Two years after upgrading its nursing programme to university level, Israel experienced a massive wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union. Previous studies have shown that Russian immigrants in general, and in nursing in particular, have several unique characteristics that need to be taken into consideration in planning curricula and absorption programmes. The aim of the present work was to update these data, focusing on the reasons new immigrants choose nursing as a career, their image of the profession and their satisfaction with it. The study population consisted of 302 students attending five major academic schools of nursing in Israel. Students were divided into two groups: new immigrants (less than 4 years in Israel) and long-time Israelis (more than 4 years in Israel). All completed a 30-item questionnaire of proven validity and reliability. Findings were analysed by length of time in Israel and year of study. Using a series of statistical tests, we found that compared with the long-time Israelis, the new immigrants came from a higher socio-economic/professional stratum (in their mother country), had a less 'technical' perception of nursing, and were attracted to the profession primarily for extrinsic reasons ('close to medicine', economics). Both groups showed highest satisfaction in the clinical domain; however, the difference was significant only in the long-time Israeli group, even though the new immigrants had rated this domain highest in importance. The new immigrants showed least satisfaction in the academic domain. These results could be explained by several factors: the financial and housing problems that accompany immigration; the higher proportion of married students in the new immigrant group; and especially language difficulties, which are multiplied in Israel, where mastery in both Hebrew and English is necessary. Of particular interest was the fact that many of the immigrant students had already begun or completed medical school in their old country but were forced to compromise their dreams on immigration. This affected both their image of nursing and their reasons for choosing it as a career. We believe these findings will help nurse educators identify areas in which they can help ease the absorption process for maximal benefit to both the students and the profession.


The purpose of this paper is to compare different Mobile WiMAX radio network deployment strategies. The evaluation is carried out with extensive Monte Carlo simulations using two different strategies for both network topology and frequency planning. The purpose of the simulations is to evaluate whether WiMAX radio network should be planned to offer continuous indoor coverage or not, and should fractional frequency reuse be utilised. The simulations are used to define maximum cell ranges for each scenario, and the offered capacity is calculated based on the CINR distribution. The simulation results show that significant coverage and capacity gains can be achieved by optimising topology and frequency planning parameters.


This study wants to analyze two things: (1). How is multistakeholder governance in handling tsunami disasters in South Lampung, (2). What are the challenges that have emerged in the governance of tsunami disaster management in South Lampung ?. This research was conducted in a descriptive qualitative manner which analyzed the regulative, technical and implementative aspects that occurred at the focus of the research discussion. Data was collected from the Regional Government, DPRD and leaders of community and private organizations involved in this research. Data collection was carried out in three ways, namely library research, interviews, observation and field documentation.
The results of this study identified the involvement of government groups in the construction of temporary shelter, namely: local government and the Indonesian National Army, community organization groups namely Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, and private groups namely Icon + and PT.KIM. The collaboration of the three parties has had a positive impact on refugees, while at the stage of permanent housing development, the role of the district government and provincial government is at the forefront, where authority related to land and infrastructure development is indeed under the two governments, while the private sector and community institutions begin to diminish its role. The challenges in disaster management in the South Lampung region are related to post-rehabilitation activities and anticipation of potential disasters that can still occur in the region in the future. These challenges include; (a). Not optimal Disaster Mitigation Infrastructure, and (b). Consistency of Coastal Pro-Environment Policy.


Background: We explored racial/ethnic differences in perceived cancer risk and determinants of these differences in a nationally representative sample of whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Methods: Multiple regression techniques, including mediational analyses, were used to identify determinants and quantify racial/ethnic differences in the perception of the risk of developing cancer among 5,581 adult respondents to the 2007 Health Information Trends Survey (HINTS). Results: Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians reported lower perceived cancer risk than whites [Bs = −0.40, −0.34, and −0.69, respectively; (Ps < 0.001)]. Contributing factors included relatively lower likelihood of reporting a family history of cancer, lower likelihood of having smoked, and a less strong belief that everything causes cancer among nonwhites than among whites. Racial/ethnic differences in perceived risk were attenuated in older respondents because perceived cancer risk was negatively associated with age for whites but not for nonwhites. Conclusions: Nonwhites had lower perceptions of cancer risk than whites. Some of the racial/ethnic variability in perceived risk may be due to racial and ethnic differences in awareness of one's family history of cancer and its relevance for cancer risk, experiences with behavioral risk factors, and salience of cancer risk information. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(3); 746–54


Background: Sorafenib is the standard treatment for patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the treatment outcome is not satisfactory. We retrospectively analyzed whether adding transarterial embolization/chemoembolization (TA(C)E)-based locoregional therapy to sorafenib can further improve treatment efficacy. Patients and Methods: We included 147 BCLC stage C HCC patients with Child-Turcotte-Pugh class A liver function and treated with sorafenib for analysis. Through propensity score matching, we divided patients into the combined treatment group (n = 63; patients received TA(C)E-based locoregional treatment and sorafenib) and the sorafenib monotherapy group (n = 63). We analyzed the effects of patients' clinical and tumor-related factors on their overall survival (OS) and time to tumor progression. Results: The OS was better in the combined treatment group than in the sorafenib monotherapy group (419 vs. 223 days, p = 0.028). In the Cox regression model, combined treatment, a lower baseline α-fetoprotein (AFP) level < 400 ng/mL, tumors without main portal venous tumorous thrombosis, and age ≥60 years were identified as independent factors for OS. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that patients with a higher baseline AFP level > 400 ng/mL, age < 60 years, tumors with branched portal venous tumorous thrombosis only or without extrahepatic metastasis benefited the most from combined treatment. Conclusion: Combining TA(C)E-based locoregional treatment with sorafenib resulted in better OS in patients with BCLC stage C HCC compared with sorafenib alone. TA(C)E-based locoregional treatment can be an adjunctive treatment to sorafenib for patients with advanced HCC and a satisfactory liver functional reserve.


Coupled subseasonal forecast systems with dynamical sea ice have the potential of providing important predictive information in polar regions. Here, we evaluate the ability of operational ensemble prediction systems to predict the location of the sea ice edge in Antarctica. Compared to the Arctic, Antarctica shows on average a 30% lower skill, with only one system remaining more skillful than a climatological benchmark up to ∼30 days ahead. Skill tends to be highest in the west Antarctic sector during the early freezing season. Most of the systems tend to overestimate the sea ice edge extent and fail to capture the onset of the melting season. All the forecast systems exhibit large initial errors. We conclude that subseasonal sea ice predictions could provide marginal support for decision‐making only in selected seasons and regions of the Southern Ocean. However, major progress is possible through investments in model development, forecast initialization and calibration.


A review of the cultural origins of the speaking machines is proposed. These origins are identified in the separation between soul and body, proposed by Descartes. The speaking machines, and then the vocoder, are substantially formed by a controlled part and an automatic part; in the voder, the synthetic speaker is directly controlled by a human being, conversely in the vocoder an authomatic process is implemented. Through historical examples such as the 'automata' by Mical, Kratzenstein, von Kempelen, Wheatstone, Helmoltz, until the invention of the Dudley's vocoder, are described a growth and a stratification of devices and synthesizers applied to varied fields (signal representation, encrypted transmission, medical apparatus, cybernetic, music). The historical period treated ideally ends with Dolson's article written in 1986, "The Phase Vocoder: A Tutorial". Through musical examples is described the origin of control data handling in composition. The musical application of the phase vocoder describes the distinction between control and synthesis better than other technologies. Both control (parameter values) and synthesis (instruments design) are compositional problems that involve all the electroacoustic music composers.


In organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), the conducting channel is located near the interface between the organic semiconductor and the dielectric; this interface is crucial for transistor performance. The goal of this thesis is to study the effect of this interface, especially when it is modified either by surface treatments or self-assembled monolayers. For this purpose, OTFTs based on pentacene and doped silicon wafer gate electrode and gold top contacts are fabricated. The dielectric is either silicon oxide (SiO2) or polyimide (PI). The dielectric surface affects both the growth of the pentacene film on the top of it and the electric performance of the transistor. The pentacene film morphology is studied on treated and untreated SiO2 and PI surfaces by AFM and water contact angle measurements. Depending on the nature of the dielectric surface, traps or charge transfer centers are introduced which then affect the performance of the transistor. The transistor performance is determined by measuring the drain current as it is dependent upon the drain and gate voltage. The contributions of the channel and the contacts are separated by 4-probe measurements (at floating and non-floating gate). The transistors with untreated dielectrics are first characterized. The dependence on the channel length, the thickness and the morphology of the pentacene film is studied. The short channels (2 – 20 µm) are patterned by stencil masks; the long channels (100 – 600 µm) by steel masks. The results show that the transistors with a channel length of 20 µm and smaller are limited by the contacts, while the transistors with a channel length between 100 and 600 µm are dominated by the channel, and thus the traps and residual carriers in the channel. The pentacene film morphology has more influence on the contact resistance than on the channel behavior. To study the effect of the interface modifications, the transistor behavior should be dominated by the channel and the contact effects minimized; hence, long-channel transistors are used. The dielectric surfaces are treated by plasma or pH solutions prior to the pentacene deposition resulting in a variety of defects. The defects are distinguished by those which lead to a change in the film growth and those which affect the electric performance by introducing traps or charge transfer centers. To overcome the influence of the dielectric surface, the oxide dielectric is passivated by a self-assembled monolayer (SAM). The neutral SAM acts as a spacer between the dielectric and the pentacene film and thus enhances the transistor performance. The polar SAMs also introduce a dipole moment. A series of molecules with a similar length, but different end groups, are used to investigate the effect of the dipole moment. The main result of this study is that the nature and the quality of the gate and the contact interfaces are often more important for the performance of the transistors than the thin film morphology.


Abstract Hong Kong has made considerable progress in reducing landslide hazards from man-made slopes. As a consequence, Hong Kong has recently commenced the systematic evaluation of landslides from natural slopes. This paper discusses the assessment approached adopted, limitations with the approach and the problems with landslide hazard assessment in general by means of a case study. The paper concludes that the current approach, whilst suitable for its original purpose, that is the rapid evaluation of the likely magnitude of landslide hazards at the review stage of a development, has limitations when used for systematic landslide assessments at existing developments. It is suggested that landslide hazard assessments to quantify 'top events', for example loss of life, would be an improved approach which would allow simplified quantitative risk assessment (QRA) to be undertaken. However, such an approach requires a significant level of engineering geological and engineering geomorphological input. In particular, the careful derivation of appropriate values of landslide magnitude and frequency, based on expert judgment and making use of available data, knowledge and experience.


In this paper, the problem of H∞ control for a class of discrete‐time Markovian jump linear system with partly unknown transition probabilities is investigated. The class of systems under consideration is more general, which covers the systems with completely known and completely unknown transition probabilities as two special cases. Moreover, in contrast to the uncertain transition probabilities studied recently, the concept of partly unknown transition probabilities proposed in this paper does not require any knowledge of the unknown elements. The H∞ controllers to be designed include state feedback and dynamic output feedback, since the latter covers the static one. The sufficient conditions for the existence of the desired controllers are derived within the matrix inequalities framework, and a cone complementary linearization algorithm is exploited to solve the latent equation constraints in the output‐feedback control case. Two numerical examples are provided to show the validness and potential of the developed theoretical results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Recently, global climate change discussions have become more prominent, and forests are considered as the ecosystems most at risk by the consequences of climate change. Wildfires are among one of the main drivers leading to losses in forested areas. The increasing availability of free remotely sensed data has enabled the precise locations of wildfires to be reliably monitored. A wildfire data inventory was created by integrating global positioning system (GPS) polygons with data collected from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal anomalies product between 2012 and 2017 for Amol County, northern Iran. The GPS polygon dataset from the state wildlife organization was gathered through extensive field surveys. The integrated inventory dataset, along with sixteen conditioning factors (topographic, meteorological, vegetation, anthropological, and hydrological factors), was used to evaluate the potential of different machine learning (ML) approaches for the spatial prediction of wildfire susceptibility. The applied ML approaches included an artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machines (SVM), and random forest (RF). All ML approaches were trained using 75% of the wildfire inventory dataset and tested using the remaining 25% of the dataset in the four-fold cross-validation (CV) procedure. The CV method is used for dealing with the randomness effects of the training and testing dataset selection on the performance of applied ML approaches. To validate the resulting wildfire susceptibility maps based on three different ML approaches and four different folds of inventory datasets, the true positive and false positive rates were calculated. In the following, the accuracy of each of the twelve resulting maps was assessed through the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. The resulting CV accuracies were 74%, 79% and 88% for the ANN, SVM and RF, respectively.


A telephone survey was conducted to determine the emergency use of nebulised bronchodilator drugs by the registrar or senior house officer on duty for medical admissions at 67 British hospitals. All used a nebulised beta agonist (usually 5 mg salbutamol) as first line treatment for severe acute asthma or reversible obstructive lung disease. Twenty three doctors used ipratropium bromide occasionally and 38 used it frequently, usually mixing ipratropium and a beta agonist in the nebuliser chamber. Only five doctors routinely specified whether the nebuliser should be driven by air or by oxygen. In the case of a hypercapnic patient with chronic bronchitis, 11 respondents would not specify which gas should be used and a further 14 would use oxygen, a potentially dangerous practice. In the case of a hypoxic asthmatic patient, 22 doctors would not prescribe oxygen as the driving gas. The driving gas flow rate was almost invariably determined by nursing staff. Intravenous aminophylline was used by all 67 respondents (52 of them frequent users) but only 24 used intravenous beta agonists (five of them frequent users). It is concluded that nebulised bronchodilator drugs are the most commonly used treatment for acute asthma and reversible obstructive lung disease in hospital, but further instruction in their use is required for the staff who use them most frequently.


Background The second Multicenter Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study demonstrated a marked reduction in medication discrepancies per patient. The aim of the current analysis was to determine the association of patient exposure to each system-level intervention and receipt of each patient-level intervention on these results. Methods This study was conducted at 17 North American Hospitals, the study period was 18 months per site, and sites typically adopted interventions after 2–5 months of preintervention data collection. We conducted an on-treatment analysis (ie, an evaluation of outcomes based on patient exposure) of system-level interventions, both at the category level and at the individual component level, based on monthly surveys of implementation site leads at each site (response rate 65%). We then conducted a similar analysis of patient-level interventions, as determined by study pharmacist review of documented activities in the medical record. We analysed the association of each intervention on the adjusted number of medication discrepancies per patient in admission and discharge orders, based on a random sample of up to 22 patients per month per site, using mixed-effects Poisson regression with hospital site as a random effect. We then used a generalised linear mixed-effects model (GLMM) decision tree to determine which patient-level interventions explained the most variance in discrepancy rates. Results Among 4947 patients, patient exposure to seven of the eight system-level component categories was associated with modest but significant reductions in discrepancy rates (adjusted rate ratios (ARR) 0.75–0.97), as were 15 of the 17 individual system-level intervention components, including hiring, reallocating and training personnel to take a best possible medication history (BPMH) and training personnel to perform discharge medication reconciliation and patient counselling. Receipt of five of seven patient-level interventions was independently associated with large reductions in discrepancy rates, including receipt of a BPMH in the emergency department (ED) by a trained clinician (ARR 0.40, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.43), admission medication reconciliation by a trained clinician (ARR 0.57, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.64) and discharge medication reconciliation by a trained clinician (ARR 0.64, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.73). In GLMM decision tree analyses, patients who received both a BPMH in the ED and discharge medication reconciliation by a trained clinician experienced the lowest discrepancy rates (0.08 per medication per patient). Conclusion and relevance Patient-level interventions most associated with reductions in discrepancies were receipt of a BPMH of admitted patients in the ED and admission and discharge medication reconciliation by a trained clinician. System-level interventions were associated with modest reduction in discrepancies for the average patient but are likely important to support patient-level interventions and may reach more patients. These findings can be used to help hospitals and health systems prioritise interventions to improve medication safety during care transitions.


A 50 nm-gate lattice-matched InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT with the cutoff frequency of 362 GHz was developed. A K-band power amplifier module achieved the output power of 33.5 dBm at 24 GHz. A miniature and broadband p-HEMT LNA MMIC exhibited the gain of 14.5 dB and the noise figure of 1.7 dB at 26 GHz. A set of 76 GHz fully MMIC chips based on the 0.15 ¿m-gate p-HEMT process was developed for the car radar systems. Low-price, small-size and easily usable 60 GHz modules are expected by mm-wave home-link use.


Distinct cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) are widely distributed across their mammalian hosts in a highly host species-restricted pattern. To date, evidence demonstrating this has been limited largely to PCR-based approaches targeting small, conserved genomic regions, and only a few complete genomes of isolated viruses representing distinct CMV species have been sequenced. We have now combined direct isolation of infectious viruses from tissues with complete genome sequencing to provide a view of CMV diversity in a wild animal population. We targeted Natal multimammate mice (Mastomys natalensis), which are common in sub-Saharan Africa, are known to carry a variety of zoonotic pathogens, and are regarded as the primary source of Lassa virus (LASV) spillover into humans. Using transformed epithelial cells prepared from M. natalensis kidneys, we isolated CMVs from the salivary gland tissue of 14 of 37 (36 %) animals from a field study site in Mali. Genome sequencing showed that these primary isolates represent three different M. natalensis CMVs (MnatCMVs: MnatCMV1, MnatCMV2 and MnatCMV3), with some animals carrying multiple MnatCMVs or multiple strains of a single MnatCMV presumably as a result of coinfection or superinfection. Including primary isolates and plaque-purified isolates, we sequenced and annotated the genomes of two MnatCMV1 strains (derived from sequencing 14 viruses), six MnatCMV2 strains (25 viruses) and ten MnatCMV3 strains (21 viruses), totalling 18 MnatCMV strains isolated as 60 infectious viruses. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these MnatCMVs group with other murid viruses in the genus Muromegalovirus (subfamily Betaherpesvirinae, family Orthoherpesviridae), and that MnatCMV1 and MnatCMV2 are more closely related to each other than to MnatCMV3. The availability of MnatCMV isolates and the characterization of their genomes will serve as the prelude to the generation of a MnatCMV-based vaccine to target LASV in the M. natalensis reservoir.


Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered strain of Corona viruses (SARS-CoV-2). The disease causes mild to severe symptoms, mainly respiratory. Some patients can develop pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. Any patient can develop mild to severe illness, but old age and severe underlying medical conditions like chronic lung diseases, diabetes, obesity, etc. seem to be higher risk factors for developing more serious complications from COVID-19. There is no specific treatment for COVID-19. However, many of the symptoms can be treated according to the patient's clinical condition. Adiantum capillus-veneris (Maidenhair fern) is a medicinal herb of the family Pteridaceae. The plant extract showed a potential efficacy as ancient physicians used it for curing different diseases. In modern medicine, the plant was proven to possess a pharmacological efficacy to treat many symptoms similar to that caused by COVID-19 and its underlying medical conditions. Herbal agents extracted from Adiantum capillus veneris is widely used for the treatment of COVID-19 in Egypt, but Unfortunately, specific preclinical and clinical trials to evaluate the effects of the herbal immunoregulators in COVID19 patients have not been conducted. However, Certain natural compounds are proven here to be possibly effective for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms based on general concepts from previous experiments. Meanwhile, people believe that consuming herbal immunomodulators can prevent or even cure COVID-19, this review is done to discuss the pros and cons of utilising the extract of Adiantum capillus veneris during COVID-19 pandemic, draw conclusions, and make recommendations of modern therapeutic application of an extract-based drug to treat symptoms of patients with COVID-19.


This paper introduces a simple novel method of transmission supplement charge allocation based on topological analysis of power flows in the network. The method uses the MW-MILE methodology but analyses the share, not the impact of, individual loads and generators in line flows. This results in positive contributions from all the users hence rescinding the problem of counterflows.


This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and practices of cleaning workers concerning sun protection. This descriptive study was conducted in Izmir in April, 2010. The population of the study consisted of the 200 cleaning workers at the municipality of Bornova, 132 of whom were included in the sample. The data were collected using a questionnaire form developed by the researchers (23 closed-ended questions). The questionnaire included questions concerning the socio-demographic characteristics of workers (8), their knowledge about sun protection (8), and their sun protection practices (7). The workers were all males with a mean age of 40.20 ± 2.05. Of the participants, 91.7% stated that protection from sun was necessary, and 79.5% said they knew about the dangerous effects of sun exposure. The number of workers who knew about the reflectors that augment the impact of sun exposure was 25 (18.9%). Only 12 workers (9.1%) knew about all the factors increasing the risk of skin cancer, namely pale skin, moles, a lifelong history of working in the sun for extended periods, a history of sunburn, and a history of skin cancer in the family. The most preferred way of protecting oneself from sun was using sunscreen (33.4%), while the least preferred way was wearing thin clothing covering the whole body (0.8%). It was found that sunscreen was applied most to the face (51.8%). It was determined that the practices of cleaning workers concerning sun protection were not sufficient.


"linear" (subserosal) rather than the bubbly (submucosal) variety. It has been seen with imperforate anus and other conditions." It is important not to confuse the "bubbly" appearance of normal meconium with the similar appearance produced by intramural gas. In cases of Hirschsprung's disease, pneumatosis indicates coexistent enterocolitis. The second group involves cases of vascular compromise, again without NEe. Mesenteric thrombosis secondary to catheters has been described in association with pneumatosis and no NEe. Pneumatosis has also been seen in cases of intussusception and also in midgut volvulus. This important, although admittedly uncommon condition can closely mimic NEC both clinically and radiologically. Initially, the plain films suggest a duodenal obstruction but as the obstruction is often intermittent, gas can be present throughout the bowel, hence mimicking the ileus seen in early NEe. When vascular compromise complicates volvulus, pneumatosis may be present in affected 100ps.3


We report on a comprehensive theory-simulation-experimental study of collective and self-diffusion in concentrated suspensions of charge-stabilized colloidal spheres. In theory and simulation, the spheres are assumed to interact directly by a hard-core plus screened Coulomb effective pair potential. The intermediate scattering function, fc(q, t), is calculated by elaborate accelerated Stokesian dynamics (ASD) simulations for Brownian systems where many-particle hydrodynamic interactions (HIs) are fully accounted for, using a novel extrapolation scheme to a macroscopically large system size valid for all correlation times. The study spans the correlation time range from the colloidal short-time to the long-time regime. Additionally, Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulation and mode-coupling theory (MCT) results of fc(q, t) are generated where HIs are neglected. Using these results, the influence of HIs on collective and self-diffusion and the accuracy of the MCT method are quantified. It is shown that HIs enhance collective and self-diffusion at intermediate and long times. At short times self-diffusion, and for wavenumbers outside the structure factor peak region also collective diffusion, are slowed down by HIs. MCT significantly overestimates the slowing influence of dynamic particle caging. The dynamic scattering functions obtained in the ASD simulations are in overall good agreement with our dynamic light scattering (DLS) results for a concentration series of charged silica spheres in an organic solvent mixture, in the experimental time window and wavenumber range. From the simulation data for the time derivative of the width function associated with fc(q, t), there is indication of long-time exponential decay of fc(q, t), for wavenumbers around the location of the static structure factor principal peak. The experimental scattering functions in the probed time range are consistent with a time-wavenumber factorization scaling behavior of fc(q, t) that was first reported by Segrè and Pusey [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 771 (1996)] for suspensions of hard spheres. Our BD simulation and MCT results predict a significant violation of exact factorization scaling which, however, is approximately restored according to the ASD results when HIs are accounted for, consistent with the experimental findings for fc(q, t). Our study of collective diffusion is amended by simulation and theoretical results for the self-intermediate scattering function, fs(q, t), and its non-Gaussian parameter α2(t) and for the particle mean squared displacement W(t) and its time derivative. Since self-diffusion properties are not assessed in standard DLS measurements, a method to deduce W(t) approximately from fc(q, t) is theoretically validated.


Infecting cereals and grasses worldwide, wheat mosaic disease poses a serious risk to food security. The major grain producing regions have been threatened by major crop diseases and insect pests. The wheat curl mite was previously thought to be the primary vector for the spread of the wheat mosaic virus. However, recent research has shown that soil may actually be more influential. In this present study,we used domain search of the bioinformatics method to study the coat protein of the Chinese wheat mosaic virus. The wheat mosaic virus's binding regions to chitin, chitosan, and cellulose, as well as the active region of cell wall degrading enzymes, and the related domains of endocytotic entry, were determined through the domain search.There are Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ -ATP binding sites in the wheat mosaic virus coat protein. It demonstrates that wheat mosaic virus can complete its transmission by binding chitin via its coat protein. By binding Ca 2+ via an EF-hand, the coat protein is capable of inducing the binding of Mg 2+ -ATP, which is essential for initiating serine-threonine kinase activity. A coating containing serine kinase activity facilitates the capacity of proteins to bind chitin, collagen, or fibrillar cellulose. Upon activation of the PPM enzyme domain that binds Mg 2+ -ATP, glycosyl hydrolases and swelling enzymes become active. This process necessitates the hydrolysis of glycosyl chains contained in proteins, which contributes to the enlargement of the cell wall. As they continue to move, the motor domains of the coat protein rotate and puncture holes in the cell wall. Using phospholipid transporter domains, it creates membrane fusion pores on the cell membrane. At the same time, the coat protein inserts viral genetic material into plant cells


We consider a mathematical model which describes the contact between a deformable body and a foundation. The contact is frictional and is modelled by a version of normal compliance condition and the associated Coulomb's law of dry friction in which adhesion of contact surfaces is taken into account. The evolution of the bonding field is described by a first order differential equation and the material's behaviour is modelled by a nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive law. We derive a variational formulation of the mechanical problem and prove the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution if the friction coefficient is sufficiently small. The proof is based on time-dependent variational inequalities, differential equations and the Banach fixed point theorem.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the oncological outcomes of radical cystectomy followed by orthotopic urinary diversion in male patients with urothelial bladder carcinoma involving prostatic stroma (pT4a). A total of 1964 patients with urothelial bladder carcinoma who underwent cystectomy between 1971 and 2008 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, male patients with pT4aN0M0 disease at cystectomy and orthotopic urinary diversion were identified and included in the analysis. Exclusion criteria were perioperative mortality and primary urethrectomy. The outcomes were urethral recurrence, local recurrence, recurrence‐free survival and overall survival. Univariate and log–rank statistics were used to examine associations between variables and outcome. A total of 33 patients (1.7%) entered the study with a median age of 71 years. Median follow up was 4.8 years (range 0.1–21 years). A total of two urethral recurrences (6%) occurred at a median of 2.4 years after cystectomy. No patient had local recurrence. The 5‐year recurrence‐free survival and overall survival was 56% ± 10% and 56% ± 9%, respectively. The probability of urethral and local recurrence after orthotopic diversion in pT4a urothelial bladder carcinoma patients is low. Thus, orthotopic urinary diversion appears to be oncologically safe in this patient population.


This paper considers the potential value of visualisation approaches to describing the complex setting of UK health service provision. Through a case study project, which used Service Design approaches to develop a person-centred view of Community Dental Health Services, two visual models of service provision and their value to project stakeholders are discussed. The first comprised a map of the current structure of UK health service provision, created to guide the project approach and introduce the person-centred perspective; and the second is in the form of a draft Service Blueprint. Together they were used to establish an extra-organisational view of service provision. Findings demonstrate that these visualisations of service effectively widened and held-open the scope of the case-study project and that key policy-stakeholders recognised that Design's person-centred perspective, worked across the usual organisational boundaries.


A generalized pattern multiplication method to evaluate the performance of a photonic true time delay (TTD) based wideband antenna array is proposed, by which the wideband radiation pattern of the antenna array can be calculated if the spectrum of the feeding signal and the radiation pattern of every antenna element under different frequencies are given. Based on the proposed method, a simulation study of one-dimensional uniform linear array with ideal photonic TTDs is carried out. Results show that the photonic TTD-based beamformer together with a wideband linear frequency-modulated (LFM) feeding signal can effectively suppress the grating lobes.


The main aim of this paper is to show how ECAP influences the porosity distribution of PM aluminium alloys. The dimensional and morphological characteristics of investigated materials were measured individually for each pore. A commercial ready-to-press aluminium based powder (ECKA Alumix) was used as material to be investigated. After applying different compacting pressures (400 - 700 MPa), specimens were debinded in a ventilated furnace (Nabertherm) at 400 °C for 60 min. Sintering was carried out in a vacuum furnace at 610 °C for 30 min. The specimens were ECAPed for 1 pass. When severe plastic deformation is applied, the stress distribution in deformed specimens causes the powder particles to squeeze together to such an extent that the initially interconnected pores transform to small isolated pores, determining a given value of the dimensional characteristics. Consequently, ECAP influences the porosity distribution in terms of the involved severe shear deformation and therefore influences the pore morphology.


Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have proven their worth on the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. UAVs offer a relatively low-cost, low-risk alternative to manned aircraft in the military setting. The same advantages have led many to see natural applications for UAVs in a domestic setting. Technological advances in communications, control, and optics in recent decades will no doubt increase pressure to introduce UAV systems for a host of domestic applications. In the coming years, law enforcement agencies will seek to use UAVs to police borders, control crowds, track criminals, detect illegal narcotics activities, and spot crime. Other potential civilian uses include mineral and energy exploration, agricultural surveys, communications relay, and wildfire monitoring. The revolution is coming. Significant administrative and regulatory hurdles will confront policymakers as they seek to integrate UAVs into the domestic airspace system.This Article, a contribution to a symposium on UAVs sponsored by the North Dakota Law Review, explores the narrower issue of civil liability arising from the operation of UAVs by law enforcement authorities. Tort law has a well established body of rules and doctrines dealing with civil liability surrounding traditional aviation. This Article assumes that the legal hurdles to operating UAVs in the national airspace system are surmounted, and then speculates about potential civil liability concerns should things, as they always do, go wrong.


Microbial decomposition of soil organic matter produces a major flux of CO2 from terrestrial ecosystems and can act as a feedback to climate change. Although climate‐carbon models suggest that warming will accelerate the release of CO2 from soils, the magnitude of this feedback is uncertain, mostly due to uncertainty in the temperature sensitivity of soil organic matter decomposition. We examined how warming and altered precipitation affected the rate and temperature sensitivity of heterotrophic respiration (Rh) at the Boston‐Area Climate Experiment, in Massachusetts, USA. We measured Rh inside deep collars that excluded plant roots and litter inputs. In this mesic ecosystem, Rh responded strongly to precipitation. Drought reduced Rh, both annually and during the growing season. Warming increased Rh only in early spring. During the summer, when Rh was highest, we found evidence of threshold, hysteretic responses to soil moisture: Rh decreased sharply when volumetric soil moisture dropped below ~15% or exceeded ~26%, but Rh increased more gradually when soil moisture rose from the lower threshold. The effect of climate treatments on the temperature sensitivity of Rh depended on the season. Apparent Q10 decreased with high warming (~3.5 °C) in spring and fall. Presumably due to limiting soil moisture, warming and precipitation treatments did not affect apparent Q10 in summer. Drought decreased apparent Q10 in fall compared to ambient and wet precipitation treatments. To our knowledge, this is the first field study to examine the response of Rh and its temperature sensitivity to the combined effects of warming and altered precipitation. Our results highlight the complex responses of Rh to soil moisture, and to our knowledge identify for the first time the seasonal variation in the temperature sensitivity of microbial respiration in the field. We emphasize the importance of adequately simulating responses such as these when modeling trajectories of soil carbon stocks under climate change scenarios.


Abstract Ishizuka, S., Ito, S., Kasai, T. and Hara, H. Dietary Sugar Beet Fiber Ameliorates Diarrhea as an Acute Gamma-Radiation Injury in Rats. Gamma radiation induces diarrhea as an acute injury. We have studied whether ingestion of sugar beet fiber influences radiation-induced diarrhea. Abdominal irradiation with γ rays induced diarrhea in male Wistar/ST rats from 2 to 7 days after a single sublethal dose. The body weight of the irradiated rats was decreased temporarily at 4 days after irradiation regardless of the ingestion of sugar beet fiber. At day 8, it returned to almost the same level as that of unirradiated rats. A change in daily food intake resulted in a pattern similar to that for body weight. Dietary sugar beet fiber had little significant effect on the changes in body weight and daily food intake, and its ingestion significantly decreased γ-ray-induced diarrhea. Changes in biochemical and histological parameters in intestinal mucosa (small intestine, cecum and colon) were not greatly influenced by the ingestion of sugar beet fiber through the periods of diarrhea. It was concluded that dietary sugar beet fiber ameliorated the diarrhea induced by abdominal irradiation. We suggest that the inhibitory effect of the ingestion of sugar beet fiber is due to its effects on the luminal environment, such as support for bacterial function in the luminal contents in the colon of animals that ingest sugar beet fiber.


Sonographic findings emphasizing vascular imaging in the identification of a resectable huge hepatic hemangioendothelioma in a 1-day-old neonate are reported. The prominent sonographic features consisted of dilated hepatic veins, enlarged celiac trunk and hepatic artery, indicating arteriovenous shunting, in addition to the complex echo pattern of the mass itself. Moreover, sonographic visualization of marked caliber discrepancy between hepatic and splenic arteries at their origin from the celiac trunk readily provided another subjective evidence of hepatic artery dilatation, further reflecting the hypervascularity of this hepatic mass. Hence meticulous ultrasonic study of such hepatic masses with special attention to their enlarged feeding and draining vessels can provide a simple and noninvasive approach for early recognition of this vascular hepatic tumor in the immediate newborn period.


The addition of dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide to anaerobic cells of Escherichia coli K12 decreases both the observed extent of proton translocation coupled to fumarate reduction by endogenous substrates and the t 1/2 of proton re-entry after such translocation, but does not affect fumarate uptake. Dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide also inhibits fumarate reductase activity in cell extracts.


— The kinematics of manipulators is a central problem in the automatic control of robot manipulators. Theoretical background for the analysis of the 5 Dof Lynx-6 educational Robot Arm kinematics is presented in this paper. The kinematics problem is defined as the transformation from the Cartesian space to the joint space and vice versa. The Denavit-Harbenterg (D-H) model of representation is used to model robot links and joints in this study. Both forward and inverse kinematics solutions for this educational manipulator are presented, An effective method is suggested to decrease multiple solutions in inverse kinematics. A visual software package, named MSG, is also developed for testing Motional Characteristics of the Lynx-6 Robot arm. The kinematics solutions of the software package were found to be identical with the robot arm's physical motional behaviors.


Abstract Objective To investigate the association of major dietary patterns with the risk of impaired glucose and insulin homeostasis during a 3-year follow-up. Design Fasting serum insulin (FSI), fasting (FSG) and 2 h serum glucose (2h-SG) were measured at baseline and again after 3 years. Dietary intakes were evaluated using a validated 168-item semi-quantitative FFQ and major dietary patterns were obtained using principal component analysis. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the occurrence of impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), pre-diabetes (IGT/IFG), β-cell dysfunction and hyperinsulinaemia across tertiles of dietary patterns, with adjustment for potential confounding variables. Setting Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Subjects Iranian men and women (n 904). Results Mean age of participants was 38·7 (sd 11·3) years and 44·6 % were men. Major dietary patterns were Western, traditional and healthy, which explained 25·2 % of total variance in food intake. There was a positive association between Western and traditional scores with 3-year change in 2h-SG, while the healthy pattern was negatively related to 3-year changes in FSG, 2h-SG, FSI and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance. Highest compared with the lowest tertile of the Western dietary pattern was accompanied by a higher risk for development of IGT (OR=3·09; 95 % CI 1·28, 7·50); a higher score on the healthy dietary pattern was associated with a significantly reduced risk of hyperinsulinaemia (OR=0·53; 95 % CI 0·28, 0·94). Conclusions Our findings showed that adherence to a Western dietary pattern may be a risk factor for the development of IGT, while a healthy dietary pattern may prevent hyperinsulinaemia.


In the present publication, authors have analyzed the results of using sonodynamic and sono-photodynamic therapy with photosensitizing agents of various classes (hematoporphyrin, 5-aminolevulinic acid, chlorin derivatives, etc.) in experimental oncology. In a number of in vitro and in vivo studies, the high antitumor efficacy of the above treatment methods has been proven. Ultrasonic treatment with a pulse frequency of 1–3 MHz and an intensity of 0.7 to 5 W/cm2, independently and in combination with photo-irradiation of experimental tumors, can significantly improve the cytotoxic properties of photosensitizers. This became the basis for testing the methods in patients with malignant neoplasms of various localizations. Scientists from South-East Asia presented the preliminary results of the use of sonodynamic and sono-photodynamic therapy with photosensitizers in the treatment of malignant pathology of the mammary gland, stomach, esophagus, prostate, lung and brain. Analysis of the obtained data indicates the absence of serious adverse events and an increase in the antitumor efficacy of treatment, which included these treatment methods with chlorin-type photosensitizers.


In this paper, we compare the architectural perspectives of the Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) 3D-audio algorithm mapped on three different platforms: a General Purpose Processor (GPP), a Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Previous related work reveals that, up to now, WFS sound systems are based on standard PCs. However, on one hand, contemporary GPUs consist of many multiprocessors that can process data concurrently. On the other hand, recent FPGAs provide huge level of parallelism, and reasonably high performance potentials, which can be exploited very efficiently by smart designers. Furthermore, new parallel programming environments, such as the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) from NVidia and the Stream from ATI, give to the researchers full access to the GPU resources. We use the CUDA to map the WFS kernel on a GeForce 8600GT GPU. Additionally, we implement a reconfigurable and scalable hardware accelerator for the same kernel, and map it onto Virtex4 FPGAs. We compare both architectural approaches against a baseline GPP implementation on a Pentium D at 3.4 GHz. Our conclusion is that in highly demanding WFS-based audio systems, a low-cost GeForce 8600GT desktop GPU can achieve a speedup of up to 8x comparing to a modern Pentium D implementation. An FPGA-based WFS hardware accelerator consisting of a single rendering unit (RU), can provide a speedup of up 10x comparing to the Pentium D approach. It can fit into small FPGAs and consumes approximately 3 Watts. Furthermore, cascading multiple RUs into a larger FPGA, can boost processing throughput up to more than two orders of magnitude higher than a GPP-based implementation and an order of magnitude better than a low-cost GPU one.


As initiators of product creation, industrial designers are expected to facilitate the communication of the products' physical and non-physical attributes to users in a selfexplanatory way. In other words, the products that they create should "afford" conversation with their intended users using the visual semantics and symbolic language of the design. "Cultural affordance" refers to the perceived possibilities for interacting with a particular object or environment in the physical world, which could be directly or indirectly influenced by the cultures of both the users and the designers. The influential norms within one's social group and day-today lifestyle can be significant determinants of how an individual would comprehend and use a designed object. Our own mental models, formed through years of living within a society, also shape our expectations of how to engage with a product. Thus if we want products to afford usability and to facilitate a pleasurable involvement, then designers should design with an inclusive understanding of the user's culture, experiences and knowledge. This paper concludes with a proposal for a full-semester subject, suggested to inculcate among young industrial designers the sensitivity to the close links between design and culture.


Background Previous studies investigating the association between X-ray repair cross-complementation group 1(XRCC1) polymorphisms and cervical cancer (CC) risk has provided inconsistent results. The aim of our study was to assess the association between the XRCC1 gene Arg399Gln, Arg194Trp, Arg280His polymorphisms and risk of CC. Methods Two investigators independently searched the Medline, Embase, CNKI, and Chinese Biomedicine Databases for studies published before March 2011.Summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for XRCC1 polymorphisms and CC were calculated in a fixed-effects model or a random-effects model when appropriate. Results Ultimately, 9, 5 and 2 studies were found to be eligible for meta-analyses of Arg399Gln, Arg194Trp and Arg280His, respectively. Our analysis suggested that the variant genotypes of Arg194Trp were associated with a significantly increased CC risk (Trp/Trp vs Arg/Arg, OR = 2.21, 95% CI = 1.60–3.06; Arg/Trp vs Arg/Arg, OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.02–1.49; dominant model, OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.14–1.63; recessive model, OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.51–2.82). For Arg280His polymorphism, no obvious associations were found for all genetic models. For Arg399Gln polymorphism, also no obvious associations were found for all genetic models. In the subgroup analyses by ethnicity/country, a significantly increased risk was observed among Asian, especially among Chinese. To get more precise evidences, adjusted ORs (95%CI) by potential confounders (such as age, ethnicity or smoking, etc) were also calculated for XRCC1 Arg399Gln and Arg194Trp, however, the estimated pooled adjusted OR still did not change at all. Conclusion This meta-analysis suggests that Arg194Trp polymorphism may be associated with CC risk, Arg399Gln polymorphism might be a low-penetrent risk factor for CC only in Asians, and there may be no association between Arg280His polymorphism and CC risk.


Schiff base ligand derived from condensation of 2-aminothiophenol and 2‑thiophenecarboxyldehyde was synthesized and used for the preparation of Ni(II) and Cd(II) complexes. The synthesized ligand and complexes were analyzed by decomposition temperature, solubility, magnetic susceptibility, molar conductance and infrared spectra. The decomposition temperatures of the complexes are 212 and 221°C. Molar conductance values are 16.12 and 12.60 ohm-1cm2mol-1 respectively. New bands appeared in the IR spectra of the complexes in the range of 519 - 475 cm-1 and 462 - 448 cm-1 which indicate υ (M - N) and υ (M - S) vibrations respectively. Magnetic susceptibility measurement indicated that Ni (II) complex is paramagnetic whileCd(II) complex is diamagnetic. The solubility test revealed that all complexes and ligand are soluble in DMSO. The analytical data show the formation of 2:1 metal to ligand ratio for all complexes and suggested the formula [ML2].nH2O. The ligand and metal chelates have been studied for microbial activity using well diffusion method against selected bacteria and fungi. The results signify that Ni(II) and Cd(II) metal complexes inhibit more compared with Schiff base ligand against the same test organisms.


Reinforcement learning is considered to be a strong AI paradigm which can be used to teach machines through interaction with the environment and learning from their mistakes, but it has not yet been successfully used for automotive applications. There has recently been a revival of interest in the topic, however, driven by the ability of deep learning algorithms to learn good representations of the environment. Motivated by Google DeepMind's successful demonstrations of learning for games from Breakout to Go, we will propose different methods for autonomous driving using deep reinforcement learning. This is of particular interest as it is difficult to pose autonomous driving as a supervised learning problem as it has a strong interaction with the environment including other vehicles, pedestrians and roadworks. As this is a relatively new area of research for autonomous driving, we will formulate two main categories of algorithms: 1) Discrete actions category, and 2) Continuous actions category. For the discrete actions category, we will deal with Deep Q-Network Algorithm (DQN) while for the continuous actions category, we will deal with Deep Deterministic Actor Critic Algorithm (DDAC). In addition to that, We will also discover the performance of these two categories on an open source car simulator for Racing called (TORCS) which stands for The Open Racing car Simulator. Our simulation results demonstrate learning of autonomous maneuvering in a scenario of complex road curvatures and simple interaction with other vehicles. Finally, we explain the effect of some restricted conditions, put on the car during the learning phase, on the convergence time for finishing its learning phase.


This paper presents a new approach for PID-controller tuning based on the requirements of power station processes. It uses a novel optimization procedure based on four power process-oriented criteria. A new approach for transfer function identification of process models is also proposed as a robustness basis for the PID-control design. The tuning of PID controllers implemented on Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) steam power plant processes provides sufficiently good settings for these controller parameters and illustrates industrial applications of this approach.


Vagal afferents project directly or indirectly to several brain areas. In urethane-anesthetized and bilaterally vagotomized rats, either procaine injection into the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) or beta-endorphin antiserum injection into the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVL) markedly decreased the depressor (DpV) and bradycardia response to stimulation of cervical vagal afferents, while propranolol (or beta-endorphin antiserum) injection into the nucleus paraventricularis and procaine injection into the area postrema had no significant effect. In left vagotomized rats, the DpV remained unchanged after methyl atropine (i.v), but the bradycardia response during the DpV was attenuated. Since our previous study has shown the NTS can induce a depressor response via its beta-endorphinergic projections to RVL, the above results suggest that the inhibitory effect of vagal afferents on the RVL-sympathoexcitatory neurons via NTS beta-endorphinergic neurons represents one aspect of the mechanism underlying DpV.


Abstract Background: Ward rounds represent an important task in clinical settings. Despite their importance, students show substantial deficits in ward round competencies (e.g. physical examination, drug prescription, documentation). Previously reported teaching methods such as ward round training with standardized patients or educational wards, however, are time-consuming and expensive. Aims: To assess the effects of a structured on-ward supervision program for final-year students with specially trained supervising doctors focusing on ward round competencies. Method: A total of 36 medical students were randomly assigned to an intervention group (IG) and a control group (CG). During an eight-week-long training course, the intervention group (IG; n = 18) received structured ward round training while the control group (CG; n = 18) received on-ward training regarding how to take patient histories and perform physical examinations. Ward round competencies were assessed using simulated ward round scenarios with objective checklist ratings and standardized patient ratings. Results: The IG achieved significantly more predefined learning goals compared to the CG. Standardized patient ratings did not differ significantly between groups. Conclusions: Results provide evidence that the presented program is a feasible and efficient tool for teaching ward round skills at the bedside. Further research should focus on cost effectiveness compared to alternative models.


Background Severity of injury, as a measure of hazardous product consequences, is an essential aspect in the product safety risk assessment process. Moreover, the extent of product involvement in an injury event is also fundamental in order to determine the causality and preventability of the injury. While injury severity can be examined using coded injury data, product involvement is often omitted as coded data are limited to inform the level of product involvement in an injury event. However, text narratives data collected in emergency departments can potentially provide relevant product information. The study aimed to examine the severity of injuries and extent of product involvement in paediatric injuries in emergency department (ED) based injury surveillance data. Methods A total of 7,743 paediatric injury cases were randomly selected from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit database and were manually reviewed and categorised according to the level of product involvement using the Product Involvement Factor classification system. Injury severity in these categories was then examined based on triage category and admission rate. Results Overall, 44% of all reviewed cases were associated with at least one type of consumer product. Based on the triage scoring, product-related injuries had a lower proportion of high severity injuries compared to non-product injuries. Within the product-related groups, injuries associated with high intrinsic risk products had the highest proportion of high severity injuries based on triage scoring (8%) and injuries associated with maladapted or misused products had the highest admission rate after the emergency treatment (20%). Conclusions The urgency of injuries and the need for further treatment as severity measures vary depending on the level of product involvement. This highlights the need to account for product involvement and injury severity in order to inform a better understanding of product-related injuries in product safety prioritizations. Hence, emergency department data should be utilised to support product safety initiatives.


Author(s): Parker, Philip Ross Lutton | Advisor(s): Kreitzer, Anatol C | Abstract: The basal ganglia are an evolutionarily conserved set of nuclei that are crucial for context-dependent learning and selection of appropriate behavioral outputs. The striatum is considered the input nucleus of the basal ganglia because it not only receives the bulk of excitatory synaptic drive from sources outside the basal ganglia, but also contains two populations of medium spiny neurons that give rise to the direct and indirect basal ganglia pathways. The activity of direct and indirect pathway medium spiny neurons (dMSNs and iMSNs) is sufficient to promote or suppress behavioral output, respectively. Changes in synaptic strength at excitatory inputs to MSNs are thought to underlie context-dependent learning, whereas the acute modulation of MSN intrinsic excitability affects motivation or vigor of an ongoing behavior. Previous research has revealed that the neuromodulator dopamine appears to be in a unique position to exert both acute and chronic modulatory effects over MSNs and their excitatory inputs. The differential expression of Gs-coupled D1 and Gi-coupled D2 receptors by dMSNs and iMSNs, respectively, results in opposing changes in direct and indirect pathway function with changes in striatal dopamine levels. However, previous technical limitations have restricted the study of dopamine's acute actions in the striatum and the long-term effects of dopamine on MSN subtypes and excitatory inputs of distinct origins. Here we use recently developed optogenetic and chemogenetic techniques combined with behavior and ex vivo brain slice electrophysiology to study the mechanisms of acute and chronic dopamine signaling in MSNs and their excitatory inputs. In Chapter One, we review the evidence for the dual-pathway model of basal ganglia function and its modulation by dopamine in the context of controlling behavioral output. In Chapter Two, we perform an electrophysiological comparison of common optogenetic proteins to determine the optimal tool for our experiments. We then use optogenetic control of dopamine release to show specific modulation of dMSN intrinsic excitability and D1-mediated invigoration of behavior in Chapter Three. In Chapter Four, we provide evidence that the chronic loss of dopamine in Parkinson's disease results in a reorganization of the thalamostriatal system that has negative outcomes on motor control. Finally, we discuss the overarching implications of these findings in the context of basal ganglia function in health and disease in Chapter Five. These findings not only represent a long overdue reevaluation of the assumptions surrounding the role of dopamine in striatal function, but also provide new testable hypotheses addressing the cellular and synaptic bases of an evolutionarily conserved system for the dynamic regulation of ethologically relevant behaviors.


Two opposite parties in the debate about modernity, the postmodernists and the modernists, share a common concern, Holocaust, which in both cases serves as a reference of almost absolute evil in modern history. Its interpretation, however, varies. Postmodern Zygmunt Bauman, focusing tendencies of repression instead of justice or welfare in the process of modernization, explains Holocaust as a product of modernity. After accounting for Bauman's position, the volkisch and romantic roots of Nazi ideology are reviewed, presenting a different picture. Various interpretations of the relationship of Nazism to modernization are contrasted, ending up in Jeffrey Herf's concept of "reactionary modernism", which underlines the peculiar synthesis of technique-affirmation and romantic anti-modernism in Nazi ideology. A critique of Bauman's postmodernistic position concludes, infering that the German disaster was due to "too little" institutionalized Enlightenment. Modernization meant the loss of a unified worldview and of traditional authority. God was overthrown. To affirm modernity hence means to accept these losses, implicating that society has to find its normativity through processes of free political will-formation. This did not happen in Nazi Germany, where normativity was placed in an ideological sphere characterized by sacredness. Holocaust resulted from the collaps of the project of modernity.


Though overhaul of adoption laws across the United States has been nearly universal, there is still no uniformity among the states in approach to voluntary relinquishment of parental rights: the very issue at the heart of the controversial cases that sparked reform. This Note attempts to track the development of domestic adoption laws as they affect birthparent consent in infant adoptions, the competing policies driving these developments, and the way states have attempted to reconcile that friction. Part I of this Note provides an underpinning of adoption terminology by outlining the actors involved, the basic elements required for infant adoption in the United States, and how birthparent consent fits in the mix. Part II gives a brief historical background of adoption statutes in the United States, including more recent attempts at uniformity in adoption laws across the fifty states. In Part III, this Note addresses competing policy interests and the friction that arises among the dueling rights of the various actors in the adoption process. Part III also attempts to grasp a firm definition of the ever-elusive "best interests of the child" standard, taking the position that the child's interest in stability and permanency must be the ultimate goal of the law in the adoption context. Part IV categorizes current statutes across the fifty states into three distinct groups, drawing heavily on data compiled in APPENDIX A concerning certain identified criteria in each state's adoption laws. Finally, Part V proposes a model statute that falls squarely into the most conservative of these categories, balancing the interests and rights of the various actors with the best interests of the child being held paramount. The proposal argues, first, for only a very brief delay of birthparent consent after the child's birth and, second, for no subsequent revocation period. Though the primary purpose of this limitation is stability for the child, this Note will show that this design best serves each of the other actors as well.


Indonesia as a megabiodiversity country have to explore biodiversity from the ecosystem level to genetic variations to avoid loss of them. Parijoto is ones of Indonesian plant used for ornamental plants and medicine. Parijoto included in genus of Medinilla . Ten species has been identified scattered on the mountains of Java. There are two cultivated species ( Medinilla javanensis and M. verrucosa) in Muria mountainous, Central Java.Both of them have similar morphological character, therefore they often make confuses. On the other side, the genetic information of them is needed. Hence, on the level of gene is necessary to identify M. javanensis and M. verrucosa by molecular markers. The purposes of identification using molecular markers are to distinguish both of two spesies and get their genetic information. Identification on a level genes carried by variation sequence of DNA ( polymorphism ) between M. javanensis and M. verrucosa . Method of Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) and Random Amplified Polymorphism DNA (RAPD) are usefull to identify genetic variation between organisms. The use of them should show polymorphism after observed using electrophoresis method. The appearance of polymorphism shows variations on the genetic level to strength the identification through morphological character. Result of the research will be applied as a learning material of high school students to explain genetic diversity. Students expected to understand genetic variations not only as an image on book, but in contextual way. Keywords : medinilla , RFLP, RAPD, learning material


A simulation tool (EcoSim) has been developed to analyse the economic and environmental aspects of the integration of several energy conversion units. For a given investment over 25 years, the tool calculates the self-consumption rate, the autonomy level, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and the CO2 emissions. A neighbourhood is modelled using the Rhino software. Then the dynamic simulation software, CitySim Pro, determines the hourly energy demand and solar PV generation. Finally, the techno-economic and environmental parameters are calculated using EcoSim. For this neighbourhood located in Basel, the self-consumption rate is maximised by combining solar PV and battery. With the sale of locally produced electricity to the residents of the neighbourhood, we have shown that the implementation of such a self-consumption community leads to a more economically profitable situation as compared to the current case where electricity is bought from an industrial company.


Background: Of young people with first episode psychosis (FEP), over half report exposure to childhood trauma and consequent co-morbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or symptoms. Currently no evidence-based interventions exist for PTSD in FEP. Clinicians report concerns that trauma-focused interventions with young people with FEP could result in distress and symptom exacerbation. Scant research suggests that talking about trauma in therapy can be distressing for some people. Aims: To explore young people's reactions to a trauma-focused treatment for PTSD in FEP. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants (age 18–27 years) with co-morbid PTSD and FEP, after completing a trauma-focused intervention. Transcripts were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach. Participants' baseline and end-of-treatment PTSD and psychotic symptoms were assessed. Results: Three themes related to participants' reactions were identified from the analysis: (1) distress in session; (2) feeling relieved in and out of session; and (3) symptom exacerbation out of session. All but one participant reported experiencing increased distress in session. Four participants described PTSD, psychotic symptoms and/or suicidal ideation worsening in immediate reaction to talking about trauma in therapy sessions. 86% of participants showed improvement in their PTSD and psychotic symptoms at end of treatment. All participants described the intervention as beneficial and worthwhile. Conclusions: Results suggest that feelings of distress are to be expected from individuals with PTSD and FEP during trauma-focused treatment. Psychotic and PTSD symptom exacerbation can occur in PTSD treatment in FEP. Clinicians should be aware of, plan for, and clearly inform their clients of treatment risks.


Background: Although many hospital readmission reduction initiatives have been introduced globally, health care systems ultimately aim to improve patients' health and well-being. We examined whether the hospitals that report greater success in reducing readmissions also see greater improvements in patient-reported outcomes. Research Design: We examined hospital groups (Trusts) that provided hip replacement or knee replacement surgery in England between April 2010 and February 2013. For each Trust, we calculated risk-adjusted 30-day readmission rates from administrative datasets. We also obtained changes in patient-reported health between presurgical assessment and 6-month follow-up, using general health EuroQuol five dimensions questionaire (EQ-5D) and EuroQuol visual analogue scales (EQ-VAS) and procedure-specific (Oxford Hip and Knee Scores) measures. Panel models were used to assess whether changes over time in risk-adjusted readmission rates were associated with changes over time in risk-adjusted health gains. Results: Each percentage point reduction in the risk-adjusted readmission rate for hip replacement was associated with an additional health gain of 0.004 for EQ-5D [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.002–0.006], 0.39 for EQ-VAS (95% CI, 0.26–0.52), and 0.32 for Oxford Hip Score (95% CI, 0.15–0.27). Corresponding figures for knee replacement were 0.003 for EQ-5D (95% CI, 0.001–0.004), 0.21 for EQ-VAS (95% CI, 0.12–0.30), and 0.14 in the Oxford Knee Score (95% CI, 0.09–0.20). Conclusions: Reductions in readmission rates were associated with modest improvements in patients' sense of their health and well-being at the hospital group level. In particular, fears that efforts to reduce readmission rates have had unintended consequences for patients appear to be unfounded.


This paper introduces new scan statistics for multivariate functional data indexed in space. The new methods are derivated from a MANOVA test statistic for functional data, an adaptation of the Hotelling T2-test statistic, and a multivariate extension of the Wilcoxon rank-sum test statistic. In a simulation study, the latter two methods present very good performances and the adaptation of the functional MANOVA also shows good performances for a normal distribution. Our methods detect more accurate spatial clusters than an existing nonparametric functional scan statistic. Lastly we applied the methods on multivariate functional data to search for spatial clusters of abnormal daily concentrations of air pollutants in the north of France in May and June 2020.


Australia's food security is partially attributable to extensive irrigation networks, drawing on major rivers and groundwater resources, particularly in the arid Murray-Darling Basin. However, a history of overallocation and protracted drought has forced caps on extractions, reallocation of water to alternative uses, and contraction of irrigation networks. Agreements between the federal and state governments paved the way for an attempt to centralise water allocation frameworks, and an attempt to integrate water management through an overarching Murray-Darling Basin Plan. This paper considers the contentious development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which proposes deep cuts to irrigation extraction in some irrigation regions. Outrage at the perceived failure of the Plan to balance environmental, social and economic priorities has forced its deferral, and the management of the Murray-Darling Basin and the development and implementation of the Basin Plan has been referred to a Senate Standing Committee on Rural Affairs and Transport. The Committee's terms of reference illustrate the tension between the environmental and food production demands on water in the Basin – the Committee is tasked in particular with the assessment of the implications of the proposed plan for agriculture and food production, sustainable productivity and viability, and the social and economic impacts of the proposed changes. In particular, this paper draws upon the experience of the development of the Plan to assess the Australia's capacity to develop a useful conception of balance between environmental and food production uses of water.


The aim of research is to describe the weakness basic pattern of Danckaerts system on a short fat woman, how to fix the weaknesses of Danckaerts basic pattern system on a short fat woman and the adjustment one short fat woman. Then the kind of research is applied research. The object research is a basic pattern of Danckaerts system which it tailored to the short fat woman. The rated by 5 panelists the result who is experts in the field of pattern. The instrument used a questionnaire with Likert scale. Techique of analysis use descriptive statistics in the form of the calculation formula porsentase and SPSS. The results showed that the basic pattern adjustment Danckaerts system on a short fat woman is classified into categories is in accordance with the achievement scores by 95% of respondents. Key words : Adjustment, basic pattern of Danckaerts system


We present field data on the effects of heavy rainfall after drought on the mobility of glyphosate and redox conditions in a clayey floodplain soil. By applying glyphosate together with deuterated water as conservative tracer in combination with time resolved in situ redox potential measurements, the spatial and temporal patterns of water infiltration and pesticide transport as well as the concomitant changes of the redox conditions were revealed. Our findings demonstrate that shrinkage cracks in dry soils can serve as effective transport paths for atmospheric oxygen, water and glyphosate. The rain intensity of a typical summer storm event (approx. 25 mm within one hour) was sufficient to translocate deuterated water and glyphosate to the subsoil (50 cm) within 2 hours. Soil wetting induced partial closure of the shrinkage cracks and stimulated microbial activity resulting in pronounced dynamics of in situ soil redox conditions. Redox potentials in 40 to 50 cm depth dropped permanently to strongly reducing conditions within hours to days but fluctuated between reducing and oxidizing conditions in 10 to 30 cm depth. Our findings highlight the close link between the presence of macropores (shrinkage cracks), heavy rainfall after drought, redox dynamics and pesticide translocation to the subsoil and thus call for further studies addressing the effects of dynamic redox conditions as a limiting factor for glyphosate degradation.


Thousands of chemically distinct compounds are encountered in fossil oil samples that require rapid screening and accurate identification. In the present paper, we show for the first time, the advantages of gas chromatography (GC) separation in combination with atmospheric-pressure laser ionization (APLI) and ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) for the screening of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in fossil oils. In particular, reference standards of organics in shale oil, petroleum crude oil, and heavy sweet crude oil were characterized by GC-APLI-FT-ICR MS and APLI-FT-ICR MS. Results showed that, while APLI increases the ionization efficiency of PAHs, when compared to other ionization sources, the complexity of the fossil oils reduces the probability of ionizing lower-concentration compounds during direct infusion. When gas chromatography precedes APLI-FT-ICR MS, an increase (more than 2-fold) in the ionization efficiency and an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio of lower-concentration fractions are observed, giving better molecular coverage in the m/z 100-450 range. That is, the use of GC prior to APLI-FT-ICR MS resulted in higher molecular coverage, higher sensitivity, and the ability to separate and characterize molecular isomers, while maintaining the ultrahigh resolution and mass accuracy of the FT-ICR MS separation.


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most malignant human tumors, with a uniformly poor outcome. One obstacle in curing malignant brain tumors is the limitation of conventional light microscopy in detecting microscopic residual tumor in biopsy samples from the perimeter of the surgically resected tumor. We further refined the identification of GBM tumor tissue at the sub-cellular level, utilising the technique of Synchrotron, sourced mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectromicroscopy. Paired, thin (5 microm) cryosections of snap-frozen human GBM tumor samples removed at elective surgery were mounted on glass slides (hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue section) and calcium fluoride (CaF2) windows (unstained tissue section for transmission spectromicroscopy), respectively. Concordance of tumor bearing areas identified in the stained section with the unstained IR tissue section was confirmed by the pathologist of the study. Compared with molecular signatures obtained from normal control brain tissue, unique spectroscopic patterns were detected in GBM tumor samples from 6 patients. The identifying features of GBM were: i) high protein-to-lipid ratios (amide I+II/CH2 symmetric stretch; amide I+II/CH2+CH3 symmetric and asymmetric stretch), and ii) considerable enhancement of the intensities of characteristic peaks at 2,957 and 2,871 cm(-1) representing CH3 asymmetric and symmetric stretch, respectively. Spectral data sets were subjected to Ward's algorithm for assignment to similar groups, and then subjected to hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) by means of false color digital maps. False color images of 5 clusters obtained by HCA identified dominant clusters corresponding to tumor tissue. Corroboration of these findings in a larger number of GBM may allow for more precise identification of these and other types of brain tumors.


A pulse-height spectroscopic technique is used to measure the linear attenuation coefficients of commercially available composite phantom materials designed to simulate the attenuation characteristics of breast fat and breast glandular tissue. The manufacturers have specified the composition of these materials with the goal of matching the linear attenuation coefficients of breast tissues, calculated using the mixture rule. Over the energy range 18 to 100 keV, measurements from these materials are in close agreement with manufacturers' predictions and with previously measured linear attenuation coefficients of breast tissue samples.


The cover reverse construction excavation is one of the important construction methods which is used in digging extra-deep foundation system of underground continuous wall supporting. The earth pressure distribution and deformation is distinct from different construction methods. Even if the Construction methods and computer program is homogeneous, the earth pressure and deformation of the calculated showed various results because of different test parameters and different constitutive models, Through the application of practical engineering, The appropriate calculation parameters and constitutive model are found out in Abaqus program which is suitable for earth pressure and deformation of the diaphragm wall in the soft soil area.


This paper assesses the role of financial frictions and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on an economy´s growth rate, business cycle volatility, and firm´s capital structure. We gauge these effects within the Financial Accelerator framework, where entrepreneurs can establish affiliates of local firms abroad through Foreign Direct Investment. Model simulations suggest that in the presence of credit market imperfections FDI is associated with faster growth, less leverage, and lower aggregate volatility. These features are consistent with the macroeconomic dynamics of the more globally integrated economies over the last three decades.


A growing body of work charts and explicates the way participants in interactions constitute the context and their respective identities as 'institutional' through differences in a number of dimensions to 'everyday' talk. The role played by stories, particularly non-canonical or 'small stories', in this context-creating and identity-orientating work has been largely overlooked, although there is an expanding collection of studies into the affordances offered by different narrative types in terms of identity performance. Building on and combining existing research into institutional interaction on the one hand and narrative and identity on the other, the research discussed here starts to address the gap identified. Using fine-grained linguistic analysis and drawing on narrative positioning theory in a detailed analysis of two narratives recorded as part of a wider study, this paper aims to explicate the way participants — in this case guides in a working visitor attraction — may use different narrative types to orientate to their institutionally-ascribed identity of 'guide'. The paper also highlights the benefits in terms of added nuance and depth of interpretation to be gained from using the tools of narrative analysis in investigating institutional contexts and identity.


Pharmacogenetics is considered as a prime example of how personalized medicine nowadays can be put into practice. However, genotyping to guide pharmacological treatment is relatively uncommon in the routine clinical practice. Several reasons can be found why the application of pharmacogenetics is less than initially anticipated, which include the contradictory results obtained for certain variants and the lack of guidelines for clinical implementation. However, more reproducible results are being generated, and efforts have been made to establish working groups focussing on evidence-based clinical guidelines. For another pharmacogenetic hurdle, the speed by which a pharmacogenetic profile for a certain drug can be obtained in an individual patient, there has been a revolution in molecular genetics through the introduction of next generation sequencing (NGS), making it possible to sequence a large number of genes up to the complete genome in a single reaction. Besides the enthusiasm due to the tremendous increase of our sequencing capacities, several considerations need to be made regarding quality and interpretation of the sequence data as well as ethical aspects of this technology. This paper will focus on the different NGS applications that may be useful for pharmacogenomics in children and the challenges that they bring on.


Zambia is faced with a widening gap in the provision of education between urban and rural areas. E-Learning also known as online learning maybe the solution to the learning and teaching challenges experienced in rural Zambia. These challenges include among many others, the lack of qualified teachers and ICT infrastructure to provide interactive learning. Although rural areas in Zambia are lagging behind in terms of ICT infrastructure as compared to urban,our research showed that the number of people using mobile computing devices in both rural and urban Zambiahas grown significantly. The nature of these mobile devices makes wireless networks the easiest solution for their interconnection. This paper proposes the use of wireless ad hoc networks to provide e-Learning for people in rural and remote areas of Zambia. In our proposed system, wireless Ad hoc networks will be used for the dissemination of various types of educational data. Each of the villages or rural area should have at least a Telecentre (acts as a sink) which is equipped with computers including multimedia for storing acquired data. The necessary educational information could manually be entered into these computers. People in rural areas could then get access to this information by wirelessly connecting their mobile devices to the computers in the Telecentres. This will in turn bridge the gap between people of rural and urban Zambia and be able to provide education to the majority of Zambians in an interactive way.


Access to higher education is only a first step in achieving equity in education; the following step is improving student retention, or lowering dropout rates, which is the same thing. The present study focused on the definition of an index as an estimator of the risk of individuals dropping out of a university using a Markov chain model, based on the randomness of the occurrence of dropping out. The suggested index was applied to a sample of 5,700 university students from the 2012-2015 annual cohorts of 8 university departments of a public regional university in Chile. The results indicate that the highest average probability of dropping out (slightly more than 39%) occurs in the first 2 semesters of university studies, and then decreases through time. This indicates the need for institutional retention policies that pay particular attention to the first year of university studies. Having this index also allows a formal estimation of changes or temporary variations in the risk, as well as quantifying the impact of interventions, not only for the case under study but for the entire higher education system.


Prevalence of iron deficiency states (IDS) is high in Russia and all over the world. To reveal the peculiarities of this pathology epidemiologic studies were fulfilled in Siberia and the Far North. Iron found indices, prevalence and risk factors of IDS were studied in three regions: in Novosibirsk--a big industrial city, in Mountain Altai--where Native people--Altai-Kigi--live, and in Chukotka--in two villages where Eskimoes and Chukchi live. Regularity of increasing content of hemoglobin and erythrocyte from the South to the North was marked as well as low iron found indices in Ckukotka population. Prevalence of iron deficiency states in three regions is high--every third woman has iron deficiency. Index of iron deficiency progression is different in these regions. In the Far North there are more latent iron deficiency states, in Mountain Altai--there are more anemias. IDS development is caused by a complex of risk factors with ethnic variations in different regions. Long period of lactation, frequent deliveries and less number of abortions are found in Mountain Altai and Chukotka as compared to Novosibirsk. Changing diet and weakening of ethnic traditions, especially in the North, are additional risk factors for IDS development. The received data made it possible to carry out IDS prevention measures in different regions of Russia.


We investigated moult strategies in Loggerhead Shrikes by examining first prebasic or preformative moult patterns and by assessing the general location where individual feathers were grown using stable hydrogen isotope (δ2H) analysis. We tested the relative importance of factors known to impact moult timing and pattern, including age, sex, body size, food availability and migration. Migratory Shrikes showed evidence of suspended moult, in which feathers are moulted on both the breeding and the non-breeding grounds with a suspension of moult during migration. Extent of moult was best explained by sex, longitude, migratory behaviour and breeding-ground latitude. Male Hatch Year (HY) Shrikes replaced more feathers on the breeding grounds prior to migration than did HY females and moulted more extensively on the breeding grounds than did females. Non-migratory HY Shrikes underwent a more extensive preformative moult than migratory HY Shrikes. Individuals in more southerly migratory populations moulted more extensively on the breeding grounds than did those breeding further north. Our data also indicate that individuals in the northeastern populations moulted more extensively on the breeding grounds than did those in the north and southwest. Our study underlines the complex structure and variation in moult possible within species, revealing surprising levels of differentiation between sexes and age cohorts, linked to environmental factors on the breeding grounds. Our study highlights the utility of an intrinsic marker, specifically δ2H analysis, to test hypotheses regarding the evolutionary and ecological forces driving moult. Although the methodology has not commonly been applied to this area of research, our results indicate that it can provide unprecedented insight into inter- and intra-specific adaptive response to constraints, whereby individuals maximize fitness.


The presented study concerns the influence of the syllabic structure on perceived prominence. We examined how gaps in the F0 contour due to unvoiced consonants affect prominence perception, given that such gaps can either be filled or blinded out by listeners. For this purpose we created a stimulus set of real disyllabic words which differed in the quantity of the vowel of the accented syllable nucleus and the types of subsequent intervocalic consonant(s). Results include, inter alia, that stimuli with unvoiced gaps in the F0 contour are indeed perceived as less prominent. The prominence reduction is smaller for monotonous stimuli than for stimuli with F0 excursions across the accented syllable. Moreover, in combination with F0 excursions, it also mattered whether F0 had to be interpolated or extrapolated, and whether or not the gap included a fricative sound. The results support both the filling-in and blinding-out of F0 gaps, which fits in well with earlier experiments on the production and perception of pitch.


Abstract Recently, nanotechnology has been effectively used in the field of road pavement. Oxidation and aging of asphalt cause deterioration of road pavements and increase asphalt-related emissions. We propose an anti-aging strategy to interrupt the asphalt deterioration by using engineered clay/fumed silica nanocomposites. In this research, the morphological, chemical, thermal, mechanical, and rheological properties of nano-modified asphalt binders are meticulously analyzed in various conditions. The experiment results proved that this composite efficiently disrupts the chemical oxidation and decomposition in the mixture and reduces the aging rate. Remarkably, asphalt binder rheology experiments revealed that the addition of 0.2–0.3 wt% of nano-reinforced materials maximized their rheological resistance after short- and long-term aging. Moreover, nanoparticles improve the moisture resistance efficiency and in turn overcome the critical issue of moisture in low production temperature within the framework of warm mix asphalt technology. This cost-effective, facile, and scalable approach in warm mix asphalt mixtures can contribute to increased sustainability and lifespan of pavements and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Graphical abstract


We address the problem of real-time streaming applications scheduling on hybrid CPU/FPGA architectures. The main contribution is a two-step approach to minimize the buffer requirement for streaming applications with throughput guarantees. A novel declarative way of constraint based scheduling for real-time hybrid SW/HW systems is proposed, while the application throughput is guaranteed by periodic phases in execution. We use a voice-band modem application to exemplify the scheduling capabilities of our method. The experimental results show the advantages of our techniques in both less buffer requirement and higher throughput guarantees compared to the traditional PAPS method.


Quick Response (QR) code is one of the most worldwide used two-dimensional codes.~Traditional QR codes appear as random collections of black-and-white modules that lack visual semantics and aesthetic elements, which inspires the recent works to beautify the appearances of QR codes. However, these works adopt fixed generation algorithms and therefore can only generate QR codes with a pre-defined style. In this paper, combining the Neural Style Transfer technique, we propose a novel end-to-end method, named ArtCoder, to generate the stylized QR codes that are personalized, diverse, attractive, and scanning-robust.~To guarantee that the generated stylized QR codes are still scanning-robust, we propose a Sampling-Simulation layer, a module-based code loss, and a competition mechanism. The experimental results show that our stylized QR codes have high-quality in both the visual effect and the scanning-robustness, and they are able to support the real-world application.


The integration of the European economies through the completion of the single or internal market (IM) is one of the most solid pillars of the European policy-making. Nevertheless, near twenty years after the «1992» IM programme, the IM still presents shadows in its performance as well as areas to be completed that had prevented the IM to exploit all its potential for enhancing competitiveness and growth in Europe, in spite of the undeniable micro and macro-economic positive results already achieved. These weaknesses and «missing links», together with the new economic and political context (economic crisis and arrival of the new Commission, which has just launched the new Strategy for European growth «Europe 2020») have moved in 2010 to a process of political relaunching of the IM, called to culminate in 2012, surrounded by a much more complex and less favourable to integration context than the situation prevailing in 1985 when the «1992» programme was launched.


AbstractWe present the details of a numerical model simulating the migration of pressurized air used for pneumatic drilling of a well in an aquifer. We used an incident that occurred in West Virginia during June 2012 as a basis for making the simulations realistic. We developed a 3D conceptual model using the multipurpose model TOUGH2 to simulate the events during this incident. Input parameters for the model were obtained from field measurements, and a number of reasonable assumptions were made for other parameters. Our results showed that compressed air from a drilling well is capable of creating a high pressure gradient in groundwater at hundreds of meters from the drill hole, even if the air leakage from the drilling well occurs in a confined aquifer, and even if the leakage duration is only 2 h. Therefore, one way to prevent the pressure buildup in the surrounding aquifers is through emplacement of observation wells before drilling, which would alert the drillers to any unusual pressure buildup insid...


The idiom principle outlined by John Sinclair has shown how much language consists of reused formulae of a collocational and colligational nature. Resonanceseeks to look at the usage of words and expressions that have retained strong semantic prosodies from earlier usage, prosodies of which the current user may not necessarily be aware. It appears here as a very diffuse form of intertextuality with an initial move from contextual to restricted collocation followed by a gradual move to the purely formulaic. This chapter illustrates this by exploring certain key words from the New Testament to see how they have been used in the works of Shakespeare, the other most cited source in the English language, and finally how these expressions are used in the British National Corpus. Although having become almost purely formulaic, these expressions seem to retain sufficient religious resonance to give them their force.