soil water status effects on root growth independent of the soil temperature changes following irrigation. This study was designed to evaluate the soil temperature characteristics of irrigated and nonirrigated field plots of cotton to determine the time that temperatures are spatially and temporally within the range for optimal cotton root metabolism. Soil temperatures in the nonirrigated treatment were within cotton's thermal kinetic window (23.5 to 32°C) for 72% more time than in the irrigated treatment. Predicted rooting fronts fell between the 24 and 26°C isotherms in the irrigated treatment and the 26 and 28°C isotherms in the nonirrigated treatment. Greater root length density of cotton in the nonirrigated treatment, determined from soil cores, was associated with increased time at optimal temperatures. Near the soil surface, root length density decreased in the nonirrigated treatment because of reduced soil water status, not because of reduced time within the optimal temperature range. Soil temperatures cooled below the optimal range upon canopy closure in the irrigated treatment. The cooling trend was observed to a lesser extent in the nonirrigated treatments, which never realized full canopy closure. This study showed that greater cotton root development occurred across time and with depth in soils exhibiting temperatures within cotton's thermal kinetic window.


Vibrational energy relaxation and vibrational cooling of polyatomic liquids were studied with the ultrafast infrared–Raman (IR–Raman) technique. In the IR–Raman technique, a type of two-dimensional vibrational spectroscopy, a vibrational transition is pumped with a mid-infrared pulse and the instantaneous populations of all Raman-active transitions are simultaneously probed via incoherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering of a time-delayed visible pulse. The theoretical framework for these measurements, including force–force correlation function methods and perturbative techniques, is reviewed. Experimental aspects of the IR–Raman technique are discussed, including laser instrumentation, experimental set-up, the nature of the pumping and probing processes, detection sensitivity and optical background, and the interpretation of results including spectroscopic artifacts. Then examples are provided from recent research by our group, focusing on timely problems such as the pseudo-vibrational cascade, the dynamics of doorway vibrations, dynamics of overtones with Fermi resonance, multiple vibrational excitations via combination band pumping and spectral evolution in associated liquids. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A method for polynomial multiplication over finite fields using field extensions and polynomial interpolation is introduced. The proposed method uses polynomial interpolation as Toom-Cook method together with field extensions. Furthermore, the proposed method can be used when Toom-Cook method cannot be applied directly. Explicit formulae improving the previous results in many cases are obtained.


The neural mechanism that mediates perceptual filling-in of the blind spot is still under discussion. One hypothesis proposes that the cortical representation of the blind spot is activated only under conditions that elicit perceptual filling-in and requires congruent stimulation on both sides of the blind spot. Alternatively, the passive remapping hypothesis proposes that inputs from regions surrounding the blind spot infiltrate the representation of the blind spot in cortex. This theory predicts that independent stimuli presented to the left and right of the blind spot should lead to neighboring/overlapping activations in visual cortex when the blind-spot eye is stimulated but separated activations when the fellow eye is stimulated. Using functional MRI, we directly tested the remapping hypothesis by presenting flickering checkerboard wedges to the left or right of the spatial location of the blind spot, either to the blind-spot eye or to the fellow eye. Irrespective of which eye was stimulated, we found separate activations corresponding to the left and right wedges. We identified the centroid of the activations on a cortical flat map and measured the distance between activations. Distance measures of the cortical gap across the blind spot were accurate and reliable (mean distance: 6-8 mm across subjects, SD approximately 1 mm within subjects). Contrary to the predictions of the remapping hypothesis, cortical distances between activations to the two wedges were equally large for the blind-spot eye and fellow eye in areas V1 and V2/V3. Remapping therefore appears unlikely to account for perceptual filling-in at an early cortical level.


In eCommerce, information asymmetry between sellers and buyers has greatly increased compared to traditional offline retail due to increased temporal and physical distance. Signal theory suggests that signals play a key role in closing this information gap, building consumer trust, and increasing purchasing intent. This paper analyzes how different signals on Amazon.com, the largest eCommerce platform in the United States, impact sales rank through a panel regression analysis of 30 days of data in the Lip Scrub category. This study finds that Amazon.com-generated signals are more impactful than user-generated or sponsored signals and that sponsored product recommendations are not as effective as other studied signals, even though sellers pay to be sponsored. Future research can dive deeper into these signals and better understand their relationship with sales volume, growing the understanding of how consumers are influenced by information signals.


The Internet is considered to be one of the most important mechanisms for sharing research (Chavkin & Chavkin, 2008), raising questions about the scope and variety of research-based education resources available online. Whereas years ago, the challenge for educators was to find relevant research information for practice, this challenge has shifted to one of sorting through the "infoglut" (Edmunds & Morris, 2000), or the abundance of information claiming to be grounded in research, and being able to judge which resources are most valuable and reliable. Drawing on scholarship that seeks to mobilize evidence between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers (Levin, 2011), this study reports the results of a systematic search of online research-based resources for educators across seven subject areas. Our descriptive typology categorizes 333 products along various dimensions (e.g., producer organization, target audience, country of origin) and demonstrates a surprising variety claiming to be research-informed.


TNF is a key proinflammatory cytokine playing a central role in the expression of endothelial adhesion molecules required for the recruitment of inflammatory cells. Proliferative glomerulonephritis induced by anti‐GBM antibody is characterized by the recruitment of inflammatory cells into the glomerulus and capillary damage followed by regeneration with crescent formation. The glomerular pathology may be due to TNF induction and we therefore tested this hypothesis in TNFα/β deficient mice. Anti‐GBM antibody administration in sensitised wild‐type mice resulted in deposition of immune complexes and complement factor 3, followed by increased ICAM‐1 and VCAM‐1 expression and influx of polymorphonucelar leucocytes. Distinct proteinuria precedes proliferative glomerulonephritis with glomerular crescent formation, which is fully developed at 10 days. By contrast, no glomerulonephritis developed in TNFα/β deficient mice. Comparable antibody complex deposits are found, but the upregulation of ICAM‐1 and VCAM‐1, the influx of inflammatory cells and the subsequent tissue damage is absent in TNFα/β deficient mice. Therefore, we conclude that TNF plays a key role for the recruitment of inflammatory cells by preventing the upregulation of endothelial adhesion molecule and the subsequent development of proliferative glomerulonephritis.


OBJECT
Multicentric diffuse low-grade gliomas (DLGGs) are defined as widely separated lesions in different lobes or hemispheres where there is no anatomical continuity between lesions. This condition is rare and its clinicopathological characteristics have been scarcely described in the literature. Here, the authors report the first consecutive surgical series of multicentric DLGGs with functional and oncological outcomes.

METHODS
A retrospective review of patients surgically treated for histopathologically confirmed multicentric DLGGs between 2000 and 2012 was performed. Information regarding clinical features, surgical procedures, histopathological results, and clinical outcomes was collected and analyzed.

RESULTS
Five consecutive patients were included in this study. There were 3 men and 2 women, whose mean age was 27.4 years (range 23-35 years). The mean follow-up period after surgery was 46 months (range 11-138 months). Gross-total or subtotal resection was achieved in all cases, using a single surgery in 3 patients and a 2-stage surgery in 2 patients. There was no mortality or permanent morbidity associated with surgery. The Karnofsky Performance Scale score ranged between 90 and 100 in all cases. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered in 2 patients because of tumor regrowth with no malignant transformation.

CONCLUSIONS
Multicentric DLGGs can be removed safely without inducing severe permanent neurological deficits. Interestingly, a single-stage resection of multiple lesions within different lobes may be performed if tumors are located in the same hemisphere. Therefore, the authors suggest considering surgery as the first therapeutic option for multicentric DLGGs, as in solitary DLGGs.


1. In normal dogs 5- and 10-minute occlusions of the femoral artery were followed by periods of reactive hyperemia (RH) whose duration closely approximated the length of occlusion. The resulting vasodilatation repaid about 50% of the blood flow debt, which was calculated from the flow rate measured just prior to occlusion. 2. When the animal's body temperature was lowered to 32°C, the duration and percentage blood flow debt repaid decreased to about one-half and one-third, respectively, of that found at 40°C. Observations of RH during rewarming revealed progressive increases in debt repayment and duration of the hyperemic period. The temperature characteristics of RH suggested that thermolabile factors were responsible for the vasodilatation that resulted from arterial occlusion. 3. Venous occlusion was followed by RH that was considerably reduced, resulting in a debt repayment of about one-fourth of that attained after arterial occlusion. The possibility that high transmural pressure might be a factor in reducing the intensity of RH that followed venous blockage was investigated. However, when a pressure equivalent to that in the carotid artery was maintained in the vasculature by pumping venous blood into the leg with its artery and vein clamped, the RH following restoration of blood flow closely resembled that induced by arterial clamping only. When arterial blood was infused, RH was reduced to the level seen after simple venous occlusion. It was concluded from these results that during venous occlusion some arterial blood entered the vascular bed, and brought with it chemical factors that reduced the degree of vasodilatation. Since total absence of arterial blood inflow was required to cause maximal dilatation, it may be that oxygen lack was involved in relaxation of the vascular wall, as has been implied by the work of investigators using other techniques.


The aim of this research is to evaluate the relationship between the measurement of apparent electrical conductivity of soil and its chemical attributes by electromagnetic induction. Geophysics methods used for soil measurement, with electromagnetic induction technique for measuring apparent electrical conductivity of the soil (ECa) is important for soil digital mapping, as it determines soil properties, with which ECa is directly related. The apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) was measured by electromagnetic induction with EM38-DD device (Geonics Ltd) at two depths: Vertical dipole (effective depth of 1.5 m- ECa-V) and horizontal dipole (effective depth of 0.4 m - ECa-H) in 6 ha of land located in the Northwest of Spain (Castro de Ribeiras de Lea, Lugo) on several dates. The experimental semivariogram showed that there was a drift for ECa-V and ECa-H data. Soil chemical properties were shown in 23/06/2008 following the sample scheme building by ESAP program (40 spots). At the 40 optimized sampling points, the following soil properties were measured at 0.0 to 0.3 m depth: Organic matter (OM), pH in CaCl2, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potential acidity (H+Al), sum of the basis (SB), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and percent of base saturation (V%). The moderate negative correlation coefficient was found between Log ECa-V and organic matter. Both ECa-H and ECa-V exhibited comparatively low correlations with the chemical properties of soil.

 Key words: EM38-DD, geostatistics, soil management, precision agriculture.


Blind music source separation has been a popular and active subject of research in both the music information retrieval and signal processing communities. To counter the lack of available multi-track data for supervised model training, a data augmentation method that creates artificial mixtures by combining tracks from different songs has been shown useful in recent works. Following this light, we examine further in this paper extended data augmentation methods that consider more sophisticated mixing settings employed in the modern music production routine, the relationship between the tracks to be combined, and factors of silence. As a case study, we consider the separation of violin and piano tracks in a violin piano ensemble, evaluating the performance in terms of common metrics, namely SDR, SIR, and SAR. In addition to examining the effectiveness of these new data augmentation methods, we also study the influence of the amount of training data. Our evaluation shows that the proposed mixing-specific data augmentation methods can help improve the performance of a deep learning-based model for source separation, especially in the case of small training data.


RIENHOFF, 1 in discussing the surgical treatment of gastroduodenal ulceration, stated that, regardless of the surgeon or the type of operation performed, when gastric and jejunal mucosa are joined in the presence of acid chyme a certain number of patients will suffer from postoperative complications similar to the original complications of the primary ulcer for which the operation was performed. The truth of this statement has been convincingly demonstrated in appraisals of the remote results of gastroenterostomy, and in fact the frequency of recurrent jejunal ulcer following this operation has been the chief reason for the almost general abandonment of it. Gastric resection, moreover, while yielding results superior to those of gastroenterostomy, is attended by a definite although small percentage of failures due to the development of a secondary ulcer at or near the gastroenteric stoma. The duodenal exclusion operations, in the opinion of most surgeons, are the least satisfactory


Edible insects are a natural renewable resource of food that could solve the problem of food scarcity. The level of some nutrients and anti-nutrients of two grasshoppers were determined in order to ascertain their suitability as a food and feed source. Spathosternum prasiniferum prasiniferum contained the highest crude protein content of 65.15% while Chrotogonus trachypterus trachypterus had the lowest value of 59.63%. Crude fat and crude fibre content was highest in C. trachypterus trachypterus. Compared with the amino acid profile recommended by FAO/WHO, the grasshopper protein of studies species were of high quality due to its high content of essential amino acids. In fatty acid profile lenolenic acid was the most abundant followed by lenoleic acid. Moisture and energy contents were significantly higher in S. prasiniferum prasiniferum . A higher value of ash content was recorded in S. prasiniferum prasiniferum, corresponding to contain high proportions of sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium and iron. S. prasiniferum prasiniferum gave higher value for Retinol, Thiamine, Riboflavin and Niacin. The anti-nutrients of the two studied species were generally low and far below the toxic level of human.Both the grasshoppers could serve as an alternative source of nutrient supplements in human diet.


The theoretical and practical principles of fire protection of wooden building structures are stated. Based on the performed scientific analysis it is shown that the schedule of wood from the action of high temperature determines the reliability and durability of building structures. The features of the process of weight loss during the operation of fireproof wood, a decrease in the rate of burnout depending on the properties of the protective coating are disclosed. The basic operational properties of flame retardants are experimentally determined and their suitability for use in building structures is established, technical solutions and recommendations for the practical implementation of fire protection at construction sites for the application, receipt and operation of materials are given.

Designed for specialists and scientists engaged in practical and scientific activities in the field of protection of building structures.


Cancer surveillance is an important part of the follow-up of the cancer patient. Guidelines are given for the follow-up of the eight most common cancers. Psychological support is an ongoing need that the primary physician should supply.


This research is set in the context of today's societies, in which the corporate visual symbology of a business, corporation or institution constitutes an essential way to transmit its corporate image. Traditional discursive procedures can be discovered in the development of these signs. The rhetorical strategies developed by the great classical authors appear in the logo-symbols expressing the corporate values of today's companies. Thus, rhetoric is emerging once again in the sense it had many centuries ago: A repertory of rules that, paradoxically, standardizes the deviations of language and whose control is synonymous with power. The main objective of this study is to substantiate the rhetorical construction of logos using as a model of analysis the classical process of creating discourse. This involves understanding logos as persuasive discourses addressed to a modern audience. Our findings show that the rhetorical paradigm can be considered as a creative model for the construction of an original logo consistent with a company's image.


As a prerequisite of biaxial zero creep experiments, a novel sensitive apparatus is developed for real-time filmstress measurement during thermal cycles. The optical sensor with a fixed multi-beam emitter and a CCD detector is investigated during an annealing process of Ag/Co multilayer thin film. The monitoring plots of stress as functions of temperature and time demonstrate the capability of this set-up. The typical sensitivity for measuring the wafer curvature radius is 2 km.


Multimodal interaction refers to situations where users are provided with multiple modes for interacting with systems. Researchers are working on multimodality solutions in several domains. The focus of this paper is within the domain of navigation systems for supporting users with visual impairments. Although several literature reviews have covered this domain, none have gone through the research synthesis of multimodal navigation systems. This paper provides a review and analysis of multimodal navigation solutions aimed at people with visual impairments. This review also puts forward recommendations for effective multimodal navigation systems. Moreover, this review also presents the challenges faced during the design, implementation and use of multimodal navigation systems. We call for more research to better understand the users' evolving modality preferences during navigation.