Deep learning unlocks applications with societal impacts, e.g., detecting child exploitation imagery and genomic analysis of rare diseases. Deployment, however, needs compliance with stringent privacy regulations. Training algorithms that preserve the privacy of training data are in pressing need.

Purely cryptographic approaches can protect privacy, but they are still costly, even when they rely on two or more non-colluding servers. Seemingly-"trivial" operations in plaintext quickly become prohibitively inefficient when a series of them are "crypto-processed," e.g., (dynamic) quantization for ensuring the intermediate values would not overflow.

Slalom, recently proposed by Tramer and Boneh, is the first solution that leverages both GPU (for efficient batch computation) and a trusted execution environment (TEE) (for minimizing the use of cryptography). Roughly, it works by a lot of pre-computation over known and fixed weights, and hence it only supports private inference. Five related problems for private training are left unaddressed.

Goten, our privacy-preserving training and prediction framework, tackles all five problems simultaneously via our careful design over the "mismatched" cryptographic and GPU data types (due to the tension between precision and efficiency) and our round-optimal GPU-outsourcing protocol (hence minimizing the communication cost between servers). It 1) stochastically trains a low-bitwidth yet accurate model, 2) supports dynamic quantization (a challenge left by Slalom), 3) minimizes the memory-swapping overhead of the memory-limited TEE and its communication with GPU, 4) crypto-protects the (dynamic) model weight from untrusted GPU, and 5) outperforms a pure-TEE system, even without pre-computation (needed by Slalom). As a baseline, we build CaffeScone that secures Caffe using TEE but not GPU; Goten shows a 6.84x speed-up of the whole VGG-11. Goten also outperforms Falcon proposed by Wagh et al., the latest secure multi-server cryptographic solution, by 132.64x using VGG-11. Lastly, we demonstrate Goten's efficacy in training models for breast cancer diagnosis over sensitive images.


The ability of a cell to proliferate is integral to the normal function of most cells, and dysregulation of proliferation is at the heart of many disease processes. For these reasons, measuring proliferation is a common tool used to assess cell function. Cell proliferation can be measured simply by counting; however, this is an indirect means of measuring proliferation. One common means of directly detecting cells preparing to divide is by incorporation of labeled nucleoside analogs. These include the radioactive nucleoside analog 3H-thymidine plus non-radioactive nucleoside analogs such as 5-bromo-2' deoxyuridine (BrdU) and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU). Incorporation of EdU is detected by click chemistry, which has several advantages when compared to BrdU. In this report, we provide a protocol for measuring proliferation by the incorporation of EdU. This protocol includes options for various readouts, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. We also discuss places where the protocol can be optimized or altered to meet the specific needs of the experiment planned. Finally, we touch on the ways that this basic protocol can be modified for measuring other cell metabolites.


INTRODUCTION Since 1925, much detailed work has been done on the stratigraphy and faunas of the marine Eocene of the west coast of North America. This work is still in progress, and, undoubtedly, the conclusions presented in this paper will be modified. However, it would seem worth while to give a summary of present knowledge of the sequence of the West Coast, in order to state the problems at hand and to give the stratigrapher a better basis for recognizing the important divisions. The correlations here given are based principally upon the molluscan faunas. A considerable amount of work is now being done upon the foraminifera; undoubtedly, this will prove to be important and will serve as a check on the conclusions based upon the other fossil groups. A large proportion of the molluscan species in the marine Eocene deposits of western North America are indigenous. Many of the same . . .


Population dynamics and seasonal occurrence of adult Amphipsyche meridiana Ulmer, 1902 (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae) in an irrigation pond outlet at Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, Nakhon Pathom Province were determined, with the influence of air temperature, wind speed, precipitation and relative humidity on its population density being evaluated. Samples were collected monthly from January to December 2013 by light trapping. Monthly sampling records for adults collected were 24876, 2605, 29344, 43632, 18684, 16524, 29871, 15183, 10548, 17100, 7695 and 15678, respectively. An increase in the number of adults collected was observed from January to July with peaks of 43,632 (18.83%) in April. A remarkable decrease in the number of insects collected was observed in the months after August. There was an increase in the number of adults most influenced by the decrease in precipitation and relative humidity.


We address the problem of synthesizing safety-critical cyber-physical system architectures to minimize a cost function while guaranteeing the desired reliability. We cast the problem as an integer linear program on a reconfigurable graph which models the architecture. Since generating symbolic probability constraints by exhaustive enumeration of failure cases on all possible graph configurations takes exponential time, we propose two algorithms to decrease the problem complexity, i.e. Integer-Linear Programming Modulo Reliability (ILP-MR) and Integer-Linear Programming with Approximate Reliability (ILP-AR). We compare the two approaches and demonstrate their effectiveness on the design of aircraft electric power system architectures.


This project analyzes Two Old Women by Velma Wallis, which provides insight into how an Indigenous writer has engaged in cultural reclamation in Alaska. Based on a traditional Gwich'in story, the novel is a cautionary tale about respect for Elders and strength in community. Through theories of survivance and stewardship, I examine how Wallis's writing preserves cultural literacies, promotes cultural survival, resists colonial pressures to fully assimilate, and mediates dominant literacies. In particular, I examine how Wallis uses stories of subsistence and survival; place-specific language about animals, landscapes, and place-based activities in interior Alaska; and translanguaging between English and Gwich'in. Together, Wallis's use of story, place-based language, and translanguaging demonstrates potential tactics of stewardship as a means of preserving and promoting Gwich'in culture. Overall, Wallis' efforts of cultural revitalization align with movements toward decolonization and survivance.


Methane oxidation in the rhizosphere of wetland plants may significantly attenuate methane losses from wetland soils to the atmosphere. Our objective was to measure the extent of methane production and oxidation in the rhizosphere of a common wetland plant (Sagittaria lancifolia L. Per.). Methyl fluoride (CH{sub 3}F), a water-soluble gas and a specific inhibitor of methane oxidation, was used in conjunction with a closed chamber technique to determine rhizospheric methane oxidation in a greenhouse study. Rhizospheric methane oxidation was also estimated using a mass balance approach. Measurements of soil methane production were made using short-term anaerobic incubations of soil. Soil methane production and plant emissions of methane were inversely related to plant biomass, presumably because larger plants transported more O{sub 2} into the rhizosphere and inhibited methanogenic activity. Methane oxidation averaged 65% (SD = 24%, n = 14) as estimated by the CH{sub 3}F technique and 79% (SD = 20%, n = 14) using the mass balance approach. Methane oxidation percentage calculated by either method was not correlated to plant biomass. Results suggest that rhizospheric methane oxidation is an important attenuator of methane emissions from vegetated wetland soils. 24 refs., 4 figs.


Several laboratories have shown that methamphetamine (METH) neurotoxicity is associated with increases of nitric oxide (NO) production in striatal tissue and blockade of NO production protects from METH. Because substance P modulates NO production, we tested the hypothesis that intrinsic striatal neuropeptides such as somatostatin and neuropeptide Y (NPY) modulate striatal NO production in the presence of METH. To that end, METH (30 mg/kg, IP) was injected into adult male mice alone or in combination with pharmacological agonists or antagonists of the neurokinin-1 (substance P), somatostatin or NPY receptors and 3-nitrotyrosine (an indirect index of NO production) was assessed utilizing HPLC or a histological method. Pre-treatment with the systemic neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist WIN-51,708 significantly attenuated the METH-induced production of striatal 3-NT measured at two hours post-METH. Conversely, intrastriatal injection of NPY1 or 2 receptor agonists inhibited the METH-induced production of striatal 3-NT. Similarly, intrastriatal infusion of the somatostatin receptor agonist octreotide attenuated the METH-induced striatal production of 3-NT. Taken together, our results suggest the hypothesis that the neuropeptide substance P is pro-damage while the neuropeptides somatostatin and NPY are anti-damage in the presence of METH by targeting the production of NO.


The structural and electrical properties of the hexagonal perovskite derivative Ba3WNbO8.5 have been investigated. Ba3WNbO8.5 crystallises in a hybrid of the 9R hexagonal perovskite and palmierite structure as recently reported for the novel oxide ion conductor Ba3MoNbO8.5. Ba3WNbO8.5 is also an oxide ion conductor and appears to exhibit oxide ionic conduction with negligible electronic conductivity over a wider pO2 range than Ba3MoNbO8.5. A neutron diffraction study has revealed that at 20 °C the average structure of Ba3WNbO8.5 contains just 13% of W(1)/Nb(1)O4 tetrahedra within the average structure of Ba3WNbO8.5 in comparison to 50% of Mo(1)/Nb(1)O4 tetrahedra in Ba3MoNbO8.5. The presence of (M/Nb)O4 tetrahedra with non-bridging apical oxygen atoms is an important prerequisite for the ionic conduction observed in the Ba3MNbO8.5 system (M = W, Mo). The strong reduction in the ratio of (M/Nb)O4 tetrahedra to (M/Nb)O6 octahedra upon replacement of W6+ for Mo6+ results in a reduction in the ionic conductivity by an order of magnitude at 450 °C. The bulk conductivities converge upon heating so that at 600 °C the bulk conductivity of Ba3WNbO8.5, σb = 0.0017 S cm−1, is comparable to that of Ba3MoNbO8.5 (σb = 0.0022 S cm−1). The results demonstrate that other members of the Ba3MM′O8.5 family can support oxide ion conductivity and further studies of hexagonal perovskite derivatives are warranted.


In this paper, micromachined elevated coplanar waveguides (ECPWs) based on CMOS-grade silicon with a thin film interface are presented. The respective signal lines for the ECPWs are 10 µm elevated into the air with supporting conductors so as to obtain low attenuation characteristics. For the designed ECPWs, it has been shown that a low loss transmission line is obtainable compared to the conventional CPW and a very low effective dielectric constant close to 2 could be realized by confining most of the electromagnetic fields in the lossless air layer. The overlapped configuration with an elevated signal line placed partially above the planar ground planes on the thin film interface yielded the best attenuation performance, i.e., about 0.29 dB mm−1 at 20 GHz. In addition, a Chebyshev low-pass filter (LPF) with 0.5 dB ripple is designed on the basis of the high-Z0 and low-Z0 ECPWs, and fabricated using the surface micromaching technique. The measured data show good agreement with the predicted values. It is expected that the suggested ECPWs can be applied to high-performance microwave/millimeterwave circuits by employing low-cost silicon surface micromachining technology.


Background. Hyperacute rejection in xenotransplantation is caused by activation of complement (C) on endothelium. We have previously shown that purified C-regulators of the pig (CD59 and membrane cofactor protein [MCP]) are efficient regulators of human C (HuC). The aim of this study was to clarify the role of endogenously expressed C-regulatory molecules on pig endothelium in the protection against hyperacute rejection. Methods. Porcine aortic endothelial cells (PAEC) were harvested and cultured for various passages. PAEC were examined for the expression of endogenous pig CD59 and MCP by flow cytometry. PAEC were assessed for their susceptibility to lysis by HuC. The effect of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and various cytokines on the expression of MCP and CD59 and C-susceptibility was assessed. Results. Primary PAEC showed an initial high level of expression of pig CD59, however, upon culturing, CD59 levels decreased dramatically to about 20% after five passages. In contrast, levels of MCP doubled upon culturing of PAEC to confluency and remained stable during at least five passages. Primary cells and cells in the early passages were more resistant to HuC than cells that were cultured for longer. Blocking the function of CD59 but not of MCP using monoclonal antibody increased the susceptibility to HuC. Purified human CD59 incorporated to a level of expression similar to that of pig CD59 reversed the increased C-susceptibility, suggesting that pig and human CD59 are similarly protective against HuC. Increase of C-resistance and of expression of pig MCP, but not of CD59, was achieved upon incubation with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. Tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, interleukin-1&bgr;, interleukin-4, or interferon-&ggr; had no effect on C-regulator expression or C-susceptibility. Conclusions. These data demonstrate the importance of using primary PAEC or cells in the first passages of culturing in in vitro models of xenotransplantation and show that pig MCP and, in particular, pig CD59 play an important role in protection of PAEC from HuC.


OBJECTIVE
To alert clinicians to the climatic conditions that can precipitate outbreaks of the rodent-borne infectious diseases most often associated with flooding disasters, leptospirosis (LS), and the Hantavirus-caused diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS); to describe the epidemiology and presenting clinical manifestations and outcomes of these rodent-borne infectious diseases; and to recommend both prophylactic therapies and effective control and prevention strategies for rodent-borne infectious diseases.

DESIGN
Internet search engines, including Google®, Google Scholar®, Pub Med, Medline, and Ovid, were queried with the key words as search terms to examine the latest scientific articles on rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks in the United States and worldwide to describe the epidemiology and presenting clinical manifestations and outcomes of LS and Hantavirus outbreaks.

SETTING
Not applicable.

PARTICIPANTS
Not applicable.

INTERVENTIONS
Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks following heavy rainfall and flooding disasters.

RESULTS
Heavy rainfall encourages excessive wild grass seed production that supports increased outdoor rodent population densities; and flooding forces rodents from their burrows near water sources into the built environment and closer to humans.

CONCLUSIONS
Healthcare providers should maintain high levels of suspicion for LS in patients developing febrile illnesses after contaminated freshwater exposures following heavy rainfall, flooding, and even freshwater recreational events; and for Hantavirus-caused infectious diseases in patients with hemorrhagic fevers that progress rapidly to respiratory or renal failure following rodent exposures.


This report is a study of structure, castability, mechanical properties as well as corrosion behaviour of titanium doped with up to 5 weight percentage (wt%) of a series of alloy elements, including Ta, Mo, Nb, Hf, Zr, Sn, Bi and Ag. The results indicate that, with addition of 1 wt% alloy element, Bi and Mo were most effective in enhancing the castability of titanium. With more alloy elements added, the castability values of most alloys more or less decreased. Except Ti-Mo system, all Ti alloys with a fine acicular morphology had the same crystal structure (hcp) as that of c.p. Ti with a typical lath type morphology. When 3 wt% or more Mo was added, a finer orthorhombic alpha'' phase was formed. The microhardness and bending strength values of Ti alloys were all higher than those of c.p. Ti. Among all alloys, Ti-Mo system exhibited the highest hardness and strength level. For a certain alloy, the bending strength did not necessarily increase with its alloy content. Except Ti-5Zr and Ti-Mo alloys, the bending moduli of most alloy systems were not much different from that of c.p. Ti. All alloys showed an excellent resistance to corrosion in Hanks' solution at 37 degrees C.


A high speed painting automizor system with elastic support is presented. Experimental tests of the system including the key part, the rotor-bearing system, were conducted using the experimental modal method under various working conditions. The natural frequency of the system is given and the relationship between the bearing stiffness and the natural frequency and amplitude are studied. Fault of the bearing GCr15 is analyzed. The experiment has three parts including the experimental theory, experimental design, and experimental data processing. The results will lay a solid foundation for further investigation on dynamic design, maintenance, working condition monitoring and fault detection of the painting automizor system.


In this paper, mathematical model were developed to evaluate the different types of responses for monitoring and predicting the furnace output temperature of crude oil at various time intervals. Result obtain reveals increase in furnace output temperature with increase in coefficient of time for different input signal at constant time. Similarly, as the time increases, it is observed that the furnace output temperature increases as well as presented in this research work. At constant coefficient of time, it is observe that the furnace output temperature increases with increase in time for step input, ramp input, and impulse. The order of magnitude in terms output temperature is ramp input > step input > impulse at constant time coefficient of 10 s-1. The model developed was used principally to monitor and control the temperature of the crude oil entering the crude distillation column also to account for the effect of the variations in the finance fuel flow rate and the influence of the changes in the feed temperature and using the model dynamic open loop simulations are performed, and approximation based on parallel linear transfer function models are fitted to various input responses. The result obtained from the model was compared with existing furnace data of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) which indicates that step input response was used in the design of their furnace.

 Key words: Responses, crude oil, pneumatic control, furnace, application, distillation.


The origin and evolution of alpine biota are not yet fully understood, particularly in the vast Asian mountain regions. In addition, in these regions, most studies have concentrated on taxa occurring in areas benefitting from relatively generous rainfall from the summer monsoon. In this study, we collected a large number of Oxytropis species throughout their distribution range, and investigated the taxonomy and evolution of this diverse legume genus, which also occurs in mountainous areas prone to drought. Using nuclear (ITS) and plastid (trnL‐F) markers, we reconstructed phylogenetic relationships within Oxytropis, conducting maximum parsimony, fasttree‐like, maximum likelihood, Bayesian, and BEAST analyses. We also used Anchored Hybrid Enrichment (AHE) to test the power of this method to resolve relationships among a small subset of Oxytropis species. For AHE, we sampled eight species and obtained 527 low‐copy and orthologous nuclear loci. We show that the taxonomy of this genus that radiated explosively in Asian mountains will remain recalcitrant based on conventional molecular methods. Because of a severe lack of resolution, none of the available taxonomic treatments for Oxytropis could either be confirmed or refuted based upon ITS and trnL‐F. Nevertheless, we confirm the status of several species, and identify morphological or genetic particularities for some groups of species. The AHE approach yielded a highly supported phylogenetic tree, suggesting that increased taxon sampling coupled with AHE methods promise advances in the study of the taxonomy and evolution of Oxytropis, thus providing further analytical opportunities, such as diversification rate and biogeographical analyses.


The foraging behaviour of four species of honeyeaters breeding in an area of sclerophyll forest near Hobart, Tasmania, was determined throughout the year. The Yellow-throated and Strong-billed Honeyeaters are mainly insectivorous, obtaining much of their food from bark. The Black-headed Honeyeater is mainly insectivorous, foraging mostly in the foliage. The Crescent Honeyeater is almost entirely insectivorous during the breeding season but takes much nectar during winter. A fifth species, the Eastern Spinebill, is a winter visitor to the area whose presence coincides with the flowering of the heath Epacris impressa. Foraging behaviour varies throughout the year and it is unjustified to extrapolate the results of short-term local determinations of foraging behaviour to whole populations.


Introduction: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder derived by formation of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph chromosome). Formation of the Ph chromosome is caused by a reciprocal translocation between the chromosomes 9 and 22 t(9;22)(q34;q11), resulting in a fusion protein known as BCR-ABL which has constitutive tyrosine kinase activity and promotes the proliferation of leukemia cells via multiple mechanisms. Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor types 2 (VEGFR2) gene single nucleotide polymorphisms have been detected in CML and evidence suggests its influence on leukemia susceptibility and outcome. Aim: To evaluate the polymorphism of VEGFR 2 gene among Iraqi CML patients, and the relation of the gene receptor polymorphism in response to treatment and prognosis. Material and Methods: the study included 80 subjects, 40 CML and 40 healthy control age and sex matched. Routine investigations were collected including clinical signs and symptoms, physical examination, CBC, liver function tests and BCR-ABL1 &/or FISH. Real time PCR technique was used to detect VEGFR-2 gene polymorphism with SaCycler 96 using genomic DNA extracted from peripheral blood and TaqMan SNPs genotyping assay ((rs1531289, rs1870377 and rs2305948))for both patients and controls. Results: VEGFR-2 polymorphisms SNP1 (rs1531289 T>C) in CML patients presented with 82.5% showing the variant genotypes and 17.5% showing the wild homozygous genotype, while control showed 80% variant genotypes and 20 % wild genotype ,SNP2 (rs1870377 T>A) in CML patients presented with 80% showing the homozygous wild genotype and 20% showing the variant genotypes ,while control showed 62.5% the homozygous wild genotype and 37.5% showing the variant genotypes;SNP3 (rs2305948)in CML patients presented with showed 97.5% the homozygous wild genotype and 2.5% showing the variant genotypes while control showed 87.5% the homozygous wild genotype and 12.5% showing the variant genotypes P-values (0.4,0.004 and 0.09 respectively) .60% of CML patients who showed Molecular response were related to the heterozygous variant genotype of SNP (rs1531289 T>C) of VEGFR-2 Polymorphism, while 55% of patients with molecular response were related to the wild homozygous genotype of (rs1870377 T>A)and 70 % of patients with molecular response were related to the wild homozygous genotype of (rs2305948 C>T).Conclusion: VEGFR-2 polymorphism is common among Iraqi CML patients and might impose a high risk of CML development and influence treatment response. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 07, Issue 02, 2020


This article focuses on the historical trajectories of women's empowerment in Sierra Leone, taking three entry‐points as a means of exploring the dynamics of change over the pre‐conflict, conflict and post‐conflict periods: voice and political participation; work and economic participation; and bodily integrity. Looking at pathways of empowerment in pre‐conflict Sierra Leone, at experiences of women during the time of conflict over the course of a long and brutal civil war from 1991–2002, and at post‐conflict possibilities, the article highlights some of the changes that have taken place in women's lives and the avenues that are opening up in Sierra Leone in a time of peace. It suggests that understanding women's pathways of empowerment in Sierra Leone calls for closer attention to be paid to the dynamics of conflict and post‐conflict reconstruction, and to the significance of context in shaping constraints and opportunities.


Febrile neutropenia is the commonest life-threatening complication of treatment for children with cancer. Though the majority of children have no significant complications associated with its occurrence, current management includes intravenous antibiotics and in-patient care. Reduced therapy regimes for children at low risk of complications may have benefits for families and the National Health Service.
This thesis aimed to answer two main questions: In children and young people with low risk febrile neutropenia, are reduced therapy regimes safe, effective and acceptable to key stakeholders? What factors are involved in decision-making about acceptability of early discharge regimes?
Given the complexity of the research problem, the work utilised a mixed methods approach, selecting appropriate methodologies for each aspect of the problem and then combining results to provide a nuanced consideration of this multifaceted topic. Three sequential phases were performed, each informing and developing the next, whilst simultaneously allowing deeper interpretation of findings in earlier phases. Phase one, a quantitative systematic review, provided safety and treatment failure rates relating to reduced therapy regimes, whilst phase two, a qualitative synthesis, presented an interpretive account of experiences of early discharge. Phase three involved a focus group study exploring experiences and perceptions of key stakeholders involved in febrile neutropenia care in the United Kingdom.
Following mixing of phases in both design and interpretation stages, the thesis found that reductions in therapy are associated with increased readmission rates, but not increased risk of serious adverse events. It exposed the previously underestimated harms of febrile neutropenia admissions and the paternalistic nature of decision making.
Increasing shared decision making through discussing risks, developing mutual trust and negotiating control is necessary to achieve individualised treatment and improve experiences for stakeholders. The thesis outlines aspirations for future care of these children and young people and proposes various actions to achieve these goals.


BACKGROUND
 There is a need for medical education on health care transitions for youth with special health care needs. The Texas Transition Toolkit (the tool) supports providers through a one-stop shop for researching literature on care transitions, a catalog of care transition tools, and guides for developing care transition programs.

 OBJECTIVE
 This study aims to assess the functionality and usability of the tool with providers working with transition-aged children and youth with special health care needs (representative users).

 METHODS
 The tool was evaluated using a triangulated mixed methods case study approach consisting of a concurrent think-aloud phase, a satisfaction survey, and a survey of problem relevance and task performance to operationalize and capture functionality and usability. Our mixed methods deep dive into the functionality and usability of the tool focused on 10 representative users from one medical home in Texas and 5 website design experts.

 RESULTS
 Representative users found the tool to be highly relevant, as demonstrated by the satisfaction score for relevance (138/150, 92%). According to the users, the tool provided comprehensive information related to health care transitions for youth with special health care needs, with a satisfaction score of 87.3% (131/150) for comprehensive. Overall satisfaction with the tool was high at 81.92% (1065/1300) with a cutoff score of 73.33% (953.4/1300) indicating high satisfaction, but users reported relatively lower satisfaction with search (114/150, 76%) and navigation (ease of use: 114/150, 76%; hyperlinks: 163/200, 81.5%; structure: 159/200, 79.5%). They experienced search- and navigation-related problems (total problems detected: 21/31, 68%) and, based on quality checks, had a relatively low task completion rate for tasks involving finding information (60/80, 75%), which required searching and navigation. The problems identified around search and navigation functionality were relevant (relevance scores ranging from 14.5 to 22, with a cutoff score of 11.7 indicating relevance).

 CONCLUSIONS
 The tool may help bridge the gaps in training on health care transitions for youth with special health care needs in US medical education. The tool can be used to create structured protocols to help improve provider knowledge, collaboration across pediatric and adult care providers, and the continuity of care as youth with special health care needs transition from pediatric to adult care. The results provided a road map for optimizing the tool and highlighted the importance of evaluating eHealth technologies with representative users.


This paper presents the first wide-scale study of correlated attacks, i.e., attacks mounted by the same source IP against different networks. Using a large dataset from 1700 intrusion detection systems (IDSs), we show that correlated attacks are prevalent in the current Internet; 20% of all offending sources mount correlated attacks and they account for more than 40% of all the IDS alerts in our logs. We also reveal important characteristics of these attacks. Correlated attacks appear at different networks within a few minutes of each other, indicating the difficulty of warding off these attacks by occasional offline exchange of lists of malicious IP addresses. Furthermore, correlated attacks are highly targeted. The 1700 IDSs can be divided into small groups with 4-6 members that do not change with time; IDSs in the same group experience a large number of correlated attacks, while IDSs in different groups see almost no correlated attacks. Our results have important implications on collaborative intrusion detection of common attackers. They show that collaborating IDSs need to exchange alert information in realtime. Further, exchanging alerts among the few fixed IDSs in the same correlation group achieves almost the same benefits as collaborating with all IDSs, while dramatically reducing the overhead.


Abstract Mass energy is created or destroyed according to 'the law of accelerating universe'. The universe didn't start as infinitely dense and infinitely hot space time and mass energy as stated in the Big Bang model. It started as a 'Nano Bang' ('Micro Bang', 'Small Bang') , with infinitely small mass energy and space time and infinitely small rate of expansion. At the beginning the rate of expansion was infinitely small, or zero. So the universe must ACCELERATE to expand. The accelerating expansion of the universe we observe today is just a continuation of the initial accelerating expansion during the 'moment' of the 'Nano Bang' and is not due to an 'initial' cosmic velocity of the 'Big Bang' model. The universe accelerated/ is accelerating not only in its expansion but also in its mass energy content and time. Time itself is accelerating. Thus the long standing paradigm of mass energy conservation should be abandoned. The same force that caused the accelerating expansion of the universe during the moment of the 'Small Bang' may be causing the accelerating expansion of the universe we observe today. The total energy of the universe is not zero! It is positive! We are already observing the accelerating expansion of the universe. The law of conservation of mass energy applies only 'horizontally' and not 'vertically'. This means that the law of conservation of mass energy only applies at a specific point in time of the universe. Mass energy at a specific time is conserved and cannot be created or destroyed arbitrarily within a short period of time. Mass energy is created or destroyed according to a certain law of creation and destruction of mass energy: the LAW OF ACCELERATING UNIVERSE or the LAW OF CREATION. Therefore, the accelerating expansion of the universe indicates that the universe came into existence out of nothing, 'accelerating' continuously from nothing to something. The universe may not be considered simply as mass energy and space time. We may understand it better as a 'biological' entity. Just as a living organism is not considered as simply mass energy and space time, the same may apply to the universe. So the universe should have a 'DNA', which contains all the information about the structure of the universe at any point in time. At the beginning of the universe, the 'seed' of the universe came into existence out of nothing and this seed had its DNA. Thus, birth, growth and death should also be nature of the universe just as these are the nature of living organisms.


The main difficulty facing national literatures today, as they are defined here, is that they must combine mythification and demystification, this primal innocence with a learned craftiness.-Edouard Glissant, Caribbean DiscourseSince the 1980s, historians studying the Haitian flag have written a relatively thorough, if not altogether complete, account of its development.1 Much is known of the circumstances that preceded Dessalines's creation of the blue and red bicolor in February 1803 and of the significance that can or cannot be legitimately surmised from this gesture.2 The core narrative claiming that Dessalines created the Haitian red and blue bicolor at the Archaie Conference on May 18, 1803, by theatrically tearing out the white strip from the French tricolor has limited historical support among contemporary historians. Despite this, the "foundational fiction" of the Haitian flag continues to form the basis of popular, literary, and even academic recounting, just as it continues to serve as the basis of commemorative ceremonies produced by the Haitian state.3 The question, then, is why? What is at stake in this particular account of the flag's history? What values does it aim to instill in the citizens for whom it is the emblem? And, importantly for this paper, what are the potential limitations of drawing upon this particular fictive past when imagining alternative futures for Haiti?Both the spread and the particular tenacity of this core narrative owe, in no small part, to the allegories of national union and anticolonial action that are taken to reside in the tale of the creation of the Haitian flag. On one hand, the very image of what Philippe Girard has called a "swashbuckling" Dessalines sabering out the white strip from the French tricolor and creating a red and blue emblem for the rebels of the last phase of the Haitian Revolution (1802-1804) certainly invites an anticolonial reading.4 The new bicolor suggested the dramatic emergence of a uniquely Haitian national consciousness that saw continued identification with the French metropole as incompatible with the aims of radical antislavery.5 In short, the flag's creation has been conflated with the expression of a project leading to Haitian independence.6 On the other hand, the remaining two colors-blue and red-have also been given a particularly potent allegorical significance. As Doris Sommer argues in her now-classic account, the Latin American romances of the nineteenth century imagined national unification as the sexual union of a couple drawn from the diverse ethnic groups of the new nation. In these allegories, which she termed "foundational fictions," the romantic challenges faced by the frustrated couple were meant to stand as problems hindering national cohesion (and vice versa).7 In contrast, the first Haitian novel, Stella (1859), which retells the story of the Haitian Revolution as the allegory of two half-brothers- one Black, one mulatto-who must learn to unite to defeat the white colonist who murdered their mother, suggested that the foundational fiction in the case of Haiti would be an allegory of fraternal, not sexual, union.8 Similarly, the red and blue stripes of the Haitian flag have been assigned racial or color valences such that, when placed side by side, they represent fraternal unification across difference. In a reappropriation of the French Republican symbolism that had once equated the French tricolor's blue, white, and red bands with the three racial categories of the colony- mulatto, white, and Black-in harmonious union, the newly red and blue bicolor has been taken to signify the unification of Black and mulatto military forces under the command of Dessalines and, by extension, the imagined community of all Blacks and mulattos as a nation.9Simply put, the story of the Haitian flag might be difficult to rewrite in light of new historical evidence because it functions at the intersection of several consequential national allegories. …


Formation and properties of aerobic granules for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) from sequencing batch reactor (SBR) strongly depend on the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in which the microorganisms are embedded. The composition of EPS varies between different species but mostly it is made up of proteins, polysaccharides and extracellular DNA (eDNA), that has been recently recognized as an important structural component. Although great amount of literature on the EPS extraction is available, till now, there is no standardized protocol for EPS extraction. Extraction methods involving multi step processes seem to be the most promising, although too harsh extraction procedures can lyse the cells and release intracellular compounds, which contaminate the EPS samples creating bias. Commonly employed intracellular markers of cell lysis i.e. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) or 2-keto-3deoxyoctonate (KDO) are not always applicable, especially in systems where glycolysis does not occur and in mixed communities with gram-positive bacteria, respectively. Therefore a new method to measure cell lysis is needed. The activity of isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH), an ubiquitous enzyme found in all living organisms utilzing the Krebs (citric acid) cycle, has been assessed. Initial assays using this enzyme activity during EPS extraction revealed to be very sensitive to detect cell lysis in samples from mixed microbial communities as granular sludge biofilms cultivated in SBR. Preliminary results of EPS extraction using multi-step method and enzymatic extraction as well as selection of appropriate dyes to visualize and distinguish intracellular and extracellular DNA in granular samples from the reactor are discussed.


Two efficacious prophylactic vaccines against infections with human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 have become available since 2006. Universal pre-exposure HPV vaccination has the potential to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer by up to 75%. Vaccination is also expected to have an impact on the rate of cervical cytological abnormalities and of diagnostic and treatment procedures required to manage women with such precancerous lesions. The traditional paradigm of Pap cytology screening may not be a suitable complementary preventive strategy in the era of HPV vaccination. Once the cohorts of young women who are being vaccinated reach the age of screening the prevalence of Pap smear-detectable abnormalities will decrease substantially, which will ultimately affect the positive predictive value of cytology and decrease its cost-effectiveness. It is now widely accepted that testing cervical exfoliated cells for DNA of high oncogenic risk HPVs is a much more sensitive screening tool than cytology to detect high grade cervical lesions and cervical cancer. Cytologic or HPV-typing triage of HPV-positive women can reveal cases that should undergo colposcopic examination and biopsy and will largely obviate the concerns related to false-positives. With the improved sensitivity to detect existing lesions and the more "upstream" focus on cervical carcinogenesis this strategy could be implemented via longer screening intervals than are currently possible with cytology alone, and thus be cost-saving especially after HPV testing is deployed as a screening tool. However, it is in the post-vaccination era when the cohorts of women vaccinated in their teens enter screening age that this approach may prove most valuable by permitting a surveillance system that can serve two roles simultaneously: monitoring duration of vaccine protection (with HPV typing for those who are positive) and screening for cervical cancer. The author will present the arguments for an integrated approach that involve the two prevention strategies against this disease: HPV vaccination and molecular testing in cervical cancer screening.


Disablement is a complex social phenomenon in contemporary societies, reflected in disability policies oriented towards contrasting paradigms. Fraught with ambivalence, disability raises dilemmas of classification and targeted supports. Paradoxical universalism emphasizes that to achieve universality requires recognizing individual dis/abilities and particular contextual conditions and barriers that disable. Myriad aspects of educational and disability policies challenge both conceptualization and realization of universal policies, such as compulsory schooling, with widespread exclusion or segregation prevalent. Resulting tensions between providing support and ubiquitous stigmatization and separation are endemic, and particularly evident during life course transitions that imply shifting memberships in institutions and organizations. Particularly visible among disabled youth, school-to-work transitions are fundamentally challenged by contrasting policies, institutional logics, and institutionalized organizations. Analyzing institutional logics facilitates understanding of the lack of coordination that hinders successful transitions. Examining such challenges in the United States and Switzerland, we compare their labor markets and federal governance structures and contrasting education, welfare, and employment systems. Whereas lacking inter-institutional coordination negatively impacts disabled young adults in the United States, Switzerland's robust vocational education and training system, while not a panacea, does provide more coordinated support during school-to-work transitions. These two countries provide relevant cases to examine ambivalence and contestation around the human right to inclusive education as well as the universality of the right (not) to work.


Magnetic field measurement has many applications particularly in the field of navigation, military, space exploration, and medical. Among many magnetic devices, magnetometer is significant due to its capability of detecting direction and measuring strength of magnetic field. Through the years, many types of magnetometer had been invented with fluxgate magnetometer being one of the most well-known. In the advances of MEMS processing technology, fluxgate magnetometer is increasingly developed into micro-scale. Fluxgate magnetometer is made up of three major components consisting of sensing coil, driving coil and magnetic core. The physical characteristics of the coil structure play an important factor in miniaturization as well as in performance of the device. Therefore, investigations on the physical characteristics of the coils are relevant. In this paper, the side-by-side spiral coil structure is investigated in terms of its physical characteristics such as width of the coil and distance between successive coils. The aim is to observe and analyze the effects of varying the coil physical characteristics on certain important parameters that could influence the performance of the device. The work is done with the aid of FEM simulation software, where the physical characteristics of the coils were varied and simulated. With the simulated results, dimension of coils can be appropriately designed to optimize the performance of the device.


Spiral gravity separators are devices used in mineral processing to separate particles based on their specific gravity or size. The spiral geometry allows for the simultaneous application of gravitational and centripetal forces on the particles, which leads to segregation of particles. However, this segregation mechanism is not fundamentally understood, and the spiral separator literature does not tell a cohesive story either experimentally or theoretically. While experimental results vary depending on the specific spiral separator used, present theoretical works neglect the significant coupling between the particle dynamics and the flow field. Using work on gravity-driven monodisperse slurries on an incline that empirically accounts for this coupling, we consider a monodisperse particle slurry of small depth flowing down a rectangular channel that is helically wound around a vertical axis. We use a thin-film approximation to derive an equilibrium profile for the particle concentration and fluid depth and find that, in the steady state limit, the particles concentrate towards the vertical axis of the helix, leaving a region of clear fluid.


The decade that followed James Stockdale's seven and a half years in a North Vietnamese prison saw his life take a number of different turns, from a stay in a navy hospital in San Diego to president of a civilian college to his appointment as a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution. In this collection of essays he offers his thoughts on his imprisonment. Describing the horrors of his treatment as a prisoner of war, Stockdale tells how he discovered firsthand the capabilities and limitations of the human spirit in such a situation. As the senior officer in confinement he had what he humbly describes as 'the easiest leadership job in the world: to maintain the organization, resistance, and spirit of ten of the finest men I have ever known.' His reflections on his wartime prison experience and the reasons for his survival form the basis of the writings reprinted here. In subject matter ranging from methods of communication in prison to military ethics to the principles of leadership, the thirty-four selections contained in this volume are a unique record of what Stockdale calls a 'melting experience' - a pressure-packed existence that forces one to grow. Retired Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, a Hoover Institution fellow from 1981 to 1996, was Ross Perot's 1992 presidential running mate and a recipient of the Medal of Honor after enduring seven and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He died in 2005 at the age of 81.


Chicken is a type of livestock, including highly sensitive to various forms of physical or psychological stressors, including heat stress. Stress immunosupressive is one factor that can decrease body's defense system, feed conversion, fertility and stimulate the emergence of free radicals, to cause damage to cell membranes, causing inflammation and degenerative diseases. In this study, using the parameters spleen weight and white pulp diameter. This research was carried out to determine changes in spleen weight and white pulp diameter picture in broiler chickens exposed to chronic heat stress. Research conducted in the enclosure experiment PUSVETMA and histopathological examination was conducted in the laboratory of Veterinary Pathology Airlangga. Experimental animals used in this study is the DOC Cobb broiler strain were 20 males who were divided randomly into two groups: P0 (control): given a temperature room for 6 weeks. P1 (Treatment): 35-35,5 o C temperature are given beginning at 7:00 am to 15:00 pm (8 hours / day) for 4 weeks. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS 17 for Windows. final results of research can be concluded that administration of heat stress is a significant change, where heat stress can cause a decrease in spleen weight and white pulp diameter in broiler chickens.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), initially termed 2019-new CoV (2019-nCoV), is a novel coronavirus responsible for the severe respiratory illness currently ongoing worldwide from the beginning of December 2019. This beta gene virus, very close to bat coronaviruses (bat-CoV-RaTG13) and bat-SL-CoVZC45, causes a severe disease, similar to those caused by Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV and SARS-CoV viruses, featured by low to moderate mortality rate. Unfortunately, the antiviral drugs commonly used in clinical practice to treat viral infections, are not applicable to SARS-Cov-2 and no vaccine is available. Thus, it is extremely necessary to identify new drugs suitable for the treatment of the 2019-nCoV outbreak. Different preclinical studies conducted on other coronaviruses suggested that promising clinical outcomes for 2019-nCoV should be obtained by using alpha-interferon, chloroquine phosphate, arabinol, remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir, and anti-inflammatory drugs. Moreover, clinical trials with these suitable drugs should be performed on patients affected by SARS-Cov-2 to prove their efficacy and safety. Finally, a very promising therapeutic drug, tocilizumab, is discussed; it is currently used to treat patients presenting COVID-19 pneumonia. Herein, we recapitulate these experimental studies to highlight the use of antiviral drugs for the treatment of SARS-Cov-2 disease.


Human community, whose behavior is determined by the influence of biological and social systems, the ability to realize and evaluate the results of its activities, orientation, strategic decisions, to ensure the sustainable development of the ecosystem, in a context of increasing the factor of limited resources (energy, materials, information) is transformed into intellectualization public relations and institutions. Rural development in the context of decentralization has led to the search for effective public administration mechanisms. The purpose of the study is to establish a mechanism for improving the territorial communities management technology on the example of Family Homesteads. The research methodology is based on structured interviews and unstructured conversations with the inhabitants of family homesteads, leadership of local self-government and experts in the field of rural development. Activation of the processes of rural development through the implementation of the idea of "Family Homestate" involves the participation of the population in the normative regulation (the adoption of the relevant law); assistance in the development of new settlements in rural areas by changing the status of the land, creating a land bank; activation of activity of public organizations registered in territorial communities, organization of settlements at the level of territorial communities, including the exchange of experience, coordination of activities in the middle of the movement, establishment of positive relations between the local population and immigrants and others like that. The advantages of the practice of public administration of the territory are established with the help of blockchain technology, which allows to reduce administration costs and promote resource participation.


Brain transplantation of neurons may reach two different targets: (1) drug delivery system: eg dopaminergic (DA) neurons in Parkinson's Disease (PD) or indirect gene therapy in Huntington's disease (HD), and (2) organotypic reconstruction: eg striatal neurons in HD. Most published reports are phase 1, pilot trials: not all patients are responders, graft is followed by a 30p.100 decrease of daily levodopa intake, with an improvement of duration and severity of defined "off" periods and a decrease of the UPDRS score measured in "off". Only one phase 2 trial is completed. A moderate improvement of motor symptoms was observed along with a decrease of daily antiparkinsonian drug intake. PET imaging with labelled fluorodopa shows typically an increase of Ki, meaning an increase of uptake in the striatum as compared to the cortex. Dyskinesias seen in some patients suggest either a lesion effect into the striatum, or indicate that the heterotopy of the grafted neurons may be partially harmful to the motor pathways. Xenografts with porcine neurons led to poor survival. More than ten years following the first published results, whereas improvement of motor symptoms and reduction or cessation of dopaminergic drugs may be observed, transplantation remains a matter of technical and ethical concerns. It remains in the field of medical research. Many questions remain unanswered, namely: the best location and size of transplantation; the amount of grafted neurons; the need and duration of immunosuppressive treatments; the best source of neurons to be tarnsplanted and the long term effect as compared to other medical or surgical treatments. Nervertheless one can be convinced that this method may be not harmful to patients and thus deserves new clinical trials aimed at giving logical and documented answers to the many questions asked above.


Attending activities organized by the university or institution is one of the important criteria that must be fulfilled by students for multiple purposes. Whether it is by attending classes, or any other activities, the main concern is focused on the process of recording students' attendance. The use of a paper-based manual system to record students' attendance is still being widely used due to the lack of an e-management system. These approaches have a lot of disadvantages due to the nature of the paper which is a fragile material - also an expensive cost to procure and produce. This paper, relying on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), designed and developed an electronic system known as Activity Attendance Monitoring System (AAMS) that utilizes readily available resource – student card, as the student identification when attending an activity. Results from the validation, execution and continuous test suggest that AAMS can be effectively implemented to monitor and record student's attendance. The main contribution of the study is the design and development model that capable of monitoring students' activity attendance in university activities context. Developers and researcher in the area can adopt the proposed design and development model in formulating a similar system in managing activity attendance.


BACKGROUND
There is a risk that people who have invasive urodynamic studies (cystometry) will develop urinary tract infections or bacteria in the urine or blood. However, the use of prophylactic antibiotics before or immediately after invasive cystometry or urodynamic studies is not without risks of adverse effects and emergence of resistant microbes.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effectiveness and safety of administering prophylactic antibiotics in reducing the risk of urinary tract infections after urodynamic studies. The hypothesis was that administering prophylactic antibiotics reduces urinary tract infections after urodynamic studies.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Incontinence Group Specialised Trial Register, MEDLINE (January 1966 to January 2009), CINAHL (January 1982 to January 2009), EMBASE (January 1966 to January 2009), PubMed (1 January 1980 to January 2009), LILACS (up to January 2009), TRIP database (up to January 2009), and the UK NHS Evidence Health Information Resources (searched 10 December 2009). We searched the reference lists of relevant articles, the primary trials and the proceedings of the International Urogynaecological Association International Continence Society and the American Urological Association for the years 1999 to 2009 to identify articles not captured by electronic searches. There were no language restrictions.

SELECTION CRITERIA
All randomized controlled trials and quasi-randomized trials comparing the use of prophylactic antibiotics versus a placebo or no treatment in patients having urodynamic studies were selected. Two authors (PL and RF) independently performed the selection of trials for inclusion and any disagreements were resolved by discussion.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
All assessments of the quality of trials and data extraction were performed independently by two authors of the review (PL and RF) using forms designed according to Cochrane guidelines. We attempted to contact authors of the included trials for any missing data. Data were extracted on characteristics of the study participants including details of previously administered treatments, interventions used, the methods used to measure infection and adverse events.Statistical analyses were performed according to Cochrane Collaboration guidelines. Data from intention-to-treat analyses were used where available. For the dichotomous data, results for each study were expressed as a risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) and combined for meta-analysis using the Mantel-Haenszel method.The primary outcome was urinary tract infection. Heterogeneity was assessed by the P value and I(2) statistic.

MAIN RESULTS
Nine randomized controlled trials involving the prophylactic use of antibiotics in patients having urodynamic studies were identified and these included 973 patients in total; one study was an abstract. Two further trials were excluded from the review. The methods of the included trials were poorly described.The primary outcome in all trials was the rate of developing significant bacteriuria, defined as the presence of more than 100,000 bacteria per millilitre of a mid-stream urine sample on culture and sensitivity testing. The other outcomes included pyrexia, haematuria, dysuria and adverse reactions to antibiotics.The administration of prophylactic antibiotics when compared to a placebo reduced the risk of significant bacteriuria (4% with antibiotics versus 12% without, risk ratio (RR) 0.35, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.56) in both men and women. The administration of prophylactic antibiotics also reduced the risk of haematuria (RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.91). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the primary outcome, risk of symptomatic urinary tract infection (40/201, 20% versus 59/214, 28%; RR 0.73, 95% CI 0.52 to 1.03); or in the risk of fever (RR 5.16, 95% CI 0.94 to 28.16) or dysuria (RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.5 to 1.36). Only two of 135 people had an adverse reaction to the antibiotics. The number of patients needed to treat with antibiotics to prevent bacteriuria was 12.3. Amongst women, the number needed to treat to prevent bacteriuria was 13.4; while amongst men it was 9.1 (number needed to treat = 1/ absolute risk reduction).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Prophylactic antibiotics did reduce the risk of bacteriuria after urodynamic studies but there was not enough evidence to suggest that this effect reduced symptomatic urinary tract infections. There was no statistically significant difference in the risk of fever, dysuria or adverse reactions. Potential benefits have to be weighed against clinical and financial implications, and the risk of adverse effects.


Three imine-linked covalent organic framework (COF) films are
incorporated as active layers into separate thin-film composite (TFC) membranes
and tested for their ability to reject an organic pollutant surrogate and salt
from water. The synthesized membranes consist of a polyacrylonitrile (PAN)
membrane supporting a TAPB-PDA-H, TAPB-PDA-Me, or TAPB-PDA-Et COF
thin film. The latter two COFs direct six methyl and ethyl substituents per
tiled hexagon into the pores, respectively, while maintaining the same topology
across the series. These substituents decrease the effective pore size of the
COF compared to the parent TAPB-PDA-H COF. The TAPB-PDA-Me membrane
rejects Rhodamine-WT (R-WT) dye and NaCl better than the TAPB-PDA-H membrane,
and the TAPB-PDA-Et membrane exhibits the best rejection
overall. The solution-diffusion model used to analyze this permeation behavior
indicates that there is a systematic difference in rejection as subsequent
pendant groups are added to the interior of the COF pore. These findings
demonstrate the concept of tuning the selectivity of COF membranes by
systematically reducing the effective pore size within a given topology.


When making financial decisions, decision-makers should perceive having complete risk information as beneficial. Surprisingly, in some situations decision-makers prefer to know less than more, even when it may result in losing money. Some shareholders do not keep themselves informed about the company they have invested in, and some online customers prefer not to read the terms of service of the online stores they shop at. The aim of this study was to identify the impact of selected characteristics of financial threats on individuals? decisions to avoid information about the probability that a given threat may occur. To reach this goal, we conducted an incentivized full-factorial 2x2x2 experiment in which subjects (n=395) made financial decisions to minimize the amount of money they could lose. We investigated their behaviour under such threat focusing mainly on their willingness to attain information that can protect them from losing money.We hypothesized that: (1) the more serious the financial threat, the fewer people avoid risk information; (2) the higher the perceived probability of the financial threat, the more people avoid risk information; (3) the lower the effectiveness of prevention of the threat, the more people avoid risk information. Additionally, we investigated the role of coping-styles (Miller, 1987) and locus of control (Rotter, 1966) on risk information avoidance in the financial domain. Specifically, we tested the conjectures that: (4) blunters are less likely to attain risk information than monitors; (5) external locus of control leads to more risk information avoidance than internal locus of control. Furthermore, we controlled for: anticipated emotional response, rational/emotional thinking, risk attitudes, and basic demographics.To analyse the data we ran a logistic regression model with Huber-White sandwich variance estimator and rejected hypotheses 1-3. However, we found an interesting interaction effect: the effect of threat severity on information avoidance depends on perceived probability of the threat. Specifically, people tend to avoid financial risk information more often when the financial threat is more serious and the perceived probability of the threat is high. In other words, they avoid financial risk information when knowing it would benefit them most. Finally, our data provides support for hypotheses 4 and 5, and suggests that anticipated emotional response and sex are statistically significant predictors of financial risk information avoidance.


This chapter introduces a formal model of virtual enterprises, as well as an analysis of their creation and operation. It is argued that virtual enterprises offer a promising approach to promote both innovations and collaboration between companies. A framework of integrated ICT-tools, called Plug and Play Business, which support innovators in turning their ideas into businesses by dynamically forming virtual enterprises, is also formally specified. Furthermore, issues regarding the implementation of this framework are discussed and some useful technologies are identified.


Primarily due to concerns generated from observed raptor mortality at the Altamont Pass (CA) wind plant, one of the first commercial electricity generating wind plants in the U.S., new proposed wind projects both within and outside of California have received a great deal of scrutiny and environmental review. A large amount of baseline and operational monitoring data have been collected at proposed and existing U.S. wind plants. The primary use of the avian baseline data collected at wind developments has been to estimate the overall project impacts (e.g., very low, low, moderate, and high relative mortality) on birds, especially raptors and sensitive species (e.g., state and federally listed species). In a few cases, these data have also been used for guiding placement of turbines within a project boundary. This new information has strengthened our ability to accurately predict and mitigate impacts from new projects. This report should assist various stakeholders in the interpretation and use of this large information source in evaluating new projects. This report also suggests that the level of baseline data (e.g., avian use data) required to adequately assess expected impacts of some projects may be reduced. This report provides an evaluation of the ability to predict direct impacts on avian resources (primarily raptors and waterfowl/waterbirds) using less than an entire year of baseline avian use data (one season, two seasons, etc.). This evaluation is important because pre-construction wildlife surveys can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of permitting wind power projects. For baseline data, this study focuses primarily on standardized avian use data usually collected using point count survey methodology and raptor nest survey data. In addition to avian use and raptor nest survey data, other baseline data is usually collected at a proposed project to further quantify potential impacts. These surveys often include vegetation mapping and state or federal sensitive-status wildlife and plant surveys if there is a likelihood of these species occurring in the vicinity of the project area. This report does not address these types of surveys, however, it is assumed in this document that those surveys are conducted when appropriate to help further quantify potential impacts. The amount and extent of ecological baseline data to collect at a wind project should be determined on a case-by-case basis. The decision should use information gained from this report, recent information from new projects (e.g., Stateline OR/WA), existing project site data from agencies and other knowledgeable groups/individuals, public scoping, and results of vegetation and habitat mapping. Other factors that should also be considered include the likelihood of the presence of sensitive species at the site and expected impacts to those species, project size and project layout.


This dissertation is a work on the development of mathematical tools for uncertainty quantification in environmental flow and transport models. In hydrology, data scarcity and insufficient site characterization are the two ubiquitous factors that render modeling of physical processes uncertain. Spatio-temporal variability (heterogeneity) poses significantly impact on predictions of system states. Standard practices are to compute (analytically or numerically) the first two statistical moments of system states, using their ensemble means as predictors of a system's behavior and variances (or standard deviations) as a measure of predictive uncertainty. However, such approaches become inadequate for risk assessment where one is typically interested in the probability of rare events. In other words, full statistical descriptions of system states in terms of probabilistic density functions (PDFs) or cumulative density functions (CDFs), must be sought. This is challenging because not only parameters, forcings and initial and boundary conditions are uncertain, but the governing equations are also highly nonlinear. One way to circumvent these problems is to develop simple but realistic models that are easier to analyze. In chapter 3, we introduce such reduced-complexity approaches, based on Green-Ampt and Parlange infiltration models, to provide probabilistic forecasts of infiltration into heterogeneous media with uncertain hydraulic parameters. Another approach is to derive deterministic equations for the statistics of random system states. A general framework to obtain the cumulative density function (CDF) of channel- flow rate from a kinematic-wave equation is developed in the third part of this work. Superior to conventional probabilistic density function (PDF) procedure, the new CDFs method removes ambiguity in formulations of boundary conditions for the CDF equation. Having developed tools for uncertainty quantification of both subsurface and surface flows, we apply those results in final part of this dissertation to perform probabilistic forecasting of algae growth in an enclosed aquatic system


Knowledge of reliable chemical kinetics of char always plays significant roles in the modelling, design and optimization of processes during biofuel thermochemical conversions.The determination of reaction kinetics of char in the high-temperature range still highly depends on the extrapolation of results from kinetic data determined at lower temperatures due to mass and heat transfer limitations. In this work an aerosol-based method was used to investigate the reactivity of singly-distributed char particles with aerodynamic diameters between 0.5-10 mm. The conversion of char particles in the reactor at varying temperatures and residence time was determined by comparing the particle size distributions before and after passing the reactor, using an aerodynamic particle sizer (APS) spectrometer. The results of char particles reacted with air, CO2 and steam indicate that the aerosol-based method can be used to determine reaction kinetics of char particles in the high temperature range where reaction is controlled by diffusion limitation if using conventional thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). By combining the aerosol-based method and conventional TGA, the oxidation and gasification kinetic parameters of biomass char can be derived in the temperature range of 350-800oC, and 800-1200oC respectively. The aerosol-based method shows the potential of on-line measuring the char reactivity.


Anomalous indications in monitoring equipment onboard U.S. Navy vessels must be handled in a timely manner to prevent catastrophic system failure. The development of sensor data analysis techniques to assist a ship's crew in monitoring machinery and summon required ship-to-shore assistance is of considerable benefit to the Navy. In addition, the Navy has a large interest in the development of distance support technology in its ongoing efforts to reduce manning on ships. In this paper, we present algorithms for the detection of anomalous events that can be identified from the analysis of monochromatic stationary ship surveillance video streams. The specific anomalies that we have focused on are the presence and growth of smoke and fire events inside the frames of the video stream. The algorithm consists of the following steps. First, a foreground segmentation algorithm based on adaptive Gaussian mixture models is employed to detect the presence of motion in a scene. The algorithm is adapted to emphasize gray-level characteristics related to smoke and fire events in the frame. Next, shape discriminant features in the foreground are enhanced using morphological operations. Following this step, the anomalous indication is tracked between frames using Kalman filtering. Finally, gray level shape and motion features corresponding to the anomaly are subjected to principal component analysis and classified using a multilayer perceptron neural network. The algorithm is exercised on 68 video streams that include the presence of anomalous events (such as fire and smoke) and benign/nuisance events (such as humans walking the field of view). Initial results show that the algorithm is successful in detecting anomalies in video streams, and is suitable for application in shipboard environments. One of the principal advantages of this technique is that the method can be applied to monitor legacy shipboard systems and environments where high-quality, color video may not be available.


Purpose: PD-L1 is highly expressed in multiple cancers and suppresses anticancer immunity. HIF-1α, as a vital transcription factor, could regulate the proliferation, metastasis, and apoptosis of cancer cells. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between PD-L1 and HIF-1α protein and further estimate its clinicopathological/prognostic impact on NSCLC patients. Methods: In this study, expression of PD-L1 and HIF-1α protein was detected by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays of NSCLC and non-cancerous tissues. Results: Expression of PD-L1 and HIF-1α protein was evidently elevated in NSCLC tissues compared with non-cancerous control lung tissues (both P<0.05). Also, PD-L1 was higher in male, lung SCC patients with lymph node metastasis (all P<0.05). There was a positive link between PD-L1 and HIF-1α in NSCLC (r=0.177, P=0.005). What's more, overall survival of lung ADC patients had to do with PD-L1 and clinical stage, while that of SCC patients was related to HIF-1α, pathological grade and LNM status (all P<0.05). Furthermore, multivariate analysis confirmed that PD-L1 and HIF-1α were considered to be independent prognostic factors for NSCLC patients (both P<0.05). Conclusion: PD-L1 and HIF-1α may serve as attractive independent worse prognostic biomarkers for NSCLC patients and the combined evaluation of PD-L1 and HIF-1α may also be valuable for prognosis judgment. Additionally, expression of PD-L1 was positively correlated with HIF-1α, which may provide evidences for a novel combinational therapy targeting PD-L1 and HIF-1α in NSCLC patients.


Accounting for social, cultural, and political factors must form the basis for understanding decision-making, actions, and reactions of individuals, thus driving their behaviors and intentions. Clearly, the individual is not wholly defined by just personal social, cultural, and political beliefs but also functions within a group of individuals. Within these groups (or organizations), they assimilate a potentially wide variety of different social factors, which may or may not differ from their own. Also, the group itself can vary in degrees of complexity, styles of interaction, and so forth, resulting in highly dynamic and emergent modes of behaviors. Even more difficult, this also includes taking into account the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the local population/environment that the individual/group is situated within. Without all these factors, we cannot expect to effectively understand, analyze, or predict the behaviors and intentions of others which grows ever more critical as our society continues to globalize and especially in today's conflicts and catastrophes. Thus, the need for a comprehensive modeling framework is evident as our only real hope of addressing such complexity. However, to date, only small isolated groups of pertinent behavioral factors have been studied, while there is little or no work towards developing a general unified and comprehensive approach that is also computational. The major challenges we face can be summed up in the following questions: 1. For prediction and explanation of intent and behavior, how does one computationally model individual or organizations and their emergent interactions with others, in various situations? 2. How does one organize and build the necessary social, cultural, political, behavioral, etc. knowledge- base? 3. How do you avoid brittleness and overspecialization? How do you construct these models efficiently and effectively, and dynamically evolve such models over time based on changing cultural and social factors? 4. How do you validate your models? In this talk, we will explore these challenges and focus on addressing pragmatic and computational issues in such modeling and examine some existing real-world efforts, current solutions, and openquestions.


Organ transplant rejection is mediated largely by circulating peripheral leukocytes induced to infiltrate the graft by various inflammatory stimuli. Of these, chemotactic cytokines called chemokines, expressed by inflamed graft tissues, as well as by early innate-responding leukocytes that infiltrate the graft, are responsible for the recruitment of alloreactive leukocytes. This report discusses the impact of these leukocyte-directing proteins on transplant outcome and novel therapeutic approaches for antirejection therapy based on targeting of chemokines and/or their receptors.


The single hollow titanium cylinder implant type F is here described. From october 1983 till october 1988, 187 implants were placed in 56 patients. It is possible to use this implant as a replacement for a single tooth or as abutment for a bridge. In case of extreme bone loss of the edentulous jaw, this implant is suitable to create retention and stabilisation for a denture. Up till now 180 implants are in function (96%); 7 implants were lost because of early failures.


Neonatal cerebral white matter echolucencies predict visual resolution acuity deficits in very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants. We examined maternal sociodemographic, lifestyle, intrapartum, infant birth/perinatal, and ocular motor/refractive characteristics to determine whether they accounted for this association in infants who were tested once between postnatal age 25 and 56 weeks (corrected for gestational age at birth). Cranial ultrasound scans were read by consensus to identify echolucency in a population of VLBW infants with no known ocular abnormalities. Visual resolution acuity was measured with the Acuity Card Procedure (ACP) in 14 infants with echolucency and compared with that of 81 VLBW infants born in the same hospitals with normal ultrasound scans. In time-oriented logistic regression models, echolucency remained a consistent predictor of abnormal visual resolution acuity after adjustment for covariates in three developmental periods (pre-, peri-, and postnatal). Odds ratios ranged from 19.3 (95% confidence interval, 4.5 to 82.2; p=0.001) to 10.4 (95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 81.9; p=0.03). Reduced visual resolution acuity in VLBW infants appears to be due to cerebral white matter damage.


On June 28, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Services [2], or VETS, announced a professional license and credential finder portal for military spouses. The webpage comes after President Trump's Executive Order Enhancing Noncompetitive Civil Service Appointments of Military Spouses [3]. The webpage [4] provides a comprehensive one-stop destination for occupational licensing portability, pulls resources from across the federal government, and highlights states with licensing rights for military spouses.


The relationship between catch-up head growth and motor performance was examined in 48 very-low-birthweight (< 1,500 g) infants. All infants were nonasphyxiated, normocephalic, and appropriately grown for gestational age at birth. Serial cranial ultrasonography during the first month of life revealed no intracranial pathology. The age of catch-up head growth, defined as the corrected age when the head circumference recovered to the 5th percentile, was determined for each infant. At 12 months corrected age, the infants were evaluated and grouped according to normal (n = 37) or abnormal (n = 11) motor assessments. The abnormal group achieved catch-up head growth by 7.7 ± 2.1 months vs 3.7 ± 3.1 months for the normal group (P< .05). Only 27% of the motor-delayed infants achieved catch-up head growth by 6 months corrected age, as compared with 89% of the normal infants (P< .05). Premature infants who have achieved catch-up head growth by 6 months corrected age, corresponding to the period of maximal postnatal brain growth, have fewer motor abnormalities than infants who attain catch-up head growth later. There is a significant relationship between head circumference at 6 months corrected age and motor development in very-low-birthweight infants.


The purpose of this research is to evaluate the financial health of banks, also to predict the bankruptcy of the banks that go public. This research uses Altman Z-Score, Springate, Zmijewski, and Grover method. The result of this research indicate that Grover method is the most accurate method to predict the bankruptcy of the banks. The Altman Z-Score method has accuracy rate of 46,67%, than Zmijewski and Springate method has accuracy rate of  0%. For the investor should consider the financial health of banks, using the bankruptcy prediction method that has the most accuracy rate.

Keywords: Altman Z-Score, Bankruptcy, Grover, Springate, Zmijewski


PURPOSE
To identify prognostic factors of improved survival after resection of isolated pulmonary metastases (PM) from colorectal cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A retrospective analysis of the records of all patients with PM from colorectal cancer who underwent thoracic surgery with curative intent before December 1992 at a single surgical center was performed. Univariate (log-rank) and multivariate (Cox's model) analyses of survival were used to identify significant prognostic factors.

RESULTS
Eighty-six patients with PM from colon (n = 49) or rectal (n = 37) cancer underwent 102 thoracic operations, which included 21 bilateral and 10 incomplete resections. The 5- and 10-year probabilities of survival (Kaplan-Meier) after the first thoracic operation were 24% (95% confidence interval [CI], 15% to 35%) and 20% (95% CI, 13% to 31%), respectively. Sex, age, site of the primary tumor (colon or rectum), disease-free interval (DFI), and previous resection of hepatic metastases were found not to be statistically significant prognostic factors. Complete resection, a limited number ( < two) of PM, and a normal prethoracotomy serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level were predictors of a longer survival duration by univariate analysis, but only complete resection (P = .024) and preoperative CEA level (P = .001) were identified as independent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis. The estimated 5-year survival rate of patients with a normal prethoracotomy CEA level was 60%, as compared with 4% in cases with elevated ( > 5 ng/mL) CEA level.

CONCLUSION
Besides resectability, the prethoracotomy serum CEA level appears the most reliable predictor of survival in patients with isolated PM from colorectal cancer.


The understanding of the pathogenesis of psoriasis vulgaris has advanced significantly since the therapeutic efficacy of immunosuppressive drugs has drawn attention to the role of immune mechanisms in psoriasis manifestation. Today, the results of many experimental studies provide evidence that psoriasis is largely a T‐cell mediated disorder. It may result from antigen‐specific activation of T cells in the skin of genetically predisposed individuals. These T cells apparently have a particular functional differentiation and promote the psoriatic skin changes by secreting a certain set of cytokines. Based on the fact that streptococcal throat infections are a trigger of guttate psoriasis, the putative psoriatic antigens are assumed to be in keratinocyte proteins that share structural homologies with streptococcal proteins and thus induce cross‐reactive responses of antibacterial T cells against skin components. Together with the particular phenotype of psoriatic skin lesions these findings suggest that psoriasis represents a sterile antibacterial tissue reaction, which is mediated by streptococci‐specific T cells that cross‐react against epidermal autoantigens.


The study examines and seeks grants to generate and transfer compatible technologies with the socioeconomic status of beekeepers. Data were extracted from the Census Beekeeping, involving 75 municipalities with significant beekeeping activity. Factor analysis was used to characterize the technological level of beekeepers. The results showed low technological level. Using the factor scores the gross rate of development was calculated. With higher values of this index, Conceicao de Macabu, Areal, Duas Barras, Rio Claro, Cardoso Moreira, Cachoeiras de Macacu, Campos dos Goytacazes, Natividade e Nova Iguacu cities were highlighted. It was found that the level of education has affected positively the development of beekeepers. This development was also affected by the technical assistance, by the management and exchange of queen practice and by the migratory beekeeping. Thus, the modernization of beekeepers to improve the technological level, expand productivity and diversify their production necessarily involves knowledge level of the beekeeper and the socioeconomic situation.


Refracted governmentality: space, politics and social structure in contemporary Luanda Antonio Andrade Tomas My thesis argues that political authority produces very particular regimes of informality. The description of the city of Luanda that I undertake is concerned with explaining the process of political transformation. The city of Luanda was mostly built during colonialism to spatially accommodate extant race and class divisions. The million or more Angolans who occupied those differentiated spaces in the aftermath of independence challenged the colonial distribution of space. I explain the recent transformation that the city has undergone by focusing less on the theory and practice of urban planning, and more on the inscription and influence of political patronage onto space. Political power, then, has been a force in the spatial transformation of Luanda. These developments have taken place against backdrop of a very particular politico-economic structure, which has two consequences that I explore in the remainder of the dissertation. The first one concerns the disjuncture in formal terms of the relationship between the state and society. As one of the second largest oil producing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria, the Angolan government is not dependent on the population for the extraction of tax resources. Consequently, the government is not only unaccountable to the population and civil society, but by being out of joints with large swaths of the population forces most Angolans to reproduce themselves beyond any formal intervention of the state. The second consequence can be seen in the informal links between rulers and the ruled which are sustained by other institutions of intermediation, such as the ruling party, but even more importantly the family. In post-socialist and neo-liberal Angola, family is no longer the domain of private relationships. Family has come to signify the intermediation between the state and society. For affluent Angolans, family ties to the political elite allow them to share the distribution of national resources. For poor Angolans, family is the unit of production by means of which ends can be met.


This paper primarily describes the development and application of substructure computational analysis techniques in two-step hirarchical strategy to determine stress intensity factors for the stiffened damaged panels subjected to fatigue internal pressure. A program based on substructure analysis technique and global-local hierarchical strategy has been developed for the fracture analysis of curved aircraft panels containing cracks. This program may create superelements in global and local models, and obtain fracture parameter of the crack in local model by expanding results in superelements automatically. The technique is applied to the analysis of a cracked panel with 7 frames and 10 stringers. SIFs of four cracks in it with different crack lengths are obtained efficiently.


This paper questions the current directions of Europeanisation in administrative law. The exam of changes in the Europeanisation of law, ideas and legal science stems from Europe's newfound cultural foundations – as described by our ancestors and retraced by historians. In this manner, it is discovered that the Europeanisation of legislation is in crisis and that it has been replaced by other relational forms that find their ultimate expression in the spread of legal culture and thought.


This article reports the results of a survey investigating the attitudes of New Zealand Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs) to continuing professional development (CPD) following the implementation of a mandatory CPD policy. This survey replicated, and is compared with, a study conducted in 2001 that was administered to elicit attitudes to CPD before the mandate was introduced. The results of this survey were published in Shadows: The New Zealand Journal of Medical Radiation Technology in 2004. Questionnaires were distributed to the 1200 MRTs registered in the New Zealand Institute of Medical Radiation Technology CPD programme. Since the initial survey there are four main areas where quantitative results indicate a change of some significance. The number of MRTs recording their CPD has increased; the amount of support from their clinical managers and departments has increased; there is a large increase in the number of MRTs considering that CPD should be mandatory; and that MRT perceptions regarding the outcome of CPD have decreased. Several factors do not appear to have changed substantially. These include ongoing concerns relating to the nature of employment, time and costs, and access issues, Overall there has been an increase in the mean total score, although this is only significant for medical imaging.


'Happiness', as we now commonly understand the term, is not something we should expect to meet in Shakespeare's work. When he employs alternative words – such as 'felicity, 'merry' or 'blessed' – he rarely seeks to convey what latter-day readers might assume to be the concept of 'happiness' that we accept as an agreeable state of mind. Shakespeare's 'happy' seems to apply to circumstances rather than to a state of mind. His characters often appear to be luckier in their happiness rather than actual achievers of happiness. The idea that the 'pursuit of happiness' is an essential part of the definition of the human condition (as in the founding documents of the American Revolution) may well owe far more to John Milton's use of the words 'happy' and 'happiness' and the common acceptance of 'happiness' as a socially and politically desirable condition.


In this work a sensitive electrochemical sensor for simultaneous determination of morphine and codeine constructed by application of disposable screen printed carbon electrode strips (SPCE) modified by double strand (ds) calf thymus DNA. According to the results of the modified SPCE strips and experimented parameters, we observed a considerable shift between potentials of morphine and codeine current peaks. Related to these observed shifts, we studied on the effect of the concentration of modifier and pH value on the anodic oxidation pattern of morphine and codeine in the case of optimize the method to get better signals with maximum potential distance. Also to boosting the LODs of this electroanalytical method coupled with an electro-membrane preconcentration (EME) step. The calibration curve which was plotted by the variation of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) currents as a function of different morphine and codeine concentration were linear within the range of 0.7– 40 μM and 2.3- 40 μM for morphine and codeine respectively. Also the limits of detection were 0.07 μM and 0.23 μM, respectively. Finally, the proposed method was able to determine morphine and codeine simultaneously and effectively in urinary real samples.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate clinical outcome of suture anchors in strengthening both acromioclavicular and coracoclavicular ligaments in the surgical treatment of acromioclavicular joint dislocation.

METHODS
Twenty-eight patients with acute traumatic Rockwood III, IV and V dislocations of the acromioclavicular joint surgically treated at our institute between October 2010 and January 2012 were recruited.All patients underwent open reduction combined with suture anchors. Function was evaluated using the Constant- Murley shoulder score. Clinical and radiographic shoulder ratings were evaluated using Taft criteria at 3, 6 and 12 months.

RESULTS
Two cases with fixation loosening were not included in final statistical analysis. Other patients obtained full joint reposition on immediate postoperative radiographs. Follow-up was performed with an average of 15.6 months (range, 12-19). After early range of motion exercises, 96.2% of the patients (25/26) could abduct and elevate their shoulders more than 90 degrees within postoperative 3 months. There was no infection. Average Constant-Murley score was 96.3 points (range, 94-100) and mean Taft shoulder rating was 10.7 points (range, 8-12) at 12 months.

CONCLUSION
The suture anchor is a relatively simple technique and can avoid screw removal which is helpful in reconstructing both acromioclavicular and coracoclavicular ligaments in acute traumatic acromioclavicular joint dislocation.


The need for more performance from computer equipment in data centers has driven the power consumed to levels that are straining thermal management in the centers. When the computer industry switched from bipolar to CMOS transistors in the early 1990s, low-power CMOS technology was expected to resolve all problems associated with power and heat. However, equipment power consumption with CMOS has been rising at a rapid rate during the past 10 years and has surpassed power consumption from equipment installed with the bipolar technologies 10 to 15 years ago. Data centers are being designed with 15-20-year life spans, and customers must know how to plan for the power and cooling within these data centers. This paper provides an overview of some of the ongoing work to operate within the thermal environment of a data center. Some of the factors that affect the environmental conditions of data-communication (datacom) equipment within a data center are described. Since high-density racks clustered within a data center are of most concern, measurements are presented along with the conditions necessary to meet the datacom equipment environmental requirements. A number of numerical modeling experiments have been performed in order to describe the governing thermo-fluid mechanisms, and an attempt is made to quantify these processes through performance metrics.


Single-image human relighting aims to relight a target human under new lighting conditions by decomposing the input image into albedo, shape and lighting. Although plausible relighting results can be achieved, previous methods suffer from both the entanglement between albedo and lighting and the lack of hard shadows, which significantly decrease the realism. To tackle these two problems, we propose a geometry-aware single-image human relighting framework that leverages single-image geometry reconstruction for joint deployment of traditional graphics rendering and neural rendering techniques. For the de-lighting, we explore the shortcomings of UNet architecture and propose a modified HRNet, achieving better disentanglement between albedo and lighting. For the relighting, we introduce a ray tracing-based per-pixel lighting representation that explicitly models high-frequency shadows and propose a learning-based shading refinement module to restore realistic shadows (including hard cast shadows) from the ray-traced shading maps. Our framework is able to generate photo-realistic high-frequency shadows such as cast shadows under challenging lighting conditions. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms previous methods on both synthetic and real images.


It has been ascertained that participatory processes did not involve learning component from both agency and water users' association for institutional and technical sustainability. The overall process of participation was superficial. There was a need of participation that underscored the empowerment of WUA with accountability. As Vermillion (2005) shares that empowerment with partnership is an emergent institutional paradigm for the irrigation sector development that places water users in the role of irrigation system governance, and government in the roles of regulator and provider of support services. There is a need to re-train the irrigation staff on the emergent institutional paradigm to empower the water users. For the empowerment with accountability, water users are to be provided enough institutional strengthening. There is the need to promote user-agency relationship positively and develop faith and confidence of the users and agency in the regime of transparency. Social scientists point out potential benefits of building successful local organizations. These benefits, for the local people, are in aspects such as empowerment, confidence-building, forming social capital, and reduction of dependency. Given the fact that participation is a process, it cannot be achieved in a short span of time with little institutional inputs. Sustainability of the management transferred irrigation systems/sub-systems definitely hinges on the broad-based and inclusive participatory processes. Keywords : participation; sustainability; management transfer; social capital and empowerment DOI: 10.3126/dsaj.v4i0.4512 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol.4 2010 pp.41-64


Efficient representations of multi-field packet classifiers with fields represented by ranges is a core mechanism to express services on data plane. To implement classifiers in ternary-addressable memory (TCAM), each range should be encoded into multiple ternary bit strings whose number is at most linear to the width (in bits) of a represented field independently from range encoding method. In this paper we introduce a notion of a subrange allowing to represent a field range on any chosen subset of bit indices that significantly improve efficiency of classifier representations. Our analytic results are confirmed with a comprehensive evaluation study showing applicability of our approach to implement desired levels of expressiveness and scalability in packet classifiers.