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The aim of this study was to investigate (a) the behavioral cues that are displayed by, and trait judgments formed about, anxious interviewees, and (b) why anxious interviewees receive lower interview performance ratings. The Behavioral Expression of Interview Anxiety Model was created as a conceptual framework to explore these relations. We videotaped and transcribed mock job interviews, obtained ratings of interview anxiety and interview performance, and trained raters to assess several verbal and nonverbal cues and trait judgments. The results indicated that few behavioral cues, but several traits were related to interviewee and interviewer ratings of interview anxiety. Two factors emerged from our factor analysis on the trait judgments-Assertiveness and Interpersonal Warmth. Mediation analyses were performed and indicated that Assertiveness and Interpersonal Warmth mediated the relation between interview anxiety and interview performance. Speech rate (words spoken per minute) and Assertiveness were found to mediate the relation between interviewee and interviewer ratings of interview anxiety. Overall, the results indicated that interviewees should focus less on their nervous tics and more on the broader impressions that they convey. Our findings indicate that anxious interviewees may want to focus on how assertive and interpersonally warm they appear to interviewers. To our knowledge, this is the first study to use a validated interview anxiety measure to examine behavioral cues and traits exhibited by anxious interviewees. We offer new insight into why anxious interviewees receive lower interview performance ratings.

The detection of negative emotions through daily activities such as writing and drawing is useful for promoting wellbeing. The spread of human-machine interfaces such as tablets makes the collection of handwriting and drawing samples easier. In this context, we present a first publicly available database which relates emotional states to handwriting and drawing, that we call EMOTHAW (EMOTion recognition from HAndWriting and draWing). This database includes samples of 129 participants whose emotional states, namely anxiety, depression, and stress, are assessed by the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scales (DASS) questionnaire. Seven tasks are recorded through a digitizing tablet: pentagons and house drawing, words copied in handprint, circles and clock drawing, and one sentence copied in cursive writing. Records consist in pen positions, on-paper and in-air, time stamp, pressure, pen azimuth, and altitude. We report our analysis on this database. From collected data, we first compute measurements related to timing and ductus. We compute separate measurements according to the position of the writing device: on paper or inair. We analyze and classify this set of measurements (referred to as features) using a random forest approach. This latter is a machine learning method [1], based on an ensemble of decision trees, which includes a feature ranking process. We use this ranking process to identify the features which best reveal a targeted emotional state. We then build random forest classifiers associated with each emotional state. We provide accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity evaluation measures obtained from cross-validation experiments. Our results showthat anxiety and stress recognition perform better than depression recognition.

DNA/RNA sequencing has recently become a primary way researchers generate biological data for further analysis. Assembling algorithms are an integral part of this process. However, some of them require pairwise alignment to be applied to a great deal of reads. Although several efficient alignment tools have been released over the past few years, including those taking advantage of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), none of them directly targets high-throughput sequencing data. As a result, a need arose to create software that could handle such data as effectively as possible. G-DNA (GPU-based DNA aligner) is the first highly parallel solution that has been optimized to process nucleotide reads (DNA/RNA) from modern sequencing machines. Results show that the software reaches up to 89 GCUPS (Giga Cell Updates Per Second) on a single GPU and as a result it is the fastest tool in its class. Moreover, it scales up well on multiple GPUs systems, including MPI-based computational clusters, where its performance is counted in TCUPS (Tera CUPS).

Primary European car-makers agree on a 48 V embedded-supply to support the growing current-load requirements in modern vehicles. The functionalities required to the starter-generator are the engine start up, launch assistant torque, regenerative braking, battery charging and early fuel cut off. The dynamic load profile and the harsh environment working conditions make thermal issues the key challenge in the machine design. The paper presents the simulation and experimental test results of a belt driven starter-generator for 48 V mini hybrid powertrains. In particular, a double three-phase 10 kW induction machine has been selected as the suitable candidate for the application. In detail, the authors illustrate the experimental calibration and validation of the steady state thermal model, as well as the thermal characterization of a liquid cooled prototype. Finally, the paper deals with the temperatures prediction of the motor working in different load conditions.

Background: Chronic alcohol intake impacts skin directly, through organ dysfunction or by modifying preexisting dermatoses. However, dermatoses afflicting chronic alcoholics figure in a few studies only. Aim: This study aims to correlate the spectrum of dermatoses in chronic alcoholics with the quantum/duration of alcohol intake and raised liver transaminases. Materials and Methods: Adult males, totaling 196, ascertained to fulfill the Royal College of Psychiatry criteria for chronic alcoholism by the de -addiction center and referred for dermatological consult were enrolled as cases, and similar number of age -/sex -matched teetotallers, as controls. Data emanating from detailed history, clinical examination, and routine liver functions tests were summarized and subsequently analyzed, including statistically using the Chi-square, independent t and Spearman's rank correlation tests, and compared with data from previous studies. Results: Majority (104) drank 41-50 units of alcohol/week since 3-40 (mean: 20.01 +/- 9.322) years. Generalized pruritus (odds ratio [OR]: 31.15, P < 0.001), xerosis (OR: 3.62, P = 0.008), and seborrheic dermatitis (OR: 12.26, P < 0.001) were significantly more common in cases than controls. Infections (73; 37.2%), eczemas (45; 22.9%), and generalized hyperpigmentation (28; 14.2%) were- the major presenting complaints. Spider nevi, gynecomastia, and pellagroid dermatitis were present in 34 (17.3%), 19 (9.7%), and 8 (4.1%) respectively exclusively in cases only. Commonly seen systemic abnormalities were an alcoholic liver disease (45; 22.9%), diabetes mellitus (23; 11.7%), and peripheral neuropathy (19; 9.7%). Conclusion: Knowledge of cutaneous manifestations of chronic alcoholism could prompt in-depth history taking of alcohol intake, lead to specialist referral and thereby enable timely de -addiction, hopefully before serious adversities in the chronic alcoholics.

Service reputation is a key factor for service selection and service composition in Service-Oriented Ambient Intelligence systems. Hence, service reputation computing should fully reflect the feature of multi-rating fusion and the utility value dynamic attenuation characters of the rating. The paper combines D-S evidence theory with dynamic attenuation and puts forward a service reputation computing algorithm based on multi-rating fusion, which is adapted to the Ambient Intelligence systems. First, a layered computing model of the service reputation is given. Then, a mechanism of dynamic attenuation based on time windows, an objective rating and advertisement honesty rating of service, and a user credibility computing algorithm are presented. Afterward, the rating information is combined with the D-S evidence theory to raise an aggregation algorithm of the service general reputation for the Ambient Intelligence environments. Finally, a prototype test is carried out to verify the effectiveness and availability of the model together with the algorithms.

Cross-sectional ovalization of thin-walled circular steel tube because of large plastic bending, also known as the Brazier effect, usually occurs during the initial stage of tube's continuous rotary straightening process. The amount of ovalization, defined as maximal cross section flattening, is an important technical parameter in tube's straightening process to control tube's bending deformation and prevent buckling. However, for the lack of special analytical model, the maximal section flattening was determined in accordance with the specified charts developed by experienced operators on the basis of experimental data; thus, it was inevitable that the localized buckling might occur during some actual straightening operations. New normal strain component formulas were derived based on the thin shell theory. Then, strain energy of thin-walled tube (per unit length) was obtained using the elastic-plastic theory. A rational model for predicting the maximal section flattening of the thin-walled circular steel tube under its straightening process was presented by the principle of minimum potential energy. The new model was validated by experiments and numerical simulations. The results show that the new model agrees well with the experiments and the numerical simulations with error of less than 10%. This new model was expected to find its potential application in thin-walled steel tube straightening machine design.

Transient analysis of Switching Power Converter (SPC) circuits is a computationally expensive task. This high expense arises from the fact that these circuits are driven by a clock with a period that is very small compared to the time interval the designer is typically interested in. Envelope-Following (EF) technique has been recently proposed in the literature for efficient time-domain simulation of SPC circuits. In this paper, a parallel high-order EF method, which is based on Obreshkov-Formula, is presented for analysis of SPC circuits. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the efficiency and scalability of the proposed method on parallel platforms.

The assessment and prevention of floods require appropriate forecasting and knowledge of the related hydrological processes. Due to the similar form of the governing equations, flood hydrograph shows a clear analytical and mathematical analogy with electrical circuits. In this paper, a spatially distributed hydrological model is developed which is analogue to a network of electrical resistance-capacitance with five circuits for describing the hydrological processes leading to floods. The spatially distributed hydrological model simulates rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, canopy interception, surface storage and soil storage. The parameters for analogical modelling were derived from translation of the physical catchment characteristics. A two-parameter Weibull equation aggregates the response functions of each pixel and calculates the hydrograph of the catchment. We applied the model to the 'Open-Book' or 'tilted V-catchment' theoretical benchmark problem, as well as to four hourly flood events and simulation of daily discharges. For the last two cases, data were used from the mountainous catchment of upper Tarqui in the Andes of Ecuador. Comparison of single versus multiple circuit designs for the benchmark problem indicates that the multiple circuit analogy provides a result similar to other hydrological models. The results further illustrate the usefulness of the methodology for flood modelling and how it can simplify the simulation for ungauged basins of temporal and spatial variations of influencing hydrological processes.

This paper deals with the motion analysis of skier gliding on the actual snow field using inertial sensors. It is difficult to measure the motion of skier gliding on the actual snow field since the gliding velocity is fast and the measurement area is large. Therefore, few studies have analyzed ski turns in gliding on the actual snow field. It is necessary to analyze the skier gliding on the actual snow field in resolving the mechanism of ski turns. In our previous study, we developed the motion measurement method of skier using inertial and magnetic field sensors. The 3D posture is estimated by applying the sensor fusion method, and the method can estimate the 3D posture compensating the drift error of gyro sensor and reducing the effect of dynamic acceleration of accelerometer. Furthermore, we developed the sensor fusion method estimating the 3D posture in local coordinate by the information of inertial sensors attaching the body segments. The joint angle of skier in gliding on the actual snow field can be estimated by this method and inverse kinematics. We conducted the measurement experiment by skier gliding on the actual snow field. The inertial sensors and the GPS receiver were attached to the body segments and the top of skier, respectively. Skier conducted carving and skidding turns in this experiment. We calculated the joint angles of skier by the information of inertial sensors, and the switchovers of turns are estimated by the GPS receiver output. The results of motion analysis indicated the major feature of skier's motion and the difference between carving and skidding turns. Therefore, the analysis results can be used to the skill rating, the clarification of the mechanism of ski turns and the suggestion of more ideal turning form. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University

An analytical model for the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) tunnel field-effect transistor (FET) with linearly graded workfunction-modulated gate is proposed to improve device performance through subthreshold slope (SS) optimization. The surface potential of the suggested model is analyzed using the two-dimensional (2-D) Poisson equation with imposed channel boundary conditions. Other electrical parameters such as the electric field, drain current, transconductance, and SS are evaluated to examine the performance of the model. Moreover, the performance in terms of the SS and values for the proposed model with downscaling of gate oxide thickness and silicon body thickness are also investigated and the results compared with results for a conventional tunnel FET (TFET) model. The present model exhibits significant reduction in subthreshold slope () and improvement in performance. The accuracy of the model is verified against 2-D technology computer-aided design (TCAD) model simulations.

People can accurately assess various personality traits of others based on body odor (BO) alone. Previous studies have shown that correlations between odor ratings and self-assessed personality dimensions are evident for assessments of neuroticism and dominance. Here, we tested differences between assessments based on natural body odor alone, without the use of cosmetics and assessments based on the body odor of people who were allowed to use cosmetics following their daily routine. Sixty-seven observers assessed samples of odors from 113 odor donors (each odor donor provided two samples one with and one without cosmetic use); the donors provided their personality ratings, and the raters judged personality characteristics of the donors based on the provided odor samples. Correlations between observers' ratings and self-rated neuroticism were stronger when raters assessed body odor in the natural body odor condition (natural BO condition; r(s) = 0.20) than in the cosmetics use condition (BO+cosmetics condition; r(s) = 0.15). Ratings of dominance significantly predicted self-assessed dominance in both conditions (r(s) = 0.34 for natural BO and r(s) = 0.21 for BO+cosmetics), whereas ratings of extraversion did not predict self-assessed extraversion in either condition. In addition, ratings of body odor attractiveness and pleasantness were significantly lower in natural BO condition than in BO+cosmetics condition, although the intensity of donors' body odors was similar under both conditions. Our findings suggest that although olfaction seems to contribute to accurate first impression judgments of certain personality traits, cosmetic use can affect assessments of others based on body odor.

FH98 digital scheduling system can realize the functions of centralized monitoring, remote maintenance, fault diagnosis, and environmental monitoring, etc. so that the remote equipment can be attended. In this way, railway scheduling, station and station communication can adapt to the future development of railway communication. This paper describes the common faults and processing methods of application of FH98 digital dispatching system.

At a global level, with the increase in healthcare costs, there is a need to assess the economic impact of the incorporation of new technologies in different health disorders in different countries. There is scarce information regarding costs incurred with the use of current or new diagnostic tests for tuberculosis or from the vantage point of their incorporation within the healthcare systems of high-burden countries. The present study aimed to assess the mean cost and the activity based cost of the laboratory diagnosis for tuberculosis by means of conventional techniques and from the Detect TB (R) LabTest molecular test kit in a general high-complexity hospital of the public health system in Brazil. Cost analysis was performed by means of primary data, collected in the Mycobacteria and Molecular Biology Laboratory in 2013. The mean cost and activity based cost were, respectively, U$10.06/U$5.61 for centrifuged bacilloscopy by Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) and Auramine (AU); U$7.42/U$4.15 for direct bacilloscopy by ZN; U$27.38/U$16.50 for culture in a Loweinstein-Jensen solid medium; and U$115.74/U$73.46 for the Detect TB (R) LabTest Kit. The calculation of the ABC should be used in making decisions by administrators to be the best method of assessing the costs of conventional techniques and molecular method for providing the real value of the tests. So it is need to calculate the ABC, and not of the mean cost, in various scenarios before incorporating new technologies in health institutions.

Objective: Social skills play an important role in employment. This study provides a qualitative analysis of salient work related social skills and interventions for addressing social skills in public vocational rehabilitation (VR). Research Design: A modified consensual qualitative research (CQR) approach was taken to understand the elements and influence of work related social skills in public VR. Thirty-five counselors, supervisors, and administrators participated in semistructured interviews to provide their perspectives of work related social skills and the interventions they use for addressing these skills. Results: Multiple aspects of work-related social skills were described as being important for VR consumer success. The most common work related social skills across all participants were nonverbal communication and the ability to connect with others. Primary social interventions included informal social skills training (SST), systems collaboration, and creating an appropriate job match. Conclusions: Public rehabilitation agency staff, constantly faced with addressing work related social skills, possess many insights about salient skills and interventions that can benefit future research and practice. Agencies currently address social skills deficits by providing interventions to both person and environment. The research provides directions for future research related to identification of social skills and interventions to address related deficits.

Background: Buckwheat (BW) is a common cause of life-threatening allergy in Asia. Few have examined oral food challenges (OFCs) using BW. We here describe the OFC outcomes for the diagnosis or confirmation of tolerance acquisition and clarify risk factors for positive OFCs. Methods: Between July 2005 and March 2014, we retrospectively reviewed data from children who underwent OFCs using 3,072 mg of BW protein at Sagamihara National Hospital. Children were suspected of having BW allergy because of positive results for BW-specific IgE or because they had been previously diagnosed with BW allergy owing to immediate reactions to BW. Results: Of 476 such patients, we analyzed 419 aged 1-17 years (median age 6.7 years). Forty-four (10.5%) reacted to the BW OFC and 24 (54.5%) experienced anaphylaxis. Among patients with suspected BW allergies (n = 369), 30 (8.1%) reacted to OFC. However, among patients with definitive BW allergies (n = 50) who underwent OFCs a median of 7.0 years after their last immediate reaction, 14 (28.0%) reacted to OFC. Among 12 patients with past anaphylactic reactions to BW, 8 exhibited tolerance to BW. A history of immediate reaction to BW and high BW-specific IgE levels were significant risk factors for a positive OFC. Conclusions: BW allergies are rare among children suspected of having BW allergies due to positivity for BW-specific IgE. Most children with definitive BW allergies can tolerate BW, even after anaphylactic reactions. Nevertheless, careful observation is needed when performing BW OFCs, considering the high incidence of anaphylactic reactions. (C) 2017 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel

The concept of energy is widely employed in introductory science courses. However, the term energy is defined and utilized in different ways depending on the context, even within a given discipline. Through the lens of metaphor theory, these various definitions of energy are seen as metaphors that highlight and obscure characteristics of energy. Working under this framework, undergraduate students in introductory biology, chemistry, and physics courses were asked to write analogies that reflect their understanding of the role of energy in the context of ecosystems (n=49), chemical reactions (n=36), mechanical systems (n=65), and electrical circuits (n=44). These analogies were analyzed qualitatively using metaphor theory to gain understanding of how students conceptualize energy in these different contexts. The results of this study indicate that students use seven different conceptual metaphors to explain the role of energy in various scientific contexts: energy as a substance that can be accounted for, energy as a substance that can flow, can change forms, can be carried, can be lost, can be an ingredient or a product, and energy as a process or interaction. This result gives teachers a framework to use in evaluating student ideas about energy.

Soil steaming is a preventive non-chemical weed control method. We designed and studied a new prototype band-steaming machine. Tests were conducted during the growing cycle of organically cultivated carrot in real-field conditions, in order to study the effect of different steam doses on crops and a natural weed seedbank, throughout the whole growth cycle. The prototype has a 3265 MJ h(-1) steam generator, which applies steam in 12 soil bands, 180 mm wide. The steam was mixed with the soil by mean of an apposite rotary cultivator. Four biological steam doses (0, 1.11, 1.59, and 2.78 kg m(-2)) were applied in combination with 4000 kg ha(-1) of CaO prior to sowing the crop. Log-logistic models were used to describe the responses of temperatures, weed density, time required for hand weeding, weed dry biomass at harvest, and carrot yield to the band-steaming application. Based on the experimental data, an economic margin was evaluated to find the optimum application dose. Overall responses were influenced by steam dose. The results showed that a maximum temperature of 63 degrees C at a 25 mm depth was observed with a steam dose of 2.78 kg m(-2). With a 2.78 kg m(-2) dose, the operative time was approximately 14 h ha(-1) and total fuel consumption was 768 kg ha-1. An estimated mean steam dose of 2.3 kg m(-2) could be able to provide similar yield and hand weeding times responses to the highest steam dose applied, thus reducing both the operative time and fuel consumption of the machine. (C) 2016 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The analysis of travel mode choice is an important task in transportation planning and policy making in order to understand and predict travel demands. While advances in machine learning have led to numerous powerful classifiers, their usefulness for modeling travel mode choice remains largely unexplored. Using extensive Dutch travel diary data from the years 2010 to 2012, enriched with variables on the built and natural environment as well as on weather conditions, this study compares the predictive performance of seven selected machine learning classifiers for travel mode choice analysis and makes recommendations for model selection. In addition, it addresses the importance of different variables and how they relate to different travel modes. The results show that random forest performs significantly better than any other of the investigated classifiers, including the commonly used multinomial logit model. While trip distance is found to be the most important variable, the importance of the other variables varies with classifiers and travel modes. The importance of the meteorological variables is highest for support vector machine, while temperature is particularly important for predicting bicycle and public transport trips. The results suggest that the analysis of variable importance with respect to the different classifiers and travel modes is essential for a better understanding and effective modeling of people's travel behavior. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The potential of nanotechnology to make it possible to acquire and manipulate very large sets of data raises fundamental questions about privacy and human dignity. Medical privacy allows a person to withhold their medical records and other information from others, perhaps because of fears that it might affect their insurance coverage or employment, or to avoid the embarrassment caused by revealing medical conditions or treatments. The emerging 'nanoneuroimplants' have given rise to new policy issues. Such developments could be used to achieve greater safety, security and individualized healthcare, and could offer advantages to business (for example in tracking and other monitoring of materials and products). However, the same devices might be used in ways that limit individual or group privacy by covert surveillance, by collecting and distributing personal information (such as health or genetic profiles) without adequate consent, and by concentrating information in the hands of those with the resources to develop and control such networks. The discussions on ethical and societal aspects of nanoneuroimplants tend to focus on how ambient intelligence, also called ubiquitous computing, changes the organization of society and how people communicate and interact with each other. When it is possible to track every citizen, and to store information that would predict patterns of future behavior, it is important to set guidelines for the use of that information early. The development of large commercial databases using current technology is proceeding rapidly; nanoneuroimplants have the capability to accelerate this development in the future. Therefore, privacy is a key value which underpins human dignity. Thus, the objective of this study is primarily to raise awareness and questions concerning the privacy and human dignity dilemmas created by nanoneuroimplants in this rapidly expanding field. Breakthroughs from this research at nanoneuroimplants will therefore have a significant impact on the market for enabling new neural prosthetic-based technologies. Ethical awareness and analysis must take place now in order to ensure an appropriate and timely impact on the various technological applications. Nevertheless, where necessary this paper proposes clear ethical boundaries, legal principles and suggests several steps that should be taken by responsible regulators in international level.

Diversity in the macrophage models currently employed in immunology studies may lead to opposed results and interpretations. In this study, we aimed to analyze the suitability of J774 macrophage-like cells as a model for the interaction between the dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum and macrophages. J774 cells were competent in fungal phagocytosis, but succumbed to hyphal growth. Nevertheless, they could also secrete IL-1 beta in response to the dermatophyte. On the opposite direction, inflammatory, thioglycollate-induced peritoneal macrophages did not succumb to fungal growth and showed no significant IL-1 beta production. The proteomic profiling of these cells uncovered vimentin and plastin-2 as proteins whose abundance was altered by the fungal interaction. Our study indicates that this cell line could be an interesting tool in the investigation of T. rubrum infection biology.

Aims: Recent evidence indicates that the defective ability to clear apoptotic cells by macrophages (efferocytosis) and the resultant apoptotic cells accumulation in atherosclerotic plaques play an important role during the progression of unstable plaques. The cannabinoid type 2 receptor (CB2), has recently been emerging as a new target to reduce vulnerability and promote stability of plaques, however, the underlying mechanisms have not been studied in detail. In the present study, we investigated whether selective activation of CB2 improves efferocytosis of macrophages. Main methods: RAW264.7 macrophage line and primary-isolated peritoneal lavage macrophages from C57bI/6J mice were cultured. The efferocytosis of macrophages was analyzed by using flow cytometry or confocal microscopy; and the possible mechanisms involved in regulation of efferocytosis were also explored by using molecular biology methods. Key findings: We found that JWH-133 and HU-308, selective agonists of CB2 receptor, concentration-dependently increased the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells in normal-cultured and oxidative low density lipoprotein (OxLDL) - loaded RAW264.7 and primary macrophages. JWH-133 and HU-308 also up-regulated expressions of tyrosine kinase family phagocytic receptors MerTK, Tyro3 and Axl, reduced levels of TNF-alpha and reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by OxLDL, and inhibited activation of RhoA GTPase. Significance: The selective activation of CB2 improves efferosytosis of normal-cultured and OxLDL-loaded macrophages, which might provide a novel mechanism on how CB2 activation reduces vulnerability and promotes stability of atherosclerotic plaques. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.

Background: Only a few biomarkers are available for assessing disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Mean platelet volume (MPV) has been recently studied as an inflammatory biomarker. It is currently unclear whether MPV may also play a role as a biomarker of disease activity in adult patients with SLE. Objective: We investigated the association between MPV and disease activity in adult patients with SLE. Methods: In this retrospective study, we compared two groups of adult patients divided according to disease activity (36 per group). Subjects were age- and gender-matched. Results: MPV was significantly decreased with respect to those of inactive patients (7.16 +/- 1.39 vs. 8.16 +/- 1.50, p = 0.005). At a cutoff level of 8.32 fL, MPV has a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 41% for the detection of disease activity. A modest positive correlation was found between MPV and albumin (r= 0.407, p = 0.001), which in turn is inversely associated with disease activity. Conclusions: In summary, MPV is decreased in adult patients with active lupus disease, and positively correlated with albumin, another biomarker of disease activity. Prospective studies are needed to evaluate the prognostic value of this biomarker. (C) 2016 Elsevier Editora Ltda.

Actuated by spatial universal rotating magnetic vector through digital control, the steering navigation of the spiral-type capsule robot in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract becomes possible. However, as a potential risk, the fluid resistance torsion moment generated by the rotating spiral-type capsule robot would distort the GI tract with insufficient fluid. It is difficult to investigate the fluid distorting effect on the GI tract, because online measurement of the fluid resistance torsion moment still remains unsolved. In this paper, an innovative method employing critical coupling magnetic moment for indirectly detecting the fluid resistance torsion moment is proposed. To reduce fluid distorting effect, a petal-shaped capsule robot, whose surface is composed of four petal-shaped tiles, is proposed, and fluid resistance torsion moment-weaken effect of the petal-shaped capsule robot is discovered and investigated, which happens to the fluid when it travels through a convergent wedge-like gap between the surface of each of the four petal-shaped tiles and the inner pipe wall. Simulations and experiments have demonstrated that the twist impact on the GI tract by the petal-shaped capsule robot is reduced, while the non-contact driving performance in the GI tract is improved greatly isolated by fluid membrane with high dynamic pressure.

There are three main magnet systems in Wendelstein 7-X, comprising in total 85 coils arranged in 22 independent circuits fed by steady state power supplies. The superconducting coil system creates the main magnetic field and consists of 70 coils, grouped in seven electrical circuits with ten coils each with an inductance of about one Henry. Each circuit is fed by one power supply with a maximum current of 20 kA and a maximum voltage of +/-30 V. The power supplies were tested so far using copper coils with one m Omega and one mH. The integral commissioning of the completed coil circuits has been running since the end of April 2015. The second coil system is the so-called trim coil system, intended for enhanced experimental flexibility and error field corrections. It consists of five independently powered copper coils which are placed on the outer side of the cryostat. They will be operated with currents of up to 1.95 kA. Each power supply is connected to the 400 V three phase grid and consists of an input transformer with dual secondaries connected to two three phase systems, followed by two diode six pulse diode bridges, configured as a 12 pulse rectifier. The power conversion is accomplished with paralleled H-bridges using IGBT. The full scale ratings of a power supply are +1 2200 A(dc) and +/-230 V(dc). Tests at full current were performed on the power supplies using dummy loads, and successful tests were performed on the actual trim coils up to 2/3 of rated current in November 2014. The third magnet system is the divertor control coil system. The ten normal conducting copper coils are situated inside the plasma vessel behind the divertor targets and are arranged in ten independent circuits. The 12 pulse system of these power supplies is generated in the same manner as the power supplies for the superconducting coils, followed by rectifier diodes. The inverter stage is made up of an H-bridge converter with 12 MOSFET transistors in parallel per branch. The current rating of the power supply is a DC value up to +/-2500 A, which can be modulated by an AC current of up to 625 A with frequencies up to 20 Hz. The final commissioning of the control coil system has been started in February 2015.

An intensification of agriculture in the Brazilian Cerrado during the last four decades has resulted in unintended consequences such as increased groundwater and surface water pollution due to excessive N fertilization. To address these problems within a coffee (Coffea arabica L.) orchard, the process-based ANIMO model was used to simulate nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) leaching and plant nitrogen (N) uptake for several rates of N (200-800 kg h(-1) y(-1)). Effects of splitting N applications from three times per year to every other day were also evaluated for a Typic Hapludox within the Cerrado. Statistical analysis of ANIMO outputs showed that simulated soil solution NO3-N concentrations were in agreement with experimental measurements collected for an entire year. Simulated annual N uptake was also in agreement with average measured N uptake by the coffee plants. An evaluation of the simulation scenarios showed that: i) the most efficient N recovery was associated with N rates between 200 and 400 kg N ha(-1) y(-1) that were split into at least seven applications per year; ii) N recovery at rates between 200 and 300 kg N ha(-1) y(-1) were efficient with or without split application; and iii) the most environmentally friendly N management strategy was the application of between 200 and 300 kg N ha(-1) y(-1) using at least seven splits. Reducing the N rate from 600 to 400 kg N ha (-1) y(-1) increased plant N recovery efficiency by 8-12% and reduced NO3-N leaching by 28 to 47%. Predicted NO3-N leaching and N plant uptake results confirm that better N management strategies can be developed for coffee plantations and other crops grown in the Cerrado. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intelligent (or smart) environments are usually developed for various indoor applications, capable, e.g., of supporting independent living of seniors or handicapped people. Taking into account recent achievements in ambient intelligence, wearable technologies, and wireless sensor networks, especially focused on the area of environmental monitoring, a need for intelligent support of various human activities also in outdoor environment is evident. Such solutions, focused on intelligent support of human activities in natural outdoor environment, have been still very rarely developed and published. A way to useful outdoor applications may lead through exploitation of large-scale ambient intelligence approaches respecting the distributed character of outdoor applications. Here also cloud - based solutions seem to be naturally utilizable. The purpose of the paper is, after reviewing several existing solutions in related areas, to discuss possibilities for cloud-based solutions in intelligent environments oriented on human activities support in outdoor spaces. The approach is illustrated using scenario-based explanation.

Although shale gas has become an important source of natural gas, it has problems associated with water pollution by producing high salinity wastewater (i.e. TDS>100,000mg/L). Membrane distillation (MD) can be applied to treat such wastewater but may suffer from fouling due to scale formation. Accordingly, this study focused on the use of antiscalants to retard scale formation in MD process for the treatment of high salinity wastewater. Experiments were performed using a laboratory-scale direct contact MD (DCMD) system. Seven different antiscalants were applied to the simplified synthetic wastewater. The results were analyzed using a simple theoretical model. It was found that the abilities to retard scale formation were different for different antiscalants. The difference in chemical structures of the antiscalants was attributed to the changes in their effect on scale prevention. Moreover, the mechanisms of flux decline seem to be different in the presence of antiscalants. Not only surface blockage but also internal pore blocking occurred during the MD operation, and the dominant fouling mechanism changed by the addition of the antiscalants.

Whether children share in anticipation of future benefits returned by a partner is an interesting question. In this study, 5-year-old children and an adult partner played a sharing game, in which children donated first and the partner donated afterward. In Experiment 1, the partner's resources were more attractive than the child's. In the reciprocal condition, the child was told that s/he would be a recipient when the partner played as a donor. In the non-reciprocal condition, however, the child was told that an anonymous child would be the recipient when the partner donated. Results showed that children shared more with the partner when they knew that they would be a recipient later. In Experiment 2, the child was always the recipient when the partner donated, but the partner's resources were more desirable than the child's in the high-value condition, and less desirable in the low-value condition. We found that children were more generous when the partner's resources were valued higher. These findings demonstrate that 5-year-old preschoolers' sharing choices take into account the anticipated reciprocity of the recipient, suggesting either self-interested tactical sharing or direct reciprocity in advance of receiving. Specifically, they adjust their sharing behavior depending on whether a partner has the potential to reciprocate, and whether it is worth sharing relative to the value of the payback.

Experimental data from multiple studies show the coarsening of co-continuous, high interfacial tension fluid systems is driven by capillary instabilities. Coarsening of low interfacial tension systems follows viscosity ratio dependence consistent with the pinch-off of suspended short filaments although there is uncertainty of this interpretation. The attenuation of coarsening rates for both types follows a common dependence on phase volume fraction and viscosity ratio. Dimensional analysis provides an interpretation of the transition from linear coarsening to slower nonlinear coarsening as a balance of interfacial tension driven flow and a critical level of interconnectivity. The slowdown of coarsening is consistent with the formation of discrete domains which subsequently coexist with the remaining co-continuous structure. (c) 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 4140-4156, 2016

The ability to automatically recognize human faces based on dynamic facial images is important in security, surveillance and the health/independent living domains. Specific applications include access control to secure environments, identification of individuals at a particular place and intruder detection. This research proposes a real-time system for surveillance using cameras. The process is broken into two steps: (1) face detection and (2) face recognition to identify particular persons. For the first step, the system tracks and selects the faces of the detected persons. An efficient recognition algorithm is then used to recognize detected faces with a known database. The proposed approach exploits the Viola-Jones method for face detection, the Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi algorithm as a feature tracker and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for face recognition. This system can be implemented at different restricted areas, such as at the office or house of a suspicious person or at the entrance of a sensitive installation. The system works almost perfectly under reasonable lighting conditions and image depths.

While the importance of faces in person recognition has been the subject of many studies, there are relatively few studies examining recognition of the whole person in motion even though this most closely resembles daily experience. Most studies examining the whole body in motion use point light displays, which have many advantages but are impoverished and unnatural compared to real life. To determine which factors are used when recognizing the whole person in motion we conducted two experiments using naturalistic videos. In Experiment 1 we used a matching task in which the first stimulus in each pair could either be a video or multiple still images from a video of the full body. The second stimulus, on which person recognition was performed, could be an image of either the full body or face alone. We found that the body contributed to person recognition beyond the face, but only after exposure to motion. Since person recognition was performed on still images, the contribution of motion to person recognition was mediated by form-from-motion processes. To assess whether dynamic identity signatures may also contribute to person recognition, in Experiment 2 we presented people in motion and examined person recognition from videos compared to still images. Results show that dynamic identity signatures did not contribute to person recognition beyond form-from-motion processes. We conclude that the face, body and form-from-motion processes all appear to play a role in unfamiliar person recognition, suggesting the importance of considering the whole body and motion when examining person perception. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prior work shows that children selectively learn from credible speakers. Yet little is known how they treat information from non-credible speakers. This research examined to what extent and under what conditions children may or may not learn from problematic sources. In three studies, we found that children displayed trust toward previously inaccurate speakers. Children were equally likely to extend labels from previously accurate and inaccurate speakers to novel objects. Moreover, they expected third parties to share labels provided by previously inaccurate speakers. Only when there was clear evidence that the speakers' information was wrong (as in the case when speakers' perceptual access to the information was blocked), did young children reject the label. Together, the findings provide evidence that young children do not completely ignore the labels supplied by non-credible speakers unless there is strong reason to do so.

The paper presents application of particle swarm optimization in designing electrical circuits on the basis of frequency characteristics. Particle swarm is a population-based global optimization algorithm, inspired by the behavior of flocks of birds or insect swarming. This algorithm is applied in optimization approach to the synthesis of the electric circuits on the basis of the required frequency characteristics. The usefulness of the algorithm was shown on the example of designing the electrical filter and humidity sensor model. The results prove the practical suitability of PSO to the optimization problems of many minima.

The development of printable biomaterial inks is critical to the application of 3D printing in biomedicine. To print high-resolution structures with fidelity to a computer aided design, materials used in 3D printing must be capable of being deposited on a surface and maintaining a printed structure. A dual-cross-linking hyaluronic acid system was studied here as a printable hydrogel ink, which encompassed both shear-thinning and self-healing behaviors via guest host bonding, as well as covalent cross-linking for stabilization using photopolymerization. When either guest host assembly or covalent cross-linking was used alone, long-term stable structures were not formed, because of network relaxation after printing or dispersion of the ink filaments prior to stabilization, respectively. The dual-cross-linking hydrogel filaments formed structures with greater than 16 layers that were stable over a month with no loss in mechanical properties and the printed filament size ranged from 100 to 500 mu m, depending on printing parameters (needle size, speed, and extrusion flux). Printed structures were further functionalized (i.e., RGD peptide) to support cell adhesion. This work highlights the importance of ink formulation and cross-linking on the printing of stable hydrogel structures.

Managing excess nutrients remains a major obstacle to improving ecosystem service benefits of urban waters. To inform more ecologically based landscape nutrient management, we compared watershed inputs, outputs, and retention for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in seven subwatersheds of the Mississippi River in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lawn fertilizer and pet waste dominated N and P inputs, respectively, underscoring the importance of household actions in influencing urban watershed nutrient budgets. Watersheds retained only 22% of net P inputs versus 80% of net N inputs (watershed area-weighted averages, where net inputs equal inputs minus biomass removal) despite relatively low P inputs. In contrast to many nonurban watersheds that exhibit high P retention, these urban watersheds have high street density that enhanced transport of P-rich materials from landscapes to stormwater. High P exports in storm drainage networks and yard waste resulted in net P losses in some watersheds. Comparisons of the N/P stoichiometry of net inputs versus storm drain exports implicated denitrification or leaching to groundwater as a likely fate for retained N. Thus, these urban watersheds exported high quantities of N and P, but via contrasting pathways: P was exported primarily via stormwater runoff, contributing to surface water degradation, whereas N losses additionally contribute to groundwater pollution. Consequently, N management and P management require different strategies, with N management focusing on reducing watershed inputs and P management also focusing on reducing P movement from vegetated landscapes to streets and storm drains.

Research participants' sexual orientation is not consistently taken into account in experimental psychological research. We argue that it should be in any research related to participant or target gender. Corroborating this argument, an example study is presented on the gender bias in face recognition, the finding that women correctly recognize more female than male faces. In contrast, findings with male participants have been inconclusive. An online experiment (N = 1,147) was carried out, on purpose over-sampling lesbian and gay participants. Findings demonstrate that the pro-female gender bias in face recognition is modified by male participants' sexual orientation. Heterosexual women and lesbians as well as heterosexual men showed a pro-female gender bias in face recognition, whereas gay men showed a pro-male gender bias, consistent with the explanation that differences in face expertise develop congruent with interests. These results contribute to the growing evidence that participant sexual orientation can be used to distinguish between alternative theoretical explanations of given gender-correlated patterns of findings.

The aim of this paper, is to propose a solution for the model adequacy verification in indirect adaptive control beside the classical known validation tests. The dynamic system that was selected to verify the proposed solution, is represented by a flexible transmission described by a complex four order model. Using the selected model adequacy index, it is studied the influence of the SPAB signal and perturbation amplitude on the model adequacy and control solution, for two different tracking performances selections. The proposed solution, comes to overcome the model validation problems encountered in real-time applications, with the main advantage of improving the model identification and control solutions.

The transcription factor hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 beta (HNF1 beta) is ubiquitously overexpressed in ovarian clear cell carcinoma (CCC) and is a potential therapeutic target. To explore potential approaches that block HNF1 beta transcription we have identified and characterised extensively the nuclear localisation signal (NLS) for HNF1 beta and its interactions with the nuclear protein import receptor, Importin-alpha. Pull-down assays demonstrated that the DNA binding domain of HNF1 beta interacted with a spectrum of Importin-alpha isoforms and deletion constructs tagged with eGFP confirmed that the HNF1 beta(KKMRRNR235)-K-229 sequence was essential for nuclear localisation. We further characterised the interaction between the NLS and Importin-alpha using complementary biophysical techniques and have determined the 2.4 angstrom resolution crystal structure of the HNF1 beta NLS peptide bound to Importin-alpha. The functional, biochemical, and structural characterisation of the nuclear localisation signal present on HNF1 beta and its interaction with the nuclear import protein Importin-alpha provide the basis for the development of compounds targeting transcription factor HNF1 beta via its nuclear import pathway. (C) 2016 MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc.

This meta-analysis examined the relationship between moral identity and moral behavior. It was based on 111 studies from a broad range of academic fields including business, developmental psychology and education, marketing, sociology, and sport sciences. Moral identity was found to be significantly associated with moral behavior (random effects model, r = .22, p < .01, 95% CI [.19, .25]). Effect sizes did not differ for behavioral outcomes (prosocial behavior, avoidance of antisocial behavior, ethical behavior). Studies that were entirely based on self-reports yielded larger effect sizes. In contrast, the smallest effect was found for studies that were based on implicit measures or used priming techniques to elicit moral identity. Moreover, a marginally significant effect of culture indicated that studies conducted in collectivistic cultures yielded lower effect sizes than studies from individualistic cultures. Overall, the meta-analysis provides support for the notion that moral identity strengthens individuals' readiness to engage in prosocial and ethical behavior as well as to abstain from antisocial behavior. However, moral identity fares no better as a predictor of moral action than other psychological constructs.

Under Ambient Intelligence auspice, many researchers have studied the area of context recognition such as location, users' identity and activities, and other parameters related to users' situation in the environment. One aspect of context that is pertained to the users' situation is body posture of a sitting person. The aim of this paper is the design and development of a novel Aware Chair system that recognizes sitting body postures. The Aware Chair is based on digital sensors mounted on the sitting and back area of the chair. The chair is tested using 50 people with different gender, body mass, and height. The design details of the system as well as test results are presented in this paper.

Batch adsorption experiments were carried out for the removal of methylene blue (MB) cationic dye from aqueous solution using organic/inorganic hydrogel nanocomposite of titania incorporated sodium alginate crosslinked polyacrylic acid (SA-cl-poly(AA)-TiO2). The hydrogel was prepared by graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) onto sodium alginate (SA) biopolymer in the presence of a crosslinking agent, a free radical initiator and TiO2 nanoparticles. The hydrogel exhibited a high swelling capacity of 412.98 g/g. The factors influencing adsorption capacity of the absorbents such as pH of the dye solutions, initial concentration of the dye, amount of absorbents, and temperature were investigated and used to propose a possible mechanism of adsorption. The adsorption process concurs with a pseudo-second-order kinetics and with Langmuir isotherm equation. A very high adsorption capacity (Q(max) = 2257.36 (mg/g)) and a correlation coefficient of 0.998 calculated from isotherm equations show the high efficiency of the absorbent and thus expected to be a good candidate as an absorbent for water treatment. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder. Emerging evidence implicates b-amyloid (Ab) plays a critical role in the progression of AD. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of cerebrosides obtained from sea cucumber against senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice in vivo. We also studied the effect of cerebrosides on Ab-induced cytotoxicity on the rat pheochromocytoma cell (PC12) and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Cerebrosides ameliorated learning and memory deficits and the Ab accumulation in demented mice, decreased the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-20-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), 8-hydroxy-20-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-G), and nitric oxide (NO), and enhanced the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity significantly. The neuroprotective effect of sea cucumber cerebrosides (SCC) was also verified in vitro: the cerebrosides increased the survival rate of PC12 cells, recovered the cellular morphology, downregulated the protein levels of Caspase-9, cleaved Caspase-3, total Caspase-3, and Bax, and upregulated the protein level of Bcl-2, revealing that cerebrosides could inhibit Ab-induced cell apoptosis. The results showed the protective effect of SCC was regulated by the mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway. Our results provide a new approach to developing the marine organisms as functional foods for neuroprotection.

Aims and objectives. With a focus on sexual health and rights, this study describes how transgender people experience meetings with health care professionals. Background. Transgender people face prejudice and discrimination worldwide. Little is known of their experiences in sexual health-promoting settings. Method. Within a descriptive design, 20 persons aged 18-74 and identifying as transgender and nonbinary were interviewed. The results were analysed with constructivist grounded theory. Results. Disrespect among health care professionals is the core category connected to the experiences in the result; transgender people experience estrangement, expectations and eviction in different sexual health-promoting settings. Conclusion. Transgender knowledge needs to be increased in general, in both specialised transgender health care and many other health care settings, to prevent transgender peoples' experiences of estrangement. Moreover, an increased knowledge of, and respect for, sexual health and rights is needed to prevent transgender peoples' exposure to gender binary, cis- and heteronormative expectations. In addition, access to sexual health care is essential following gender-confirmatory care as well to avoid transgender peoples' experiences of eviction from the health care system. Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses have an important role to play in striving for equity and justice within health care. This study describes how health care professionals appear to be disrespectful and suggestions of how this can be avoided are made.

Multiculturalism (i.e., acknowledgment and appreciation of diversity), despite its positive consequences, is often met with resistance among majority group members, particularly those whose race/ethnicity is central to their self-concept. Building upon findings that multiculturalism lowers White Americans' prejudice when presented as an abstract relative to concrete concept, we tested whether and when even concrete forms of multiculturalism can improve intergroup attitudes. Across two experiments, highly identified White Americans exhibited less racial prejudice when induced to view multiculturalism as a concrete learning opportunity than as a concrete set of policies (Study 1) or a concrete ideology more generally (Study 2). This effect was mediated by high identifiers' increased perceptions that diversity benefits themselves and society as a whole. Implications for prejudice reduction and fostering majority group members' active involvement in diversity-relevant issues, as well as the applicability of our studies to other cultural contexts, are discussed.

Study materials focused on specific theories are an essential element of education at universities. These types of study materials are generally available at all universities. An advantage and a disadvantage of these types of study materials is their high theoretical content. However, engineering companies require graduates who are able to apply their knowledge in practice. Therefore, a new concept of e-learning study materials has been developed. These new e-learning study materials are focused on projects from industrial practice. Students can better acquire theoretical knowledge and learn practical techniques using these new study materials. Another advantage is the high comprehensiveness of these study materials. There are several example projects and each of these projects is one machine. Every machine is accompanied with complete drawing documentation, calculation reports, welding technology, 3D PDF etc. One machine is chosen for descriptions of these study materials and their individual parts.

The development of public transit systems that are accessible and safe for everyone, including people with special needs, is an objective that is justified from the civic and economic points of view. Unfortunately, public transit services are conceived for people who do not have reduced physical or cognitive abilities. In this paper, we present an intelligent public transit system by highway with the goal of facilitating access and improving the safety of public transit for persons with special needs. The system is deployed using components that are commonly available in transport infrastructure, e.g., sensors, mobile communications systems, and positioning systems. In addition, the system can operate in non-urban transport contexts, e.g., isolated rural areas, where the availability of basic infrastructure, such as electricity and communications infrastructures, is not always guaranteed. To construct the system, the principles and techniques of Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence have been employed. To illustrate the utility of the system, two cases of services rendered by the system are described: the first case involves a surveillance system to guarantee accessibility at bus stops; the second case involves a route assistant for blind people.

The Langlands Programme, formulated by Robert Langlands in the 1960s and since much developed and refined, is a web of interrelated theory and conjectures concerning many objects in number theory, their interconnections, and connections to other fields. At the heart of the Langlands Programme is the concept of an L-function. The most famous L-function is the Riemann zeta function, and as well as being ubiquitous in number theory itself, L-functions have applications in mathematical physics and cryptography. Two of the seven Clay Mathematics Million Dollar Millennium Problems, the Riemann Hypothesis and the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, deal with their properties. Many different mathematical objects are connected in various ways to L-functions, but the study of those objects is highly specialized, and most mathematicians have only a vague idea of the objects outside their specialty and how everything is related. Helping mathematicians to understand these connections was the motivation for the L-functions and Modular Forms Database (LMFDB) project. Its mission is to chart the landscape of L-functions and modular forms in a systematic, comprehensive, and concrete fashion. This involves developing their theory, creating and improving algorithms for computing and classifying them, and hence discovering new properties of these functions, and testing fundamental conjectures. In the lecture I gave a very brief introduction to L-functions for non-experts and explained and demonstrated how the large collection of data in the LMFDB is organized and displayed, showing the interrelations between linked objects, through our website www.lmfdb.org. I also showed how this has been created by a worldwide open-source collaboration, which we hope may become a model for others.

This paper presents aspects related to water pollution with heavy metals from the Tarnita mining area before and after the cessation of the mining activity. The impact of heavy metals on waters is important because these metals have a negative impact on both human health and aquatic ecosystems. All research data showed that, even the mining activities from this area were suspended, the sterile still pollutes the soil and water.

In this study, the author investigates the practical limitation of the recently proposed embedded cryptographic signature authentication scheme at the physical layer. By employing the log-likelihood ratio of a tag bit and its approximation, the author shows that the equivalent authentication channel observed by the secondary receiver can be viewed as a binary-input additive white Gaussian noise channel. Then, the sphere-packing lower bound can be employed to show the transmission capability for practical finite-length authentication tags. To achieve the same effective coverage area for both the primary and secondary receivers, it essentially requires efficient low-rate channel coding schemes with near sphere-packing-bound performance at the secondary receiver, which contrasts sharply with the pessimistic conclusion of Jiang et al.

The multicultural society in Germany also has an impact on the healthcare system. Regardless of country of origin and denomination, all migrants are entitled to high-quality emergency medical care and equal access to facilities and services of the German healthcare system. Literature review and evaluation of results. In the care of foreign patients, it is necessary that the emergency physician is aware of potential sources of miscommunication. The causes of misunderstandings are often due to verbal communication itself. However, misunderstandings start earlier and also relate to nonverbal communication. Misunderstandings in rescue personnel who interact with foreign patients are found on the verbal level in two forms: insufficient language skills and insufficient knowledge so-called organ metaphors that prevent understanding of the content of a message. When language barriers in communicating with foreign patients are present, there are three alternatives: communication via a universal language (e. g., English), communication through an interpreter, and the use of visual communication aids. If verbal communication is restricted or not possible, only nonverbal communication is usually of help. Culturally sensitive care can only be achieved if the subject of intercultural competence is increasingly implemented in education and training. To develop culturally sensitive patient care, change and development processes are required at several levels and must involve all parties concerned.

BACKGROUND: Dysfunction of the glutamatergic system has been implicated in alcohol addiction; however, the molecular underpinnings of this phenomenon are still poorly understood. In the current study we have investigated the possible function of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in alcohol addiction because this protein has recently emerged as an important regulator of excitatory synaptic plasticity. METHODS: For long-term studies of alcohol drinking in mice we used IntelliCages. Dendritic spines were analyzed using Diolistic staining with DiI. Whole-cell patch clamp was used to assess silent synapses. Motivation for alcohol in human subjects was assessed on the basis of a Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism interview. RESULTS: Mice devoid of MMP-9 (MMP-9 knockout) drank as much alcohol as wild-type animals; however, they were impaired in alcohol seeking during the motivation test and withdrawal. The deficit could be rescued by overexpression of exogenous MMP-9 in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). Furthermore, the impaired alcohol seeking was associated with structural alterations of dendritic spines in the CeA and, moreover, whole-cell patch clamp analysis of the basal amygdala to CeA projections showed that alcohol consumption and withdrawal were associated with generation of silent synapses. These plastic changes were impaired in MMP-9 knockout mice. Finally, C/T polymorphism of MMP-9 gene at position -1562, which upregulates MMP-9 expression, correlated with increased motivation for alcohol in alcoholics. CONCLUSIONS: In aggregate, our results indicate a novel mechanism of alcohol craving that involves MMP-9-dependent synaptic plasticity in CeA.

In the present study, blast furnace slag in granulated form has been used as a granular fill overlay on soft subgrade soil. The effectiveness of geogrid-reinforced granular fill overlay on soft subgrade soil has been assessed by small scale model tests in the laboratory by evaluating two parameters bearing capacity ratio (BCR) and reduction factor. The effect on BCR of strip footing for various lengths of geogird layers in the best performing thickness has been observed. Best performing thickness of the granular fill layer has been found by the parametric study which is not included in this paper. Parametric study has been performed to observe the effect of length of geogrid layers in granular fill overlay on soft subgrade soil. The test results indicate substantial improvement in terms of increase in bearing capacity and reduction in the footing settlement due to provision of geogrid in the granular fill overlay on soft subgrade soil. It has been found that b/B ratio of 4 gives substantial improvement in BCR and beyond b/B ratio of 4, there is no significant improvement in BCR. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

To achieve influence of underwater windmill's flow parameters and structure parameters-related changes with the hydrodynamic characteristics, an underwater windmill's additional contraction device is devised. According to the orthogonal experimental design, flow velocity, shrinking angle, locating range and outlet diameter are selected as four factors to carry out an 4 L-9 (3(4)) orthogonal experiment in this paper. The results of numerical simulation show that the influences of output torque and axial force on hydrodynamic performance of underwater windmill are flow velocity, locating range, outlet diameter and shrinking angle by turns. And the influence of flow velocity and locating range on output torque and axial force of underwater windmill is more evident, while the shrinking angle has small influence on it. As the output torque increases, the inhomogeneity of hydrofoils' surface pressure distribution is much more in evidence. No obvious flow separation phenomenon is occurred on hydrofoils' surface. It indicates that hydrofoil design is reasonable to some extent. In the upper edge of hydrofoil's pressure value are much lower, namely, this position may exist cavitations region. With the increase of the radius, the cavitation region moves to the trailing edge gradually. Mechanics analysis results also show that the assumption of rigidity hydrofoil is reasonable in the process of numerical simulation. Above research conclusions will provide significative reference for more hydrodynamic performance research of underwater windmill.

A digitally controlled sonar power amplifier for underwater transmitter is explained in this paper. It proposes a method of generating unipolar Sine Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) signals for echo ranging sonar. This method can be effectively used in all kinds of inverters including high frequency inverters. A low cost digital signal controller was used to generate SPWM signals and used as gating pulses for a Controlled Full Bridge Circuit (CFBC). The power required, frequency, pulse-width and pulse repetition interval are given as the inputs to the digital controller and gating pulses for the CFBC are generated as output from the controller. A power transformer connected across CFBC boosts output voltage followed by power filter which removes unwanted harmonics present in the output. The output after the power filter is used to excite electro-acoustic transducer elements underwater. The voltage and current of the load were given as feedback to the same controller for voltage mode control loop implementation of the system. A prototype of 1kW Switch Mode Power Amplifier (SMPA) for echo ranging sonar has been designed and digital control has been implemented. Salient results are presented.

Previous observational research suggests that stretching is contagious in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). Here we report the first experimental evidence of this response through a reanalysis of a previous experiment testing for contagious yawning in this species. Using a repeated measures design, 16 birds were tested as pairs alongside familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics with and without visual barriers. Our results show that stretching behavior was temporally clustered only when the birds could see one another, corroborating previous observational findings supporting contagion. Additionally, for the first time, we show an ingroup bias in this response. That is, while the overall frequency of stretching did not significantly differ as a function of conspecific familiarity, contagious stretching was only present when cage mates were paired together. These findings are discussed in relation to recent research studying social cognition in this species.

BACKGROUND: Drug-induced QT interval prolongation, a risk factor for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, is a potential side effect of many marketed and withdrawn medications. The contribution of common genetic variants previously associated with baseline QT interval to drug-induced QT prolongation and arrhythmias is not known. METHODS: We tested the hypothesis that a weighted combination of common genetic variants contributing to QT interval at baseline, identified through genome-wide association studies, can predict individual response to multiple QT-prolonging drugs. Genetic analysis of 22 subjects was performed in a secondary analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of 3 QT-prolonging drugs with 15 time-matched QT and plasma drug concentration measurements. Subjects received single doses of dofetilide, quinidine, ranolazine, and placebo. The outcome was the correlation between a genetic QT score comprising 61 common genetic variants and the slope of an individual subject's drug-induced increase in heart rate-corrected QT (QTc) versus drug concentration. RESULTS: The genetic QT score was correlated with drug-induced QTc prolongation. Among white subjects, genetic QT score explained 30% of the variability in response to dofetilide (r=0.55; 95% confidence interval, 0.09-0.81; P=0.02), 23% in response to quinidine (r=0.48; 95% confidence interval, -0.03 to 0.79; P=0.06), and 27% in response to ranolazine (r=0.52; 95% confidence interval, 0.05-0.80; P=0.03). Furthermore, the genetic QT score was a significant predictor of drug-induced torsade de pointes in an independent sample of 216 cases compared with 771 controls (r(2)=12%, P=1x10(-7)). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that a genetic QT score comprising 61 common genetic variants explains a significant proportion of the variability in drug-induced QT prolongation and is a significant predictor of drug-induced torsade de pointes. These findings highlight an opportunity for recent genetic discoveries to improve individualized risk-benefit assessment for pharmacological therapies. Replication of these findings in larger samples is needed to more precisely estimate variance explained and to establish the individual variants that drive these effects.

Expectation of reward can be shaped by the observation of actions and expressions of other people in one's environment. A person's apparent confidence in the likely reward of an action, for instance, makes qualities of their evidence, not observed directly, socially accessible. This strategy is computationally distinguished from associative learning methods that rely on direct observation, by its use of inference from indirect evidence. In twenty-three healthy human subjects, we isolated effects of first-hand experience, other people's choices, and the mediating effect of their confidence, on decision-making and neural correlates of value within ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Value derived from first-hand experience and other people's choices (regardless of confidence) were indiscriminately represented across vmPFC. However, value computed from agent choices weighted by their associated confidence was represented with specificity for ventromedial area 10. This pattern corresponds to shifts of connectivity and overlapping cognitive processes along a posterior-anterior vmPFC axis. Task behavior and self-reported self-reliance for decision-making in other social contexts correlated. The tendency to conform in other social contexts corresponded to increased activation in cortical regions previously shown to respond to social conflict in proportion to subsequent conformity (Campbell-Meiklejohn et al., 2010). The tendency to self-monitor predicted a selectively enhanced response to accordance with others in the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ). The findings anatomically decompose vmPFC value representations according to computational requirements and provide biological insight into the social transmission of preference and reassurance gained from the confidence of others.

With the advent of new technologies and various services provided in the context of computer networks, a large volume of data is being generated. The main challenge in this area is providing network protection services against various threats and vulnerabilities. So far, many techniques have been proposed to deal with these threats. All of these techniques pursue the same goal, preventing attackers from reaching their objectives. A solution based on early warning system(s) (EWSs) is what exactly security teams need to manage the threats properly. EWS, as a complement to Intrusion Detection System, is a proactive approach against security threats. This is carried out through the early detection of potential behavior of a system, evaluating the scope of malicious behavior, and finally, using suitable response against any kind of detectable security event. This paper presents a comprehensive review on EWSs including definitions, applications, architectures, alert correlation aspects, and other technical requirements. Furthermore, previous studies and existing EWSs have been described and analyzed here. A classification of EWSs has been presented: commercial systems and systems under research and development. Finally, from the studies about EWSs, we conclude some challenges and research issues are still remain open. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

High resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a very powerful tool for the structural identification of xenobiotic metabolites ill complex biological matrices such as plasma, urine and bile. However, these fluids are dominated by thousands of signals resulting from endogenous metabolites and it is advantageous when investigating drug metabolites in such matrices to simplify the spectra by including a separation step in the experiment by directly-coupling HPLC and NMR. Naproxen (6-methoxy-alpha -methyl-2-naphthyl acetic acid) is administered as the S-enantiomer and is metabolised in vivo to form its demethylated metabolite which is subsequently conjugated with beta -D-glucuronic acid as well as with sulfate. Naproxen is also metabolised by phase II metabolism directly to form a glycine conjugate as well as a glucuronic acid conjugate at the carboxyl group. In the present investigation, the metabolism of naproxen was investigated in urine samples with a very simple sample preparation using a combination of directly-coupled HPLC-H-1 NMR spectroscopy and HPLC-mass spectrometry (MS). A buffer system was developed which allows the same chromatographic method to be used for the HPLC-NMR as well as the HPLC-MS analysis. The combination of these methods is complementary in information content since the NMR spectra provide evidence to distinguish isomers such as the type of glucuronides formed, and the HPLC-MS data allow identification of molecules containing NMR-silent fragments such as occur in the sulfate ester. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Gratitude promotes well-being and prompts prosocial behavior. Here, we examine a novel way to cultivate this beneficial emotion. We demonstrate that 2 different types of consumption-material consumption (buying for the sake of having) and experiential consumption (buying for the sake of doing)-differentially foster gratitude and giving. In 6 studies we show that reflecting on experiential purchases (e.g., travel, meals out, tickets to events) inspires more gratitude than reflecting on material purchases (e.g., clothing, jewelry, furniture), and that thinking about experiences leads to more subsequent altruistic behavior than thinking about possessions. In Studies 1-2b, we use within-subject and between-subjects designs to test our main hypothesis: that people are more grateful for what they've done than what they have. Study 3 finds evidence for this effect in the real-world setting of online customer reviews: Consumers are more likely to spontaneously mention feeling grateful for experiences they have bought than for material goods they have bought. In our final 2 studies, we show that experiential consumption also makes people more likely to be generous to others. Participants who contemplated a significant experiential purchase behaved more generously toward anonymous others in an economic game than those who contemplated a significant material purchase. It thus appears that shifting spending toward experiential consumption can improve people's everyday lives as well as the lives of those around them.

Coronary artery diseases are a leading cause of mortality and are increasingly prevalent with age. However, the large number of age-increasing co-morbidities make difficult to understand the impact of cardiovascular ageing alone on the coronary flow pattern. The present study aims to shed light on the effect of arterial and ventricular ageing on the coronary circulation, which is here studied by means of a validated mathematical model. Forward and backward pressure and flow waves are analysed, as well as their intensity. Results highlight a complex spatiotemporal coronary wave pattern, where intense waves originate from the aorta (particularly in systole) and from the deep myocardium, during both the isovolumic compression and the diastolic phase. The subendocardial viability ratio decreases with age, the total coronary flow is slightly reduced, and the left-ventricular work increases. Consequently, the left-ventricular work per unit of blood flow increases, thus limiting the cell oxygen availability abundance, and therefore increasing the risk of myocardial infarction. Our results highlight a physiological age-induced supply/demand unbalance, which can augment the risk of myocardial ischemia and can contribute to pave the way to other typical coronary pathological processes.

This is the second of a series of two papers presenting a reliability based methodology to quantify the financial risks involved in an engineering process systems operation which can be represented as a flow of discrete entities. Each component in the process chain is abstracted as a risk item and a logic based on finite automata is incorporated in the model to transition between the states of no-failure, maintenance, failure and lead time. The process operation is abstracted into a model composed of several servers and queues and employs discrete event simulation techniques. To illustrate the proposed method, the model is applied to the case of a copper ore production system and the risk profile is characterised. Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms are used to optimise these models and obtain a Pareto optimal set of solutions with different risk profiles. This kind of queuing theory based modelling can be used to represent many types of systems like those in production engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing engineering, logistics etc. Hence this risk model can easily be adapted to different disciplines with minor modifications.

The current increase in the deployment of new renewable electricity generation systems is creating new challenges in balancing electric grids. Solutions including energy storage at small and large scales are becoming of paramount importance to guarantee and secure a stable supply of electricity. This paper presents a study about a hybrid solution including a large scale energy storage system coupled with power generation and fast responding energy storage systems. The hybrid plant is able to deliver the energy previously stored by using an air liquefaction process either with or without the contribution of additional energy from combustion. The paper also highlights how such hybrid plants may offer the chance of providing the grid with fast control services. An ideal energy storage technology should have a high power rating, a large storage capacity, high efficiency, low costs and no geographic constraints. The use of air as energy carrier has been studied since the 20th century with the first compressed air energy storage (CAES) systems. This technology is still considered to have a potential but it is geographically constrained, where suitable geological reservoirs are available, unless compressed air is stored in pressurized tanks with significant costs. Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) represents an interesting solution due to its relatively large volumetric energy density and ease of storage. Different process schemes for hybrid plants were modeled in this study with Aspen HYSYS (R) simulation software and the results were compared in terms of equivalent round-trip and fuel efficiencies. Equivalent round-trip efficiencies, higher than 80%, have been calculated showing that the proposed configurations might play an important role for power systems balancing in the near future. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The issue of formulating an Ergun-like equation that applies to dynamic beds previously considered in Tupper et al. (2013) is revisited. Using new high quality positron emission particle tracking data, the volume and time averaged kinematic distributions of the granular (glass beads) and slurry (silica sand and water) mixture are computed. Incorporating these measured ingredients into the model then reveals that turbulence is not described by the usual effective viscosity, but nonetheless is negligible such that the new Inertial Cell Equation is first order in spatial derivatives. (c) 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 939-946, 2016

Complex information-processing systems, for example, quantum circuits, cryptographic protocols, or multi-player games, are naturally described as networks composed of more basic information-processing systems. A modular analysis of such systems requires a mathematical model of systems that is closed under composition, i. e., a network of these objects is again an object of the same type. We propose such a model and call the corresponding systems causal boxes. Causal boxes capture superpositions of causal structures, e. g., messages sent by a causal box A can be in a superposition of different orders or in a superposition of being sent to box B and box C. Furthermore, causal boxes can model systems whose behavior depends on time. By instantiating the abstract cryptography framework with causal boxes, we obtain the first composable security framework that can handle arbitrary quantum protocols and relativistic protocols.

Physician implicit racial bias has been found to predict racial minority patients' reports of satisfaction and trust immediately after engaging in racially discordant medical interactions. This suggests physician implicit racial bias is somehow manifested in physician communication behaviors and noticed by patients during the medical interactions. However, it is unclear exactly how physician implicit racial bias manifests behaviorally during racially discordant medical interactions. The authors argue that such lack of understanding might be due to several limitations with the existing patient-physician coding systems. In order to further advance research on patient-physician communication during racially discordant medical interactions, new coding systems tailored for racially discordant medical interactions are required. Specifically, it is suggested that these coding systems need to be capable of assessing physician nonverbal/paraverbal communication behaviors that were found to be positive or negative by racial minority patients themselves. This likely requires innovative research approaches, such as a mixed-methods approach.

Supervised classification methods have been widely used in the hyperspectral remote sensing image analysis. However, they require a large number of training samples to guarantee good performance, which costs a large amount of time and human labor, motivating researchers to reuse labeled samples from the mass of pre-existing related images. Transfer learning methods can adapt knowledge in the existing images to solve the classification problem in new yet related images, and have drawn increasing interest in the remote sensing field. However, the existing methods in the RS field require that all the images share the same dimensionality, which prevents their practical application. This paper focuses on the transfer learning problem for heterogeneous spaces where the dimensions are different. We propose a novel iterative reweighting heterogeneous transfer learning (IRHTL) framework that iteratively learns a common space for the source and target data and conducts a novel iterative reweighting strategy to reweight the source samples. In each iteration, the heterogeneous data are first mapped into a common space by two projection functions based on a weighted support vector machine. Second, based on the common subspace, the source data are reweighted by using the iterative reweighting strategy and reused for the transferring, according to their relative importance. Experiments undertaken on three data sets confirmed the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed IRHTL method.

Typically-developing (TD) children frequently refer to objects uniquely in gesture. Parents translate these gestures into words, facilitating children's acquisition of these words (Goldin-Meadow et al. in Dev Sci 10(6):778-785, 2007). We ask whether this pattern holds for children with autism (AU) and with Down syndrome (DS) who show delayed vocabulary development. We observed 23 children with AU, 23 with DS, and 23 TD children with their parents over a year. Children used gestures to indicate objects before labeling them and parents translated their gestures into words. Importantly, children benefited from this input, acquiring more words for the translated gestures than the not translated ones. Results highlight the role contingent parental input to child gesture plays in language development of children with developmental disorders.

We study the following questions related to wireless network security: Which jammer placement configuration during a jamming attack results in the largest degradation of network throughput? and Which network design strategies are most effective in mitigating a jamming attack? Although others have studied similar jammer placement problems, this article is the first to optimize network throughput subject to radio wave interference. We formulate this problem as a bi-level mixed-integer program, and solve it using a cutting plane approach that is able to solve networks with up to 81 transmitters, which is a typical size for studies in wireless network optimization. Experiments with the algorithm also yielded the following insights into wireless network jamming: (1) increasing the number of channels is the best strategy for designing a network that is robust against jamming attacks, and (2) increasing the range of the jammer is the best strategy for the attacker. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 67(2), 111-125 2016

Gestures are commonly used together with spoken language in human communication. One major limitation of gesture investigations in the existing literature lies in the fact that the coding of forms and functions of gestures has not been clearly differentiated. This paper first described a recently developed Database of Speech and GEsture based on independent annotation of gesture forms and functions among 119 neurologically unimpaired right-handed native speakers of Cantonese (divided into three age and two education levels), and presented findings of an investigation examining how gesture use was related to age and linguistic performance. Consideration of these two factors, for which normative data are currently very limited or lacking in the literature, is relevant and necessary when one evaluates gesture employment among individuals with and without language impairment. Three speech tasks, including monologue of a personally important event, sequential description, and story-telling, were used for elicitation. The EUDICO Linguistic ANnotator software was used to independently annotate each participant's linguistic information of the transcript, forms of gestures used, and the function for each gesture. About one-third of the subjects did not use any co-verbal gestures. While the majority of gestures were non-content-carrying, which functioned mainly for reinforcing speech intonation or controlling speech flow, the content-carrying ones were used to enhance speech content. Furthermore, individuals who are younger or linguistically more proficient tended to use fewer gestures, suggesting that normal speakers gesture differently as a function of age and linguistic performance.

In this paper, in order to assess the risk of network, network security assessment process being involved in the content in detail. The above-mentioned research-based support system platform security test and evaluate research of the safety situation assessment. Prediction subsystem detailed design and carry out the implementation. In this paper, network security issues, as a detailed study of neural networks knowledge. Focus on the evaluation methods and calculation rules of nerve network technology, it has been studied by specific examples. Calculation demonstrated the feasibility of neural network evaluation model through actual case, which pointed out the traditional methods. This paper focuses on the network security assessment based on neural network technology, extensive analysis of the proposed major modeling tool indicator system for network security analysis. The application of neural networks was a network security assessment and to optimize the network by genetic algorithm. The key parameter combination operated efficiency of neural networks to get better play.

Accessible summary What is known on the subject? Serious gaming can support learning and development. The use of serious games for skills development and the rehearsal of the management of events that cannot be replicated in real life is well established. Few serious games have been used in mental health services, and none in forensic mental health care. What this paper adds to existing knowledge? How a serious game may be coproduced by forensic mental health service users and game developers The acceptability of the therapeutic use of serious gaming by forensic mental health service users and providers. What are the implications for practice? Computer games may be used by practitioners in their therapeutic work with forensic mental health service users. Mental health nurses to use serious games to creatively and safely bridge the gap for service users between receiving care in controlled environments and living more independent in the community. Abstract Introduction Assessment of users' skills and confidence to safely respond to risky community-based situations underpins discharge planning. Serious games have been used for skills development, and this study trialled their use in forensic mental health services. Aim The aim was to develop and test the acceptability and usability of an innovative serious game to support forensic mental health service users' preparation for discharge. Method A prototype serious game was developed by service users and researchers. Acceptability and usability testing was undertaken and service providers interviewed about the acceptability of serious gaming for forensic mental health services. Result A prototype game was produced and successfully trialled by service users. However, both service users and providers identified that work needed to be done to develop and test a game with greater complexity. Discussion The acceptability and usability of using serious games to support service users to develop skills needed for successful discharge was demonstrated. Implications for practice Mental health practitioners may use gaming to support their practice and work innovatively with other professions such as game developers to create new ways of working in forensic mental health services.

Populist radical right (PRR) parties have attracted anti-migration voters by claiming to serve the interests of nationally defined in-groups. Recently, several European PRR parties have shifted focus from protecting traditional values to protecting so-called modern Western values, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. Here, we study whether PRR parties managed to attract voters who hold these modern values. In contrast with previous research, we do not position these voters with modern values' as necessary opponents of nativist voters. European Social Survey data linked to 29 elections demonstrate that the likelihood to vote for PRR parties is somewhat lower among lesbian and gay rights people, but not for those who have strong anti-migration attitudes. However, this effect differs across countries and in some cases, the sexually modern nativists' have the highest PRR voting likelihoods. This is not directly related to the parties' position on modern family values, but to the party system and alternative right-wing parties present.

Foldable displays represent one of the most attractive next-generation display applications. Therefore, it is critical to analyze the effects of mechanical stress on amorphous InGaZnO (a-IGZO) thin-film-transistors (TFTs) in order to apply them to foldable displays. In foldable display applications, the dynamic mechanical stress tests are designed to be carried out using a bending radius of less than 3 mm. In this paper, dynamic mechanical bending stress tests are performed on a-IGZO TFTs using various bending radii and directions in order to examine the instability characteristics of the TFTs. In addition, the degradation mechanisms are investigated using a technology computer-aided design simulation. As a result, we have demonstrated that it is now possible to establish reliable circuit guidelines for using a-IGZO TFTs in foldable display applications.

The purpose of this review was to discuss the place of hypnotherapy in a modern medical world dominated by so-called evidence-based clinical practice. Hypnosis is an easily learned technique that is a valuable adjuvant to many medical, dental and psychological interventions.

Background: Pim-3 kinase is a highly homologous serine/threonine kinase that is overexpressed in hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Few studies have been conducted to define the role of Pim-3 in solid tumors, especially in prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to define the role of Pim-3 in development and prognosis of prostate cancer. Material/Methods: We collected specimens from 160 patients with prostate cancer, as well as 100 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Realtime polymerase chain reaction was used for the assessment of Pim-3 expression at the RNA level and Western blot was used to quantify the Pim-3 protein synthesis in 3 different cell lines. Results: We found that Pim-3 mRNA expression in prostate cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in benign prostatic hyperplasia tissue (p<0.05). Accordingly, the protein level expression of Pim-3 in prostate cancer cell lines was also significantly higher than that in control cells. In addition, the expression status of Pim-3 mRNA was significantly associated with pathological parameters such as pre-surgery prostate specific antigen, Gleason score, pathological stage, and lymphoid metastasis. High expression of Pim-3 also significantly decreased the survival rate of patients after surgery. Conclusions: Pim-3 expression is an important risk factor for prostate cancer; we are the first team to report Pim-3 as a valuable biomarker in Chinese.

Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems constitute a powerful tool for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but limitations on interpretability and performance exist. In this work, a fully automatic CAD system based on supervised learning methods is proposed to be applied on segmented brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative (ADNI) participants for automatic classification. The proposed CAD system possesses two relevant characteristics: optimal performance and visual support for decision making. The CAD is built in two stages: a first feature extraction based on independent component analysis (ICA) on class mean images and, secondly, a support vector machine (SVM) training and classification. The obtained features for classification offer a full graphical representation of the images, giving an understandable logic in the CAD output, that can increase confidence in the CAD support. The proposed method yields classification results up to 89% of accuracy (with 92% of sensitivity and 86% of specificity) for normal controls (NC) and AD patients, 79% of accuracy (with 82% of sensitivity and 76% of specificity) for NC and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 85% of accuracy (with 85% of sensitivity and 86% of specificity) for MCI and AD patients.

Certain studies have suggested that the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) -857 C/T polymorphism is associated with risk of ankylosing spondylitis. However, the conclusions remain controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to provide a more precise conclusion. Such databases as PubMed, Embase, CBM, CNKI, and Wanfang Data were searched to identify relevant studies up to August 26, 2015. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to estimate the association between TNF-alpha -857 C/T polymorphism and ankylosing spondylitis susceptibility. A total of 10 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, an elevated risk between TNF-alpha -857 C/T polymorphism and ankylosing spondylitis was observed in three genetic model (T vs. C: OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.19-2.92; CT vs. CC: OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.49-4.23; TT + CT vs. CC: OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.40-4.30), except in homozygote model (TT vs. CC: OR 2.41, 95% CI 0.96-6.06) and recessive model (TT vs. CT + CC: OR 1.54, 95% CI 0.71-3.35). Sensitivity analysis showed the overall results were robust. Subgroup analyses according to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and ethnicity showed that the increased risk of ankylosing spondylitis were predominant in Asian population. This meta-analysis indicated that TNF-alpha -857 C/T polymorphism might increase the susceptibility of ankylosing spondylitis, especially in Asians. Further studies were needed to verify the conclusion.

People use at least two strategies to solve the challenge of understanding another person's mind: inferring that person's perspective by reading his or her behavior (theorization) and getting that person's perspective by experiencing his or her situation (simulation). The five experiments reported here demonstrate a strong tendency for people to underestimate the value of simulation. Predictors estimated a stranger's emotional reactions toward 50 pictures. They could either infer the stranger's perspective by reading his or her facial expressions or simulate the stranger's perspective by watching the pictures he or she viewed. Predictors were substantially more accurate when they got perspective through simulation, but overestimated the accuracy they had achieved by inferring perspective. Predictors' miscalibrated confidence stemmed from overestimating the information revealed through facial expressions and underestimating the similarity in people's reactions to a given situation. People seem to underappreciate a useful strategy for understanding the minds of others, even after they gain firsthand experience with both strategies.

Whenmaking decisions in everyday life, we often have to choose between uncertain outcomes. Economic studies have demonstrated that healthy people tend to prefer options with known probabilities (risk) than those with unknown probabilities (ambiguity), which is referred to as ambiguity aversion. However, it remains unclear how patients with schizophrenia behave under ambiguity, despite growing evidence of their altered decision-making under uncertainty. In this study, combining economic tools and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we assessed the attitudes toward risk/ambiguity and investigated the neural correlates during decision-making under risk/ambiguity in schizophrenia. Although no significant difference in attitudes under risk was observed, patients with schizophrenia chose ambiguity significantly more often than the healthy controls. Attitudes under risk and ambiguity did not correlate across patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, unlike in the healthy controls, activation of the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex was not increased during decision-making under ambiguity compared to under risk in schizophrenia. These results suggest that ambiguity aversion, a well-established subjective bias, is attenuated in patients with schizophrenia, highlighting the need to distinguish between risk and ambiguity when assessing decision-making under these situations. Our findings, comprising important clinical implications, contribute to improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying altered decision-making in patients with schizophrenia. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The use of conventional drip and alternative micro irrigation systems were evaluated for 3 years in six newly planted cultivars (Earliblue, Duke, Draper, Bluecrop, Elliott, and Aurora) of northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.). The drip system included two lines of tubing on each side of the row with in-line drip emitters at every 0.45 m. The alternative systems included geotextile tape and microsprinklers. The geotextile tape was placed alongside the plants and dispersed water and nutrients over the entire length. Microsprinklers were installed between every other plant at a height of 1.2 m. Nitrogen was applied by fertigation at annual rates of 100 and 200 kg.ha(-1) N by drip, 200 kg.ha(-1) N by geotextile tape, and 280 kg.ha(-1) N by micro-sprinklers. By the end of the first season, plant size, in terms of canopy cover, was greatest with geotextile tape, on average, and lowest with microsprinklers or drip at the lower N rate. The following year, canopy cover was similar with geotextile tape and drip at the higher N rate in each cultivar, and was lowest with microsprinklers in all but 'Draper'. In most of the cultivars, geotextile tape and drip at the higher N rate resulted in greater leaf N concentrations than microsprinklers or drip at the lower N rate, particularly during the first year after planting. By the third year, yield averaged 3.1-9.1 t.ha(-1) among the cultivars, but was similar with geotextile tape and drip at either N rate, and was only lower with microsprinklers. Overall, drip was more cost effective than geotextile tape, and fertigation with 100 kg.ha(-1) N by drip was sufficient to maximize early fruit production in each cultivar. Microsprinklers were less effective by comparison and resulted in white salt deposits on the fruit.

Within this work, the analysis of the selected arterial system segments were performed regarding to various hematocrit values. Properties of arteries were transformed to electrical quantities by using electromechanical analogy. There is theory of two port electrical circuits, which was used for analysis of the selected arterial segments. The characteristic voltage and current transfers were calculated in order determine the atrial properties as function of frequency for the various hematocrit values. The work deals with model of blood viscosity assuming non - Newtonian flow and then combines it with Newtonian blood flow, which is characteristic for the used arterial system model. The impact of different hematocrit values on the selected arterial segments is evaluated.

According to the rapid spread of the Internet, the new devices and web applications using the newest multimedia technologies are proposed one after another and they become commodity in an instant. In these new web communications, the natural and intelligible interaction corresponding to the user's various demands is required. In the communication in which persons do the direct dialogue in the interaction not only on the web but also in real world, it is widely known by the psychology field that the nonverbal information which is hard to express in words such as expression of face and gesture is playing the important role. In our research, the new analysis method of interaction using the dynamical model is proposed and paid our attention to the characteristic gestures especially. These gestures are the special motions such as lively or powerful actions which used effectively in Kabuki, anime, dance and the special gestures in the speech and presentation of attracting audiences. By analyzing the mechanisms of these characteristic gestures mathematically, we can design the new interactive interfaces easily which are natural and familiar for all users.

Background: Andersson lesion is a well-known complication in ankylosing spondylitis. Recently, owing to the worry about the healing of fracture, some scholars advocated additional anterior surgery or other procedures were necessary, which increase the risk of the nerve injury. The purpose of this study is to introduce our experience and to explore the efficacy and feasibility of posterior wedge osteotomy and debridement through Andersson Lesion for surgical treatment of severe kyphosis in ankylosing spondylitis. Methods: From January 2012 to January 2014, a retrospective study of 14 Andersson lesion patients with severe kyphosis in ankylosing spondylitis treated with surgery was completed with an at least 2-year follow-up. The debridement procedure, before posterior wedge osteotomy in posterior approach, must scrape all sclerosis bone until healthy cancellous bone appears. Radiographic and clinical results and complications were assessed with an average follow-up of 24 months. The CT scan was obtained preoperatively and at the final follow-up to assess the displacement of the fracture preoperatively, the safety of screw insertion, the healing of the fracture at the final follow-up. The Bridwell interbody fusion grading system was used to assess the healing of the fracture. Results: Local kyphosis was substantially corrected from 51.7 +/- 15.6 to 7.1 +/- 19.5, with a mean correction of 44 degrees. The global kyphosis (GK) changed from 60.6 +/- 28.3 to 20.3 +/- 10.3 (P = 0.000). The mean VAS back pain scores decreased from 6.7 +/- 0.8 preoperatively to 0.75 +/- 0.6 after a 2-year follow-up (P = 0.000). The ODI score improved from 60.56 +/- 15.1% preoperatively to 23.46 +/- 8.2% after a 2-year follow-up (P = 0.000). The CT scan showed solid fusion at the level of the AL, and no internal fixation loose. All patients achieved grade 1 fusion. No major complication occurred. Conclusions: The posterior wedge osteotomy and debridement through AL can be used to correct the severe kyphosis in ankylosing spondylitis, achieving favorable clinical outcomes, good fusion, and satisfactory deformity correction.

Adipocytes (fat cells) are important endocrine and metabolic cells critical for systemic insulin sensitivity. Both adipose excess and insufficiency are associated with adverse metabolic function. Adipogenesis is the process whereby preadipocyte precursor cells differentiate into lipid-laden mature adipocytes. This process is driven by a network of transcriptional regulators (TRs). We hypothesized that protein PTMs, in particular phosphorylation, play a major role in activating and propagating signals within TR networks upon induction of adipogenesis by extracellular stimulus. We applied MS-based quantitative proteomics and phosphoproteomics to monitor the alteration of nuclear proteins during the early stages (4 h) of preadipocyte differentiation. We identified a total of 4072 proteins including 2434 phosphorylated proteins, a majority of which were assigned as regulators of gene expression. Our results demonstrate that adipogenic stimuli increase the nuclear abundance and/or the phosphorylation levels of proteins involved in gene expression, cell organization, and oxidation-reduction pathways. Furthermore, proteins acting as negative modulators involved in negative regulation of gene expression, insulin stimulated glucose uptake, and cytoskeletal organization showed a decrease in their nuclear abundance and/or phosphorylation levels during the first 4 h of adipogenesis. Among 288 identified TRs, 49 were regulated within 4 h of adipogenic stimulation including several known and many novel potential adipogenic regulators. We created a kinase-substrate database for 3T3-L1 preadipocytes by investigating the relationship between protein kinases and protein phosphorylation sites identified in our dataset. A majority of the putative protein kinases belong to the cyclin-dependent kinase family and the mitogen-activated protein kinase family including P38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinases, suggesting that these kinases act as orchestrators of early adipogenesis.

The rapid development of the Internet, especially the emergence of the social networks, leads rumor propagation into a new media era. Rumor propagation in social networks has brought new challenges to network security and social stability. This paper, based on partial differential equations (PDEs), proposes a new SIS rumor propagation model by considering the effect of the communication between the different rumor infected users on rumor propagation. The stabilities of a nonrumor equilibrium point and a rumor-spreading equilibrium point are discussed by linearization technique and the upper and lower solutions method, and the existence of a traveling wave solution is established by the cross-iteration scheme accompanied by the technique of upper and lower solutions and Schauder's fixed point theorem. Furthermore, we add the time delay to rumor propagation and deduce the conditions of Hopf bifurcation and stability switches for the rumor-spreading equilibrium point by taking the time delay as the bifurcation parameter. Finally, numerical simulations are performed to illustrate the theoretical results.

Objective. To evaluate in patients with AS (i) the fluctuation in self-reported disease activity (BASDAI), patient global well-being [visual analogue scale (VAS)-global] and spinal pain (VAS-pain) during 2 years of follow-up on a group level and (ii) the clinical relevance of these fluctuations on a patient level. Methods. Dutch patients from the Outcome in AS International Study cohort completed patient-reported outcome measures every 2 months over 2 years. On the group level, mixed linear models were used to analyse whether the outcome measures were constant over time. On a patient level, relevant changes in scores were assessed by the frequency in which changes would exceed predefined cut-off values (>1.0 or >2.0 on a 0-10 scale) during the 2 years of follow-up using 2-, 4-, 6-, 12- or 24-month assessments. Results. Ninety patients [median age 47.3 years (s.d. 11.4), 67.8% male, symptom duration 25.2 years (s.d. 11.3)] were included. On the group level, the outcome measures remained constant over time. However, large fluctuations were found on the patient level. For example, using 2 month intervals, 92% and 69% of the patients had at least one change of >1.0 or >2.0, respectively, in the BASDAI during the 2 year follow-up. When prolonging the interval, the proportion of changes exceeding the cut-off decreased, indicating that information is lost. Similar results were found for the VAS-global and VAS-pain. Conclusion. Substantial fluctuations in BASDAI, VAS-global and VAS-pain were found in individuals over time. With longer intervals, fewer fluctuations were observed, indicating that relevant changes might be missed.

The mirror neuron system (MNS) has been mooted as a crucial component underlying human social cognition. Initial evidence based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggests that the MNS plays a role in emotion classification, but further confirmation and convergent evidence is needed. This study employed electroencephalography (EEG) to examine modulations in the mu rhythm associated with the inference of emotions from facial expressions. It was hypothesised that mu suppression would be associated with classifying the emotion portrayed by facial expressions. Nineteen participants viewed pictures of facial expressions or emotion words and were asked to either match the stimulus to an emotion word or to passively observe. Mu activity following stimulus presentation was localised using a 3-D distributed inverse solution, and compared between conditions. Subtractive logic was used to isolate the specific processes of interest. Comparisons of source localisation images between conditions revealed that there was mu suppression associated with recognising emotion from faces, thereby supporting our hypothesis. Further analyses confirmed that those effects were not due to activity associated with the motor response or the observation of facial expressions, offering further support for the hypotheses. This study provides important convergent evidence for the involvement of the MNS in the inference of emotion from facial expressions.

A smart grid is delay sensitive and requires the techniques that can identify and react on the abnormal changes (i.e., system fault, attacker, shortcut, etc.) in a timely manner. In this paper, we propose a real-time detection scheme against false data injection attack in smart grid networks. Unlike the classical detection test, the proposed algorithm is able to tackle the unknown parameters with low complexity and process multiple measurements at once, leading to a shorter decision time and a better detection accuracy. The objective is to detect the adversary as quickly as possible while satisfying certain detection error constraints. A Markov-chain-based analytical model is constructed to systematically analyze the proposed scheme. With the analytical model, we are able to configure the system parameters for guaranteed performance in terms of false alarm rate, average detection delay, and missed detection ratio under a detection delay constraint. The simulations are conducted with MATPOWER 4.0 package for different IEEE test systems.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by progressive loss of cognition. Over 35 million individuals currently have AD worldwide. Unfortunately, current therapies are limited to very modest symptomatic relief. The brains of AD patients are characterized by the deposition of amyloid-beta and hyperphosphorylated forms of tau protein. AD brains also show neurodegeneration and high levels of oxidative stress and inflammation. The phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) possesses neuroprotective, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and reduces amyloid-beta production and tau hyperphosphorylation in vitro. CBD has also been shown to be effective in vivo making the phytocannabinoid an interesting candidate for novel therapeutic interventions in AD, especially as it lacks psychoactive or cognition-impairing properties. CBD treatment would be in line with preventative, multimodal drug strategies targeting a combination of pathological symptoms, which might be ideal for AD therapy. Thus, this review will present a brief introduction to AD biology and current treatment options before outlining comprehensively CBD biology and pharmacology, followed by in-vitro and in-vivo evidence for the therapeutic potential of CBD. We will also discuss the role of the endocannabinioid system in AD before commenting on the potential future of CBD for AD therapy (including safety aspects). (C) 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Purpose - In recent times, progression of technology and growing demands of customers have substantially influenced the services sector to introduce fast real-time mechanisms for providing up-to-mark services. To meet these requirements, organizations are going to change their end-user operating systems but success rate of change is very low. The purpose of this paper is to address one of the practitioners' complaint no one tells us how to do it and uncovers the indirect effects of knowledge management (KM) strategies: personalization and codification, toward organizational change via organizational learning and change readiness. The current study also highlights how organizational learning and change readiness are helpful to reduce the detrimental effects of organizational change cynicism toward success of a change process. Design/methodology/approach - Temporal research design is used to get the appropriate responses from the targeted population in two stages such as pre-change (Time-1) and post-change (Time-2). In cumulative, 206 responses have been obtained from the banking sector of Pakistan. Findings - The results of the current study are very promising as it has been stated that KM strategies have an indirect effect on successful organizational change through organizational learning and change readiness. Moreover, change cynicism has a weakening effect on a change process and can be managed through effective learning orientation of employees and developing readiness for change in organizations. Research limitations/implications - Change agents have to use an optimal mix of personalization and codification strategies to develop learning environment and readiness for change in organizations that are beneficial for implementing a change successfully. Moreover, change readiness and organizational learning in the context of change are equally beneficial to reduce organizational change cynicism as well. Originality/value - This study is introducing a unique model to initiate a change with the help of KM strategies, organizational learning and readiness for change.

Urban stormwater runoff is both a significant pollution source and a potentially valuable resource. This study compares stormwater management in two cities: Singapore and Berlin, Germany. In comparing the strategies for stormwater management, we illustrate how differences in geography (e.g., land and water availability), urban infrastructure, regulatory regimes, legislation and intensives between the two cities have led to different solutions for stormwater management. Singapore, faced with a serious issue of water scarcity, has placed an increasing emphasis on stormwater management through developing a comprehensive network of drains and canals, mainly with the aim of controlling flooding and potable water supply. In contrast, in Berlin, concerns for the protection of surface water quality and non-potable water supply in the urban areas have resulted in a shift in management goals towards a low impact solution based on source control. The cost analysis indicated that the decentralized rainwater harvesting as practiced in Berlin leads to a higher economic efficiency where potable water can be substituted by stormwater, compared to the centralized drainage system in Singapore. Additionally, green roofs result in energy savings by serving as mitigation strategies against the effect of urban heat islands and global warming. In the near future, it is envisioned that a combination of both conventional and decentralized urban stormwater management will prove to be the most practical solution for most cities.

Internet of things is based on sensors, communication networks and intelligence that manages the entire process and the generated data. Sensors are the senses of systems, because of this, they can be used in large quantities. Sensors must have low power consumption and cost, small size and great flexibility for its use in all circumstances. Therefore, the security of these network devices, data sensors and other devices, is a major concern as it grows rapidly in terms of nodes interconnected via sensor data. This paper presents an analysis from a systematic review point of view of articles on Internet of Things (IoT), security aspects specifically at privacy level and control access in this type of environment. Finally, it presents an analysis of security issues that must be addressed, from different clusters and identified areas within the fields of application of this technology.

Recently, Liu and Xue proposed a secure two-party password-based authenticated key exchange protocol by utilizing the semi-group property of the Chebyshev chaotic maps. We exploit the vulnerability of the protocol in this paper by illustrating an off-line password guessing attack. In this attack, the password of a honest user will be recover by an attacker without being noticed by the server or the victim. To overcome such problem, we propose a simple and compatible fix.

This study adopted a social-ecological perspective to exploring perpetration of serious physical violence against others among Arab-Palestinian adolescents. A total of 3178 adolescents (aged 13-18) completed anonymous, structured, self-report questionnaire, which included selected items from several instruments that measured variables relating to the constructs examined in the study. We explored the association of individual characteristics (age, gender, normative beliefs about violence, and perceived ethnic discrimination), familial characteristics (parent-adolescent communication and socioeconomic status), and contextual characteristics (exposure to community violence in the neighborhood) with perpetration of serious physical violence against others. A moderation-mediation model was tested, and 28.4% of the adolescents reported that they had perpetrated serious physical violence against others at least once during the month preceding the study. The findings also show that exposure of youth to violence in their neighborhood correlated significantly and positively with their perpetration of serious physical violence against others. A similar trend was revealed with respect to personal perceptions of ethnic discrimination. These correlations were mediated by the adolescents' normative beliefs about violence. Furthermore, the correlation of direct exposure to violence in the neighborhood and normative beliefs about violence with perpetration of serious physical violence against others was stronger among adolescents who have poor communication with their parents than among those who have strong parental communication. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Telomere is a ribonucleoprotein structure that protects chromosomal ends from aberrant fusion and degradation. Telomere length is maintained by telomerase or an alternative pathway, known as alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT)(1). Recently, C. elegans has emerged as a multicellular model organism for the study of telomere and ALT(2). Visualization of repetitive sequences in the genome is critical in understanding the biology of telomeres. While telomere length can be measured by telomere restriction fragment assay or quantitative PCR, these methods only provide the averaged telomere length. On the contrary, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) can provide the information of the individual telomeres in cells. Here, we provide protocols and representative results of the method to determine telomere length of C. elegans by fluorescent in situ hybridization. This method provides a simple, but powerful, in situ procedure that does not cause noticeable damage to morphology. By using fluorescently labeled peptide nucleic acid (PNA) and digoxigenin-dUTP-labeled probe, we were able to visualize two different repetitive sequences: telomere repeats and template of ALT (TALT) in C. elegans embryos and gonads.

Facial hair strongly influences people's judgments of men's sodo-sexual attributes. However, the nature of these judgments is often contradictory. The levels of intermediate facial hair growth presented to raters and the stage of female raters' menstrual cycles might have influenced past findings. We quantified men's and women's judgments of attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities for photographs of men who were clean-shaven, lightly or heavily stubbled and fully bearded. We also tested the effect of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use on women's ratings. Women judged faces with heavy stubble as most attractive and heavy beards, light stubble and clean-shaven faces as similarly less attractive. In contrast, men rated full beards and heavy stubble as most attractive, followed closely by clean-shaven and light stubble as least attractive. Men and women rated full beards highest for parenting ability and healthiness. Masculinity ratings increased linearly as facial hair increased, and this effect was more pronounced in women in the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle, although attractiveness ratings did not differ according to fertility. Our findings confirm that beardedness affects judgments of male socio-sexual attributes and suggest that an intermediate level of beardedness is most attractive while full-bearded men may be perceived as better fathers who could protect and invest in offspring. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This study was to evaluate the permeable pavement constructed topdown by porous asphalt, compacted natural grading base materials, in-situ soil blended with coarse sand, and geotextile with crushed gravel. The permeable pavement was paved on the field testing site where it was installed a rainfall simulation device to control the intensity of rainfall. The coefficient of permeability and water content for each layer were collected as well as the volumetric water of infiltration and surface run-off Test results show that the permeability of surface layer was degrading severely after nine years in service, while base and subbase remained functional. While rainfall simulation of 124 mm/hr performed, the permeable pavement can retain 0.2139 m(3) of water with infiltration and surface run-off measured by 0.4665 m(3) and 0.1413 m(3), respectively. The analysis of flood peak present that permeable pavement can delay the occurrence of flood peak generated by the surface run-off and ease it quickly by continuous infiltration.

The present study used eyetracking methodology to assess whether individuals high in external motivation ( EM) to appear nonprejudiced exhibit an early bias in visual attention toward Black faces indicative of social threat perception. Drawing on previous work examining visual attention to socially threatening stimuli, the authors predicted that high-EM participants, but not lower-EM participants, would initially look toward Black faces and then subsequently direct their attention away from these faces. Participants viewed pairs of images, some of which consisted of one White and one Black male face, while a desk-mounted eyetracking camera recorded their eye movements. Results showed that, as predicted, high-EM, but not lower-EM, individuals exhibited patterns of visual attention indicative of social threat perception.